Mr. Allott has a strong track record in the technology industry having held the positions of president, CFO and main board director at Micromuse Inc, a London origin developer of network management software used to monitor and manage clients' technology infrastructures. During his tenure at Micromuse, the company's annual revenue rose from £1 million to £140 million while headcount increased from 50 to 800 employees. Micromuse, which was acquired by IBM earlier this year, reached a market capitalisation of US$7 billion on Nasdaq.
Mr. Allott joined Micromuse from McKinsey & Co where he was a strategy consultant in the London office, prior to which he worked as in-house counsel for both Sun Microsystems Ltd and Rank Xerox Ltd, having spent the early part of his career in the legal profession, first as a commercial barrister.
Mr. Allott went on to found the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring, a not-for-profit independent members' association of graduates from the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory. This graduate group has founded over 140 companies. He is also currently Executive Chairman of Trinamo Ltd, a technology consultancy and reseller that he co-founded. Mr. Allott is a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge University and a fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge University.
Dick Eykel has stepped down as Chairman of COE and will also step down from his position as a Non-executive Director of COE at the end of November 2006.
Andrew Wallace, COE's Chief Executive, said: "I would like to thank Dick for his contribution to COE and I am personally very grateful to him for his guidance and support through rapid change and the introduction of IP Group plc as a strategic investor. IP Group plc has been instrumental in attracting Stephen Allott and we are delighted that he has agreed to join. His eleven years of top management experience in high growth technology companies and his knowledge of strategy will be invaluable to COE. Attracting a Chairman of Stephen's calibre is a major endorsement of COE and its products."
Stephen Allott, COE's new Chairman, said: "The UK has the highest camera penetration of any major country in the world and is acknowledged to be the most demanding and innovative market. By delivering reliable, innovative systems into high profile surveillance and traffic charging sites, COE has built an impressive blue-chip customer list. The global market is set for further steady growth and I am excited about another opportunity to help take a leading British technology global."
Dick Eykel said: "It has been a great pleasure to work with COE for the past three years and, with the new shareholders in place, the time is right to hand over to a new first class team. I am very positive about COE's future and I wish the new board every success."