John Lillywhite steps down after successful tenure since formation at a time of exceptional company growth

Belfast, 16 April, 2012 – Leader in Customer Experience Management (CEM) applications for phone self-service and mobile, SpeechStorm, has appointed Conor Walsh as its new chairman, to assist the company through what is expected to be an exciting and important period of growth.

CEO at Andor Technology and already a member of the SpeechStorm Board, Conor takes over the role from John Lillywhite who has guided the company successfully through the first two years since its foundation, following a Management Buy Out from systems integrator, Kainos, in May 2010. John is a former chairman of APT, Meridio and Lagan Technologies and continues as chairman of Kainos. He also works closely with Queens University, Belfast, as well as a number of other high tech companies across the UK.

Conor joined Andor as Finance Director in 2002 and was integral to the Company’s listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2004. He took over as CEO in 2007 and since then Andor has seen revenues grow by 170% and operating profit by 560%. Today Andor is Northern Ireland’s largest plc by market capitalisation. Conor is a Chartered Director, a Fellow of the Institute of Management Accountants and holds a BSc in Computer Science.

SpeechStorm’s CEO and co-founder, Oliver Lennon, said, “We are delighted to have Conor Walsh take on the role as Chairman at SpeechStorm. His track record at Andor is more than impressive and his experience will be invaluable to us as we grow, driven by the increased importance being attached to improving customer experience by organisations across all sectors.

“Our thanks also extend to John Lillywhite for his expert guidance through our initial start-up phase and for pointing us in the right direction. He leaves us in a very strong position with what we expect to be a very bright future. We wish him every continued success with his chairmanship at Kainos and the other businesses with which he is involved.”