Google's Alan Coad joins First Derivatives software business

First Derivatives announced the appointment of Alan Coad as the chief revenue officer for its analytics software business Kx on Monday.

The AIM-traded firm said that in the role, Coad would have global responsibility for Kx sales, focussing on the expansion of its streaming analytics platform into other industries beyond financial services.

It said he had a track record of growth and value creation at large, publicly-traded technology companies, as well as early-stage, venture-backed businesses.

Coad would report directly to First Derivatives’ chief executive officer, Seamus Keating.

He was joining from Google, where he was managing director for Google Cloud in the UK and Ireland.

Before that, he headed the Europe, Middle East and Africa geography for Pivotal Software - a cloud native and data modernisation platform company.

In both of those roles, First Derivatives said Coad was credited with building “exceptional teams” and a customer-centric sales culture.

He also reportedly helped shape a number of global client partnerships, and delivered “significant” growth, with Pivotal's IPO in 2018 and its subsequent acquisition by VMware being highlighted by the board.

“Over the past decade I have had a front-row seat for many of the transformational changes being driven in tier one enterprises across various industries,” said Alan Coad.

“Data has now come to the fore as a differentiator and source of new value for many of these businesses.

“With the Kx technology platform, we can unlock this vast market opportunity, helping organisations across many industries transform into intelligent enterprises leveraging the power of real-time and historical data.”

CEO Seamus Keating added that Coad was bringing “almost three decades” of enterprise software experience, including important domain expertise in cloud, software-as-a-service, application and data modernisation, as well as digital transformation.

“He is an accomplished business leader with an impressive track record for delivering revenue growth while also demonstrating a shared passion for nurturing an open, inclusive culture that values our people, our customers and our partners.”

At 1258 BST, shares in First Derivatives were down 0.73% at 2,581p.