Keywords Studios appoints new chief operating officer
DUBLIN-based Keywords Studios has appointed Sonia Lashand Sedler, an executive from Diebold Nixdorf, as its new chief operating officer.
Ms Lashand Sedler will work closely with chief executive Andrew Day and the group’s chief financial officer, Jon Hauck, and will take responsibility for the day to day operational running of the business, according to a statement from the group.
This will enable Mr Day to focus “more fully on the continued strategic development of the group”, the company said.
Ms Lashand Sedler has 20 years of experience in scaling up businesses internationally through senior roles, most recently as global head of managed services and banking strategy at Diebold Nixdorf, a global retail and banking technology and services organisation, where she was responsible for its managed services business.
She joined Diebold Nixdorf from Sutherland Global Services, a digital solutions company, where she acted as managing director for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
Ms Lashand Sedler’s previous leadership roles with digital transformation organisations also include HCL,
where she was vice president European Banking, and at Accenture, where she was a managing director.
“Sonia’s experience in driving operational excellence across an international footprint and in delivering best in class business critical services to global clients gained from within world class organisations made her the outstanding candidate for this new board position as COO,” said Mr Day.
“I look forward to working closely with her as we continue develop our global platform of technical and creative services to the video games market and beyond.”
Last year, Keywords purchased seven companies after raising €110m in a placing. Keywords now has 65 facilities in 21 countries.
Goodbody analyst Patrick O’Donnell said Ms Lashand Sedler’s move “looks like a sensible appointment” for the company, “as it scales up the business through continued M&A”.
“The appointment follows significant investment in the organisational structure in 2019 and 2020 and ensures the right structures are in place for KWS [Keywords] to sustain this growth as it seeks to become the global go-to partner for video games outsourcing,” Mr O’Donnell said.