Former Software AG boss Stuart Rees returns to lead ANZ business

Software industry veteran Stuart Rees has returned to Software AG after a decade to take on the role of vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

Rees was previously country manager for Software AG in Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 before returning from a sabbatical in 2011 to join Progess Software as regional vice president. His resume also includes stints at JDA Software as country manager between October 2013 and August 2014, and again in January 2017 until now.

He was also regional vice president of TIBCO Software between 2014 and 2016, and has also worked for the likes of IBM and QlikTech.

Rees replaces former ANZ vice president Brenton Smith, who left the company in April this year after close to a year in the role.

“The ANZ region has huge market potential and I’m excited to be joining Software AG which has market-leading technologies in the area of integration, application management, the internet of things (IoT) and data analytics, which are key to running many digital transformation projects," Rees said.

"I look forward to working closely with our customers and partners to successfully execute on our business strategy.”

The software vendor also announced it had further expanded its ANZ headcount by hiring new pre-sales and direct sales executives based in Melbourne and Sydney. This includes hiring Mark Fitzsimons as vice president and head of IoT GTM centre of expertise for APJ.

Software AG regional vice president for Asia-Pacific and Japan Mike Saxton said he was delighted to welcome Rees to Software AG.

"The experience in enterprise software and in the ICT industry will be essential in accelerating the adoption of our digital business platform. His skills in building and leading world-class sales teams will be invaluable as we look to grow our customer base in Australia and New Zealand.”

“The ANZ region is an important one for Software AG.  With more organisations looking to embark on their digital transformation journey as well as implement IoT projects, we are immensely excited about the many opportunities this market provides us with.”