UXC founder Geoff Lord appointed Tesserent chair

Publicly-listed cyber security provider Tesserent has appointed UXC Limited founder Geoff Lord as non-executive chairman following his role as an advisor to its board.

Revealed via an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) announcement on 10 January, managing director Julian Challingsworth called the appointment a “major coup” moving into 2020.

“Geoff has been a trusted advisor to both the board and I over the last 12 months, and has shown his belief in our strategy by investing in several rounds of capital raising,” Challingsworth said.

“It is the belief of Geoff and the entire board that Tesserent, in the cyber security sector, can mirror the success UXC achieved in the IT services sector.

“Geoff’s experience and network are both powerful and unique, and will put Tesserent in an extremely advantageous position moving forward. We’re looking forward to continuing to execute on our strategy and delivering value for shareholders.” 

Effective from January 10, Lord’s appointment replaces the business’ previous chairman Rob Langford, who departed from the business as director and chairman in early December 2019.

Lord has also been involved with Tesserent over the last 12 months through an advisory role to the board and is also the business’ largest shareholder.

Lord is currently the founder and CEO of privately held investment company Belgravia Group and was previously the founder and chairman of UXC prior to its acquisition by the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for $427.6 million in 2016. CSC subsequently became part of DXC Technology when it completed a multibillion-dollar ‘spin-merger’ with HPE’s Enterprise Services arm in 2017.

Lord’s new appointment follows a number of acquisitions in the last few months by Tesserent, including PS&C Security in October 2019 and NTH Consulting in December 2019.