Andy Parker, Capita’s CEO in-waiting?

Andy Parker, Capita’s joint COO, is being promoted to take on the additional role of deputy CE from 1 June. This is a new role reporting directly to CE Paul Pindar, which Pindar said would give him ‘the opportunity to develop further’. Parker is being given a taste of what it might be like in the top job having apparently played a key role in enhancing Capita’s operational strength, identifying and integrating a number of key acquisitions and helping it broaden scope into additional markets like health, justice and emergency services.

Parker (43) joined Capita in 2001 from Phoenix IT Group where he led their commercial function, and was appointed to the Capita board in January 2011. In his role as joint COO with Vic Gysin, he oversees the majority of Capita's non-financial services operations.

Parker's promotion to deputy CE tells us that Capita is still on the lookout for non-linear growth via M&A and new market development. Whether he is the eventual successor to Paul Pindar remains to be seen. What it really shows is the depth of talent sitting within the business, and Pindar is right to be making best use of this to help shape Capita’s future direction.

Nonetheless, as our chairman Richard Holway notes, ‘Pindar has been in post since the very start of Capita back in the 1980s. He (and his co-founder Rod Aldridge) has done a truly fantastic job. Capita has been the best performing FTSE100 share and, indeed, the best performing share in the whole SITS/BPO sector since their 1989 IPO. But, I guess, we all have to go one day...’