Texthelp appoints CTO and co-founder Martin McKay as CEO

Texthelp has appointed Martin McKay as CEO following Mark McCusker’s decision to step down as CEO after 20 years.

Mark will move into a non-executive director role. Martin previously held the role of Chief Technical Officer at Texthelp, and was a founding member of the business in 1996. He will assume his new position on 1st September 2020.

Founded in 1996, Texthelp has been at the forefront of literacy and numeracy software development  over the last three decades. Its innovative suite of products includes Read&Write, EquatiO, Browsealoud and WriQ which are used in both the education and corporate sectors to help students and employees with reading, writing and numeracy difficulties, including those with dyslexia or working in a second language. The last twelve months has been a period of exponential growth, with new users increasing from 22.2m to 29.7m across the product range. Read&Write alone has 24.9m users worldwide and the addition of new products such as EquatIO and WriQ has made a strong contribution to new user growth, with EquatIO experiencing 63% growth in the last 12 months.

Current customers include some of the largest school districts in North America and Australia, as well as Government and Fortune 500 organisations. The company partners with the world’s leading technology brands including Google, Microsoft and Apple to deliver solutions that work across all major mobile, tablet and computer operating systems.

As market leader, Texthelp has one of the largest data sets that offers insights into learning patterns and behaviours. Working with both educators and its development team, it is able to identify gaps in learning, harnessing data driven insights to iterate existing products, and build new ones in response to user feedback.

Texthelp secured backing from LDC, a leading mid-market private equity investor, in 2019. With LDC’s support, Martin will now lead the company during its next phase of growth focused on realising opportunities in new and existing markets as well as driving new product development, in particular around data analytics.

Martin McKay, CEO Elect said: “I am honoured and excited to lead Texthelp as we enter our next phase of growth. One of Texthelp’s greatest assets is our people and our ability to bring innovative solutions to our customers. We have significant opportunity now as schools and workplaces need literacy and numeracy tools more than ever, and our experience and credibility in the market means we are well positioned to meet this demand.  Mark will certainly be a tough act to follow. Consistently true to his values throughout his tenure at Texthelp, he is a widely respected leader, not just within the company but also across the Assistive Technology industry globally.”

“Martin is a technology visionary as well as a highly respected industry veteran” said Mark McCusker, incumbent CEO. “Part of Texthelp’s DNA, he is the driving force behind the company’s commitment to creating technology which helps everyone reach their full potential. Having worked together for 20 years, I believe that his leadership and global vision is exactly what Texthelp needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth, at a time when the digitisation of learning in schools and the workplace is rapidly evolving.”