Trustmarque hires NTT Data’s UK lead as its new CEO

IT solutions and services provider Trustmarque Group has announced the appointment of Simon Williams as its new CEO, effective from 1 March.

Williams joins the business from NTT Data, where he led the service provider’s United Kingdom and Ireland division as CEO.

There, he was responsible for unifying several legacy businesses – a transformation that ultimately doubled the size of the company and significantly increased its profitability.

Prior to that, he held several executive consulting positions with major tech companies and business consulting firms, including French IT services company Capgemini and UK-based consultancy Detica.

Williams will replace Trustmarque’s current CEO Ben Richardson, who will transition to a new role as chief corporate development officer.

“We are incredibly pleased to have Simon join and lead Trustmarque into our next phase of growth,” said Torgrim Takle, chairman at Trustmarque.

“Simon has a long history of growing technology businesses serving both government and commercial clients, and brings with him excellent industry relationships, including with our key market partners.”

Headquartered in York, Trustmarque provides software and hardware resale, IT managed services, IT professional services, unified communications, testing and quality assurance, as well as security penetration testing.

Earlier this month, the firm boosted its capabilities and growth aspirations with the acquisition of Reading-based software asset management consultancy Livingstone – its first acquisition since its spin-off from Capita in April 2022.

Commenting on his appointment, Williams highlighted the importance of that acquisition in strengthening and growing the company’s client relationships.

“I am eager to join a fine group of people and see Trustmarque together with Livingstone as a fantastic platform to make a difference in the IT services marketplace through its strategic focus on optimisation and cloud services, bringing the management of the whole software lifecycle to its customers,” he said.

“I am excited to be part of the Trustmarque team and see the recent acquisition of Livingstone as strengthening our position with clients and with partners, such as Microsoft and Cisco, as we work toward our ambition of doubling the size of our business.”

Takle also praised outgoing boss Ben Richardson’s role in both driving the company’s service offering. He added: “During his tenure as CEO, Ben presided over a remarkable transformation of Trustmarque. He developed the company’s service capabilities, carved it out from Capita, and then built it further by leading the recent strategic acquisition of Livingstone".