Internal management changes can have a huge bearing on the strategy of any business. This week, global communications giant, Avaya have announced that they have appointed a new CFO in industry veteran Kieran McGrath.
Most recently Executive Vice President and CFO at CA Technologies, McGrath, brings decades of experience to the already established Avaya senior management team. CA Technology are one of the world's leading providers of ICT software and solutions. Their expertise in the software arena has particular relevance to the new Avaya. Avaya have been undertaking a huge shift transforming the business to adopt a more cloud focused services and solutions approach. McGrath's expertise and experience at CA, who were more familiar with this sort of model, could be invaluable for Avaya moving forward.
Often the most complex aspect of strategic transformation is the understanding and management of financial processes. With this appointment Avaya will be looking to bolster their exiting team and enable smoother transition to recurring billing models. McGrath will assist the existing team in these areas by overseeing financial governance and taking responsibility for the overall control of financial planning, treasury, tax and investor relations.
McGrath's departure from CA follows Broadcom's acquisition of the company for almost $19 billion, which was announced in the summer of 2018. The opportunity to use his expertise to assist Avaya in their own strategic transformation was clearly a key motivating factor for McGrath to make the move.
“I am very excited to be joining the Avaya team and look forward to leading the finance organisation in support of Avaya’s transformational journey,”
Former CFO, Pat O'Malley, who was appointed to the role in October 2017, will take on a new role as Senior Vice President for Growth Initiatives. The new role will encompass cross-functional strategic initiatives that are pivotal to Avaya's primary objective of realising revenue growth in fiscal year 2019.
