Executive Team

Stewart Smythe
CEO

Joining Adapt as CEO, Stewart has a proven track record in leading and transforming Managed Services businesses in both private and public ownership.

Stewart started in the IT Services industry in 2003 as Finance Director of Energis, a privately-owned UK telecoms business. He was a core part of the management team that successfully turned the business around and later sold it to Cable & Wireless (C&W) in 2005 as part of a reverse takeover.

As Managing Director of the Enterprise Division of C&W from 2006 to 2009, Stewart was accountable for 30% of C&W Group revenues and all of its large outsourced customers. During this period, Stewart delivered double digit revenue, EBITDA and cash growth across the division every year.

After the acquisition of THUS in 2008 by C&W, Stewart was appointed CEO of the standalone subsidiary in 2009. In the following 18 months he repositioned the business as a UK mid-market service provider and trebled the EBITDA of the business.

After the successful demerger and floatation of the C&W Worldwide division in Spring 2010, Stewart returned to the C&W Worldwide main board as Group Strategy Director in 2011.

Prior to joining the sector in 2003, Stewart worked for Accenture in their Finance and performance management consultancy practice and KPMG in both their audit and corporate finance departments. He is a qualified chartered accountant.

Jat Brainch
CFO

Jat joins Adapt as Chief Financial Officer, having previously held a number of high-profile positions at leading telecoms and technology brands including Finance Director at Logica Group PLC (now part of CGI), Group Financial Controller at Telefónica Europe PLC and Head of Commercial Finance at T-Mobile (UK) Ltd.

First awarded a Directorship at 34, Jat’s proven commercial acumen has won her several key leadership roles in enterprise transformation initiatives. Over the course of her career to date, Jat’s responsibilities have included leading international investment committees, retooling Group-wide financial processes and planning and controlling growth to deliver maximum shareholder value.

Jat’s mission at Adapt is to drive performance and value as the business scales out and consolidates its position as a leading enterprise-class managed service provider.

Simon Fisk
Sales & Marketing Director

Simon is a Sales and Management strategist with a reputation for creating and leading some of the most successful teams in the IT industry. With over 12 years' demonstrable P&L history acquired in both private and listed companies, Simon brings a wealth of experience in infrastructure, managed services and software sales to Adapt.

As Sales & Marketing Director, Simon is responsible for the strategic direction and execution of Adapt's planned growth, restructuring and developing the departments within his remit to optimise performance and drive new business.

Prior to Adapt, Simon began his management career in the FMCG market place before moving into a sales leadership role in a start up IT / Telecoms business that was successfully grown and acquired by Alternative Networks, later moving to Computacenter to manage their Enterprise and Data Centre sales teams before joining Computer Associates (CA) as Head of Sales for the Commercial Markets sector. During this time, Simon delivered successive growth over 30 consecutive quarters by building and developing teams to drive transformational and large-scale data centre projects to FTSE 500 organisations.

More recently, Simon was recruited by Xploite PLC to integrate and restructure its multiple acquired entities under the Anix brand. Through the execution of targeted sales campaigns, aggressive market strategies and alliances, Simon delivered market-leading profit growth over 24 months, playing a pivotal role in the ultimate sale of Anix to ACS for 31.5m in June 2009.

Gerry Lawrence
Operations Director

Gerry is an experienced business executive with a proven track record in corporate environments and broad entrepreneurial streak. From building and managing services for a £20k start-up ISP with explosive subscriber growth that ultimately sold for £66m to his most recent high-profile role at Group NBT, Gerry’s career to date has focussed on creating commercial advantage from operational transformation.

As CTO for Group NBT plc, Gerry was responsible for all technical operations and software development, driving service quality and customer focus. During this 5 year leadership period, Group NBT’s value rose from £42m to £153m as Gerry masterminded the integration and consolidation of acquired systems into the Group to deliver the most automated and efficient domain name registration platform in the industry, as well as becoming the first service provider to obtain full PCI DSS compliance in the UK.

At Adapt, Gerry owns strategic planning for the Operations group against Adapt’s technical roadmap, designing, implementing and sustaining a programme of continuous improvement and consistent service excellence. An executive champion for new services and their specifications, Gerry’s technical expertise is complemented by solid commercial skills that enable effective forecasting, planning and business analysis.