Circles.Life makes slew of senior hires as it ramps up expansion plans

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Singapore-based telco Circles.Life has made a slew of senior appointments: Lawrence Corbett as COO, Thomas Lee as chief revenue officer, and Saurabh Ohri as VP of sales for B2B SaaS. The appointments following an accelerated growth in 2021, as it sets sights on expanding into additional global markets including Asia and Europe, while deepening its success in its existing markets.

As COO, Corbett (pictured second from right) will lead strategic operations across both B2C and B2B operations, overseeing resource coordination and implementing optimal operational processes to support the company’s global expansion plans. Corbett brings with him over 25 years of experience, along with deep telco operations expertise from his stints at Virgin Mobile in Australia and UK, and Bullitt Group.

Meanwhile, Lee (pictured right) will lead global sales and marketing for Circles’ telco SaaS offering in his role as chief revenue officer. He will primarily be tasked with setting the organisation for a hyper-growth journey, establishing a clear vision for the market, disrupting the industry and helping telcos to accelerate their digital transformation. Lee will also be focused on creating a high-performance sales culture and a great place to work, with diversity and inclusion.

Lee previously spent over 20 years at Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he held various sales and leadership roles, in multiple regions and countries. Lee brings with him expertise in B2B enterprise tech and is well-versed in the areas of cloud, IoT, AI, DevOps, hybrid IT, and security, among others.

Lastly, as VP, sales for B2B Saas, Ohri (pictured second from left) is responsible for defining and executing the sales strategy for APAC markets, driving topline growth and adding new logos. He will also work to cultivate new business opportunities and expand the B2B sales pipeline, while sharpening customer value propositions for specific markets.

Ohri was formerly head of global sales - mobility and automotive IoT for Tata Communications. He has also amassed close to 18 years of experience in telco and enterprise tech, having worked at companies such as Oracle, Motorola and GlobalLogic.

The appointments come alongside Nelson Allen's appointment as VP of growth for Circles.Life's consumer business, where Allen (pictured left) will lead growth for Circles.Life’s B2C operations as well as the regional marketing function, including brand development, customer acquisition and strategic partnerships, with a focus on accelerating the company’s global expansion plans. He takes over Delbert Ty, who has joined dating app Coffee Meets Bagel as global CMO.

Co-founder Rameez Ansar said that he is excited to welcome the new appointments to its senior leadership team at Circles.Life as it build the best leadership team around and continue its rapid expansion. “The combined tech expertise and business acumen of Corbett, Lee, Allen and Ohri will help carry our success blueprint across the globe, leading us closer to becoming the transformative force in the global telco industry."

The telco said in a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it is aiming to grow its global team of over 500 employees across Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. The appointment comes after Circles.Life announced plans to bolster its leadership team last October, while ramping up on global expansion plans.

In an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE last year, Circles.Life said the company was looking to boost its headcount by 25% over the next 12 months and expand its Singapore core of tech and innovation talent. Key hires will include tech and “tech-lite” roles such as software engineers, product managers, and digital marketers across new and existing business lines. The company also had plans to grow the marketing team across both B2C and B2B verticals by at least 50% by the end of 2022.

Meanwhile, Circles.Life's parent company, Circles Global, also launched its Circles-X R&D centre in Singapore yesterday to drive its ambition to become the first trillion-dollar global SaaS company in the country.

The Circles-X R&D Centre will blend three aspects: cutting-edge made-in-Singapore tech, a core of top local talent nurtured by the best leadership team in Asia, and real-life market experience gleaned from Circles’ owned and partner operations in Asia-Pacific.

The centre will also further build on the strengths of the company’s proprietary cloud native, full-stack telco operating system Circles-X and enhance its position as the world’s leading telco SaaS platform. The platform empowers telcos to deliver superior customer experiences and digital services such as insurance, payments and lifestyle offerings at a fraction of the time and the cost it would normally take, and achieve full control over the entire customer lifecycle.

Circles currently has 265 staff housed in the R&D centre but is expected to create an additional 120 new jobs in Singapore this year, specifically in the areas of front and back-end engineering and cybersecurity.

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