Country Leaders
Jamie Sutherland United States
Jamie has been running teams at both large corporations and early stage ventures for over 10 years.
Before he joined Xero, Jamie ran the North American arm of accounting software provider Sage. Under Jamie’s leadership, Sage grew to serve over 500,000 small business customers.
Gary Turner United Kingdom
Gary is a 20-year veteran of the UK’s accounting software industry, joining Xero from Microsoft where he was Product Group Director for Microsoft Dynamics.
He has sat on the IT Faculty Technical Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales since 2005.
Chris Ridd Australia
Chris has been in the Australian IT industry for over 20 years. His experience spans a range of disciplines including enterprise sales and marketing, product management, strategic planning, business analysis and channel development.
Before joining Xero, Chris was Director of the Microsoft Dynamics Business Group for Australia.
Leanne Graham New Zealand
Leanne has been in the Accounting Software sector for over 25 years.
Previously, Leanne co-founded accounting and business management software company Enprise Solutions. As Global Managing Director, she played a key role in Enprise’s growth from startup phase through to a successful acquisition.
Key Staff
Rod Drury Chief Executive / Executive Director
One of New Zealand's leading technology entrepreneurs, Rod is a member of the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame, NZ Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007, World Class New Zealander for ICT in 2008 and an Honorary Fellow of the NZ Computer Society.
Rod is a Director of the New Zealand Stock Exchange and is a member of Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Commerce Advisory Board.
Rod is a founder and Director of Pacific Fibre, a new international fibre cable project connecting Australia and NZ to the USA.
Hamish Edwards Co-Founder
Xero co-founder and Chartered Accountant Hamish Edwards oversees product matters and business relationships with the accounting community.
Formerly, Hamish managed company financials and took Xero through its IPO. Hamish then went on to establish Xero in the UK, where he was responsible for banking relationships, strategic partnerships, direct sales and the accounting industry.
Before Xero, Hamish was CEO and Chairman of accounting firm Openside, which was acquired by Deloitte in 2011.
Alastair Grigg Chief Operating Officer
Alastair oversees all aspects of product development and service delivery, from design to customer support.
Alastair has 16 years of IT industry experience with large vendors such as IBM and startups such as Glazier Systems and utilyx.com. Before he joined Xero, he was CIO at Air New Zealand, where he was responsible for 400 enterprise systems and 200 staff.
Ross Jenkins Chief Financial Officer
Ross is responsible for group strategy and investor relations. He brings to the CFO role 30 years of financial and general business management experience.
Before joining Xero, he held a range of roles from Audit Clerk to MD in organisations like PWC, Lion Breweries, Horner Greenlees, Baycorp, ComputerLand NZ and Onesource. He has also been involved in a number of M&A and Executive consulting assignments while maintaining directorships in small IT companies.
Natasha Hubbard General Manager Human Resources
Natasha’s challenge is to lead HR strategy as Xero continues to grow and hire people in offices all over the world. She has more than 10 years experience in HR, with recent roles in the telecommunications and education sectors.
She joined Xero after six and a half years with telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent, where she was involved in the full spectrum of global HR initiatives.
Paula Jackson General Manager Marketing
Paula leads and implements Xero’s marketing strategy. She has over 15 years of marketing experience in the telecommunications, banking and IT industries.
Paula joined Xero from Vodafone where she was Channel Marketing Manager responsible for managing the customer acquisition portfolio for both the consumer and small enterprise markets. Prior to this, she was at Telecom, where she was responsible for a number of market share wins in the consumer mobile division.
Duncan Ritchie General Manager Operations
Duncan manages Xero’s IT and customer care teams, making sure both our systems and service meet the high standards Xero customers have come to expect. He has held IT management positions for over 10 years.
Duncan came to Xero after three years as Gen-i’s head of Application Management. In this role, he managed the lifecycle of Gen-i's business applications, focusing on simplifying the business through application improvements.
Paul Williams General Manager Finance
Paul oversees company reporting and financial control. He has been a Chartered Accountant for more than 25 years.
Paul joined Xero after six years at Telecom, where he held a variety of finance roles within the Mobile and Consumer operating segments. He was also a Senior Audit Manager at Price Waterhouse, which included working in the US and UK.
Philip Fierlinger Head of Design
Philip Fierlinger founded iconic US digital design firm Turntable.com, whose clients included Apple, Sony and Macromedia. Before joining Xero, Philip worked for acclaimed web agency Shift, working on the NewZealand.com and IRD websites. His work has garnered numerous design accolades, including two Webby Awards.
Sara Goepel Product Manager- Service Delivery
Sara is the service delivery product manager developing Xero's back office applications. Sara spent six years at award winning web design agency Shift managing large scale web projects across a wide range of clients and industries. Before moving to New Zealand from Canada in 2001 Sara began her career developing the online presence for small businesses.
Wayne Schmidt National Sales Manager, Australia
Wayne has 25 years experience in the accounting software industry and in this time has worked in a number of areas including computer programming sales, marketing and senior management.
Wayne joined Xero from crisis management SaaS company Whispir. Prior to this, Wayne established and headed MYOB’s UK Business Division and assisted with MYOB’s entry into China. Other roles Wayne has had at MYOB Australia include running the marketing division and driving business through accounting partnerships.
Andrew Tokeley Product Development Manager
Andrew is responsible for managing the flow of exciting new features at Xero and supporting the product team to deliver these. Prior to joining Xero Andrew worked for 7 years at Intergen, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
Andrew is a regular speaker at TechEd and local user groups. In 2010 Andrew's community involvement was recognised by Microsoft and he was awarded a Silverlight MVP.
Craig Walker Chief Technology Officer
New Zealand Hi-Tech Young Achiever of the Year in 2007, Craig Walker leads Xero's software development team. Craig has spent his career building mission critical Internet applications, including co-founding software-as-a-service provider Viatx and working for leading Microsoft consulting firm Glazier Systems, now Intergen.
Catherine Walker Community Manager
@xero @orangegirlnz @xeropersonal
Catherine is at the centre of Xero's social media activities and is better known as OG (Orange Girl - the name came about due to a passion for all things orange). She is dedicated to getting our customers what they need and making sure they have a voice internally.
Before Xero Catherine worked in public, private and start-up companies including the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Environmental Risk Management Authority and Viatx. These roles focused on analysis and user documentation.