Pureprofile Limited (ASX: PPL or the Company) has strengthened its board of directors with leading international business figures, in line with the $18 million acquisition of Cohort Holdings Australia (Cohort).
PPL has appointed CEO and Co-Founder of Unlockd, Matthew Berriman, as a non-executive director, while current Non-Executive Chairman, Andrew Edwards will immediately take on greater responsibilities and become Executive Chairman of the group.
Well known in the digital sector, Mr Berriman has been involved in assisting a range of digital and technology businesses through early and mid-stage development, including Cohort over the last four years.
Mr Berriman said,
“The expanded Pureprofile represents not only a market leading end-to-end product suite of smart data, lead generation and programmatic digital media trading, but is one of a small group of ASX listed technology businesses that has global customer scale, significant annual revenues (FY2016 pro forma revenues, including Cohort $56 million) and is profitable in their growth phase (recent pro forma Operating EBITDA of $6.3 million in FY2016).
“The new combined group has a strong growth profile, diversified revenues and with 650 clients and publisher relationships globally, we now have a great foundation to drive significant shareholder value over the coming years”, he added.
Meanwhile Mr Edwards, who plans to return permanently to Australia from the UK in early 2017, brings to the executive role 30 years of marketing, digital and advertising experience, having formerly been Managing Director of Leo Burnett Australia, before becoming Chief Executive Officer of Leo Burnett in the UK and Central Europe and a member of its Global Executive Board.
Mr Edwards said he would work closely with Pureprofile’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Chan, and the senior management team, to expand the group globally, as well as working on the group’s product strategy, scaling and go to market messaging.
He said,
“Paul shared his Pureprofile vision with me over 15 years ago and I was so taken with it that I actively moonlighted to help Paul secure the company’s first ever alliance. I am just as motivated and excited now as I was then to work with Paul again and win many more clients in Australia and overseas.
“Pureprofile represents the consumer. We ask them questions, we know how they are feeling, we know what’s important to them and we reward them. They appreciate our interactions. In an age when the consumer is empowered, we remain one of the only companies which is truly rewarding and respectful”, he added.
Mr Chan said,
“We can now deliver a total end to end solution for companies from branding to customer acquisition, with critical connection to data and insights that significantly increases our competitive advantage. I am looking forward to working closely with Andrew, Matt and the rest of the Pureprofile board to take us to the next stage of growth following the integration of Cohort.
“The strengthening of our board with two leading industry figures in Matt and Andrew will accelerate the commercialisation of Pureprofile’s market-leading, consumer first technology platform and suite of applications.”
Matthew Berriman Profile
Matthew Berriman is CEO and Co-Founder of Unlockd, a revolutionary mobile based technology, media and telecommunications business, connecting brands, content and relevant media to the consumer via a proprietary platform. In this role, Matt leads all aspects of the company development including platform innovation, strategic alliances, strategy and early stage capital raising from prominent technology, media and banking investors.
With six successful capital raises/(exits) over the last eight years, Matt has been involved with several high growth digital ventures in Australia and the US in varying roles from executive, to advisor and board member. In 2011 as GM/Executive Director at CC Media, he took the business from a start up through to acquisition by one of Australia’s premier media groups, APN News and Media.
In addition, Matt has assisted boards and investors of early to mid stage digital and technology businesses with their strategic planning and corporate development. This has included successful exits with Cohort Global (Sold to Oceania Capital Partners in 2014) and Shout for Good (Acquired by ANZ Bank in 2015), as well as leading several successful capital raise processes for clients.
Matt was a professional Australian Cricket representative and spent five years at the Victorian Institute of Sport as a coach and player until injury forced his retirement.
Andrew Edwards Profile
With over 30 years of marketing experience behind him, Andrew first joined the world of Leo Burnett in 2003 as the global discipline lead for direct marketing for Arc, Leo Burnett’s Marketing services arm.
In 2004, he was promoted to Managing Director of Leo Burnett Sydney, incorporating Arc, before leaving for the UK. Andrew was then appointed President of Arc for Europe, Middle East and Africa and relocated to London in 2005.
In March 2007 he was further appointed Chairman of Arc UK and Deputy Chairman of the Leo Burnett Group UK, becoming CEO of the Leo Burnett Group UK in November 2007 and Chairman in December 2010, joining the Global Executive Board at the same time.
In November 2011, Andrew was asked to expand his role to take on the additional leadership responsibility for Central Europe. As President of Leo Burnett Central Europe, Andrew was responsible for seven markets, including Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. As a significant growth area for Leo Burnett, Andrew’s remit was to ensure the company invested appropriately in the region and was well positioned for strategic growth.
