Wejo Appoints John Maxwell as Chief Financial Officer
MANCHESTER, England & DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wejo, the leader in connected vehicle data, today announced that Chief Financial Officer Barry Nightingale is planning to retire and John Maxwell has been appointed his successor in the role. The changes to the leadership team are effective immediately and come at a time of significant growth for the company, which enables mobility intelligence by 12 billion data points a day from 10.6 million vehicles out of a supply base of 50 million vehicles.
During his tenure at Wejo, Nightingale helped lead the company from early-stage tech startup to global connected vehicle data leader. This included the $42 million of recent funding to ensure the Wejo team could remain at the forefront of the high growth connected vehicle market. Under his financial leadership, Wejo was named “Fastest Growing Company of the Year” at GP Bullhound’s Northern Tech Awards and established robust finance, legal and compliance teams and processes. Nightingale will continue to advise the company through early 2022.
“Barry has been a savvy financial leader and sage business counselor through some of our most critical moments of growth, and I’m grateful for all he has done to get Wejo to this inflection point,” said Richard Barlow, founder and CEO of Wejo. “He leaves big shoes for John to fill, but I have every confidence the company will remain on strong financial footing in the months and years ahead under his leadership.”
Maxwell will report directly to Barlow and work closely with the entire executive team and the Board of Directors as the company enters its next phase of growth. He will be responsible for delivering strong financial results through revenue growth and cost management, capital markets transactions, investor relations and board management. Maxwell will be based in the New York City area.
Maxwell comes to Wejo with more than 30 years of experience driving financial growth in highly successful start-ups in complex industries including tech and telecom. Most recently, he was CFO of Aquestive Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AQST), a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on epilepsy and allergy treatments. During his four-year tenure at the company, he prepared AQST for its IPO, raising $115 million of new equity capital in its 2018 IPO and 2019 follow-on. In addition, Maxwell led a $100 million debt recapitalization and a $125 million royalty monetization transaction at Aquestive. Prior, he was SVP of finance and administration at PanAmSat (NYSE: PA), a global satellite telecommunications business, which he helped take private in a transaction lead by KKR in 2003 and subsequently brought public on the NYSE in 2005. He was also CFO at private equity-backed WIL Research, a contract research organization, which was acquired by Charles River Laboratories in 2016. He started his career at Ernst & Young, and held various senior financial roles at General Signal, ADP, INFONXX and Plainfield Asset Management.
“Having worked at a variety of high-growth companies where I was responsible for taking financial performance to the next level, I recognize the incredible promise in Wejo,” said Maxwell. “The company is on a trajectory that will not only see major transformation in the organization, but also has potential to change the world for the better—from smarter cars to safer roads and more sustainable cities. I am eager for the great opportunity ahead of me working with a growing, global company in a solid market position with no signs of slowing down.”
For more on Wejo, please visit their website, www.wejo.com.
About Wejo
Wejo is the leader in connected vehicle data, revolutionizing the way we live, work and travel by transforming and interpreting historic and real-time vehicle data. The company enables smarter mobility by organizing trillions of data points from over 10.6 million vehicles and more than 42.3 billion journeys globally, across multiple brands, makes and models, and then standardizing and enhancing those streams of data on a vast scale. Wejo partners with ethical, like-minded companies and organizations to turn that data into insights that unlock value for consumers. With the most comprehensive and trusted data, information and intelligence, Wejo is creating a smarter, safer, more sustainable world for all. Founded in 2014, Wejo employs more than 150 people and has offices in Manchester in the UK and Detroit in the US. For more information, visit: www.wejo.com.