KJR's History
From a garage on the Gold Coast, K.J.Ross & Associates was born. We’ve had to ride the wave of innovation and change, but the passion and ideology that launched KJR in 1997 remains the same. Here’s our journey.
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away...
1997
With Y2K approaching, demand was high for technology and software testing. K.J.Ross and Associates was established in a garage on the Gold Coast by Kelvin J. Ross.
1998
Steven Butler became Kelvin’s first hire and he’s still on board as a loyal employee and Principal Consultant up in the Brisbane office.
2002
SMARTCat was ‘on the prowl’ – proactive production monitoring tests for web applications at a time when most other offerings would do little more than ping the server.
2005
After servicing Sydney clients since inception, we officially marked KJR territory on Sydney soil.
2007
We set up permanent roots in Canberra to service our growing federal government clients.
2010
2013
KJR commenced it support for TourXOz and Black Dog Institute. The Yellow Jersey has appeared in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
2015
2016
Named in Australia’s Top 100 Coolest Companies to work for (and again in 2017 and 2018). Although we didn’t need an award to tell us that!
2017
KJR took up a spot right next to the hoop at Qudos Bank Arena as a Sydney Kings sponsor.
2017
In 2017, KJR’s Andrew Hammond rode the 8-day, 2,500km journey from Perth to Broome for mens mental health awareness. Andrew also completed the Tour in 2015, and with the company…
2018
Celebrated KJR’s 21st birthday! An immense achievement for a smaller technology-based firm.
2018
And watched them take out the WNBL Championship (in 2019).
2018
After taking top spot at The Australian Trucking Association fatigueHACK, a group including members of the KJR Collective set about the development and prototyping of FatigueM8.
2019
As a founding Platinum sponsor, KJR is making a focused effort to address the inherent bias that exists in the development of artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms.
2020
More partnership pride from KJR, and our founder serving as CTO for this progressive and important organisation based on the Gold Coast.
2022
We celebrate 25 years in the industry as Australia’s trusted advisors in software quality assurance. Having started from humble beginnings on the Gold Coast to expanding nationally we enjoy the…
2023
Dr Steven Butler, Dr John D’Alton and Dr Mark Pedersen celebrated 25 years with KJR. From their early days as test consultants to their current roles as leaders and mentors,…
2023
KJR has won the AIIA Diversity Award at the 2023 National iAwards. The win recognises the long-term vision of KJR founder and Chairman Dr. Kelvin Ross to nurture a culture…
2023
Australia is witnessing a thriving AI landscape, with KJR at the forefront of innovation. KJR was recognised amongst the top 20 Australian tech companies riding the AI wave.
2024
The KJR VDML podcast series aims to provide insights and practical guidance for developing robust and reliable Machine Learning (ML) models to deliver AI solutions.
2024
KJR and the Queensland AI Hub are delivering AI workshops across Australia to empower executives, business leaders, and tech professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to deploy and manage…