Gerard's early career was strongly focused towards sales and marketing; initially, within the pharmaceutical sector in New Zealand, and subsequently, in the United Kingdom, where he was the UK Sales Manager for Paris Bourse-listed, premium pet-food manufacturer, Royal Canin. Gerard returned to New Zealand in 2001 and spent approximately 10 years in the industrial textiles and apparel sector, holding senior executive and CE roles with Alliance Textiles and Swanndri. Within the last decade Gerard has spent 3 years with Fletcher Building, in a regional operations management role, with the remaining time dedicated to providing business advisory, capital advisory and governance support to various New Zealand technology start-ups.