Computacenter has hired Greg Lock as its new chairman following Ron Sandler’s sudden departure from the IT services firm earlier this year.

Lock will step into his new role at the start of July. In the meantime Computacenter said that Cliff Preddy will continue to serve as interim chairman at the company.

Sandler quit his non-executive chairmanship of Computacenter in Feburary with immediate effect, following his decision to run Northern Rock while it remains under public ownership.

Computacenter described his move to help the government try and steady the ship at Northern Rock as a "well-publicised commitment" that meant it was necessary for Sandler to step down from the firm.

Lock previously worked at Kofax plc where he held the role of chairman. Before that he was a non-executive director and chairman of SurfControl plc between 2003 and 2007.

He has also held various positions with IBM Corp in the US, France, Germany and the UK. ®