NEXTGEN appoints new MD, sees business doubling in three years

Distributor NEXTGEN has a new managing director: former CA, Infor and Oracle Netsuite exec Gavin Lawless has promoted to the top job.

Lawless was appointed director of growth in September 2018 and seems to have had an immediate effect: NEXTGEN’s announcement of his elevation says the company “grew over 20 percent in the financial year just completed, growing all its vendor partners with standouts being, Rubrik, Actifio, Arista, HPE, Rubrik, and Solarwinds.”

“In addition, our Oracle business continues to grow off a large base, even though the business is transitioning from 3 year perpetual licensing to 12 month subscription.” Cloud revenues grew by more than 30 percent.

NEXTGEN CEO John Walters said Lawless’ promotion “will allow me to focus on the more strategic opportunities around core vendor relationships; key partner engagement; team development; and supporting the growth of our services businesses.” He also stated that Lawless has “a wealth of knowledge and experience that can lead NEXTGEN Australia through its next growth phase”.

Lawless said "It’s very exciting when the business continues to grow significantly each year and focusing on hiring the right people, giving them the right environment and empowering them to deliver intimate service will ensure NEXTGEN will continue to grow its brand and footprint. At the current rate we will organically double in size over the next three years, which is a great environment for our team, our vendors, and our partners."

The distie’s services businesses - marketing services outfit Bang, licencing consultancy Optima, cloud platform Connect and Orbus Capital – were described as “all maturing nicely with some significant opportunities heading into FY20.”

Bang has also made executive changes, with COO Scott Caulfield promoted to managing director. Bang founder Martin Mason has become head of strategy.