A Birmingham native was recently recruited as CEO and senior vice president of AMER at Tquila Automation, which is working to build a major innovation hub in the Magic City.
Tquila Automation, an Austin-headquartered global intelligent automation consultancy and services partner, unveiled that Ryan Northington would step into the role. Northington brings 15 years of experience in leading technology services businesses. Tom Abbott, acting CEO, remains in the business as chief revenue officer and executive board member, according to a press release.
Northington has served at several technology services companies. Most recently, he was the CEO of Simplus. Under his leadership, the Salesforce partner business scaled to $100 million in revenue through multiple acquisitions and was acquired by Infosys for an undisclosed amount in 2020. Before Simplus, Northington built a managed services division at Cloud Sherpas, a Salesforce partner acquired by Accenture in 2015.
Plans for an innovation hub
Tquila Automation specializes in designing and delivering intelligent automation solutions underpinned by UiPath, the AI-powered automation platform. It was founded by acting CEO Abbott and Richard Denton in 2019, with two offices in London and Cardiff, UK. Abbott scaled the business to a 150-strong team across six international offices.
In the bid to be selected as the location for Tquila Automation's new hub, Birmingham beat out major cities including Austin, Nashville and Atlanta for the project that aims to become central to delivering successful AI-powered automation programs to businesses looking to grow profitably and sustainably.
Tquila Automation plans to open the regional delivery center in around 2,500 square feet inside the Nextec Building, formerly the Edwards Motor Co. building, at 1531 Third Ave. N. The company had been eyeing the other cities but ultimately selected Birmingham.
The new delivery center is expected to generate $21.51 million in overall economic impact over the next 20 years.
The Birmingham City Council approved a project funding agreement with Tquila Automation Inc. in March under which Tquila Automation will make an estimated capital investment of $280,000 to lease and equip space in the former "Sticks N' Stuff" building. The city will provide annual incentives up to five years in support of the project in an amount equal to $1,500 for each new full-time employee hired in the preceding year, not to exceed a total incentive amount of $300,000.
The regional hub is expected to create 200 jobs for full-time employees over the next five years, which includes roles for software developers, business analysts, consultants and business managers. The project will provide a boost to the city's high-tech sector.
Tquila Automation said the new location will allow it to tap into Birmingham’s world-class universities and the large workforce base in the metro area. New team members will enroll in its Tquila Tech Academy for training in the design and delivery of automation solutions.
"As we look to execute rapid growth organically and through acquisitions, the Board and I wanted to recruit an experienced operational leader to support our execution plan," Abbott said of the new leadership. "Ryan is an incredible addition to Tquila Automation; he brings vast experience scaling high-growth tech businesses, balancing technical and delivery excellence with customer and employee experiences."
The news follows a recent announcement from Tquila Automation about acquiring health care leader Element Blue as well.
Originally from Birmingham, Northington is an Auburn University graduate and now resides in Atlanta with his wife and two children. He is also a Forbes contributor.
Tquila Automation also has locations in Amsterdam, Bucharest, London and Cardiff.
