The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price has avoided the tech selloff on Thursday and is edging higher.
In morning trade, the struggling artificial intelligence (AI) data services company's shares are up 1% to $2.62.
Though, this is little consolation for its long-suffering shareholders, which have watched the Appen share price crash deep into the red this year, as you can see below.
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Why is the Appen share price rising?
Investors have been buying the company's shares after it announced a change in leadership.
Usually, a change of CEO will put pressure on a company's share price. However, investors appear to believe this is an overdue change given its poor performance in recent times and are buying shares today.
According to the release, the company has appointed Armughan Ahmad as CEO and president of the company, effective from no later than 30 January 2023.
Appen's current CEO and managing director, Mark Brayan, will remain with the business until 28 February 2023 to ensure a smooth transition.
The release notes that Ahmad brings over 25 years of global experience in the technology industry having led product, sales, and services organisations at KPMG, Dell Technologies, and Hewlett Packard.
In his most recent role as president and managing partner of Digital at KPMG in Canada, Ahmad oversaw the company's innovative services to product shift by delivering exponential technology-based market offerings to accelerate industry sector focused digital transformation for customers.
'An outstanding candidate'
Appen's Chair, Richard Freudenstein, was pleased with the appointment. He said:
As we scale Appen to its next phase of growth, the board felt it was important to appoint a successor with deep technology expertise in international markets.
Armughan is an outstanding candidate and is ideally suited to be the next CEO of Appen. He is one of the technology industry's most successful and respected executives having worked in both technology product companies in Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard and also in the services industry transformation at KPMG. Armughan has an incredible track record of driving growth and operational excellence, he is passionate about customers and partners, strongly believes in company culture, and is focused on delivering best-in-class innovation.
Armughan Ahmad appears up the challenge of turning around this fallen tech star's fortunes. He commented:
In my due diligence with industry partners and customers, I've found that Appen has the best technology in its category and delivers AI products and services to many of the world's largest tech companies and Fortune 500 customers globally.
Above all, Appen has built an incredible team that is committed to driving innovation while putting customers first. I am looking forward to leading this talented organisation to deliver continued innovation for our customers, value for our shareholders, and enhanced experience for our crowd contributors and employees.
