Steve Bell named Kerv CEO

His appointment follows the departure of the company’s co-founders earlier this year

Kerv has hired Steve Bell as its new CEO, effective immediately.

Bell brings nearly 20 years of leadership experience to the top job.

He co-founded marketing consultancy Iris Worldwide in 2000, becoming MD in 2007 before transitioning to CEO in 2010.

He most recently served as the head of publisher and developer Everplay Group, a role he assumed for over two years.

“Kerv is clearly a brilliant company with terrific people, strong customer and vendor relationships and real momentum,” said Bell.

“It feels very well positioned for the opportunities in today’s business and technology landscape, which makes this such an exciting moment.

“I’ve really enjoyed spending time with the leadership team already and am looking forward to working closely with colleagues across the business and meeting as many people as possible over the coming weeks.”

The appointment follows the departure of both of Kerv’s co-founders earlier this year.

In January, Michael Ing retired after five years as MD, while Alastair Mills left the business a month later.

Other recent leadership changes include the promotion of Katrina King to chief customer and operations officer in January as well as the appointment of Ian Grose as CFO in February.

Bell joins amid a period of strong momentum for the business.

Kerv reported revenues of £127.1m for the year ended 31 March 2025, up nearly 23 per cent from £104.1m the previous year.

On the other hand, adjusted EBITDA dropped by around 50 per cent to £9.5m, down from £19.1m.

Performance was reportedly driven by the firm’s contact centre offering and IT managed services.

For the rest of the year, the group plans to focus its M&A and organic growth on improving financial performance, operational agility and governance.

Bridgepoint Development Capital’s investment in early 2024 is expected to further support this acquisition strategy, which led to the purchase of Inciper that year.

Kerv ranks number 42 on CRN’s Top VARs list.