THE chief executive of Iomart, the listed Glasgow-based cloud computing company, has quit the role with immediate effect.
Reece Donovan, who has been in post since September 2020, has been replaced by executive chair Lucy Dimes.
Ms Dimes, who had previously been non-executive chair, moved into the role of executive chair on a part-time basis in July “with a focus on the further development of external corporate opportunities, alongside the executive directors,” iomart said at the time.
It added: “The additional executive resource and experience will provide greater capacity for iomart to take full advantage of the varied and wide opportunities which exist within the IT cloud marketplace.”
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Iomart told the stock market this morning that Mr Donovan, who himself had succeeded long-standing boss Angus MacSween, will be stepping down and leaving the company with immediate effect.
A search for a new chair to replace Ms Dimes “will commence in due course”, the company said.
Iomart said: “The board would like to thank Reece for all his work in transitioning the business through the Covid-19 pandemic and energy crisis while helping to reposition iomart's managed service offering within the broader hybrid cloud marketplace.”
The iomart website notes that Ms Dimes has worked in senior positions in FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and privately owned companies in sectors such as telecommunications, technology, business services and financial services. She has held roles with Virgin Money UK, where she was group chief strategy and transformation officer, UBM, Berendsen, Fujitsu, Equiniti, Nokia and BT, where she spent 16 years.
The iomart website states: "She has more than 30 years’ experience in complex, highly regulated international markets with a particular focus on product innovation, market entry, scaling for growth and expansion, and transformation (especially digital transformation). She’s passionate about technology, customer experience, diversity and sustainability.
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"Lucy also sits on the board of Babcock International Group plc and is an advisor to the automation and AI specialist software developer Intelygenz S.A."
Ms Dimes, who became chair of iomart in August 2022, posted on Linkedin: "I'm delighted to have been appointed as chief executive officer at iomart Group plc and am really looking forward to working with our amazing team, board and diverse customer base and market leading partners."
A spokeswoman for iomart said the company was unable to comment on Mr Donovan's departure beyond what was stated in its announcement to the stock market.
In June, the company reported a profit before tax of £8.5m on turnover of £115.6m for the year ended March 31.
Shortly after, it completed the acquisition of Extrinsica Global Holdings, an Oxford-based Microsoft Azure Cloud solution services provider, for £4 million in June. Extrinsica, which employed 33 staff, generated revenue of £7.4m for the year ended March 31, 2023.
Iomart, which has around 400 staff, will announce a trading update for the six months ended 30 September in October.
Shares closed the day down 1.97%, or 3.4p, at 169.6p.
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