Centaman in management buyout

Vodafone Australia’s general manager business, Mark Iles, has departed for a new gig as CEO of software and services provider Centaman Systems.

The move sees Iles partnering with ANZ Capital and Centaman’s former Victorian state manager, Mike Korbel, in a management buyout of the company.

Korbel, who has been with Centaman for eight years, now takes on the position of general manager sales and operations.

John Randall, who was previously CEO of a number of healthcare companies, comes on to offer his wisdom as chairman of the board of directors.

Current CEO and founder, Greg Hanley, would stay on for around three months to transition the business to the new management team, Iles said.

The chance to head the emerging company – which offers a mix of services and software - “basically ERP but without the accounting component” – was to good to pass up, Isles said.

“The US isn’t the only place that has ISVs,” he said. “There is a lot of interesting small-to-medium Australian developers around.”

Isles, who was at Vodafone for close to two years, and also has around 20 years in the IT industry, said Centaman’s focus on the local government, education, tourism and leisure industries was also attractive.

“The thing about those verticals is that they are all growth areas and are looking at automating and outsourcing,” he said. “It’s a mix of excitement and apprehension but Centaman is a viable business with an extensive customer base.”

The company would now look to expand its Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices to Brisbane and Adelaide, then look at growing its presence in Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and the US, Isles said.

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