Aqilla, the intelligent cloud-native accounting and reporting application company, has promoted Chris Tredwell to Chief Operating Officer and appointed him to its newly restructured board. He joins Hugh Scantlebury (CEO and Founder) and Mark Rodel-Duffy (CFO). The senior leadership team also includes Andrei Zykov (CTO) and Charis Thomas (Chief Product Officer).
The board will oversee the ongoing rollout of native AI-enabled features within Aqilla’s application. “It’s a natural step forward for a product that has always been at the forefront of innovation—and for a company that takes pride in disrupting a profoundly cautious and conservative market,” comments Hugh Scantlebury, Aqilla’s CEO and Founder.
As COO, Tredwell will focus on growth across direct sales, partner relations and marketing, strengthen brand communication and reach, and continue work begun as Chief Sales Officer to address skills gaps within the sales team—all aligned to the company’s target of 20% year-on-year growth.
“I’m delighted to welcome Chris to Aqilla’s board,” comments Hugh Scantlebury. “He will play an important role in delivering Aqilla’s next significant product evolution. He will also provide valuable insight and direction as we continue to take a common-sense approach to AI. One that delivers advanced automation of core accounting and finance team processes. Additionally, Chris will be pivotal in ensuring we never lose sight of our mission to help accounting and finance teams add value to their organisation.”
“Throughout my career at Aqilla, I’ve been committed to helping accounting and finance teams that struggle with time-consuming, manual processes—often because they rely on outdated software that’s underpinned by obsolete technology,” Chris Tredwell, Aqilla’s Chief Operating Officer, explains. “My appointment to the board provides me with even more scope to address this issue. I have a chance to educate potential customers and the wider industry about the efficiencies and benefits of our cloud-native accounting and finance solution—one that now offers native AI-enhanced functionality.”
Chris added that many organisations remain cautious about AI in finance. “Our ultimate goal is to use AI to deliver lights-out or zero-touch accounting. However, we are rolling out our AI integrations in a way that allows users to specify a level of human involvement or automation that works for them. This allows finance and accounting teams to build up confidence—and get to know the software’s new AI-driven functionality before committing to full automation.”
Tredwell joined Aqilla in 2019 as Enterprise Business Development Manager, became Enterprise Sales & Partnerships Manager in November 2022, and was appointed Chief Sales Officer in November 2023 before taking up the COO role and board seat earlier this year.
