Mudd named as Bytes CEO

Bytes Technology Group (BTG) has confirmed that Sam Mudd will be the firm’s next CEO, ending a search for a replacement after former incumbent Neil Murphy resigned back in February.

Murphy exited the channel player after notifying the board that he had made a number of trades in the company’s shares that were undisclosed to the company or the market, resulting in a lack of compliance with the PDMR disclosure requirements.

At that point, Mudd, who had been an executive director of the company and managing director of Phoenix Software, took on the role of interim CEO.

Now the board has decided that move should be made permanent after a selection process led by Bytes chair Patrick De Smedt, with support from an external search firm.

Mudd’s CV includes running Phoenix Software for the past decade, which was acquired by Bytes in 2017. Prior to Phoenix, she held senior roles at WordPerfect, Novell and Trustmarque Solutions.

De Smedt said that Mudd had the qualities the firm was looking for in its next CEO: “Her knowledge of our business, our customers and our vendors is second to none. As interim CEO and in her previous role as managing director of Phoenix, Sam has demonstrated her natural ability as a leader and her ambition to take BTG forward.”

Mudd said that she was excited to be given the chance to take Bytes forward into its next chapter and grow the company further.

“What has become even clearer in the past few months is the strength of our relationships with customers and the depth of our vendor partnerships. All of this is underpinned by the quality of our people, who I truly believe are some of the best in the industry,” she said.

At the same time, the firm appointed former Stagecoach executive Ross Paterson as an independent non-executive director and chair of the audit committee of the company, with effect from the start of June. He will be joined by Anna Vikström Persson as an independent non-executive director, who will also join the BTG audit, nomination and remuneration committees.

De Smedt said that the pair would bring greater insight on financial and personnel matters: “They each bring a wealth of highly valuable experience that will complement and enhance the existing expertise within the board.”

The other announcement coming out of Bytes concerned the firm’s decision to establish an ESG committee, chaired by Vikström Persson and inclujding De Smedt, Erika Schraner, Paterson and Shruthi Chindalur.

The committee has a brief to track the progress of the firm’s climate transition strategy as it heads to net-zero emissions, monitor the progress of diversity efforts across the employee base, and oversee business conduct and report back to the board.

Bytes also provided an update on the progress of its investigation into the activities of Murphy, indicting that it will share details ahead if its preliminary results for the financial year ended 29 February.