Canary IT doubles down on M&A path with leadership changes

Canary IT has made leadership changes to drive mergers, acquisitions and strategic initiatives, including a newly created role of role of executive director for former CEO Stephen Parsonage.

He will be replaced by former Tesserent chief growth officer James Ormesher, who will step into the role of CEO effective immediately.

Parsonage co-founded the business with Bill Henderson over 26 years ago and has served as CEO since its inception.

He will now lead the company’s mergers, acquisitions and strategic growth initiatives. This is “a critical focus area as Canary IT continues to expand”, stated the IT service provider.

“Under Steve’s leadership, Canary has grown into a leading IT services provider, completing multiple strategic acquisitions and positioning itself as a robust platform for future growth,” the business said in a statement.

The leadership transition marks a significant milestone in Canary IT’s ongoing evolution and growth strategy and comes at a time of strong momentum, with continued investments in talent, technology, and geographic expansion.

During 2024, it completed several acquisitions, with more to come in the pipeline.

After 26 years helping build Canary IT from the ground up, the time was right to hand the reins to a new leader, said Parsonage.

“James brings the fresh energy and vision we need to continue scaling the business while I shift my focus to growth through acquisition and strategic opportunities,” he said.

Aside from a senior leadership role at Tesserent, Ormesher held senior leadership roles at Tesserent, Telstra Purple and Virtual Machine Technology (VMtech). At the former, he was instrumental in driving team performance, sustainable business growth and securing long term customer advocacy.

He is known for his ability to scale teams, navigate change and deliver strong results across highly competitive technology markets.

“James’s deep industry expertise, people-first approach and clear strategic vision make him the ideal leader to guide Canary IT through its next phase of growth,” said Canary IT board chair Stephe Wilks.

In May 2024, ARN reported that Canary was formed out of a merger between IT Consult, Diversus Group and BCPrise.