Top ten Clutch-rated UK app development company The Distance has appointed Louise Toal as MD, alongside a reshuffle of the senior leadership team.
Former head of operations Toal takes up the MD role after five years with the business, while project team lead Gemma Oliver steps into the Toal’s vacated head of operations role. Former MD and company founder, Anthony Main, will move into a more strategic role continuing to oversee and support the business’ ambitions for growth. They are joined on the new leadership team by senior account manager Tom Boatman, who has been with The Distance for four years.
Founded in 2009, The Distance is one of the longest-serving dedicated app development companies in the world, with a roster of clients ranging from start-ups to multi-billion-turnover global enterprises that include Eurotunnel, GNY and PayStream. The company employs 17 people from its York headquarters and prides itself on building a diverse workforce, 41 per cent of whom are female.
Toal joined the company in 2017, after building her own virtual assistant company and sharpening her operations management skills in the NHS. She will now take responsibility for the day-to-day running of The Distance.
She said, “The opportunity to take over from Anthony as MD is incredibly exciting and I can’t wait to use my autonomy to drive the next phase of the business. We have an incredible team that I am keen to support in pushing The Distance to the next level.”
Anthony Main added that the formation of the new senior leadership team will enable him to focus on the bigger picture: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at The Distance,” he said. “However, to continue growing and delivering great work for our customers and the industry, we need to evolve and adapt. We have set ourselves ambitious targets, and I’m sure that with the new structure in place, we will achieve them.”
