Xero’s chief executive Rod Drury confirmed the appointment and said the company had not released the name since Sutherland doesn’t start until October. Xero is gaining a lot of buzz as a hot product that could give the online players in this country a serious run for their money. And one of those challenged is Intuit. No, Xero is not going to displace the massive desktop QuickBooks market. But the book on this game is that QuickBooks Online is vulnerable because it isn’t up to the standards set by QB on the desktop. Sutherland was VP and general manager for the Simply operations from July 2008 through April 2011. There’s a video promoting Xero Touch on his LinkedIn page, so it was something of a clue. His current role is described as VP and GM small business, Internet, San Francisco Bay Area. In March, Xero shifted shareholder and chief technology officer Peter Thiel to the Bay area The Xero plans are moving along as apparently consultant Gary Boomer has just arrived back from ground Xero in the Southern Hemisphere after getting briefed on plans. Certainly the cloud-based entries are expanding in the accounting market, particularly on the low-end, whether with true accounting or invoicing packages. These include Wave Accounting, Sales Order.com and Bill.com. Seems to be a very fertile market.