London-headquartered augmented technology company Blippar has announced the appointment of Adam Baird as Chief Financial Officer.
In his new role, Baird will report directly to the CEO, Faisal Galaria, and will be responsible for finance, accounting, planning and business intelligence.
Baird has over 20 years’ experience working within the technology, online and telco industries in finance leadership roles, including senior management roles at BT Group, COLT and Freeserve.
As CFO of BT Business Solutions and Enterprises, he was responsible for a £806m revenue business and helped to create a new IT Services business division for the company through the integration of six acquisitions.
He also managed commercial optimisation for the company’s standalone businesses, including BT Conferencing, BT Directories and BT Wi-Fi.
Baird also held the position of CFO at BT Ireland, where he was responsible for a complex £740 million revenue business.
Prior to this, he was the Commercial Director, European Financial and Strategic Planning at COLT Telecom and led the eCommerce, Advertising and Search finance team at Freeserve prior to its $2.4bn acquisition by Wanadoo UK Plc.
Commenting on his appointment, Baird said: “The time for AR is now and it’s an exciting time to join Blippar. With the ecosystem finally coming together – cameras, wearables, high speed cloud infrastructure, and high definition graphics chipsets – coupled with 5G enabling the start of the 3D internet, which will be driven by mixed reality technologies, Blippar is uniquely placed to be a market leader in this revolution. “
Faisal Galaria, CEO of Blippar added: “I am delighted that Adam is joining us at Blippar as we continue to grow quickly across our key markets in the USA, Europe and Asia serving diverse clients such Kellogg’s, Unilever, P&G, Pearson and the US Postal Service. Adam’s well-respected operational experience and extensive knowledge of strategic finance will be invaluable to Blippar’s work and ambitious growth plans.”
Baird’s appointment follows a series of other new senior leadership hires at Blippar, including Steve Doyle as UK Sales Director and Emma Witkowski as VP Sales, North America, to further accelerate the company’s growth strategy.