Xero welcomes new senior VP as CTO steps down

Rick Carragher (pictured, left) has resigned from his position as chief technology officer at accounting platform giant Xero after serving in the role since May 2025.

Previously, Carragher served at Amazon for seven years, including time as director of multiple products and as chief technology officer at The Neat Company and Alpha Buyer.

According to reporting by Forbes Australia, two sources familiar with this leadership change said that employees were informed that his resignation was due to travel demands and difficulty working across multiple time zones.

While in his role, Carragher reported to the company’s chief product and technology officer, Diya Jolly, who is part of Xero's executive leadership team. Jolly was the chief product officer at Okta for four years before moving to Xero in early 2023.

A Xero spokesperson told Accountants Daily: “We thank Rick for his contributions and look forward to welcoming Madhuri Dhulipala to Xero as SVP, engineering, payments and AI transformation in August.”

The company’s incoming senior vice president, Dhulipala, previously served at Amazon as head of engineering, following two years spent at PayPal leading its engineering teams, and three years as vice president at Salesforce.

“This new chapter also brings me back to the Bay Area after a rewarding year in New York. I'm excited to reconnect with the incredible technology community and begin this next journey with the Xero team,” Dhulipala said in a LinkedIn post.

Last month, the company’s chief executive, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, sold down all of her 29,608 shares in the company at a time when Xero Limited's ASX shares were down to $73.33 from a peak of $193 in June last year.

According to Agile Market Intelligence’s 2025 Accounting Tech Review, Xero was the most used accounting platform for general ledger and ERP, and practice and firm management.

“Xero dominates core accounting, capturing an impressive market share in the General ledger & ERP category, with MYOB trailing and Intuit QuickBooks at third,” the review said.

Following the recent increase in its prices, Xero had some practitioners looking for alternatives, as these accountants stress the importance of “not just relying on one mainstream software”.

Editor's note: This story has been updated since publication.