Frontier IP Group PLC (AIM:FIPP, OTC:FGPPF), a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, has announced that its portfolio company Celerum Limited has appointed David Gladding as its chief executive officer.
The company noted that Gladding's experience in the software industry will help drive both the commercial and technical development of the company's novel artificial intelligence-based metaheuristics, including nature-inspired computing (NIC), to make logistics more efficient.
In a statement, Neil Crabb, Frontier IP chief executive officer, said: "I am delighted with David's appointment as Celerum's chief executive. His experience means he is the right person to drive the company forward following the successful launch of its first commercial product."
Celerum is at an important stage of development, Frontier IP said. The company launched its first commercial product, Truck Logistics System (TLS), earlier this year to cut road haulage costs, carbon emissions and delivery times for small to medium-sized truck fleets, which is now winning customers. The first was Colin Lawson Transport, a haulage firm based in Aberdeen, operating 75 trucks and about 150 trailers.
Other potential applications for the technology are in the maritime, energy, and telecommunication sectors where positive use cases have already been identified.
Frontier IP holds a 33.8% equity stake in Celerum.
The company noted that Gladding has more than 30 years' experience at senior levels in software and IT services companies, including those specialising in fleet management. He was senior vice president Global Sales for Chevin Fleet Solutions and has also worked for Civica and Fleet Clear over the past 12 years gaining a wide and in-depth understanding of the industry.
Commenting on his appointment, Gladding said: "I am excited to be joining Celerum at this time. We have an opportunity to help businesses understand what their data is telling them, giving them easy access to very smart technology that will help simplify complex business challenges. The real power behind our AI is how it helps educate users when interrogating data to increase their success of making informed business decisions.
"Whilst our platform is industry agnostic, we have won customers from the fleet management industry, which is worth $27 billion a year globally. Our platform is unique in this market, and I am expecting to see a great deal of interest. We know that this market is intensely competitive, where every marginal gain is important, and we believe our software can give customers an important edge in efficiency and productivity gains, cutting costs and making their operations greener."
Professor John McCall, head of the School of Computing, Science and Digital Media at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and a Celerum director added: "David has a very keen interest in how we use data to improve business efficiencies and reducing the carbon footprint, along with his vast experience in software and the fleet industry, we are excited that David is leading Celerum to future success".