Scandal-hit tech firm WANdisco has announced a string of boardroom changes as its share price plummets.
Trading in the Sheffield data platform’s shares on London’s AIM market resumed on Tuesday and shares fell from 1,310p to around 50p. Earlier this year it was revealed that a senior sales employee had falsified purchase orders, leading to the suspension at the end of March.
The company, which also has a HQ in California, recently raised $30 million in emergency funding from existing investors – priced at 50p per share – as its funding runway was set to end this month.
High-profile tech executive Stephen Kelly (pictured), former CEO of Sage, has been confirmed as permanent CEO after stepping in on an interim basis in May following the departure of founder Dave Richards.
Former Blue Prism figure Ijoma Maluza, who joined as interim CFO before the arrival of Kelly to replace outgoing finance chief Erik Miller, will remain as permanent CFO.
Xenia Walters will join the board as a non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee.
Walters began her career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1991 and went on to occupy various finance roles at Allied Colloids plc, Ciba Speciality Chemicals, Huntsman Chemicals, Regus plc, INTO University Partnerships, Oxford International Education Group, SDL plc and Snowfox Group.
Chris Baker will become a non-exec director and chair the remuneration committee.
Currently a partner of CBCS Associates, a software advisory business, he served as a senior executive with Oracle then joined Xchanging plc in 2014 before leading Capita Software as CEO from 2016 to 2021.
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Karl Monaghan, chair of the audit and risk committee and the remuneration committee will step down from the board ahead of the next annual general meeting in August.
Yeturu Aahlad, chief scientist, will step down from the board but will remain a member of the executive team.
Peter Lees will remain as senior independent director and continue to be chair of the nomination committee, while Ken Lever remains as non-executive interim chairman. A process will now commence to identify a permanent chair.
“Following the successful refinancing of WANdisco and the lifting of the share suspension, we are now able to formally shape the Board to support growth and value creation for shareholders,” said Lever.
“I am delighted that Chris and Xenia have agreed to join us at this very important juncture in the re-establishment of the company as a leading business in the data-integration software market.
“I am very appreciative of the significant commitment shown by Karl and Aahlad to the board’s activities, especially during the very challenging times for the company.”
WANdisco is cutting around a third of its workforce.