Buckingham joins Nuheara board

Former Navitas managing director David Buckingham has been appointed as a non-executive director for wearable technology company Nuheara.

The Northbridge-based company also has offices in New York and San Francisco and specialises in the manufacturing of smart earbuds and personal hearing devices.

Mr Buckingham, who served as Navitas managing director for one year and as chief financial officer for three years, will join the board on November 1.

Prior to his roles at Navitas, Mr Buckingham served as iiNet chief financial officer and company secretary for six years, before he was appointed chief executive in 2014.

He was also the manager of audit and corporate finance at professional services firm PwC for seven years, and a finance director at Virgin Media (formerly Telewest) for more than 10 years.

Mr Buckingham said he could add value to the team at Nuheara, having grown companies within already established industries.

“Nuheara is at a tipping point,” he said.

“Its technology is proven, it has global reach and it is creating an entirely new healthcare channel, which is focused on making hearing health ubiquitous.”

Mr Buckingham said hearing aids were cost prohibitive and had a stigma attached to their use, but Nuheara was determined to change this.

“The fact they have been able to bring a product to a market, sell it globally and with a strong focus on their customers gives me the confidence to believe it has strong growth ahead,” he said.

Nuheara co-founder and chief excecutive Justin Miller, also the founder of Perth-based IT services company Empired and industrial hearing and communication company Sensear, said the Nuheara board would draw on Mr Buckingham’s prior experiences.

“David’s proven record in growth and taking on entrenched industries – especially through his leadership at iiNet – are significant experiences that Nuheara can learn from,” he said.

Shares in Nuheara were down 2.56 per cent to trade at 3.8 cents per share, as at 4:00pm AEDT.