I am a business executive with 26 years experience in the IT industry and across a range of disciplines including; general management, sales, marketing, strategic planning, media, investor relations, business analysis, channel development and people management. After a long career with Microsoft spanning 15 years I was appointed Managing Director for Xero in Australia in December 2010 to lead the expansion of Xero’s market share in the Australian marketplace. Since then, the business has grown from a small startup to become Australia’s largest online cloud accounting software, growing in four years from seven staff and 5000 customers, to more than 200 staff and 262,000 paying customers. Xero has won numerous industry awards recognising its excellence and innovation, including CeBIT’s Top Business Solution award as well as the ICT Excellence Award (2012), the highest accolade in the Australian tech industry. Xero was also named Australia’s Most Innovative Company by BRW, and ranked #16 on the publication’s Great Places to Work Awards in 2014. In November 2012, Xero listed on the ASX, with a dual listing across the NZX and ASX. I was also fortunate to pick up a number of individual awards in 2015, including International Bronze Stevie Awards for Executive of the Year (Computer Services) and Innovator of the Year (Asia/Oceana). Plus The CEO Magazine's Financial Services Executive of the Year & Runner Up in Managing Director of the Year. As a business leader, I have a reputation for effective and decisive execution of strategy as well as a proven ability in building and leading strong teams with a track record of success and delivering against challenging growth targets. I enjoy working in a challenging and high performance culture and have a passion for managing people, working directly with customers and demonstrating the positive impact of technology in business.

Advisor, Australia Beachheads Program @ Working as a part-time strategic advisor to various NZ-based tech startups seeking to establish a presence in the Australian market. Beachheads connects participating companies to a network of private sector advisors in New Zealand and around the world who can act as mentors and provide insights into the realities of growing internationally successful businesses. From September 2015 to Present (4 months) Melbourne, AustraliaManaging Director, Australia @ As Managing Director for Xero's business in Australia, I have overall responsibility for business strategy, people management and development, revenue growth, key alliances and expansion of market share in the Australian marketplace. This is an exciting business and one that is exceptionally well positioned as the IT industry shifts aggressively towards cloud computing. For more information go to www.xero.com. From February 2011 to Present (4 years 11 months) Melbourne, AustraliaDynamics Business Group Director @ As Director of Microsoft's Dynamics business in Australia, I have responsibility for the end-to-end business management for Dynamics ERP (AX, NAV, GP and SL) as well as the Dynamics CRM product. I manage a national team of 23 people across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with responsibility for sales, marketing, channel and product management disciplines. For more information about Dynamics business go to: http://www.microsoft.com.au/dynamics/ From October 2008 to December 2010 (2 years 3 months) Southern Region Manager @ Responsibility for Enterprise business in Melbourne comprising top 65 commercial and financial services companies overseeing a business of around $120M. Team of 8 Account Managers and 4 Technical Pre-Sales consultants. From July 2003 to October 2008 (5 years 4 months) Manager, Mid-Market @ Overall responsibility for sales, marketing and channel development for Microsoft 7,000 mid-market customer base. From April 2002 to July 2003 (1 year 4 months) Audience Marketing Manager @ Responsibility for Microsoft's marketing communication and events across the subsidiary. From August 2000 to April 2002 (1 year 9 months) Enterprise Program Manager @ Responsibility for planning and implementation of tier 2 enterprise sales strategy and field structure across Australia for Microsoft. Including sales campaigns to support branch sales function, with establishment of telesales function to help drive engagement and sales in Enterprise business. From April 1998 to August 2000 (2 years 5 months) Enterprise Account Manager @ Overall responsibility for sales and customer relationship for BHP Billiton, National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank. From February 1996 to April 1998 (2 years 3 months) Account Manager @ Sales of mid-range UNIX platforms to Manufacturing & Distribution industries. From 1989 to 1995 (6 years)

Post Graduate Diploma, Strategic Marketing, High Distinction @ Charles Sturt University From 1995 to 1995 BA, Economics/Marketing @ Swinburne University of Technology From 1985 to 1988 Higher School Certificate @ Camberwell Grammar School From 1979 to 1984 Chris Ridd is skilled in: Sales Management, Business Analysis, Marketing, Sales, Public Speaking, Media Relations, People Development, Strategic Planning, Enterprise Software, Cloud Computing, Small Business, Management, Pre-sales, Business Strategy, CRM