AIM-listed technology training firm Pennant International has bolstered its leadership team with a duo of appointments.
Klaas van der Leest, the chief executive of cyber security business Intercede, has joined Pennant as a non-executive director with immediate effect.
Darren Wiggins has been appointed as interim chief finance officer on an eight-month fixed-term contract (a non-board position). He will start at the firm, which is headquartered in Cheltenham but also has º£½ÇÊÓƵ offices in Manchester, Fareham and Leighton Buzzard, on September 16.
Mr van der Leest has been at the helm of Intercede, an AIM-quoted business, since 2018. Before that he was managing director of Intelecom º£½ÇÊÓƵ, an independent private equity-backed communications SaaS business. He has also held senior executive positions for º£½ÇÊÓƵ technology businesses with a focus on product development and sales strategies.
Mr Wiggins is a chartered accountant and has previously held senior finance and operational roles within aerospace and defence firm Meggitt and manufacturer Melrose - the parent company of GKN Aerospace. Mr Wiggins will be providing support to the board as the group heads towards year-end and into 2025, Pennant said.
Ian Dighé, Pennant chair, said: "We are delighted to welcome Klaas to the board as a non-executive director. His considerable public market experience together with his track record of supporting growing technology-led businesses will undoubtedly be an invaluable asset to Pennant as it evolves its proprietary integrated software suite."
He added: "The board also welcomes Darren as interim CFO, whose significant operational, financial and industry expertise will further strengthen and complement the skillsets of the existing senior management team."
