"I’ve known Simon for years; we were head-to-head competitors when I was with Bezier and he was with SP Group and now we’re totally aligned," said Shaw.

"ITG is a company I’ve wanted to join since very early on. While I was still at Bezier it was a very interesting concept... I’m genuinely excited about joining," he added.

Shaw left the point-of-sale specialist in January 2011 when Bezier, which he had been with for 12 years, rejigged its management structure a year after the MBI led by Astron founder David Mitchell. Shaw had been on ‘gardening leave’ prior to joining ITG on 7 January.

"We are delighted that Mark has decided to join the team. His appointment is a real statement of intent for us, he will be pivotal in helping us navigate our business deeper into the retail space which is our strategic heartland," said ITG chief executive Simon Ward.

According to Shaw, who has taken an undisclosed equity stake in the business, it was ITG’s media neutral, technology driven business model that drew him to the company.

"ITG is a new and innovative proposition that has to appeal to all customers on the basis that it’s aligned with them in terms of improving efficiency with the Media Centre system and helping them manage their agency and supplier base."

"Media Centre puts retailers in total control of what is happening, things like approval of artwork and content, placing of orders, controlling of costs and budgets are all electronic and through the system, as is the control of agencies and suppliers and as a result internal communications can be improved dramatically."

Birmingham-based ITG has sales of £35m, 150 staff and boasts clients including Marks & Spencer, Audi, Asda, KFC, BT and Sainsbury’s.

• Seperately, it has emerged that Mark Lockley, who co-founded ITG with Ward, resigned as a director of the company last year. According to documents filed at Companies House, Lockley resigned as a director of Inspired Thinking Group and Inspired Thinking Group (ITG) on 25 October 2011.