Xodus Group appoints first executive chairman to drive global growth

Edward van Kersbergen, who became a non executive director last year, has taken up full executive chair duties to lead the board through major expansion.

Colin Manson, CEO of Xodus Group said the time was right for Xodus to have a dedicated chair to propel the company towards ambitious targets.

He added: 'We believe that Edward is the perfect chairman to guide Xodus through a very aggressive period of growth. His experience of growing, nurturing and selling businesses will be invaluable in supporting the board as we take Xodus to the next level.'

Mr van Kersbergen began his career in 1988 with Shell working on offshore drilling rigs as a well-site operations engineer and fulfilled various roles in Scotland, London, Germany and Syria. He later became Petroleum Engineering and Business Development Director at RDS-Resource, having held a position with Premier Oil in Singapore, responsible for subsurface and exploration activities

In 2001, He was co-founder and CEO of successful subsurface consultancy Horizon Energy Partners, which he sold to SGS in 2008.

Mr van Kersbergen said: 'I have been incredibly impressed with the breadth of technical expertise within Xodus and the sheer ambition and drive of the management team. I look forward to being directly involved in the next chapter of the company's development. We are aiming to at least double in size through organic growth to 1,000 by 2015 and in addition the board will be proactively seeking international acquisition opportunities.'

The Aberdeen-headquartered consultancy which launched in 2005 has grown to more than 400 people and a turnover of £38.5million offering integrated services covering both oil and gas and low carbon.

In 2011, Xodus invested significantly in expansion with new offices in Houston, Nigeria, The Hague and Norway and in the UK. The board is actively seeking out further global expansion in regions including the Middle East and Asia Pacific.