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Xero adds CFO, snaffles new GMs from Gen-i, Alcatel-Lucent


After nearly half a decade, the online accounting company decides it needs a finance man. Once commentator sees a power shift, or at least a shift from the heavy focus on chief executive Rod Drury.

Chris Keall
Wed, 06 Jul 2011

Four years after its IPO, online accounting software commpany Xero has finally created a chief financial officer position, filled by Ross Jenkins.

Why wait half a decade to hire a CFO?

"As we keep a tight eye on costs we wanted to wait until we really needed one," chief executive Rod Drury told NBR. "With our continued growth, and bringing on board a US team, now is the right time."

Cloud computing commentator Ben Kepes had no issue with the absence of a CFO, given that two of Xero's founders had an accounting background. "There was no shortage of financial skills."

But he also sensed a shift in power, or at least focus.

"The interesting thing here is the build-out of a cohesive management team," Mr Kepes told NBR.

"Having a charismatic and attention-grabbing CEO is of benefit in the early days but increasing maturity sees the need for Xero to be about more than just Drury," said the Diversity principal, who was recently drafted to address Communications Minister Steven Joyce, Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and others as on cloud computing at the KANZ Broadband Summit.

"That's not a criticism of the CEO's performance per se, rather acknowledgement of a need to de-risk the executive structures and external relations approaches that Xero takes."

The new crew
Mr Jenkins has executive roles with Computerland NZ, Onesource (Konica Minolta and Cogent) and Datastor NZ, and has held directorships on several New Zealand technology company boards including one of the first application service providers Appserv, and remote database administrator SQL Services.

The newcomer appears to be battle-hardened. His career included a stint as managing director of GDC Communications (an infamous tech meltdown) in 2005 and 2006 where Mr Jenkins "unknowingly inherited a company in serious financial difficulty" and had to oversee a major restructure.

Xero has also created two new General Manager roles. The current GM of Finance, Paul Williams, and GM of Marketing Paula Jackson, will be joined by GM of operations and GM of human resources.

The new GM of operations, Duncan Ritchie, will be responsible for Xero's IT operations and customer support functions. Mr Richie was previously Head of Application Management at Gen-i. 

The GM of human resources is filled by Natasha Hubbard who joins Xero after six and a half years as a human Resources Manager for Alcatel Lucent. Prior to this Natasha was part of Massey University’s employment relations team specialising in contract negotiations.

Xero shares (NZX: XRO) were up 2.45% to $2.09 in midday trading against a broader market fall of 0.01%.

The company is scheduled to hold its annual general meeting in Wellington on July 21.

Chris Keall
Wed, 06 Jul 2011
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Xero adds CFO, snaffles new GMs from Gen-i, Alcatel-Lucent
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