Craig Lennard (Empired)
IT services provider Empired has appointed former CEO of Oakton, Craig Lennard, as its executive general manager for the eastern region of Australia, furthering the provider’s strategy of strengthening its focus on the east coast of Australia.
Lennard’s focus will be on driving customer engagement and growth on Australia’s east coast, leading the Perth-headquartered provider's east coast sales team and working across the business.
The company said the appointment continues Empired’s focus on Australia’s east coast as a key market across its broader scope of Australia, which has seen the appointment of six enterprise salespeople in Sydney and Melbourne and a senior practice director to lead the provider’s advisory services team.
On his appointment, Lennard said he was pleased to be joining Empired and added that the market opportunity “for a highly capable and trusted services organisation with key strategic partnerships including Microsoft and other select suppliers to drive client’s digital journeys is significant.”
Prior to his appointment at Empired, Lennard was CEO of Oakton which, as part of Dimension Data has been rolled into parent company brand NTT Ltd, from October 2017 to April 2019.
Before this, Lennard held multiple managerial and directorial roles at a number of ICT companies, including SMS Management & Technology, Q-Free ASA, Logica, Axciom and Tower Technology.
He has also held positions on the Australian Information Industry Association Council.
Russell Baskerville, managing director of Empired said Lennard’s appointment “is a key plank in a broader strategic investment across the east coast”.
“I am confident that his extensive industry experience and enterprise client relationships will provide a strong platform for accelerated East Coast growth and enhanced performance,” Baskerville said.
Simon Bright, chief operating officer of Empired added that Lennard’s appointment “brings a wealth of experience to Empired.”
“I am excited by the growth opportunity that exists across the east coast and am looking forward to working closely with Craig to build the Empired brand and customer footprint in these key markets,” Bright said.
Lennard’s appointment follows Empired’s posting in August 2019 of a $15.3 million loss in the financial year ending 30 June after writing down over $25 million worth of legacy software.
