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October 2008

31/10/08 - Lloyds TSB has appointed just one HBOS executive to its board following the completion of its takeover.

Out of the five board appointments made, only one member of HBOS - Harry Baines - has been included.

The chairman and chief executive of HBOS have already resigned following the announcement Lloyds TSB would bailout the struggling bank.

Lloyds TSB's chairman Sir Victor Blank will continue in his role in the larger group, as will chief executive Eric Daniels.

31/10/08 - Jill Telford, Synovate's CEO for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, is moving to London in January to take up the post of UK CEO. At the same time, Brendan Shair will become Managing Director for Hong Kong.

Telford was promoted to her current role in July 2007, having previously held the position which Shair is soon to step in to, since 1999. She began her research career in London 22 years ago, and then moved to Asia to work in Japan and Hong Kong.

During the next two months, existing UK head Michelle Norman will hand over her role to Telford before leaving to spend more time with her family.

'Jill has been with Synovate for many years and has very successfully run one of the company's largest, most established and widely recognised offices,' said COO Robert Philpott. 'Her extensive experience of working in one of the most dynamic and highly diverse parts of the world will enable her to effectively leverage the company's talent and capabilities in the UK.'

31/10/08 - Worldwide sports and entertainment company Upper Deck has announced that Hedley Barnes has been promoted to VP of sales, effective this month.

Barnes started his career with the firm as the branch manager UK and then moved to the position of managing director NEO.

The new role includes responsibility for implementing and executing international sales strategies working closely with local branches across Europe.

Rachel Clement has been appointed to fill the UK commercial manager role. Clement joins Upper Deck with a host of experience from roles with Coca Cola, Paramount Pictures, Disney and most recently, Activision Blizzard.

Rachel has previously worked on delivering key brands into the UK and Irish markets ranging from Coca Cola, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Guitar Hero and Bond, through to children’s brands such as Shrek, Dora the Explorer, Barbie, SpongeBob Squarepants and Kung Fu Panda.

30/10/08 - Goldman Sachs has named new London partners including Denise Wyllie, the bank's European head of operations, Magid Shenouda, head of European gas and power trading, and Julian Salisbury, who runs the bank's European special situations group in Russia.

In addition, Chris Milner, who runs the bank's European pensions and insurance strategy group, London-based global head of commodities Jeffery Currie and European technology and media banker John Lindfors all made the grade, as did former UK investment banking co-head Alasdair Warren, who is now based in Dubai.

The names were contained in an internal memorandum, the contents of which was confirmed by a Goldman spokesman, although he declined to comment to Executive Surf on specific job titles.

30/10/08 - UK online and land gambling group Gala Coral has confirmed the October 8th appointment of Gary Hughes as its Chief Financial Officer reporting to CEO Dominic Harrison. The group's former CFO, Matthew Roberts, indicated to the board in April 2008 that he wished to move on, triggering an intensive search for the right man for the position.

Hughes (49) was formerly a non-executive director of J. Sainsbury plc and will join the board at Gala Coral. He was appointed a non-executive director of Sainsbury on 1 January 2005, and was Chief Executive of CMP Information - a division of United Business Media plc. Prior to that, Hughes was Group Finance Director of Emap plc, Group Finance Director of SMG plc, Deputy Finance Director of Forte plc, and prior to this held a number of senior management positions with Guinness plc in the UK and in North America.

His appointment is one of several recent top management moves in the group. On October 1st Harrison (then the COO) was promoted to CEO, replacing Neil Goulden who moved out of the position after five years to become executive deputy chairman pending the departure within the next year of current chairman and founder John Kelly, when he will take Kelly's place.

"I am delighted that Gary will be joining our senior management team," said Goulden. "Gary has extensive experience in high profile blue chip companies in both the Leisure and Media sector and will make a significant contribution to the future growth and development of the company."

Hughes said: is looking forward to putting his stamp on the company. "The [Gala Coral] group has achieved considerable success over the last few years and I am very excited about the growth plans for the coming years both in the UK and internationally."

29/10/08 - Titan Outdoor has appointed Ged Weston to the new role of national sales director, while Titan's existing group sales director, Stephen Dunn, has decided to leave the company.

Dunn joined Titan in May 2007 from Ireland, where he was a founding artner and deputy managing director of Titan Outdoor Ireland. Dunn is now returning to Ireland to spend more time with his family.

Weston takes over Dunn's national sales responsibilities with his promotion. Weston has been at Titan, previously Maiden Outdoor, since 1999, and has headed specialist sales and trading since 2005. Prior to this, he held other positions in national and London sales.

