UK director of TechnologyOne ‘quits after row’ with Australian-based COO

A UK-based executive of TechnologyOne has reportedly quit the firm after a ‘row’ with the company’s Brisbane-based chief operating officer.

TechnologyOne founder Adrian Di Marco. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A UK-based executive of listed Australian company TechnologyOne has reportedly quit after a “row” with the firm’s Brisbane-based chief operating officer.

According to company records filed in the UK, Leo Hanna resigned as a director weeks ago, on April 16. That is about eight months after he was first appointed to the role, on September 13.

Mr Hanna also resigned as ­director from five other subsidiaries of TechnologyOne UK on the same day.

They were Courseloop, a Melbourne-based education software provider that TechnologyOne acquired in November for an unknown amount, three Scientia entities, and Procyon Research.

Leo Hanna has reportedly quit TechnologyOne.

Mr Hanna’s job title is still listed as executive vice-president, UK, on his LinkedIn profile, but links to his official biography on TechnologyOne’s website are broken.

A source from the company told The Australian that chief operating officer Stuart MacDonald travels regularly to the UK and “tears into the senior team”.

“Leo Hanna, head of the UK has ‘left the business’ – his bio has been ripped off the website,” the source said.

“(That) was following a row with Stuart MacDonald.”

A TechnologyOne spokeswoman told The Australian the company categorically rejected the allegations.

“The claims are untrue and unfounded, and nor do they reflect the positive culture and business of TechnologyOne, which continues to rapidly grow in the UK,” she said.

“As chief operating officer of TechnologyOne, Stuart MacDonald has delivered outstanding results in the UK over the past six years. The UK business continues to achieve significant growth and ongoing success, along with record high employee satisfaction within its growing team.

“The UK presents significant growth for TechnologyOne which is underpinned by a culture of high performance and respect, as the company invests significantly to support the region.”

TechnologyOne is one of Australia’s biggest companies, with a market capitalisation of $10.46bn.

In a separate matter, former TechnologyOne employee Behnam Roohizadegan has alleged in a near decade-old court case that was recently retried at the Federal Court that he was bullied by executives at the company before he was sacked.

Behnam Roohizadegan, on right. Picture: Ian Cugley

During cross-examination of TechnologyOne founder Adrian Di Marco last month, the court was told Mr Roohizadegan and Mr MacDonald had a “blow-up” after the COO was hired in 2016.

Mr Roohizadegan called Mr Di Marco days before he was sacked to say he felt “traumatised” and “belittled” following a confrontation with Mr MacDonald, the court heard.

Mr Di Marco told the court Mr Roohizadegan was sacked due to performance issues, and the company has rejected his claims.

After Mr Roohizadegan first lodged the case in 2016, now retired Federal Court judge Duncan Kerr, ruled the man – who worked at the publicly listed company for ten years – was illegally sacked in 2020 and subsequently handed down the biggest ever penalty in an unfair dismissal case worth $5.2m.

But in 2021, TechnologyOne succeeded in getting the penalty set aside after the full Federal Court overturned Justice Kerr’s original judgement and ordered a retrial, ruling that he failed to consider key evidence that supported the tech firm’s case.

That matter will return to court in June, after the parties have submitted written closing submissions.

TechnologyOne chief operating officer Stuart MacDonald.

Justice Kerr rejected Mr MacDonald’s evidence from the original trial in his 2020 judgment and said: “I do not accept Mr MacDonald’s evidence as to what he did and when he did it.”

“In short summary I am satisfied that the evidence establishes that within the first two weeks of his employment Mr MacDonald enthusiastically lent himself to a strategy to dismiss a person he had never met, on the basis of circumstances about which he had no personal knowledge,” he said.

“I am further satisfied that once he had lent himself to that project Mr MacDonald behaved in a boorish and abusive way towards Mr Roohizadegan on a number of occasions notwithstanding knowing the latter was under a threat of dismissal: without there being any plausible justification for his doing so.”

During the retrial, an email that Mr Roohizadegan sent to Mr Di Marco was shown to the court in which Mr Roohizadegan alleged members of the executive team were pursuing an agenda to get him to leave and that they were being “toxic”.

Mr Roohizadegan said he was threatened and in a lengthy email to Mr Di Marco said he required medical attention due to his alleged treatment at the company.

“I have completely fallen apart. Last year and early this year it was Martin (Harwood) who was continuously humiliating, bullying me, marginalising me and making decisions for my business unit and now Stuart (MacDonald) in a much bigger and unbearable intensity,” the email read.

Originally published as UK director of TechnologyOne ‘quits after row’ with Australian-based COO