WSO2 has announced the appointment of Richard Evans as its UK and Ireland Country Manager. Evans will be responsible for leading strategic growth initiatives in the region and fostering key partnerships locally. He will bring two decades of open-source experience to help accelerate the adoption of WSO2’s open-source AI-native developer and integration platforms for API management, integration, and identity and access management (IAM) across the UK.
WSO2 has established a strong presence in the UK&I with around twenty employees in the UK (Source: LinkedIn). Customers include ScottishPower, the University of Edinburgh, and Transport for London. WSO2 has customers across several sectors, including finance, telecommunications, utilities, and retail.
It also supports the UK government’s digital strategy. With nearly £4 million in sales to the UK Government and public sector bodies. Customers include the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and local government authorities.
Evans joined the company as UK&I Sales Director and Acting Country Manager. With the appointment to Country Manager was confirmed in April.
Who is Richard Evans
Evans joins from Simplex Services, an IT consulting and implementation services provider based in Brighton. There he was Head of Global Sales and responsible for the go-to-market sales strategy.
Before joining Simplex, he was at Red Hat for 17 years. Rising through the sales division to become the Retail Lead (UK) of strategic accounts. He built a new retail vertical business there. To achieve that, he brought together software vendors and system integrators with customers to carve a significant market for Red Hat in the retail sector.
He has deep experience selling and delivering integration, API management, and enterprise architecture solutions to clients in the public and private sectors. His wide knowledge of middleware, open-source technologies, and customer-centric solution development has led him to become a trusted voice with clients.
During his career, he has helped drive digital transformation across the enterprise software and cloud computing industries. While most of his career has been in sales, with additional roles at MGI and UKTelecom, he also has practical experience, working at Surrey Country Council early in his career.
Richard Evans said, “I am thrilled to be driving WSO2’s go-to-market strategy at a time when AI is transforming the digital landscape. WSO2’s commitment to open-source innovation and its comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools position us to effectively support UK organisations in navigating the complexities of digital transformation.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Evans has a strong pedigree in driving the growth of open-source solutions, opening up new markets. Over the years, WSO2’s open-source, cloud-enabled middleware platform has been developed to include its leading API Management platform an open-source integration solution, Identity and Access Management, and Choreo, its internal developer platform.
The WSO2 first appointed Evans as Acting Country Manager, indicating his primary focus is still likely to be on sales and growing the sales team within the region to drive growth. Interestingly, the two open positions in the UK are both within the channel sales area. Is he looking to achieve growth through a new partner strategy?