29/10/08 - Band & Brown Group has promoted board director Graz Belli to the role of managing director.

Belli replaces Band & Brown Group co-founder Gill Brown, who has taken the role of chief executive officer.

Belli will focus on the agency's development into new markets, while Brown will hold group-wide responsibility for both consumer and experiential agency Brando and Band & Brown Communications.

Meanwhile, Brando has brought in Jamie Burke as its new head of digital.

Burke has been tasked with expanding Brando's digital offering and overseeing the creation of a specialist social media division.

Burke was previously a lead digital consultant at ad agency JWT and has worked across global accounts including Kraft and Shell Retail.

28/10/08 - Zurich has poached Bankhall's managing director of strategy and development Richard Howells to head up Zurich UK Life's IFA distribution strategy.

Howells, who has also held senior positions at Berkeley Berry Birch and Burns Anderson, will report to Zurich UK Life chief growth officer David Etherington when he starts at the company on 17 November.

Etherington said Howells' appointment was a 'key stepping stone' towards achieving its growth plans in the IFA marketplace.

Howells' departure from Bankhall follows the resignation of chief executive Peter Mann who left the support services company to join Skandia as chief development officer.

28/10/09 - Semiconductor value chain producer eSilicon has promoted Rob Cadman to Vice President of European Sales and Operations. He is based in the company's UK office. Mr. Cadman oversees operations that have made eSilicon one of the fastest growing and largest fabless semiconductor companies in Europe.

He leads a thirty-plus person European team that includes sales, design services and support functions.

"Europe is strategically important to us for many reasons; not the least of which is a solid and growing customer base that understands the value of our business model. We also have key partners like ARM, Chip Idea (MIPS) and S3 in the region, and enjoy a strong partnership with TSMC's European operations," said Jack Harding, chairman, president and CEO of eSilicon.

27/10/08 - UK-based online performance researcher eDigitalResearch has appointed Dominic Bean as Head of Business Development, Lloyd Viney as Head of the firm's Commercial team, and Naomi Greene and Graham Larkin as Research Analysts.

Bean joins from The Independent where he worked as Head of Commercial Marketing and Research. Before this, he was Head of Insight and Head of Business Development and Marketing at NESCOT (North East Surrey College of Technology). In his new role, he will be responsible for helping to grow new markets, developing the firm's product portfolio, and liaising with the market and market intelligence teams.

Vinney's previous role was Research Manager at online DIY retailer Screwfix. Prior to this, he worked for B&Q and Lucent Technologies within the 3G mobile division.

In their new roles, Greene and Larkin will be helping the firm's retail and communications clients gain consumer insight.

"It is crucial we recruit the finest staff we can to ensure we pass on their expertise to our clients and continue to expand the business," Director Michelle Fuller commented on the appointments.

27/10/08 - Peter Harris has joined Iris Worldwide, London, as managing director at a new division, Iris Sponsorship. He had been global director for brand experience and partnership marketing at Vodafone.

26/10/08 - The London Stock Exchange has hired a City headhunter to find a replacement for its chief executive, Dame Clara Furse, signalling the beginning of the end of her long tenure at the exchange.

The LSE said yesterday: "Clara has been with the exchange for eight years and it's natural that the board is thinking about succession planning."

Dame Clara is not expected to leave before the end of next year, at the earliest. The LSE said that, among other things, she would be completing the integration of Borsa Italiana, which the LSE bought last year.

24/10/08 - TDG chief executive David Garman is leaving following the takeover by LIT, the vehicle created by hedge fund Laxey Partners. Jeffrey Hume, the chief financial officer is also leaving the group.

Mike Branigan takes over as chief executive of TDG Contract Logistics while Graeme Rooney becomes chief executive of TDG Chemicals. Geoff Thomas is the new CFO of TDG.

Alex Paiusco, the chief executive of LIT, said: "The current economic climate poses both challenges and opportunities. TDG's ability to provide services and expertise that help customers in a difficult environment to achieve their targets will be much in demand. We are convinced that TDG under the leadership of Mike and Graeme will be able to take advantage of such opportunities and we are very enthusiastic about the future of the company. TDG has the full backing and strong financial support of LIT plc and is now well placed in the current market environment."

23/10/08 - Weber Shandwick announced today the promotion of UK & Ireland CEO, Colin Byrne to CEO, Europe.

In his new role, Byrne will continue to report to Weber Shandwick President, Andy Polansky and will remain the lead on Weber Shandwick's London and UK businesses.

