Mandata drives haulage tech business forward with three senior board appointments

Mandata has made four key appointments to its board and senior management team as part of a programme of significant investment in the business, helping to drive customer success and advances in its transport management technology.

Allan Farrell joins the Mandata board as Chief Technology Officer, Sandra Pretorius has joined as Chief Marketing Officer and Clive O’Sullivan has taken the position as Group Strategic Projects Director. In addition, Jonathan Ball, former Managing Director of Stirling Solutions Ltd, has moved into a new role at Mandata as its Strategic Relationship Director.

Mandata provides transport management solutions to haulage operators throughout the UK and Ireland.  The company, now in its 48th year of operation, remains at the forefront of integrated technology development.

Since merging with Stirling Solutions Ltd in 2021, the business has focused its efforts on bringing its teams together to serve the needs of its customers more effectively.

Driving forward: Allan Farrell, Chief Technology Officer and Sandra Pretorius, Chief Marketing Officer at Mandata

Allan Farrell is overseeing the growing technology team’s commitments to further develop its cloud TMS and mobile solutions.  He heads up a 50-strong team of software and technology experts responsible for Mandata Group’s portfolio of Mandata, Stirling and Returnloads solutions.

A former Global IT Director of Dell, and CTO of several European technology businesses, Allan brings a wealth of experience, expertise and energy to the newly created role and has already restructured teams, adopting agile ways of working and automation to increase the speed of developments to market.

Allan commented: “Mandata is an ambitious, modern SAAS tech business with great leadership, great people, and a great culture.

“It’s a challenging period for the sector: driver shortages and fuel prices are causing significant operational challenges, so it’s never been more important for us to keep developing solutions that drive real and tangible benefits for our customers.”

Sandra Pretorius has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer to establish and lead a new marketing organisation. She brings a wealth of experience, having led advertising and marketing teams for many years, including most recently, for a global SaaS business.

Commenting on her appointment, Sandra said: “Mandata is a key player and innovator in the transport technology market, and it’s an exciting time to join the company. My priorities are to help hauliers, regardless of their business size, experience how our range of integrated products helps to drive actual, measurable growth in their businesses, as well as helping our loyal customers to get the most from their software.”

Clive O’Sullivan has been appointed as Group Strategic Projects Director, working alongside CEO, Chris Rigg.  Jonathan Ball will be working closely with Mandata Partners in his role as Strategic Relationships Director.  The company has also announced that CRO Steve Spark has retired from the business.

Chris Rigg, CEO of Mandata said: “I am pleased to welcome Allan, Sandra, Jonathan, and Clive to the management team.  Their appointments represent a significant investment and underline our commitment to deliver exceptional solutions and services to our customers.

“This announcement represents one of many recent investments being made, bringing the very best people and technology together to support the sector and drive our business forward.”

Mandata employed a further 23 people throughout the business in 2021 and continues to expand its teams in software development, customer success, training, and development to support customer requirements and a growing demand for its software solutions.