Anthropic names Theo Hourmouzis as ANZ Chief in Sydney

Anthropic has appointed Theo Hourmouzis as General Manager for Australia and New Zealand and opened an office in Sydney.

Hourmouzis joins the artificial intelligence company from Snowflake, where he was Senior Vice President for Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN. He will lead Anthropic's local team and set strategy for customers in both countries.

The appointment is part of a broader regional expansion. Anthropic has recently opened offices in Tokyo and Bengaluru, with Sydney establishing an Australian base as it seeks closer ties with customers and partners across the Asia-Pacific market.

Before joining Anthropic, Hourmouzis spent more than two decades in technology leadership roles across Asia Pacific, working with enterprise and public sector organisations in financial services, retail, aviation and government.

In Australia and New Zealand, Anthropic is seeking to deepen relationships with organisations including Commonwealth Bank and Quantium. It is also working with research institutions including Australian National University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Curtin University.

Its activity in the market also includes work linked to a memorandum of understanding signed with the Australian government. The hire reflects Anthropic's view that artificial intelligence adoption in the region will depend on responsible development and deployment.

"Organisations across Australia and New Zealand are thinking carefully about how to adopt AI, and they want partners who take safety and rigor as seriously as they take the opportunity," said Theo Hourmouzis, General Manager of Australia and New Zealand at Anthropic. "That's what drew me to Anthropic. I've spent my career working with businesses and governments across this region, and the organizations that do best with AI will be the ones that pair ambition with discipline."

Anthropic has also been building commercial partnerships in the market, recently announcing collaborations with Canva and Xero.

Under the Canva arrangement, Canva Design Engine and Visual Suite will be brought into Claude Design by Anthropic Labs. The Xero agreement is a multi-year partnership that will place Claude within Xero's products while integrating Xero's financial data and tools into Claude.ai.

Non-profit work

Another local relationship involves YMCA South Australia, which is working with Anthropic as a Claude for Nonprofits Partner. The organisation operates across more than 65 community locations and has around 1,250 staff.

YMCA South Australia has used Claude to build custom artificial intelligence tools for operational analysis, content production and technical work that had previously been outsourced. The example highlights Anthropic's push beyond large corporate users into education, research and non-profit settings.

"The future for us is about Claude becoming embedded infrastructure, a core part of how we run the organisation," said Devan Seamans, Head of Marketing & Technology, YMCA South Australia. "That requires a platform with the enterprise governance and controls to match the obligations of a large not-for-profit. We want to be a leader in the Australian NFP space with AI adoption, and Anthropic's approach gives us the confidence to pursue that."

Chris Ciauri, Anthropic's Managing Director of International, linked the appointment to the group's long-term plans in the region. He said the company sees scope for artificial intelligence to contribute to economic growth if organisations adopt it responsibly.

"Theo's appointment reflects the conviction we share with the Australian government that AI can drive economic growth when it's developed and deployed responsibly," said Chris Ciauri, Managing Director of International at Anthropic. "He's spent decades helping organisations adopt new technology, and he'll build the team and partnerships we need to support our customers across Australia and New Zealand for the long term."

On LinkedIn, Hourmouzis said he was joining with a founding team of account executives and applied AI engineers. He wrote that he sees a strong opportunity in Australia and New Zealand as organisations move from AI ambition to practical use.