Xero has appointed Chris Liddell, the former chief financial officer of General Motors and Microsoft and former chief executive of Carter Holt Harvey, as its chairman.
Photo: RNZ
Mr Liddell, who is based in the United States, replaces former Kiwibank chief executive Sam Knowles, who has resigned as a director of Xero.
Founder and managing director of the high-flying accounting software company, Rod Drury, says Mr Liddell's appointment and that of two other US-based people, position the company strongly in the US and globally.
Mr Drury says Mr Liddell has been very valuable to the business providing guidance and helping to close the roles.
He says enlisting Bill Veghte, who has become a director, is just as much of a coup. Mr Veghte is the second-in-charge at HP, running its enterprise group.
The third appointee is Peter Karpas, who takes up the position of Xero's US chief executive. Mr Karpas was previously at PayPal where he was general manager of small and medium business in North America, exactly the target market Xero is chasing.