Games services and software provider Keywords Studios has hired a new CEO in Bertrand Bodson (pictured).
He has been appointed following the departure of founder and chief exec Andrew Day, who brought forward his retirement plan to June following a leave of absence for health reasons earlier in the year.
Bodson is currently the chief digital officer of health provider Novartis, as well as a member of its executive committee. That's on top of this position as a non-executive director for supermarket giant Tesco. He will be starting as Keywords CEO on December 1st.
In his career, he has also held roles at the likes of Amazon, supermarket Sainsbury's and music label EMI.
"I am excited to join Keywords as a proven market-leader with a clear opportunity to continue to grow its services, reach and scale, and to capitalise on its integrated full service offering, in a global yet fragmented market," Bodson said.
"Building on its successful organic and acquisitive growth track record, its inclusive culture, customer focus and unique platform, I'm looking forward to leading the Group's ambitious team to deliver an ever more compelling proposition for this buoyant market, and beyond."
The company's chair Ross Graham added: "We are delighted to have attracted a candidate of Bertrand's calibre to lead Keywords through the next phase of its development in the video games and adjacent content industries. Bertrand brings an ideal skillset to leading our ambitious, international business given the breadth of his experience in shaping and executing growth strategies and engendering strong cultures at some of the world's leading businesses. This expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow across multiple territories to cement our position as the 'go-to' provider of scale within our industry, globally.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jon Hauck and Sonia Sedler who, as our joint interim CEOs, have ensured the business has continued to go from strength to strength, and who look forward to working closely with Bertrand when he joins."