Dsposal COO Sophie Walker has been promoted to the CEO role.
Her co-founder Tom Passmore has moved into the CIO role as part of a ‘growth and reach-focused reorganisation’ of the top roles at the waste software company.
The firm said Passmore’s new role will enable him to focus more on data architecture and analytics, which is requiring increasing attention as the business grows.
The duo has taken the company from an initial idea while cycle touring in North America to the growing scaleup it is today. Walker has been an equal driving force in the company’s development and has long been the public face of the business, making her promotion to CEO a natural step.
“I’m thrilled to be taking on the CEO role at this exciting time for both Dsposal and the industry,” said Walker. “I’m tremendously grateful to Tom and the team for their support.
“We made the conscious decision early on that I would be the face of Dsposal which has enabled us to tip the balance of gender representation at events in the sectors we work in. Making the waste and tech sectors more inclusive and equitable is something I am extremely passionate about.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for me and I hope that it’s another step towards tipping the balance in favour of better representation at leadership levels in these industries.”
Passmore added: “With the imminent changes to the industry heralded by the Environment Act 2021, especially the focus on compliance and digital waste tracking, we wanted to create this chief information officer role to dedicate the necessary time and resources to continued best-in-class product development and waste data quality for the whole sector.
“Sophie’s built such an impressive reputation for herself and Dsposal over the last five years and is the perfect person to take the CEO role as we move to our next chapter focussed on extending our impact and reach, supported by our commercial director, Alexa Culver, and our growing team.”