Crawford moves into top job at Psion

The technology company Psion, which made its name selling handheld computers, appointed Alistair Crawford, the highly regarded former chief executive of the IT services company CMG, as its new chief executive yesterday.

Mr Crawford, who left LogicaCMG in March – two months after the merger of the two information technology services businesses – takes up his new post at Psion at the beginning of September. He will also take a seat on the supervisory board of Symbian – a private technology firm founded by Psion that remains its biggest shareholder with a 25.3 per cent stake.

After Psion exited its handheld computer operations two years ago, it was left with its Teklogix arm, which provides supply chain technology, and the stake in Symbian, which makes technology that powers mobile phones and handheld devices.

Mr Crawford said: "This is a great time to be joining Psion. The company has a strong core operating business in Psion Teklogix and it is poised to gain considerable value from its Symbian joint venture. Meanwhile, there is potential to build on the Psion name, which remains a great British brand."

Ian McElroy, Psion's current chief executive who headed Teklogix before Psion bought it, is retiring, as planned, at the end of June but will stay on the board as a non-executive director. The chairman, David Potter, the who founded Psion – which stands for Potter's Scientific Instruments Or Nothing – will head up the business for two months until Mr Crawford joins.

Mr Crawford was most recently chief executive of LogicaCMG's European operations after Logica's chief executive, Martin Read, won the battle for the top job at the combined business.

After two months in that role, however, Mr Crawford announced his resignation, saying he wanted to be a chief executive again, having spent most of the past 14 years at the helm. He walked away with a year's salary of about £350,000 but is still helping LogicaCMG with its integration.

Mr McElroy has been chief executive of Psion for just a year. He was parachuted into the top job after his predecessor, David Levin, was poached by Symbian.