Weber Shandwick in EMEA comprises 78 offices in 58 markets. Over the past four years alone, Weber Shandwick has expanded its footprint in Europe and has won 80 national and international industry awards.

"Colin has done an outstanding job leading our UK and Ireland operations since assuming the leadership post in 2003. In that time we have grown our business and burnished our reputation for client work and industry-leading thought leadership," Polansky said. "It's important that in today's interconnected world of business that we have an integrated approach to how we manage clients and how we manage our operations. The time is right for Weber Shandwick to have one overall leader of our European operations."

23/10/08 - ValueClick Europe has promoted Richard Sharp to the new role of Managing Director, UK Media and Trading, ValueClick UK.

Sharp, who will retain his role as Managing Director, ValueClick Media, (the online advertising network owned by ValueClick) but will now also be responsible for heading up UK trading agreements with the agency groups across all the ValueClick business units.

Carl White, CEO, ValueClick Europe, said: "Richard's new role will allow us to bring a more focused approach to how we trade with agencies on a daily basis. Richard will lead trading conversations across all of our many businesses. Agencies increasingly want a simplified trading relationship."

Richard joined ValueClick in early 2007 from Hemscott Plc, where he was Head of Retail, responsible for all activity on the premium subscription and free to air sites. Before that he held the role of Head of Media at the company, in charge of generating advertising revenue.

22/10/08 - Neil Yule, former UK business unit director for Fl�kt Woods has been promoted to a Europe-wide role focusing on system sales. He will take on the title of sales director (systems) for Fl�kt Woods Air Climate Europe.

Mr Yule has been replaced in the UK by Allan Hurdle, who has joined Fl�kt Woods from Elta Fans, and Mark Grimes who has been promoted internally.

Formerly Elta's md, Mr Hurdle becomes managing director of Fl�kt Woods� UK Fans Business and Mr Grimes has taken on the role of managing director of Fl�kt Woods System Products for UK and Ireland, having been business unit director for Ireland. Linden Shuttleworth is responsible for System Sales in the UK.

Mr Yule put his promotion down to the success the UK business had achieved in delivering integrated systems solutions for air management.

He said: "The plan is for me to push the approach more broadly across Europe. The systems sale is becoming more important as energy legislation drives consultants to build products with sound lifecycle costs into buildings."

All three report to Patrick Pouliquen, Fl�kt Woods senior vice president - Air Climate Europe.

22/10/08 - Yahoo! Europe has appointed Mitch Lazar as the new managing director of its mobile division, Connected Life. Lazar, formerly vice-president of commercial services in the Connected Life team, succeeds Geraldine Wilson, who leaves to become chief executive at wi-fi call provider Truphone.

21/10/08 - News International has merged its digital sales teams in a similar way to its print operations, making two key promotions in a division that will now trade across its red-top and quality newspaper brands.

About 10 roles have been made redundant and the merged team will comprise between 50 and 60 people. Affected employees are currently going through a period of consultation.

News Group head of digital sales Martin Corke has been promoted to the role of head of digital advertising strategy. He will report to the newly appointed director of digital trading Alex Hole, who takes up his role next week.

21/10/08 - Cereal giant Kellogg�s has extended the responsibilities of UK marketing director Kevin Brennan to include the position of general manager, snacks.

Brennan takes up the role previously held by Jean-Yves Heude and will also retain marketing duties. Heude has transferred to become managing director Kellogg�s Australia & New Zealand.

Brennan was appointed to UK marketing director in July 2004 from the same position in Australia & New Zealand. His move followed the promotion of incumbent Michael Allen to senior vice president for marketing, Kellogg�s Snacks.

20/10/08 - Psion plc, the mobile computer company, today announced that Jacky Lecuivre has decided to step down as President of Worldwide Sales and from the Psion Board.

Mr. Lecuivre will remain with the company for several weeks in order to facilitate a smooth handover process.

John Conoley, Psion Chief Executive, said: 'Jacky has played an important role in the company's growth and I would like to thank him for his hard work and enthusiasm over many years. I hope that we will have further opportunities to work together in future.'

20/10/08 - Martin Belsham, managing director of the group's interactive gaming business, Blue Square, is to leave Rank.

Rank's chief executive, Ian Burke, will assume direct operational management of Blue square while a successor for Belsham is sought.

17/10/08 - John Bevan, managing director at Lastminute.com, is leaving the online travel portal after four years. It is not known if he has a job to go to.

Simon Thompson, group managing director, will take over his responsibilities while a replacement is found. It is understood that the company is looking both "internally and externally".

