7th January 2020 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, “Crossword”, the “Company” or the “Group”), the technology commercialisation company focused solely on cyber security and risk, has significantly strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of a Group Sales Director and a new Chair of its consulting subsidiary to assist in driving growth during 2020.
Sean Arrowsmith joins as Crossword’s first Group Sales Director in January, responsible for both product and consulting sales activity. Sean will lead and grow the sales team. He inherits a strong pipeline for the Rizikon Assurance risk product, which stands in excess of £3m over 100 companies in a wide range of sectors. Sean comes with 20 years of sales experience in cyber/information security and technology. He was previously Group Sales Director at IRM Ltd, the World Class Centre in Cyber Security of Altran Technologies SA, the global innovation and engineering consulting firm, where he was accountable for revenue target achievement across all of IRM’s business streams including consulting, software and training.
In addition, Dr Robert Coles has taken on the role as Non-Executive Chair of Crossword Consulting Ltd, the Group’s consulting subsidiary. Dr Coles knows Crossword well through his current role as Chair of its Advisory Board. He has extensive experience in building large scale consulting practices having been Lead Partner in KPMG’s Information Security Services for EMEA. He subsequently spent many years as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in large corporates including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), National Grid and Merrill Lynch. He is an Honorary Professor at University College London (UCL) and Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Jake Holloway, formerly Business Development Director, is now devoting himself full time to the role of Chief Product Officer, bringing a sharper focus to building out Crossword’s product portfolio (which currently comprises Rizikon Assurance and Nixer CyberML) and developing relationships with university partners. Rob Johnson leaves Crossword after two successful years as Chief Operating Officer to take up new challenges. The COO role will not be replaced.
Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity Plc said “With Sean and Robert on board, alongside our current Executive team, we have the right people in place to scale up in 2020. Sean is a 20-year tech and cyber sales veteran with a proven track record. Robert will bring his consulting experience, as Lead Partner at KPMG, to our consulting business as Chair. I am delighted to have two such powerful leaders join our team.”
Contacts
Crossword Cybersecurity plc – Tel: +44 (0) 20 3953 8460 Email: info@crosswordcybersecurity.com Tom Ilube, Chief Executive Officer Mary Dowd, Finance Director
Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) – Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100 Colin Aaronson / Jamie Barklem /Niall McDonald
Hybridan LLP (Broker) – Tel: +44 (0)203 764 2341 Claire Louise Noyce
For media enquiries contact: Lorena Duke, GingerPR lorena@gingerpr.co.uk, 01932 485 300
About Crossword Cybersecurity plc
Crossword Cybersecurity plc focuses on the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security related software and cyber security consulting. The Group’s specialist cyber security product development and software engineering teams work with its university partners to develop the research concept into a fully-fledged commercial product that it will then take to market. The Group’s aim is to build up a portfolio of revenue generating, intellectual property based, cyber security products. Rizikon Assurance, Crossword’s leading product, is a SaaS platform that enables medium to large companies to assess the cyber maturity and GDPR readiness of their suppliers. Nixer CyberML, Crossword’s most recently launched product, is a new tool for businesses that want to solve advanced security and cybercrime problems, such as detecting and dealing with compromised accounts, fraud and in-application denial of service attacks. Crossword’s team of expert cyber security consultants leverages years of experience in national security, defence and commercial cyber intelligence and operations to provide bespoke advice tailored to its clients’ business needs.