Platform beats model — leading AI in the enterprise
Panellist at the 2024 CIO Leaders Summit in Auckland, on sustaining a competitive edge through AI. What he told the room:
About · Millwater Consulting
Patrick Sullivan
Director & Principal Consultant
Former Google Field-CTO · Former Security Practice Lead for New Zealand at Google · ex-IBM Principal Architect · ex-Westpac
Most technology advisors have either built things or advised on them — rarely both. Patrick has spent 20+ years doing the building: running national-scale infrastructure, leading enterprise security, and shaping cloud and AI strategy at Google. He brings that operator's judgement to the boardroom, turning AI and technology decisions into clear, commercially-grounded strategy investors and executives can act on.
20+ yrs
building and leading enterprise technology
6 yrs
at Google — Field-CTO & NZ Security Lead
$200M+
in client revenue influenced
$100M
sales pipeline built at Google
Background
From the keyboard to the boardroom.
Patrick didn't start in a boardroom — he started as an engineer. A self-taught technologist from North Canterbury, he built and ran the systems large organisations depend on: national-scale infrastructure, the migration of an entire bank's workforce onto a new platform, and enterprise cybersecurity for one of Australasia's largest financial institutions.
He then spent six years at Google as a Field-CTO and the Security Practice Lead for New Zealand — advising government ministers and boards, leading major cloud build-outs across Australia and New Zealand, and representing Google's security strategy to audiences worldwide. Today he brings that rare combination — deep technical credibility and senior commercial judgement — to Millwater Consulting, advising private equity, investment managers and executive teams on the technology decisions that now separate the winners from the rest.
What Patrick does
Where engineering depth meets boardroom clarity.
01
AI strategy that pays
Cutting through the hype to the few moves that actually shift EBITDA — with an honest roadmap your board can get behind.
02
Automation & agentic AI
Where AI stops being a demo and starts removing real cost. Practical automation that expands margin without betting the business.
03
AI infrastructure & “hard tech”
The foundations of the AI era — data centres, power and the physical assets behind every model. Knowing what's real and what's marketing.
04
Cloud & operations
Getting more from the technology you already own: lower cost, fewer outages, and less accumulated technical debt.
05
Security, governance & resilience
Protecting the downside — resilient systems, sound AI governance, and far fewer nasty surprises.
06
Technical due diligence
The technical truth behind an investment — IP, scalability and risk — in plain English, before the capital goes in.
Speaking & thought leadership
On stage, in the press, in the open.
A selection of Patrick's public talks — with the substance of what he actually said, captured here so it's open and citable.
Scaling AI with cloud & MLOps
Guest lecturer to the University of Auckland's Master of AI students, on getting AI out of the lab and into real use:
Google, cloud & AI in the Pacific
Invited speaker and interviewee (for Google Cloud) at Fiji National University's 5th National Conference on ICT:
The next generation of AI applications
Invited speaker at MongoDB.local in Auckland, on building AI-powered products on the MongoDB × Google Cloud partnership.
Fractional Foresight: the future of work
Featured in Fraxional's Fractional Foresight on New Zealand's technology future:
Zero-Trust security, told to the world
Across six years at Google, Patrick became one of the company's go-to voices on security — and a trusted advisor to government:
Credentials & education
Qualified — and proven in the field.
- Professional Cloud ArchitectGoogle Cloud
- Professional Cloud Security EngineerGoogle Cloud
- Security Architecture (SABSA)SABSA Institute
- Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)Cisco
- Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)Microsoft
- Certified Professional (VCP)VMware
Education
University of Canterbury
Information systems & management
Ara Institute of Canterbury
Computing & networking
In his words
Bet on the platform, not the model. Models change monthly — lasting advantage comes from the platform underneath them.
AI won't take our jobs tomorrow, but people who know how to use AI will.
New Zealand needs 100 billion-dollar technology companies, companies like Xero — to grow our GDP and close the gap with Singapore and Australia.
Getting the operational discipline right — the machine that builds the machine — matters as much as the model itself.
Work with Patrick
Independent, technical, and on your side.
Board-grade AI, cloud and security strategy from someone who has built and run it.
Book a meeting →
