The founding CEO of Immersive Labs is to step down after eight years at the helm of the cybersecurity firm.
44-year-old James Hadly, who founded the Bristol-based business in 2017, will retain his board seat as he transitions to the new role of Chief Innovation Officer.
He will be replaced by Mark Schmitz, the former chief executive of cloud computing company Citrix.
“We’ve achieved incredible milestones at Immersive and I am thrilled to bring Mark onboard and partner with him to usher in our next phase of growth helping our customers prove and improve cyber readiness,” said Hadley.
“As we look to the future, Mark’s experience and leadership will be an invaluable complement to mine as we expand our market reach, as well as our leadership position, in the industry.
Schmitz has previously held senior positions at SAP, Ariba, Accenture and Collibra, where he served as president. He will officially take over at Immersive Labs on 17 March.
“Immersive’s innovative approach to people-centric cybersecurity is critical for confronting today’s and tomorrow’s threats, and it’s a key aspect of my decision to join the company,” Schmitz said.
“I look forward to working with this amazingly talented team to accelerate growth and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”
Hadley raised over $180m (£139m) from investors as CEO of Immersive Labs, most recently in a £60m round in 2022.
The business supports the cybersecurity of organisations through “immersive” drills to test digital defences.
Customers of Immersive include Citi, Pfizer, HSBC and Goldman Sachs. The company also works with government organisations, notably the Ministry of Defence, which agreed a cyber defence partnership with it in 2022.
In the firm’s most recent accounts – for the year ended December 2023 – it posted a pre-tax loss of £6.1m, around half of its losses the year before.
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