Auckland, New Zealand, Nov. 23, 2020 — Vend, the industry-leading retail productivity and intelligence platform, has announced the appointment of Ana Wight as CEO. Ana joined Vend in 2017 and since then has held the positions of Chief Commercial Officer, CFO and most recently took the role of Acting CEO in March 2020.
“After concluding a global search process, I am delighted to announce that we have decided to appoint Ana Wight, the current acting CEO of Vend, into the permanent position of CEO,” said Vend Chairman Andrew Harrison. “Ana has done an exceptional job leading the team through the extraordinarily uncertain times of the past eight months. Also, she has been developing with the executive team exciting plans for the future of Vend which we are looking forward to implementing.”
Ana stepped into the acting CEO role in one of the most challenging times any leader will have to face. Under Ana’s leadership Vend effectively navigated through the uncertainty and economic impact of COVID to be in a stronger position to pursue new growth opportunities across the markets of the United States, Canada, UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Over the past 10 years, Vend has grown and now counts more than 25,000 retail businesses as customers. Vend’s cloud software, mobile technology, and omnichannel inventory, sales, and reporting features have empowered retailers to keep up with changing customer shopping behavior and the increasing opportunities that retailers have as they sell across bricks and mortar and online channels.
“This is a tremendously exciting time in the industry and for Vend, as we continue to democratize access to technology and empower retailers to run their businesses with more intelligence and productivity,” Ana said. “I’m thrilled to continue leading our talented team, especially as Vend turns 10 this year and we think about the next wave of innovation we will lead in retail tech.”
“Over the past few years, I have worked closely with Ana and witnessed the huge contribution she has made to Vend,” said Vend Founder Vaughan Fergusson. “She brings incredible drive, leadership and big plans on how we can transform retail with technology. I look forward to the ongoing impact she will make to the business as CEO.”
With her appointment, Ana brings over 15 years’ experience in tech across strategy and operations in both B2B and B2C. Ana began her career in Group Strategy at Spark New Zealand, where she is now a Future Director, before moving to London and leading market strategy for Microsoft’s Consumer & Online division in the UK. Before joining Vend, Ana was SVP at McKinsey & Company, leading multi-million dollar transformations for a variety of international clients. Ana is based in Auckland, New Zealand.
About Vend
Vend is cloud-based point of sale and retail management software that lets retailers run their business in-store, online and on-the-go. Vend’s software integrates with leading business applications around the world, including Afterpay, Square, Shopify, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BigCommerce and WooCommerce. The first POS built for iOS, Vend is a key retail partner with Apple, CardConnect, Xero and more. Vend is used in more than 25,000 stores in over 140 countries and has five global offices with over 300 staff. For more information, please visit: http://www.vendhq.com/au