As part of a long-planned succession, Sepura today announces the appointment of Chris Barnes as CEO, succeeding Steve Barber, effective from 1st October. Headquartered in the Cambridge technology hub and UK-owned, Sepura is a leader in its sector and a trusted partner to public safety and business-critical customers across the globe.

Chris brings a wealth of experience, having most recently led the growth of Tracsis plc, a software and technology business specialising in the transport industry, where he was CEO for six years. Prior to Tracsis, Chris held a number of senior positions at Ricardo, a global automotive engineering, test and consultancy business.

"Sepura has a fantastic reputation and market-leading technology used throughout the world. It has demonstrated great success in its core markets and, through its R&D hub in Cambridge, has successfully brought to market a range of products for the future needs of mission-critical services. I am very excited to be joining Sepura and will retain the culture of excellence that the company has built up over many years." said Chris Barnes.

Having spent over 25 years with the company, including eight as CEO, Steve will be moving to a non-executive position on the Board. During his tenure, Sepura pioneered the development of mission-critical communications dedicated to the safety of its users and the wider community.

"I am confident that Chris is the right appointment to continue the strong growth of Sepura. I look forward to supporting Chris during a handover period and then in the future as a Non-Executive Director." said Steve Barber

Under Steve’s leadership, Sepura has become a global market leader, with an installed base of over two million devices supplied to mission-critical users in over 100 countries. In 2022, Steve led the buyout of Sepura with backing from UK investor Epiris. This enabled the development and acceleration of the SCL3, an advanced broadband hand-portable deviceSepura Restricted which will provide mission-critical voice and data in a single device and operating environment. The world’s public safety users and government agencies are moving to more secure and ruggedised devices that can not only provide resilient and secure voice communication but can also receive and transmit data and high-quality video to the same demanding standards. Sepura is leading this change.

Ian Wood, Partner at Epiris, said: "Steve Barber has been an outstanding leader for Sepura, creating one of the UK’s leading technology businesses that is relied upon by millions ofusers every day. We partnered with him for over two years to acquire Sepura from itsprevious owners, and since the acquisition in 2022, we have worked closely alongside him and invested heavily in the next-generation technology seen in the SCL3. We are delighted that Chris Barnes has agreed to lead the business and look forward to continuing our relationship with Steve in his new role."