Xero lands Intergen founder for chief data role

Intergen founder Tony Stewart has taken a role at Xero, more than six months after ending his 14-year stint at the Microsoft integrator.

The channel veteran started on 2 November as Xero’s chief data officer, a new role at the cloud accounting vendor.

While he remains a non-executive director on the board of the New Zealand integrator, Stewart stepped down from his role as chief executive officer in March this year.  The move came five months after Intergen was acquired by Empired.

Stewart called the Empired deal the “best option” for Intergen’s continued trans-tasman growth. “Having set Intergen on its path for the future, it was time to move on to a new challenge,” he told CRN.

“Although Xero is a very different company to Intergen, its culture and values feel very familiar,” Stewart said.

Empired managing director Russell Baskerville spoke positively of his relationship with Stewart, saying the split had been “very collegial”.

“I’m delighted to see him to take a role with Xero,” he said.

The hole left by Stewart’s departure has been filled by Simon Bright, who is now chief executive officer of Empired New Zealand and the USA, which includes the Intergen business.

Other key Intergen figures include director solutions and services for New Zealand, Emma Barrett, chief technology officer and executive director Chris Auld, and director client development John Bessey.