Former Skyscanner executive Shane Corstorphine has been appointed chair of xDesign.
Corstorphine, previously CFO and senior vice president for growth at the digital travel company – also based in Edinburgh – takes the reins from Par Equity鈥檚 Paul Atkinson.
xDesign is a digital consultancy and delivery partner which now employs more than 500 people, up from 40 in 2020. It says it has seen 10x revenue growth in the last three years.
Corstorphine will oversee the company鈥檚 strategic direction and corporate governance with the aim of supporting its next phase of growth. This summer it secured minority investment from Soho Square Capital and merged with innovation and design company CreateFuture.
鈥淭he last three years have seen xDesign mature as a business and start to gain impressive momentum in the market,鈥� said founder and CEO Euan Andrews. 鈥淚n 2023 alone, we鈥檝e reached some critical milestones and Paul has had a big part to play in our success to date.聽
鈥淥ver his tenure, he鈥檚 helped to steer the business through the challenges of COVID, supported us throughout record growth, and more recently, advised on the investment deal with Soho Square Capital.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 thankful to Paul for his belief in the business and look forward to continuing our relationship as he remains on our board as a non-executive director.
鈥淚鈥檝e known Shane for more than 10 years and in that time he鈥檚 been a big supporter of the type of company we鈥檙e building here at xDesign. Having himself been instrumental within one of Edinburgh鈥檚 homegrown success stories in recent times, the knowledge and insight he can bring will be vital in helping us to scale at pace and navigate the common pitfalls that high-growth digital businesses face.聽
鈥淲hat鈥檚 more, he shares xDesign鈥檚 belief that it鈥檚 only by investing in people that you can build a sustainable high-growth company.鈥澛犅犅犅�
Since leaving Skyscanner, Corstorphine has founded Scale Up Consulting Ltd, which provides coaching for CEOs of rapidly scaling businesses. He is also a non-exec director for Simple Online Healthcare and Forge Holiday Group.
鈥渪Design is spearheading a truly unique approach to digital transformation – one that is first and foremost about building solid relationships with people, whether colleagues or clients,鈥� he said.聽
鈥淔rom my years working in the industry, I fundamentally believe that this is the right foundation for building sustainable and high-growth businesses. What Euan has created with the guidance of Paul is a digital consultancy that has the core ingredients to not only continue growing at pace, but one which will leave a meaningful and lasting impact on the clients, colleagues and communities it engages with.鈥