Blackbird plc, the cloud video editing platform, has announced the appointment of Anne de Kerckhove as senior non-executive director and chair of its audit committee. The position is effective immediately, and de Kerckhove will replace John Honeycutt who has stepped down. De Kerckhove is an established international executive with relevant experience in technology, B2B and B2C SaaS, media, entertainment, eCommerce marketplaces, and digital transformation. She has extensive non-executive director experience working with publicly quoted and private companies such as 888 Holdings plc, 7Digital Group, Metail, and AIM-quoted Eagle Eye Solutions Group plc.
After working as a banker in Canada and management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in London, de Kerckhove has spent her career focused on technology and innovation. Until January 2023, she served as CEO of Freespee, a company in the customer experience orchestration space. De Kerckhove has held several managing director roles in fast-growing companies like Videology, an online advertising technology platform, and Inspired Gaming Group. She is an angel investor, mentor, and limited partner in over 20 early-stage startups and entrepreneurial funds.
According to Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough, “to have someone of Anne’s leadership and strategic calibre join us as a senior independent non-executive director at this time will help myself, the board and the executive team enormously.” McDonough also praised de Kerckhove’s knowledge and experiences in B2C and B2B SaaS businesses that would come in handy as Blackbird launches its new direct to creator platform, elevate.io, and operates its award-winning professional platform.
De Kerckhove expressed her excitement regarding her appointment to Blackbird’s board and the chance to work with the company. She praised Blackbird’s impressive track record in video creation and editing across the media and entertainment world, as well as some of the significant sporting events globally. She also acknowledged that the launch of elevate.io aimed at the creator economy would bring a significant and exciting new growth market to the business.
Blackbird plc recently announced a placing to raise £1.05m to speed up its business growth, product, platform, and geographic expansion.
