Zato has appointed former Xero New Zealand Sales Director Paul Churchman as Head of Sales, strengthening its commercial leadership as the company scales its agentic AI platform for accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand.
Churchman brings more than a decade of experience across accounting, technology and the profession.
He joined Xero in 2016 as a Partner Consultant and went on to hold senior roles across national accounts, enterprise partnerships and sales leadership. His tenure included leading sales for Xero in Canada before returning to New Zealand, where he most recently served as Sales Director.
Before moving into accounting technology, Churchman worked in public practice, including roles with Curtis McLean Chartered Accountants and Deloitte Private.
At Zato, Churchman will lead sales and market development across Australia and New Zealand, working with accounting firms as they rethink how compliance work is produced, reviewed and delivered.
Zato CEO Saurav J Bansal said the appointment comes as the company enters a significant new stage of growth.
“Paul is one of the strongest commercial leaders in accounting technology in this market. We were very deliberate about who we wanted leading our growth across ANZ, and Paul was our first choice,” Bansal said.
“We believe the next major technology shift in accounting will happen inside the production of the work itself, and we’re building Zato to lead that category. Paul has spent a decade helping accounting firms adopt technology at scale. He knows the profession, he knows what firms expect, and he understands that earning their trust matters just as much as having great technology.”
“We have big ambitions for Zato, well beyond where we are today. Bringing Paul into the business at this stage is an important part of building the team capable of delivering on them.”
Paul Churchman shared,
“I was in public practice when cloud accounting arrived, and I saw firsthand how much it changed the way firms worked; which is exactly why I moved to Xero, to help lead firms through that shift. I see the same moment happening again with AI right now, and I think it will change accounting even more fundamentally than the cloud did. I’ve spent my career backing technology that genuinely changes how firms operate, and I want to be part of leading that shift again. That’s why I joined Zato. I believe it’s building the platform that defines the next phase of the profession in ANZ, and I want to help firms get there.”
Churchman holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in Accounting, Commercial Law and Marketing, and is a Chartered Accountant.
About Zato
Zato is an agentic AI platform built for accounting firms.
Zato coordinates compliance production from client data through ledger scrutiny, queries, workpapers, review and sign-off, with human oversight, source evidence and partner control throughout.
Built for accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand, Zato works alongside the systems firms already use to help reduce repetitive production work, increase capacity and give accountants more time for the work that requires professional judgement.
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