GARY TURNER

British tech entrepreneur and investor, London

Gary Turner (Twitter: @garyturner) co-founded and led the growth of Xero in the UK from 2009 to 2021 and was a member of Xero’s global leadership team for 12 years. Xero is a multi-award-winning cloud accounting platform with more than 3 million paying subscribers.

In the UK Gary took Xero from £56k of revenue in its first year to over £130 million (USD$175m) in operating revenue in 2021 with more than 785,000 UK subscribers. He also guided the successful market entry and growth of Xero in South Africa.

Beginning his career in tech in Scotland, Gary has held leadership positions at Microsoft and Systems Union and has served as a mentor at TechStars London. He has advised numerous organisations, most recently HM Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy as a member of Minister Paul Scully’s SMB Action Group.

His sense of purpose is defined by the formative experience of growing up inside a small family business that ultimately failed, sparking in Gary a lifelong drive and passion for helping small businesses avoid failure and realise their full potential through the adoption of technology.

Media appearances:
BBC, Sky News, CNBC Europe, CNBC Africa, LBC Radio, Talk Radio more…

Print contributor:
Forbes, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Evening Standard, City AM

Individual Accolades:
Companion of ICB, 2021
Profiled in Archives of IT, 2021
Personality of the Year, ICB Luca Awards, 2019
Software & Technology Pioneer Award, AccountingWeb 2018
Top 10 Most Influential Person in UK Finance, Economia 2015, 2017
Top 20 #Business100 Small Business Influencers 2017
Financial Power List, Accountancy Age 2016
Top 10 London Fintech Most Influential, City AM 2015

Company Awards:
Accounting Tech of the Year, UK Fintech Awards 2021
Bookkeeping Software of the Year, ICB Luca Awards 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Accounting Tech Award, UK Fintech Awards 2020
Fintech Innovator of the Year, UK Business Tech Awards 2019
Innovator of the Year, London Business School, 2019
Fintech Innovator of the Year, UK Business Tech Awards 2019
Accountancy Software of the Year, British Small Business Awards 2017, 2019
Data & Expense Management Software of the Year, AccountingWeb, 2019
Expenses Software of the Year, Digital Accountancy Awards, 2019
Cloud Product of the Year, National Tech Awards, 2019
Financial Software of the Year, FD’s Excellence Awards 2016, 2019
Accounting Software Practitioners’ Choice, AccountingWeb 2018
Friendliest Software Provider of the Year, ICB Luca Awards 2018
Practice Software of the Year, British Accountancy Awards 2017
Payroll Software of the Year, ICB Luca Awards, 2016, 2017
Client Software of the Year, British Accountancy Awards 2013, 2015, 2016
Financial Software Vendor of the Year, UK Cloud Awards 2016
Technology Provider of the Year, British Small Business Awards 2016
World's Most Innovative Growth Company, Forbes 2014, 2015

Media Resources:
- Headshot
- Media archive