Heavy hitter to lead Xero US push

Andy Lark, a high-profile ex-pat New Zealander, joined Xero two years ago as the company bolstered its push into the US market.. Photo / Natalie Slade

Cloud accounting software firm Xero has snared Andy Lark, an expatriate New Zealander with a stand-out global career, to be its new chief marketing officer.

The appointment comes as it moves to strengthen its push into the vital US market and confirms it expects a net loss for the six months to September 30 of $25 million and 80 per cent subscription revenue growth this financial year.

Lark's appointment accompanied Xero's latest trading update, in which it records further strong growth in subscription revenues, up 85 per cent to $52 million for the half year to September 30 and monthly committed subscriptions at $11 million, meaning annualised revenues are now running at $132.3 million, up 87 per cent on a year ago.

Both announcements come three weeks after Xero announced the surprise resignation of the recently appointed chief executive for its US operation, Peter Karpas, and a string of broker reports questioning Xero's ability to crack the US market, where it is up against incumbent accounting software provider Intuit.

A presentation published to the NZX yesterday highlighted "dissatisfaction with execution and leadership" in the US as one of four areas that "need work" for Xero to succeed in the US market.

The latest update shows Xero has $171 million in the kitty to invest in building its customer base under a strategy that expects no profits until sufficient global scale is achieved.

Xero shares have fallen from a high of $44.98 in March to a closing price of $20.95 a share yesterday.

Currently head of Group Lark, his Sydney-based consultancy, Lark was previously chief marketing and online officer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and is seen as a major score for Xero.

He takes up his new role next month, and has been a member of Xero's advisory board since the company was established seven years ago and is also a member of the Fronde and SLI Systems boards.

Auckland-born, Lark is also a former global marketing executive for Dell, the online computer sales giant.

He was chief marketing officer before that at LogLogic, which at the time was a Silicon Valley start-up, and before that was head of global marketing and communications for Sun Microsystems.

Andy Lark

• New chief marketing officer at cloud accounting software firm Xero.
• Member of company's advisory board since it was established seven years ago.
• Previous roles include:
Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief marketing and online officer.
Dell global marketing executive.
LogLogic chief marketing officer.
Sun Microsystem head of global marketing and communications.