Nasstar appoints Chris Halbard CEO
The move comes as the group pivots towards AI, data and hyperscale services
West Yorkshire-HQ MSP Nasstar has hired Chris Halbard as CEO, replacing Paul Cosgrave who is stepping down after three and a half years.
Cosgrave will reportedly take on new senior advisory roles.
Most recently, Halbard served as CEO at Foundever, a role he assumed for seven months following a nine-month stint as EMEA CEO.
He also held C-suite and senior exec positions at DXC Technology, Velonetic, Accenture, Synchronoss Technologies (now part of Lumine Group), BT Global Services and Lucent Technologies.
“I am excited to be joining Nasstar and look forward to working with the team to further strengthen our position as a leading provider of AI advisory and enabling services across secure connectivity and cloud, applications and data,” said Halbard.
“I am joining at an exciting time, with strong foundations already in place and I look forward to working closely with our existing and new customers, and our team, to drive meaningful outcomes and long-term value through our integrated and differentiated offering.”
Cosgrave added: “I am immensely proud of what we have built together at Nasstar.
“I am pleased to be handing over the Group CEO role to Chris at this juncture and I look forward to advising Arcmont on their investments in the space as I expand my portfolio advisory work.”
The leadership change comes a few months after the firm reported declining figures for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Revenue dropped roughly 16 per cent from £176.2m to £148.6m, reflecting what the group referred to as a “strategic rationalisation” of its portfolio, with legacy technologies phased out in favour of AI, data and hyperscaler-aligned services.
Gross profit also dipped about ten per cent, landing at £66.5m compared with £73.6m the year prior.
This company also further revamped its leadership team over the past 12 months, hiring David Senior as CFO in April last year.
Nasstar ranks number 19 on CRN’s Top VARs list.