Bevan joined Lastminute.com in 2004 when it acquired Online Travel Group (OTG), where he was group marketing and product director. He has held a variety of roles at Lastminute.com including holiday director and travel director. He was promoted to his new role of UK business-to-consumer managing director last year.

17/10/08 - George Kidd has resigned from his post as chief executive of UK premium rate telephony watchdog PhonepayPlus, having served for eight years.

The body formerly known as Icstis has confirmed that its Director of Policy and Innovation Paul Whiteing will take over the post until a successor is found.

Phonepayplus says the position will be advertised nationally and will be open to external and internal candidates, with a final decision being made by a panel comprising the Chairman of the PhonepayPlus Board, an independent assessor and a representative of UK regulator Ofcom.

16/10/08 - Yahoo! has promoted Mitch Lazar to managing director of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe, to replace Geraldine Wilson, who has left to become chief executive of mobile network operator Truphone.

Lazar will be responsible for business and marketing strategy, as well as the operations of the Connected Life business in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

He will be based in London, reporting to David Ko, senior vice-president of mobile.

Ko said: "Mitch has played a pivotal role in driving our strategy and partnerships over the last three years.

"His knowledge of our business, coupled with his vast experience in digital media and marketing, makes him the perfect candidate to continue to lead the Connected Life team towards success -- providing consumers with indispensable starting points on their mobiles and continuing to be the monetisation partner of choice for operators, publishers and advertisers."

16/10/08 - Phil Chapman quits role as T-Mobile marketing chief

Phil Chapman has quit his role as T-Mobile marketing chief after three years in the role.

It appears that Chapman decided to walk after a decision to remove the international dimension of his role.

Chapman, highly rated by his peers in the marketing sector, was given a broader European brief last year after clear branding of T-Mobile promotions in the UK such as Flext.

Chapman is expected to leave the company in November but has now immediate position to walk into.

Chapman has worked closely with UK MD Jim Hyde as well as group CEO Hamid Akhavan in Bonn.

15/10/08 - Boston-based global money management firm Putnam Investments has appointed Keith Thomas to senior vice president, head of European consultant relations.

Based in London, Thomas is responsible for directing Putnam's relationships with investment consultants in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

15/10/08 - Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is set to lose a restructuring partner in London, the third lateral departure since the firm laid off 96 lawyers in July.

Jackson Taylor, who made partner a month before the layoffs, is leaving for Latham & Watkins' London arm, a source familiar with the situation says. Taylor has already resigned from the partnership, though has not yet started at Latham.

A spokeswoman for Cadwalader confirmed Taylor's resignation on Monday. "The firm wishes him well," she says.

Taylor, 36, made partner in June, and the firm touted him and promotee Karl Clowry in a press release as "key players in cross-border work, particularly at a time when there is increased distressed debt and workout activity around the world."

14/10/08 - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has promoted Richard (Rick) Lacaille to a new role of global CIO.


Lacaille will manage SSgA�s team of asset class CIOs including currency, fixed income, asset allocation, cash and equities.

He will also oversee SSgA�s research and trading activities. Lacaille will continue to be based in London and reports to Scott Powers, president and CEO of SSgA.

14/10/08 - Birmingham's internationally-acclaimed Aston Science Park announced today that it had appointed John Cronin as its new Chief Executive Officer.

John Cronin, currently Non Executive Director and Advisor to various technology companies takes over from Dr Derek Harris, Chief Executive since 1983, who will remain at the Science Park until the end of the month.

John Cronin said: "Founded 25 years ago as the first inner-city science park in Britain, Aston Science Park is today recognised as one of theforemost establishments of its kind in Europe. Under Dr Harris' leadership, the Science Park has made a tremendous contribution to the economy of Birmingham and I now look forward to being able to drive forward the next phase of the park�s exciting future."

Originally set up to provide incubator accommodation for start-up operations and SMEs within the knowledge-based sector, Aston Science Park continues to expand its incubator provision and has expanded to provide a total space of about 250,000 sq ft, still catering for fledgling organisations together with offering facilities for international and UK companies requiring headquarters-type accommodation.

13/10/08 - RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin has this morning resigned as boss of the beleaguered banking group.

After days of intense speculation regarding his future, Goodwin has walked away from the bank which today reached an agreement with the Government over a �20bn capital injection.

Goodwin took severe criticism over RBS' �12bn British record rights issue in June, with the bank's entire capital now worth less than the initial cash call.

Former Abbey finance director and current British Land chief Stephen Hester, who is on the RBS board, was named the new boss.

