Bil Vernon, the founder of Vernon Systems, was honoured this month at Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Museum Medals ceremony. Bil was awarded Companion of the Auckland War Memorial Museum for his service to the museum sector. The medal is awarded for singular achievement or contribution to areas relevant to, or in some way connected to, the public service of Auckland Museum, or other New Zealand museums.
We are proud of Bil’s achievements. He has been a mentor and supporter to many of us over his 20 year long career in the museum software industry.
From Bil’s profile for the awards:
Bil Vernon was raised in rural Raglan. He was educated at Wesley College and at Auckland University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce. In London in 1968 he transitioned from accountancy to IT, when he joined Beecham Group as a trainee systems analyst, and then spent three years with computer consultants, John Hoskyns & Company. Returning to New Zealand he worked at AHI Computer Services, Arthur Young and Marac Holdings.
His lifetime partner, Denis Cohn, was operating a dealer art gallery in Auckland and Bil built systems on the newly released personal computer to handle contacts, accounting and inventory.
Having achieved proof of concept of the platform and software, he looked for a larger market, and this lead to considering museums. He researched the application at Auckland Library and talking to professionals at Auckland Museum, as well as contact with international bodies including the UK Museum Documentation Association, and the International Committee of Museums (ICOM).
He built a prototype system and exposed this for comment at the 1986 ICOM Conference in Buenos Aires. The positive response cemented commitment to the museum area, and Georgia Lowe joined him in developing the system and the company.
In the past thirty years Vernon Systems has built a client base of over 200 museums in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, USA, and South Africa. Vernon Systems currently employs twelve staff, and generates significant export revenue. Bil retired from the company in 2006, and Georgia left in 2007, handing over the reins to Paul Rowe, who has been with the company almost from its inception and has lead the development of eHive, a cloud-based cataloging system.
Vernon Systems develops innovative software for cultural organisations to manage and share their collections. We've been dedicated to the cultural sector since 1985.