Stuart McLean moves to Trade Me as Xero ditches chief revenue role

Stuart McLean will join the executive team at Trade Me Group, the online auction site, after Xero, the cloud-based accounting firm, ditched his former role as chief revenue officer.

The disestablishment of the chief revenue role comes after the Wellington-based software firm appointed Andrew Lark, former Commonwealth Bank of Australia executive as chief marketing officer, it said in a statement. Earlier this year, Xero's North America chief executive Peter Karpas left the company suddenly, less than a year into the job, as the company reworked its US growth plans.

McLean had worked with the company since May last year, having previously been Google's head of enterprise for Australia and New Zealand, according to his LinkedIn profile. McLean will join the Wellington-based auction site in February, leading its general items marketplace.

"We continue to shape our executive team and organisation to reflect the rapid growth of our business globally," said Rod Drury, Xero's chief executive. "Stuart has done an outstanding job as CRO, where he was responsible for both sales and marketing, contributing positively to our growth to over $US100 million annualised revenue and over 400,000 customers. We are delighted Stuart will be able to contribute to another great NZ technology company."

Shares of Xero last traded at $15.50 and have plunged some 66 percent from its March peak of $45.99 Trade Me stock last traded at $3.52 and has fallen 13 percent since the start of the year.