Rod Drury (Xero)
Xero founder Rod Drury is stepping down from the ASX-listed cloud accounting company's board after seventeen years.
Drury, who served as an executive director for 12 years, and a non-executive director for five, will remain an advisor to the business, supporting the board and CEO.
After founding Xero in New Zealand in 2006, Drury spent more than a decade as its CEO, leading the company to become a global business.
Chair David Thodey said he had founded and built a global company with a clear vision and purpose that had digitally disrupted an industry.
"Rod has been a vital member of our board, and I want to acknowledge his visionary leadership to drive the substantial growth of the business," Thodey said.
Drury also helped the board to complete two CEO transitions, his own to Steve Vamos in 2018, and more recently Sukhinder Singh Cassidy’s appointment in 2022.
"We are grateful for Rod’s enormous contribution to Xero, and we’re delighted he has decided to stay on with Xero as an advisor," Thodey said.
Drury said that after 17 years on the board, he was proud of Xero and its team.
"Even after all this time, it feels like we’re still at the beginning of an amazing opportunity, and in a strong position as we help to power the global small business economy," he said.
"I’m excited about Sukhinder’s leadership and the team she is building. I look forward to continuing to contribute to Xero's innovation in an advisory role working deeply with our product teams.
"I’m especially passionate about product innovation and category expansion as we build from cloud accounting.”
Xero also announced the appointment of Anjali Joshi as an independent non-executive director effective 3 July, and the retirement from the board of non-executive director Lee Hatton, effective at the close of Xero's annual ,eeting on 17 August.
Based in San Francisco, Joshi is an experienced technology and product leader and professional director with more than 30 years’ experience in engineering and product management and will stand for election by shareholders at the meeting.
"I'm thrilled to be joining Xero's Board and am excited to bring my deep technology experience to help Xero deliver on its significant potential," she said.
Hatton said she believed the board and leadership team were well positioned to continue to deliver on Xero's purpose.
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