- J Schwan is retiring as CEO of global digital transformation consultancy Kin 
+ Carta
- Board appoints Kelly Manthey, Group Chief Executive of Kin + Carta Americas, 
to role
- Moves are effective from Kin + Carta year-end, 1 August 

Kin + Carta, the London Stock Exchange listed digital transformation 
consultancy, announced today that CEO J Schwan is retiring from the role at the 
end of July. He will be succeeded by Kelly Manthey, Group Chief Executive of 
Kin + Carta Americas, from 1st August 2022.

The changes also see Chris Kutsor, Kin + Carta's chief financial officer, take 
on the additional role of chief operating officer. The rest of the leadership 
group, consisting of chief strategy officer Richard Neish, and Europe group 
chief executive David Tuck, remains in place.

The moves are part of a planned succession strategy that sees the global 
consultancy build on its three-year transformation as the consultancy enters an 
ambitious growth phase, profitably scaling both organically and through 
acquisition. 

Manthey will take over from Schwan to ensure a seamless execution of the growth 
strategy, using her operational expertise to drive global scale. She has been 
in the business of digital transformation for 25 years, with a career that has 
spanned every role in the business. 

Heading up Kin + Carta's Americas region, Manthey has been instrumental in 
building a growth-minded business with a strong, diverse and progressive 
culture. The region now accounts for 70% of Kin + Cartafs revenue, growing 
from 400 people when Manthey was appointed as Americas Group Chief Executive, 
to 1100 today.

She has led Kin + Carta's Americas business as it earned accolades including 
Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators, Consulting Magazine's Best Large 
Firms to Work For and Fortune Magazine's Best Places to Work. She has been 
recognised in The Consulting Report's Top 25 Women Leaders in IT Services, 
Crain's Chicago Business Tech 50, and is an active advocate for inclusion, 
diversity and raising the visibility of women in the technology sector.

Her career includes serving as CEO of Solstice, the agency Schwan founded in 
2001. Solstice was acquired by St Ives in 2015, and added to its diverse 
portfolio of digital marketing services agencies. Schwan took over as St Ives 
CEO in August 2018 and spearheaded its transformation into Kin + Carta, 
restructuring the legacy portfolio of businesses into a single firm with a 
common mission of gbuilding a world that works better for everyone.

Schwan has led the consolidation of operations into two core trading regions 
(Americas and Europe), a globally aligned suite of services that solve the most 
business-critical digital transformation problems and a culture with social 
responsibility built into its core. In 2021, Kin + Carta became the first 
certified B Corporation on the London Stock Exchange and the first publicly 
traded company in its sector to achieve the certification. The business has 
also seen a significant acquisition drive including; Spire Digital, Cascade 
Data Labs, Loop, Melon Group (including Frakton), and Octain AI. 

Schwan more than doubled the market capitalization of the company during his 
four-year tenure as CEO, returning over 115% in total shareholder return, 
putting Kin + Carta's performance in the top 3% of the FTSE All Share. The 
company has posted an outlook of 49% growth for FY22.

John Kerr, Chairman, commented: "Kin + Carta is unrecognisable from 2018 when J 
took over as CEO, a period that delivered total shareholder return (TSR) of 
115%. With sterling support from Kelly and Chris among others, J has been the 
architect of this transformation, and on behalf of the Board, I would like to 
thank him for his dedication and contribution. J has successfully steered the 
business through this period of unparalleled change as he shaped a growing 
pure-play digital transformation consultancy with purpose at the heart of the 
business.

The Board is delighted to appoint Kelly Manthey as J's successor. Kelly has 
been alongside J since 2006, including the evolution of Kin + Carta as Group 
Chief Executive for the Americas since August 2018. During that time, Kelly has 
been instrumental in profitably scaling the Americas business, including 
organic revenue growth of over 110% in addition to four acquisitions in the 
world's largest and fastest paced digital transformation market. This next 
phase of Kin + Carta will be defined by continued growth and we are confident 
and excited that the profitable growth that Kelly has successfully executed in 
the Americas, evident in the strength of this trading update, will be 
replicated at a global scale.

J Schwan, said: "Kin + Carta's transformation is now complete and a new, 
exciting growth chapter is underway. I'm incredibly proud to have played a role 
in building Kin + Carta and I'm delighted to be handing leadership to Kelly who 
has been central to our progress. After a fulfilling and rewarding 25-year 
journey it's time for me to retire from consulting and look at pursuing 
projects in different domains. I will continue to be a happy and supportive 
advisor, shareholder and advocate for Kin + Carta during this next exciting 
phase of growth. I wish Kelly and the business every success as the company 
scales and I'd like to thank my colleagues for their hard work, drive and 
belief.

Manthey added: "I am honoured to lead the next chapter of Kin + Carta's growth 
story as we scale globally, building on strong foundations, with an excellent 
leadership group, bound by a commitment to using business as a force for good. 
I am excited to continue serving our valued clients, shareholders and the 
fantastic Kin + Carta team as we build a world that works better for everyone."

The Board proposes to appoint Manthey as CEO, and to the Kin + Carta Board, 
effective from 01 August 2022 when she will assume responsibility for the 
delivery of FY23. Schwan will continue in his current position until this date 
and will remain with Kin + Carta as a special adviser for six months thereafter 
to assist with the transition. 

About Kin + Carta:

Kin + Carta is a global digital transformation consultancy committed to working 
alongside our clients to build a world that works better for everyone. 

Our 2,000 strategists, engineers and creatives around the world bring the 
connective power of technology, data and experience to the world's most 
influential companies, helping them to accelerate their digital roadmap, 
rapidly innovate, modernize their systems, enable their teams and optimize for 
continued growth.

As a Certified B Corp, our triple bottom line focus on people, the planet, and 
profit is at the core of everything we do. 

For more information, please visit www.kinandcarta.com.

SOURCE: Kin + Carta