Former CEO Gordon Wilson transitions to Chairman of the Board
Advanced, one of the UK’s largest providers of mission-critical business software and services, announced today that Simon Walsh has been appointed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Walsh, an experienced technology leader, will succeed former CEO Gordon Wilson, who has assumed the role of Chairman of the Board.
Walsh joins Advanced after a purposeful search to find a successor by Wilson and the company’s Board, which includes its long-term investors Vista Equity Partners and BC Partners.
Prior to joining Advanced, Walsh was CEO of NTT Americas, a global technology and business solutions provider, and before that held CEO and COO positions for leading technology brands such as Atos, Virtustream and Dell Technologies Global Cloud Business.
“I am confident that Simon will further accelerate Advanced’s opportunity for growth. He has a successful track record of scaling technology businesses which will be invaluable to Advanced as we continue to expand our solution offerings and market traction. He is passionate about Advanced’s mission and our people and importantly how these can really make a difference to our customers,” Gordon Wilson, Chairman of Advanced.
“Simon has deep expertise in scaling technology businesses and experience in driving technological transformation. We look forward to working with him and our continued partnership with Gordon, as we support Advanced’s mission of helping customers through innovative cloud software,” Philipp Schwalber, Partner at BC Partners.
“Enterprise software remains the most powerful tool for businesses in taking on the mission-critical challenges facing both commercial and public sectors. Under Gordon’s leadership, Advanced has transformed its software and services business, well positioning the company to take advantage of the great opportunity ahead of it. We are excited to welcome Simon and look forward to partnering with both him and Gordon on this next phase of Advanced’s journey,” Monti Saroya, Co-Head of Vista’s Flagship Fund and Senior Managing Director.
“It is an honour to succeed Gordon as CEO of Advanced. The Advanced story is a truly great depiction of an innovative British software company with great ambition for the future. I am excited and inspired by the talented individuals I will have the opportunity to work with and whose vision is to be the difference to their customers, providing quality products and services with a customer experience others can only aspire to,” Simon Walsh, CEO of Advanced.
Wilson joined Advanced in 2015 when Vista Equity Partners acquired the business. He went on to lead a significant business transformation focussed on relocating, reorganising, recruiting, and rebranding the business. Over that time, the company successfully grew organically and inorganically to become one of the largest providers of business cloud software in the UK. In 2019 Vista Equity Partners re-invested in Advanced and BC Partners joined as an equal investment partner.
Advanced is poised with an unrivalled product portfolio and the opportunity to further expand. Its focus on customer experience and success puts it on the front foot for long-term sustainable growth.