Edinburgh-based agritech business appoints Chief Operating Officer

IGS, the Edinburgh-headquartered agritech and smart spaces business is gearing up for significant growth in 2021 as it welcomes aboard Andrew Lloyd as Chief Operating Officer.  His appointment is a strategic addition to the senior executive team at IGS, heralding a clear transition for the business to drive a globally-focused delivery and operational model. 

Considerable market penetration and business growth is predicted for IGS as global interest in vertical farming and agritech solutions heightens. Andrew’s role will be pivotal to the success of this growth and the company’s establishment of a wider operating base across the globe. In 2020 IGS announced its first commercial customers and has already begun to deploy its vertical farming systems with a core team established to deliver these.

Andrew will directly support IGS CEO David Farquhar with operational responsibility for the delivery of business growth, particularly across the sales, marketing and deployment functions of the business. He will work closely with Chief Product Officer Lawrence Ross to continue the culture of technical innovation and the solutions-focused systems approach for which IGS is renowned.

Andrew’s experience spans executive and non-executive roles across public and privately held technology businesses, working in an international capacity for much of his career. He joins IGS from Dynama Solutions where he was Managing Director and his recent responsibilities included the delivery of workforce planning for the NHS Nightingale Hospital rollout in England. Prior to that, he held senior executive positions at Corero Network Security, Workplace Systems (subsequently WorkForce Software), Oracle and Netegrity (subsequently CA).

His experience has been focused on driving sales and marketing growth across cyber-security, enterprise and workforce management application software and performance-critical middleware.

On his decision to join IGS, Andrew commented: “I am thrilled to join IGS to lead the next stages of the company’s growth. What IGS has already achieved is remarkable and provides a solid foundation for our growth in 2021 and beyond.

“The IGS team radiates a passion for tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges, including sustainable food production and reducing carbon emissions. This genuine purpose combined with a value system focused on customer delight has proven to be an irresistible magnet for me and I believe it will also prove to be so for our innovative and entrepreneurial customers.”

IGS CEO, David Farquhar, continued: “Andrew’s ability to drive sales, generate market growth and deliver strategic results for both customers and investors is seriously impressive. I have known Andrew for many years, having the pleasure of working with him previously at Workplace Systems, and I am delighted to welcome him to the IGS team.

“The world continues to reel from the effects and implications of COVID-19, however, against this backdrop an absolute basic human necessity has been recognised: reliable access to food. Growing food in a sustainable and scalable way has never been more important, and technology is a key driver in moving this forward. We fundamentally believe that our world-leading systems are part of the solution to these challenges, however our success is reliant on having the best leaders who can think strategically and deliver operationally to help move us forward to the next phase of growth. I know that Andrew will perfectly complement the existing skills of our senior leadership team, giving us the strength and experience we need to move forward to this next chapter of IGS’ story.”

Andrew graduated from Heriot-Watt University with First Class Honours in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. He is an active member of GlobalScot, a Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise sponsored network of globally experienced business professionals with a keen interest in fostering Scotland’s economic health and success.