In morning trade the Audinate (ASX: AD8) share price is trading flat at $7.68 following the release of an announcement.
What was announced?
This morning Audinate announced that its chief executive officer, Lee Ellison, intends to retire from the role on September 13 following the release of the company's full year results.
The company has acted swiftly and revealed that chief technology officer and co-founder of Audinate, Aidan Williams, will succeed Mr Ellison as the company's new chief executive officer.
Chairman David Krall said: "Lee has been a key contributor to the growth of Audinate, and the results speak for themselves. Under Lee's leadership as CEO over the past 11 years, Audinate has become the global market leader in audio networking for the professional AV industry. Lee led the Company through its successful IPO in June 2017, and since its listing Audinate has consistently delivered strong results and record growth."
This certainly has been the case. In fact, the results have been so strong that on Wednesday Audinate's shares, along with Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) and Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO), climbed to an all-time high. When Audinate's shares hit that level they stretched their year to date return to a whopping 115%.
Mr Krall revealed that the board had planned for this eventuality for some time and that Aidan Williams was always their first choice for the role.
He said: "Together with Lee and the Board, we developed a succession plan over the last year to ensure a smooth transition of the CEO role. Our plan was for Aidan to follow Lee into the CEO role, and we are delighted that this will occur. Having co-founded Audinate, Aidan has been a guiding force in its product innovation and strategy and will continue to do so as CEO. With a talented team in place, we are confident of a smooth transition and continued growth."
What can shareholders expect with the new CEO?
It looks set to be business as usual for Audinate under the leadership of Aidan Williams.
The new CEO said: "I look forward to building on the successes that occurred under Lee's leadership. We are at a very exciting point in the Company's development, with strong ongoing momentum highlighted by achieving the milestone of 2,000 Dante enabled OEM products available for sale. Having been closely involved in the technology and strategy of the business to date, I see my role as leading the team to unlock the value embedded in transforming the global AV industry through networking and software."
