G3 Comms, the business communications integrator and global network provider, has announced the appointment of Mark Thompson as Chairman with immediate effect. Thompson brings strategic insight and over two decades of industry experience to the role.
He replaces co-founder Tony Parish who retains a position as non-executive director and shareholder, and he will work with the G3 Comms management team under the leadership of CEO James Arnold-Roberts.
The appointment follows last month’s acquisition of a majority shareholding in G3 Comms by Apiary Capital, the private equity firm, and marks the latest move in a programme of growth-driven restructuring and planned acquisitions.
Thompson arrives with an impressive track record in leadership and rapid business development for companies operating in managed IT services, including business communications, global network connectivity and data centre facilities. In particular, Thompson’s skill in managing business growth both organically and through acquisition has resulted in a series of successful outcomes.
Following the successful exit of Easynet MDNX in 2015, Thompson took time out to pursue personal interests. His move to G3 Comms marks his return to a significant role in the technology sector. Thompson brings with him over 25 years’ industry experience and expertise, holding senior roles at Reliance Communications, Energis and Intercity Mobile Communications. Prior to his commercial career, Thompson spent 12 years as a Royal Navy Engineer, specialising in electronics and communications.
Explaining what attracted him to G3 Comms, Thompson said: “G3 Comms has excellent foundations for growth. At a time when digital transformation is at the top of the agenda for so many businesses, G3 Comms can demonstrate real strength and expertise in the skills that count – systems integration, proactive technical support, multi-vendor accreditations. This is where G3 Comms excels and these are the essentials that businesses need for the transition from legacy systems to the latest hybrid and cloud-hosted communications.”
“Importantly, G3 Comms also boasts a key competitive advantage – its own global network infrastructure and proprietary routing platform. This delivers the reach and the service levels demanded by multinationals that need help deploying increasingly complex, multi-channel collaboration and contact centre systems.”
“These fundamental resources put G3 Comms in a very strong position and I’m excited about helping the G3 Comms board capitalise on the opportunity.”
Thompson added: “G3 Comms is well positioned but sustainable growth can be attained only by achieving scale in the marketplace and by augmenting core operations with the diverse range of products and services that support business communications today.”
“With the support of the Apiary investment team we have the means to address these challenges with a proven ‘buy and build’ approach directed at carefully targeted acquisitions and I look forward to helping drive this strategy.”
G3 Comms CEO James Arnold-Roberts said: “The G3 Comms team have been outstanding in growing the business organically over recent years. It’s an exciting time for Mark to join the team, help maintain that momentum and accelerate the growth of G3 to a new level.”
“We plan to expand our activity into the global enterprise market, so Mark’s twenty-five years’ experience of working in this sector will be invaluable. When that involves acquisitions, I believe Mark has the relevant experience to help us achieve our goals.”
The recruitment of Mark Thompson follows last month’s appointment of David Blackburn as G3 Comms Group CTO and board director. It also follows the selection of Gary Robinson to manage the G3 Comms sales function. Robinson, who joins from Vodafone, is the first of a number of planned additions to the leadership team designed to support G3 Comms’ expansion and growth plans.
About G3 Comms
G3 Comms is a specialist integrator and expert advisor with over 30 years’ experience and an award-winning team of engineers. Offering four key areas of expertise: Business integration, global network, 4D services to guide and optimise your solutions and global deployment & support. G3 Comms builds and deploys unified communications and contact centres for enterprises across many sectors to facilitate new ways of working. Partnering with 25 leading communications suppliers – including Microsoft, Genesys and Avaya and is the founder member of the Aura Alliance, providing a gateway to over 3,000 Avaya specialists in more than 120 countries. G3 Comms runs an aggregated Tier 1 global network to deliver unrivalled reach and quality of service across the globe, operating a state-of-the-art network operations centre that offers award-winning support, optimisation and proactive intelligence around the clock. Bringing together world-class technology, in-house software applications and combined with a global eco-system of leading vendors G3 Comms helps organisations to increase efficiencies and accelerate ROI.