John Mcrae Email & Phone Number

Mascot, Nsw, Au

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

VADR is an executive production firm that produces and promotes new media, sports and entertainment.

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Checkmate Live is a next-gen online speed chess broadcast and tournament platform, built for the future of competitive chess and mind games. We reimagine the chess experience with cutting-edge technology and the advanced Sixth-i anti-cheat system. Our free-to-play platform offers intense face-to-face video battles, live broadcasts, leagues, and tournaments—rewarding fair, social, and competitive gameplay at all skill levels.By leveraging cutting-edge technology, collaborative partnerships, and promoting a culture of fair play, integrity, and inclusivity, Checkmate Live is leveling the playing field for all players. Developed in partnership with the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute, our proprietary AI-powered anti-cheat system and Arbiter mode ensures fair play. We’re proud to be the official platform for the Asian Chess Federation and Arab Esports Federation, representing 73 countries, and powered by Tencent Cloud for seamless global performance.

Mascot, New South Wales, Au

Szuperchess is the first real and effective solution to combat online cheating in Chess. Billed as Zoom adapted to Chess tournaments, its innovative AI and computer vision-based approach to cheating utilises a player's web camera to monitor match integrity. Since launching in 2020, it has been nominated for a number of European Startup and technology awards.Szuperchess has been fully acquired by VADR Media and is being integrated into Checkmate.live with the assistance of Tencent Cloud and our R&D partners.

Auckland, Nz

Auckland, Nz

John McRae and VADR were the founding members of the NZESF. It was a privilege to lead the charge in conjunction with the co-founding members to see the Federation recognised as a Sport in New Zealand and establish it as a financially independent NSO.

Auckland, Nz

Stepped in for the previous president due to retirement. Implemented a strategic review of the NZESF, established a number of new sub-committees [Education, Women, IDEA], commissioned a suite of new resources for members and appointment of a new CEO. Very excited about the road ahead for the Federation and New Zealand Esports with Jonathan Jansen and Conor English at the helm.

Auckland, New Zealand, Nz

LPL was launched by VADR Media in 2015 and quickly became the largest independent esports broadcaster and platform in Australasia. VADR's approach saw it take a niche recreational activity to a nightly televised sport in Australia and New Zealand. In 2020 the business was partially acquired by Casino operator SKYCITY Entertainment and fully acquired in 2021. At the time of sale, LPL's subscription-based competitive online website had over 400,000 registered players. The tournament platform provided players with ladders, leagues and forums underpinned by regular linear and online broadcasts, with TV partners including SKY TV, Maori TV in New Zealand and Channel 7 in Australia.LPL's first dedicated studio was shared with Juice/Garage TV and its second dedicated studio was based in the Auckland SKY Tower in New Zealand. The studio can deliver both 4K and HD broadcasts, live events in-studio or at SKYCITY Theatre (700pax) and linked to most major venues in Australia and New Zealand. It was the first studio in the region to provide direct-to-tv linear broadcasts via fibre and point-to-point. This was prior to the NEP Andrews Hub opening in Sydney, Australia.

Sydney, New South Wales, Au

HSL was the world's first televised and largest Southern Hemisphere high school esports league. Based on the success of HSL Riot the publisher of League of Legends subsequently rolled out its regional high school league to which VADR was a partner.

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Pay-per-view company - boxing, football, MMA, music.

Auckland, Auk, Nz

Duco is widely recognised as New Zealand's leading event development and promotions company.Duco has promoted elite speakers such as Richard Branson, President Bill Clinton, Carly Fiorina, Michael Eisner, HRH Prince Andrew, Bob Geldof, Robert Kennedy Jr and New Zealand’s leading entertainers, sports people, business people, political leaders and the Auckland 9's.Duco’s first events were a number of high profile and successful trade summits focused on Australia, China, India, United Kingdom and the USA. These included the Gateway to China Trade Summit, Gateway to Australia Trade Summit, Gateway to America Trade Summit, Opportunity UK, Trans-Tasman Business Forum, China Business Forum (2008, 2009), India Business Forum, and the Action Asia Trade Summit, commissioned by the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Duco also convened New Zealand’s largest forum on innovation and new product development called Zed in 2008. Duco also quickly developed a reputation for high profile celebrity dinners. In 2009, Duco promoted the Woodstock Fight of the Century between David Tua and Shane Cameron. The event was the largest boxing match to be ever held in New Zealand and broke world records in advance and per capita PPV buys. The event was considered to be the biggest sporting event in 2009 in New Zealand. In 2010, Duco continued its foray the boxing world and promoted David Tua vs Friday Ahunanya. The event was viewed by over 1,000,000 people in a country consisting of only 1.4 million households.In July 2010, I sold my interest in Duco.

Auckland, Nz

The role included producing and promoting business-related events and conferences. A key highlight was founding and been given the rope to produce Schmooze whilst at EMA - New Zealand's largest young professional network. Events were hosted in Art Galleries, Churches, Race tracks and the best venues in the city. It provided a great opportunity to link my background in music and business with curating events that appealed to the changing face of New Zealand business.

Promoted various music events with local and international DJ's. Prior to that, I ran a coat-check hustle at local bars whilst at school, hotdog stands and working bars at University.

Ba (Hons), Pols And International Business

Ba, Pols And International Business

Bcom. Llb, Law And Commerce

Education record