Meet Xero's Board of directors

Board of directors

David Thodey, AO

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Independent director since June 2019 and Chair since February 2020

Nominations and Governance Committee (Chair)

Audit and Risk Management Committee

David is a business leader who has had a career focused on innovation and technology, with more than 30 years’ experience creating brand and shareholder value. He is now active in business, healthcare, public policy, innovation, tertiary education, the environment and corporate governance.

David is chair of Ramsay Health Care (a global hospital group), co-chair of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Chancellor at the University of Sydney and a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board.

He was CEO of IBM Australia and New Zealand (1999-2001) and Telstra (2009-2015), and has wide experience as a board director including as a past director of Vodafone Global Group, CSIRO, CSL, and Telstra.

David has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and English from Victoria University of Wellington and completed the post-graduate General Management Program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He received an honorary Doctorate in Science from Deakin University in 2016, an honorary Doctorate in Technology from University of Technology in 2018, an honorary Doctorate in Business from University of Sydney in 2022 and was recognized for his services to business and ethical business leadership with an Order of Australia (AO) in 2017.

Steven Aldrich

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since October 2020

Audit and Risk Management Committee

Steven is an entrepreneur and professional director with more than 25 years’ experience in creating and delivering products within the technology and accounting software industries. Steven is currently a non-executive director of Semrush, an online visibility management SaaS platform, and a previous non-executive director of Avantax.

Steven has held a range of senior executive roles, including at GoDaddy, the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs, where most recently he was chief product officer. Prior to this, Steven was the CEO of Outright, an online bookkeeping service, which was acquired by GoDaddy. Steven has also held various senior management roles at Intuit, including vice president of strategy and innovation for the small business division. Steven holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from the University of North Carolina and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Mark Cross

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since April 2020

Audit and Risk Management Committee (Chair)

People and Remuneration Committee

Mark is an experienced professional director with more than 20 years of international experience in corporate finance and investment banking. He is currently the chair of Chorus, a director of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a board member of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) New Zealand and chair of the ACC Investment Committee. His recent previous directorships include Milford Asset Management (chair) and Z Energy.

Mark was at Deutsche Bank for 10 years, initially based in Sydney in mergers and acquisitions, then in London as a managing director and co-head of a European M&A industry group. Mark holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting & Finance) from Massey University New Zealand, is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, a chartered fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Anjali Joshi

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since July 2023

People and Remuneration Committee

Anjali is an experienced technology and product leader and professional director with more than 30 years’ experience in engineering and product management. She is currently a director of LocoNav and Persistent Systems, and was previously a director of Alteryx, Lattice Semiconductor, Iteris, Mobileiron, and McClatchy. Anjali is on the advisory board of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and an advisor to Insight Partners in New York.

Anjali spent 13 years in senior product leadership at Google, during which time she was instrumental in building and scaling new products globally across internet, mobile and video platforms. Prior to joining Google, Anjali held engineering leadership roles at Covad Communications and program management roles at AT&T Bell Labs. Anjali received her Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, a Master of Computer Engineering from the State University of New York, and a Master of Engineering Management from Stanford University. She was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Brian McAndrews

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since February 2022

People and Remuneration Committee

Nominations and Governance Committee

Brian is an experienced former executive and CEO, having driven growth and innovation for leading technology, SaaS and cloud-based companies, and a professional director. His experience includes leading Pandora Media, a streaming music provider in the US, and aQuantive, a digital marketing services and technology company that was acquired by Microsoft.

Brian is currently lead director of Frontdoor, the largest provider of home service plans in the United States, and is a director on the board of The New York Times. He is presiding director of The Wine Group and USA Climbing and senior advisor to Spectrum Equity. He was previously a director of Chewy and Teladoc Health, and chairman of Grubhub.

Brian has been included in the National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship 100, which recognizes the most influential board members. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Economics from Harvard College and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dale Murray, CBE

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since April 2018

Audit and Risk Management Committee

Dale is an experienced non-executive director and former technology entrepreneur and CEO. Dale is currently a non-executive director at the Cranemere Group and Jupiter Fund Management, and lead independent director at Lightspeed Commerce. She was formerly a non-executive director and trustee for the Peter Jones Foundation, a non-executive director at Sussex Place Ventures, LendInvest, and at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (UK).

Dale co-founded and was CEO of mobile pioneer Omega Logic in 1999, which co-launched prepay top-ups in the UK, leading the growth of top-up transactions to £450m within five years. She then turned to investing and advising startups and won the British Angel Investor of the Year award in 2011. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the London Business School, was a Fellow of the College of Chartered Accountants at NZICA and CAANZ until 2021, and served on the Business Taskforce on EU Redtape for the British Prime Minister in 2013. Dale was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2013, for services to business.

Susan Peterson

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Independent director since February 2017

People and Remuneration Committee (Chair)

Nominations and Governance Committee

Susan is an experienced non-executive director and business leader with a particular interest in helping companies to drive growth through technology, innovation and organizational culture. Susan is currently the chair of Vista Group and an independent director of Mercury.

Susan is also a board member of Craig’s Investment Partners and was previously a member of the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal. Susan is a past director of Arvida Group, ASB Bank and Trustpower, and a past ministerial appointee to the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women. Susan holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago.