SAF Australia Team - About Us - Microwave Radio Specialists

SAF Team

SAF Australia’s network equipment is excellent, but our greatest assets are our people. We work hard to build our business relationships and provide great customer service.

We add value to our products and services by caring for our clients at every step in the process. Our systems, training and culture ensure that you have an incredibly positive experience when working with our administrative and technical staff.

We’re people just like you…meet the SAF Australia team!

Get in touch so we can help you improve the reliability and performance of your network.

Meet the team

Nic Holdgate

Managing Director

Nic founded SAF Australia in 2006 to supply licensed microwave network solutions to the Australian market. With an Electrical Engineering degree and an MBA, he works to provide increasingly reliable solutions to a market riddled with congestion and interference.

Nic spent 11 years as a Weapons Electrical Officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy before working the following 11 years in Telecommunications. He excelled in various management roles working across mobile radio, paging, cellular and fixed-line networks. Before making his way to SAF Australia, Nic managed various technology businesses, including PacSat, an Australian designer and manufacturer of microwave antennas.

Nic is keen on the outdoors and likes to get out paragliding, snowboarding and mountain biking whenever he can. He and his wife, Anna, are the proud parents of four children. Nic loves the challenge of working with evolving technologies and finding ways to do things better.

Working at SAF is great. I get to travel all over the country, often with the opportunity to admire the stunning views from towers, get to meet and work with a lot of fantastic people and provide a service that makes a real difference to organisations.

Renāte Smitham

Sales Manager

Renate is SAF Australia’s Sales Manager with over 15 years’ experience working with SAF radios. She works closely with our customers to ensure SAF Australia solutions meet their needs. Her work involves link design, ACMA licensing and optimum product selection to suit each customer’s connectivity needs.

Renate worked in Latvia for five years with SAF Tehnika, the EU manufacturer of SAF microwave radios. She was initially a Partner Account & Customer Service Manager, later moving to a role as APAC & Middle East Sales Manager.

Renate made the move to Australia in October of 2009 and started working with SAF Australia. She brings a Bachelor’s degree in Sinology, a Masters in Orientalism and a Professional Diploma in Conference Interpreting.

Continuing her academic endeavours, Renate has nearly completed a Diploma of Photography & Photo Imaging. She’s also interested in art, reading, languages and likes to play tennis.

Brandt Johnson

Marketing Manager

Brandt joined the SAF Australia team in July 2019. He brings international education and experience in PR & Communications comprising Marketing, Public Relations, Professional Writing and Audio-Visual Media creation.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Brandt moved to Australia in 2009. He worked as a Sales and Project Manager for DORMA Movable Walls before applying his Communications skills in the Community Sector.

After redeveloping the Carers ACT website and working as the Program & Communications Manager for Mission Australia ACT, Brandt moved to Albury-Wodonga with his wife and two daughters. He managed one of the area’s largest successful grassroots engagement campaigns as Cleanaway and four Local Area Councils rolled out the Organics “Green Bin” service to over 55,000 residents.

Brandt’s now a full-fledged Australian Citizen (2013) and an accomplished golfer.

I’m very happy to come on board with SAF Australia. The attitude toward innovation and progress isn’t just lip service. These folks are serious about the quest to be better tomorrow than we were today.

Mitch Botting

Technician

Mitch recently came on board as an Apprentice Technician in July 2019 and has truly hit the ground running. He’s an enthusiastic academic with interests in I.T, physics and chemistry – recently completing an Advanced Diploma in Engineering at Wodonga TAFE.

He’s passionate about learning and enjoys being part of a technical team. Since Mitch is young, his work experience at onboarding was limited. However; he demonstrated leadership, patience, intuition, responsibility and a genuine interest in the industry…all highly-regarded traits of a great team member.

Prior to SAF Australia, Mitch worked hard for two years at Moonya Pizza & Pasta as an expert pizzaiolo. Mitch took on management duties in supervision, operations, quality control and monetary handling. Importantly, he learned excellent customer service skills which is key in his current position.

Mitch is also an impressive soccer player, winning three consecutive league championships. He volunteers his time to the community by helping run youth soccer clinics, participating in local reforestation efforts and donating his time to Care Van.