Former Deloitte, DWF, Keoghs and Davies Group executive Alex Hodgson joins the Manchester-headquartered tech firm with a brief to spearhead its financial operations with a strategic, data-based approach.

Hodgson comes with an impressive track record, following nine years at big four accountancy firm Deloitte and a spell at global law firm DWF, where he held the role of Finance Director as the company grew turnover from £80m to £180m in just five years.

With significant experience of overseeing acquisitions as well as rapid organic growth, the new CFO joins Richard Thompson (CEO), Toria McCahill (CPO), Qaiser Akhtar (CCO), Joe Wolksi (CRO) and Nicola Frost (General Counsel) on ANS’s group board.

Hodgson said: “ANS is a rare combination. A company that’s already a winner in its sector, but is also seen as one to watch for the future. It’s in a high-growth market and customers speak incredibly highly of the services they receive.

“My role is to work hard for our people to create an environment in which everyone in the business can thrive and deliver the best possible service to customers. I’m also excited to work closely with our private equity partners, Inflexion, with whom we have a genuine two-way partnership.”

The appointment comes shortly after ANS’s acquisition of Preact, a 65-strong Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Partner and Power Platform Expert.

ANS now employs more than 800 people, offering public and private cloud, hosting, security, DevOps, applications and data services to more than 7,000 customers, from enterprise to SMB and public sector organisations.

ANS CEO Richard Thompson said of the appointment: “Alex is a fantastic fit for ANS and a brilliant addition to our leadership team. His huge range of experience and knowledge will be invaluable as we continue to deliver on our strategy and make true digital transformation a reality for our customers.”