He will lead the online accounting software company’s global marketing strategy and further drive growth in the US. Xero said it will announce further executive appointments in the coming months.
“Andy has been involved with Xero since the beginning as a sounding board - and now as part of our leadership team he will be able to play a direct role in driving our momentum, brand and product through our next phase of growth,” said Rod Drury, CEO of Xero.
Lark has more than 25 years’ industry experience leading global marketing functions and working with some of the world’s best-known technology brands. He was the inaugural winner of the World-Class New Zealander award in 2003.
He was chief marketing and online officer for Commonwealth Bank Australia, and has also worked at Dell, Sun Microsystems and Nortel. He also founded and led some startups in Silicon Valley.
Xero is proof positive of the power of software born in the cloud.
“I am thrilled to be able to more directly contribute to accelerating the growth of Xero globally - and more importantly the millions of small businesses that will come to see Xero as their growth engine,” said Lark. “As a Xero customer I’ve seen the impact it has on cash-flow and business performance. Xero is proof positive of the power of software born in the cloud.”
In a statement Xero said it has grown its customer base 76 per cent in the last 12 months, with 371,000 customers, and total subscription revenue for the six months to 30 September 2014 at $52 million.
In New Zealand, Xero said over 20 per cent of small businesses are using its software, and processed $60 billion of transactions in the past year. Australia and the UK are now significant “growth engines”, it added.
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