Black Knight, fresh off a fourth quarter that saw its year-over-year earnings increase by nearly $136 million, is about to have a new leader.
In conjunction with announcing its fourth quarter earnings, Black Knight announced that it is naming Anthony Jabbour as the company’s new CEO.
Jabbour will replace Tom Sanzone, who will become the company’s vice chairman of the board.
Jabbour was most recently the chief operating officer of Fidelity National Information Services’ banking and payments business. In this role, Jabbour had global accountability for solution development, sales and delivery of banking and payments offerings for clients of all sizes and in all geographic markets.
Sanzone served as Black Knight’s first CEO. The company was formed in January 2014 when its former parent company Fidelity National Financial merged its ServiceLink business with LPS and formed the new business.
Sanzone oversaw the company’s IPO and spinoff from Fidelity in 2015, which helped earn him recognition as an inaugural HousingWire Magazine Vanguard award winner, an award reserved for the top leaders in the housing industry.
Now, Sanzone is moving to the company’s board to make way for Jabbour.
“Tom was Black Knight’s first CEO. His goals were to increase shareholder value and create a strategy and structure for the company that would set the course for future success, which included enhancing the company’s ability to cross-sell its products,” Bill Foley, executive chairman of Black Knight, said in a statement. “He exceeded our expectations on all fronts, and we are grateful for his contributions in that role and look forward to working with him in his new position.”
Jabbour joined Fidelity National Information Services in 2004. Since then, Jabbour held positions of in operations and delivery services as a member of the executive leadership team.
During his tenure overseeing the North American market, Jabbour consistently grew the segment through a solid combination of organic growth, product expansion, market penetration and strategic acquisitions, the company said in a release.
Prior to joining Fidelity National Information Services, Jabbour began his career in IBM’s Global Services group managing complex client projects and relationships.
While there, he helped launch a stand-alone Internet bank for CIBC, a major Canadian financial institution. Working on that project led to him joining CIBC, where he built similar capabilities for the company’s U.S. market.
“Anthony has a strong track record of successfully growing businesses both organically and through acquisitions, establishing strong client relationships and managing large, complex technology operations in the financial services industry,” Foley said. “He will build on the strong foundation that Black Knight has established, and I am confident he and the management team at Black Knight will take the company to the next level.”
According to the company, Jabbour will take over April 1.
