Kerry Purcell has been appointed as the new CEO of LAB³ allowing former CEO and co-founder Chris Cook to focus on the LAB³ global software brand, Altra.

Kerry has already been a member of the LAB³ Senior Leadership team for almost a year, joining the company in October 2023 at a pivotal time to support key strategic accounts and to help develop a go-to-market strategy for continued future growth with LAB³ as a leader of AI innovation. Kerry has also been appointed to the LAB³ Board. 

Kerry and Chris have worked well together over the past year, and the strong synergies between them are already paying dividends.

“It is a natural point of evolution in our growth for Kerry, and his wealth of experience with large corporates in Asia, to assume the CEO role. This frees up Chris to fully focus on cementing Altra as a recognisable global brand, with the Board remaining one hundred percent confident in LAB³’s expansion into Asian markets.” – Bob Cook, Chair, LAB³ Board

Given the strong synergies between Kerry and Chris to date, Kerry’s transition to CEO is expected to be seamless and without significant changes to the direction of LAB³, or any ramifications to technology partnerships or support of clients.

“As LAB³ continues its trajectory to become a leading cloud services provider in the southern hemisphere, Kerry will drive the expansion into Asia and the establishment of our AI Centre of Excellence”, says Chris. “Over the past year, Kerry has played a pivotal role in advancing these strategic initiatives.“ 

Kerry and Chris have a long history of collaboration, with Chris having worked under Kerry before his days at LAB³. Chris has always found Kerry’s leadership and client engagement “truly inspiring”.

“LAB³ is fortunate to have someone of Kerry’s expertise and vision at the helm, with the full support of the senior leadership team and the LAB³ Board.” – Chris Cook, former CEO and co- founder, LAB³

Kerry has over 20 years of experience at a leadership level in Asia including as the Kyndryl President for ANZ and Chairman for Japan, and as the Managing Director of IBM Australia and New Zealand and as the Managing Director for EDS Asia prior to IBM. Kerry is widely regarded for having helped drive significant change for business and government organisations throughout the Asia and Japan markets with technology transformation.  

Times are exciting for LAB³. Along with the continued rapid expansion of LAB³ in Australia and New Zealand, LAB³ now has its sights set on Asia, collaborating with Microsoft to expand the adoption and reach of Microsoft’s generative AI capability. This includes the establishment of an AI Centre of Excellence.

Kerry is based in Sydney, and originally hailing from New Zealand, further ensures the Australia-New Zealand wide operations of LAB³, as one crew working collaboratively together.

“LAB³ has long been synonymous with introducing automation, repeatability, and scalability to the delivery of cloud technology and now we are leading the secure adoption of AI by our clients,” says Kerry.

“From day one, I was excited about the impact LAB³ was having on the market and I am excited and enormously humbled that I can bring my experience to help the company achieve its potential across ANZ and Asia.” – Kerry Purcell, new CEO, LAB³

With Kerry as LAB³ CEO, Chris is now fully focused on LAB³’s global software business, Altra, which launched late 2022. As a co-founder of both companies, Chris remains on the Board of LAB³ and remains the CEO of Altra.

Across North America, Europe, and Asia, Altra has already established a robust partner network and customer base, primarily consisting of technology providers. There is a growing demand for Altra’s AI and automation-powered cloud migration discovery, planning, and assessment tool, Dr Migrate, which has been deployed hundreds of times in over 40 countries. Additionally, the Altra catalogue features SensorMine®, a Digital Twin AI platform that integrates field telemetry with corporate systems, empowering clients to drive a variety of use-case scenarios from a single, unified platform.

“Having overseen the rapid growth of LAB³ from startup in 2017 to today’s established business across ANZ, there’s no doubting Chris’ vision and tenacity when it comes to disrupting the technology market,” says Kerry.

As with the strategy for LAB³, Chris has similarly ensured close collaboration with Altra’s technology alliance partners, Microsoft and Intel, in driving the growth of the Altra business.

Discover how LAB³ is empowering clients to accelerate cloud transformation, including global healthcare software provider Dedalus.