Adarma invests in senior management team with Cisco VP appointment

Adarma is set for its next phase of growth with the appointment of industry expert and ex-Cisco Global Vice President, John Maynard, as its new CEO.

The business has made the appointment as it seeks to continue its current strong growth trajectory and track record in assisting large blue-chip organisations with threat management and security operations. With this strong leadership team in place, Adarma will be well-placed to expand its service offerings and drive international growth across the UK, US and Europe.

John will take up the role at the end of November. Previously VP of the Global Security Specialists group at Cisco, John joins Adarma with years of experience in the global cyber security industry. Prior to Cisco, John was based in San Francisco and had a dual-role at DXC Technology as Chief Operating Officer and VP of Product Management for Cybersecurity.

John also held cyber leadership positions at Hewlett Packard for more than ten years, was responsible for the acquisition of Vistorm in the UK and led the cyber security business in Asia-Pacific and Japan based out of Singapore. John has also advised global technology companies in prior roles at KPMG and at JP Morgan Cazenove.

To ensure that customers continue to receive excellent service, and that additional service opportunities are leveraged, current CEO David Calder will take on the role of Chief Product Officer (CPO). In his new role, David will work with John to drive the overall strategy and services roadmap for Adarma, and will be responsible for identifying new opportunities to grow service lines and further expand Adarma’s customer base. David will also have responsibility for a number of Adarma’s key existing FTSE 350 customer relationships.

During his seven years as CEO, David has overseen a significant growth journey. Since 2013, the business has rapidly increased turnover and increased its team from 12 to more than 250. In May 2019, David also led a management buyout of the business, backed by mid-market private equity house Livingbridge.

With John bringing a wealth of skills and expertise to the board, Adarma is well-placed to broaden its capabilities and introduce new services, building on the success of its multi-tenanted security operations centre, which provides managed detection and response services to customers.

Commenting on his appointment, John Maynard said: “I truly believe in Adarma’s potential for growth and look forward to working with David and the wider leadership team to take the company to its next phase of development.”

“The vision and talent of the team at Adarma has already led to an extensive list of successes in recent years, including consistently increasing revenues by providing proactive security threat management for some of the UK’s most well-known brands. With this expertise and Adarma’s unwavering commitment to its customers, its people and its offerings, the business has a solid foundation for overseas growth and expansion in the cyber security market.”

David Calder added: “John is a leading light in the security industry and I have no doubt that his experience in driving rapid international growth will significantly benefit Adarma’s future. With the global pandemic accelerating conversations about the need for comprehensive and proactive security strategies, there is a huge opportunity to grow our customer base and deliver a wider range of services to help businesses of all sizes increase their cyber resilience.

“In my new role, I’m looking forward to working with John to build on the strength of our existing customer relationships, and working closely with them as we expand our service range to provide innovative end-to-end security solutions.”

Matt Jacobs, Investment Director at Livingbridge said: “We are delighted to welcome John to Adarma and the Livingbridge portfolio of companies. With his international knowledge and experience, we are confident that John will pick up perfectly from David, who we would like to thank for his pivotal role in the growth of the business in the last seven years. His new role will enable him to build on this, and use his outstanding skill set to expand current client relationships and contracts.

“John and David have forged a strong partnership already, and we look forward to accelerating Adarma’s growth and building a business of scale in the cyber security market.”