Monitise Plc Loses CIO Mike Keyworth In Spate Of Board Depatures

Monitise Plc (LON:MONI) announces some board and senior leadership changes.

The Motley Fool Staff

Published 1 September, 2014 10:04 am BST

The content of this article was relevant at the time of publishing. Circumstances change continuously and caution should therefore be exercised when relying upon any content contained within this article.

Monitise (LSE: MONI), the mobile transactions company, has announced that Mike Keyworth, is standing down from his role as Chief Information Officer, and relinquishing his position on the company’s board, with immediate effect. After briefly rising after opening, Monitise’s share price has softened almost 1% in trading so far this morning.

Having joined Monitise in 2004 as the director responsible for delivery the company’s UK launch, Mr Keyworth was appointed Chief Information Officer in October 2005, and joined the main board seven years later, in 2012. The company has said that he will stay on at Monitise as a technology advisor.

Commenting on My Keywoth’s departure from the CIO role and the board, Monitise co-CEO Alastair Lukies said:

“Mike has made a huge contribution to Monitise over the years and been an invaluable member of our executive team… He has been part of Monitise since its inception and at the very heart of our success. I am also delighted that he will continue to provide his invaluable technology insights and experience to the business.“

Also leaving the board are Victor Dahir, who is Visa Inc.’s nominated board member, who resigned on Friday, 29 August, and David Dey, the senior independent non-executive director, who joined the board on Monitise’s admission AIM in June 2007, who will leave the board after the AGM on 4 November.

Monitise has also announced that Mike Dreyer, who was Global Head of Technology at Visa Ic, will be joining the company as President, Americas, overseeing major accounts in US, Canada and Latin America.

Co-CEO Alastair Lukies welcomed Mr Dreyer to Monitise’s senior leadership team, saying:

“He brings technology, product, and sales experience at the highest level in the world’s biggest banks and technology companies. His appointment represents another important step in our journey to transition the business to a subscription-based model.“

Monitise’s share price is down over 26% so far this year, twice the 13% drop of the FTSE AIM 100 over the same period, whilst the FTSE All-Share index has risen 0.6%. However, over the past five years, Monitise is up 183%, versus just 30% by the AIM 100 index, and 44% for the FTSE All-Share.