Alacrity appoints chief executive officer

Software development company Alacrity Technology Holdings today announced changes to the leadership structure of the company, with the separation of the roles of CEO and chairman and the appointment of a CEO for the company.

“Following the successful merger of MagmaTec and Comprehend-IT during 2010 and the resultant formation of Alacrity, it gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Brian Ford, Alacrity's Sales and Marketing Director and founding partner of MagmaTec, to the position of CEO for the group company,” comments Stuart Phillips, Chairman of Alacrity.

Currently, Ford will remain responsible for sales and marketing at the company, in addition to assuming overall responsibility for both the services and product investment divisions on 1 February 2011.

Stuart Phillips continues to represent shareholder interests as Chairman of Alacrity Technology Holdings, in addition to spearheading new innovation efforts in the fields of green IT, sustainability and CIO consulting, among other new ventures for the company. “In addition to having someone champion our ambitious growth strategy, the board felt it prudent at this stage of the company to follow good corporate governance practices that advocate separate roles and responsibilities for chairman and CEO,” adds Stuart.

Alacrity Technology Holdings is a software development company with multiple offices in Cape Town and Gauteng servicing clients such as Old Mutual, Metropolitan, Discovery, Media24, Momentum, Sanlam, Webber Wentzel, Paarl Media and Gallo Images.

Services offered include the capability to completely develop and support software products and systems on an outsourced basis; high level consulting to CIOs and IT departments; a resource model that provides companies with supplementary IT contracting skills covering the full SDLC on a short or long-term basis; or a multi-source option that combines these models. Alacrity is also a software development partner to start-up technology companies and entrepreneurs, providing software development skills and capabilities, general business support services and low-risk limited funding. Investment initiatives to date include FleetDomain, Tracer CRM, DAMsense, Core and CVM.

“I appreciate the confidence the board of directors has shown in me, and am excited to take on a new challenge of driving the growth and expansion of our company with a highly capable leadership team. My appointment also opens up new opportunities for employee growth and development at the company, as we continue to focus our efforts on empowerment and sustainability,” concludes Ford.