Boardroom overhaul at language tech firm Arria NLG

Language technology firm Arria NLG, which uses technology developed at the University of Aberdeen, has unveiled a boardroom shake-up ahead of its planned listing on the New Zealand and Australian stock markets.

Arria uses technology developed at the University of Aberdeen. Picture: Contributed

Aim-quoted Arria said that US executive Sharon Davies, who was one of the founding shareholders of the company, will become chairman and will be acting chief executive until the listings are complete when chief strategy officer Matthew Gould will become chief executive.

Co-founder Stuart Rogers has stepped down as chairman and chief executive after four years and non-executive director Michael Higgins is also leaving the board.

The company said both men had provided “invaluable leadership and guidance to the company and helped lay the foundation for the commercial success of Arria NLG in the future”.

Arria said Daniels was highly regarded in the New Zealand market and had previous experience of taking a foreign company on to the stock exchange there through US technology firm, Diligent.

The group, in which the University of Aberdeen owns a stake of just under 4 per cent, specialises in technology which turns complex data into reports that read as though they were written by a human.

The business has clients in industries including agriculture, artificial intelligence, banking, meteorology and oil and gas.

Arria’s first chairman was New Zealander Brian Henry and it has a number of investors in that country.

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