Stephen Bowhill, the former chief executive of funds management systems provider Garradin, has become chief executive of a listed IT research and consulting firm.

Ideas International, an Australian firm which dates back to 1986, listed in the final days of the tech bubble, in April 2000, and subsequently became an international company with offices in Europe and the US. It bought the US advisory and research business DH Brown & Associates in 2004. Garradin, the former subsidiary of another listed IT company, Powerlan, was acquired this year by the biggest Australian-owned funds management systems provider, Bravura Solutions, for about $10 million. Ideas International provides large companies with research, advice, consulting and performance and price benchmarking services. IT-user clients include Citi, Bayer, British Telecommunications and Altria. Ideas International’s former chief executive, Ian Birks, has become a non-executive director. The firm reported annual revenue of $7.4 million in the year to December last.