VST Enterprises, the Manchester-based technology company behind award-winning scannable symbol technology, VCode® today announces the appointment of former KPMG Partner John Hughes as Chairman.

The announcement comes at a pivotal time in VST Enterprises’ international growth, having recently announced the addition of two former Elavon Vice Presidents to its business development arm in the US.

Prior to joining VST Enterprises, John worked with KPMG for 28 years where he became Partner in charge of Transaction Services.

As Chairman for VST Enterprises, John will not only bring his professionalism and breadth of industry experience, he also brings a work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit to match the current executive team. An essential combination to succeed in today’s competitive technology arena.

Louis-James Davis, CEO of VST Enterprises has said, “John is exactly the right person to act as Chairman for VST Enterprises. He recognises the rising urgency for a solution like VCode® and will channel our recent rapid progress into long-term success. Ultimately John will play a key part in enabling us to achieve our goal of eradicating fraud and counterfeiting on physical items with end-to-end traceability, by making VCode® a ubiquitous standard for user authentication and access control.”

At KPMG, John built a reputation for fostering success, working with budding new businesses including Pets at Home and Moneysupermarket.com to transform them into household brand names. John was at the forefront of defining how businesses approach due diligence, and conducted worldwide training on professional standards for business transactions.

“When I was first introduced to VST Enterprises, I recognised instantly a team of astute innovators determined to solve a security issue that negatively affects many lives and organisations on a daily basis. At VST Enterprises we have one goal right now; to deliver efficient solutions to counterfeiting and fraud that will improve access and security globally. This capability will range from online shopping and gaming, through to electronic benefit transactions and national ID cards.” Said John Hughes, Chairman of VST Enterprises.

“At KPMG I saw a number of smart businesses grow from a powerful vision into something very special, I helped foster growth and brought professionalism to bright young ventures. I am looking forward to doing the same for VST Enterprises.”

The versatile VCode technology allows genuine users to authenticate themselves across a variety of online transactions and interactions. It is currently being utilised to protect against fraud on a diverse range of financial transactions including shopping, gaming, document verification, unattended car park payment systems, and charitable giving.

VSTE bosses are already planning expansions into Asia through their office in Singapore.