THERE is a new board member at award-winning Southern Communications – and he brings a great deal of experience and knowledge.

Mathew Kirk has joined the telecommunications firm as its commercial director and shareholder.

Previously, he was corporate development director of TalkTalk Telecom Group plc, and prior to that was mergers and acquisitions director for The Carphone Warehouse Group plc.

Over the past three years, Mathew has been a board member of TalkTalk Business – a £425million revenue division of TalkTalk, a member of the group’s innovation committee, and has led a number of key outsourcing projects.

At Carphone, he was also accountable for European corporate development activity including acquisitions in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Belgium and divestments in Germany, France, Ireland and Switzerland.

He also played a key role in the mobile retail joint venture in the US with Best Buy which was bought out for around £800m in 2012.

Southern Communications chief executive officer Paul Bradford said: “Myself and the other directors of the business are very excited to have secured Mathew’s expertise, and we feel his appointment is a real statement of intent around the continued growth of Southern Communications, both organically and through acquisition.”

Southern Communications is a national supplier of voice, data and cloud solutions and has seen rapid growth over the last 10 years with a turnover this year of £18m, achieved through organic growth and acquisitions.

Mathew said: “This is a great opportunity. I have been aware of the progress Southern Communications have been making.

“There is a lot of passion, professionalism and drive, backed by a good solid team, which I am proud to be part of. I know this is a company that is going places, and I look forward to joining them and helping to drive the future growth.”