13/10/08 - Time Out, the city-centric listings magazine, has promoted publisher Mark Elliott to the role of managing director, with a seat on the board, ahead of a strategic review of the business.

Elliott joined Time Out London, which has a weekly circulation of 87,000, in January. The company's chairman and founder Tony Elliott has indicated a significant overhaul of the business will take place over the next 12 months, which now includes 25 licensed international editions.

Prior to joining the publisher (Mark) Elliott held various publishing roles at Emap, including publisher of Empire and consultant on Heat and Closer. He has also worked with Channel 4 and the Brooklands Group, running TV-branded magazines and websites.

Elliott, chairman of Time Out, said he has been impressed by the professionalism of his namesake and his knowledge of magazine publishing, adding "he is the best person to take the magazine forward with its future plans".

10/10/08 - Venteco plc. said Stefan Hansson has resigned as chief executive, effective immediately, and chairman Haresh Kanabar will assume the responsibilities of CEO in the interim while the company searches for a replacement.

The pest control company said Kanabar will fulfil these new responsibilities alongside his current role as chairman.

09/10/08 - OgilvyOne London has promoted its managing director Annette King to chief executive, replacing Mike Dodds, who left last month to become chief executive of Proximity London.

King has been managing director of OgilvyOne London since the beginning of this year.

However, she has worked at the agency for the past eight years, starting with a four-year stint running the Amex 360 EMEA business.

In 2005, King was promoted to client service director, with primary responsibility for new business, and shortly after this she ran the agency's digital arm, Ogilvy Interactive.

King was then promoted in November 2006 to deputy managing director and during 2007 she led the team, which won that year's biggest DM pitch for British Gas.

09/10/08 - Andrew Fryatt is stepping down as Chief Executive and Director of Ideal Shopping Direct with effect from 10 October 2008.

In the interim period, the senior management team will report to Chairman David Williams, who will assume executive responsibilities.

The company said it has started its search for a new Chief Executive.

08/10/08 - OneClickHR plc said it has appointed Trevor Townsend operations director, responsible for the delivery and implementation of HR.net to customers.

08/10/08 - Hargreaves Lansdown plc said finance director Martin Mulligan will leave at the end of December 2008 to pursue new challenges, and Tracey Taylor will be appointed finance director.

07/10/08 - The London Metal Exchange announced today that it has appointed Diarmuid O'Hegarty as Deputy Chief Executive of the Exchange.

'Diarmuid will continue to run the Regulation and Compliance activities of the Exchange and deputise for Chief Executive, Martin Abbott in all matters,' the Exchange said in a statement.

The appointment is effective immediately, with departmental reporting lines remaining unchanged.

07/10/08 - 1st Dental Laboratories plc said it has appointed Nigel Spring as managing director with immediate effect.

Spring was appointed as operations director to the company in May this year.

06/10/08 - Gary Brine, chief executive of Gyro International, has left the agency he founded 17 years ago, and is being replaced by Richard Glasson.

Brine is leaving to 'try something different', according to a spokesman, who added that his departure was amicable and that he will remain a shareholder in the company. He will also continue in his role of chairman of the Marketing Communication Consultants Association.

Glasson was previously chief operating officer at Gyro, a role he has held since 2002. He has been in charge of eight acquisitions over the past two years as well as opening offices in Dubai and Madrid.

He said: "In January this year we secured new investment of �55m, and we have some exciting new opportunities to continue Gyro's expansion in the UK and overseas. 2008 will be yet another record year for the company, and we head into 2009 full of optimism."

06/10/08 - Southern Bear plc said it has appointed David Parsons as full-time executive finance director after fulfilling this role for the last few months on an interim basis.

03/10/08 - National Express Group said it has appointed Jorge Cosmen as its deputy chairman with immediate effect.

'In this role he (Cosmen) will be providing support to both Richard Bowker (chief executive) and me with the company's plans for business development and growth, particularly in the context of international expansion,' said chairman David Ross.

03/10/08 - Allied Gold announced today that chief executive and director Richard Johnson has resigned from his post with immediate effect.

It added chairman Mark Caruso will fulfill Johnson's role.

The company also said that Johnson had 55,000 shares in the company at his resignation date.

02/10/08 - French Connection Group said non-executive director David Rockberger has resigned from the Board after seven years.

02/10/08 - Hiscox said Hiscox Europe managing director Marc van der Veer resigned and will be replaced by group chief operating officer Michael Gould.

Since joining Hiscox this summer as chief operating officer, Gould has also been chairman of the European Steering Group.

01/10/08 - Yamaha Music UK has confirmed that Karl Christmas, previously Commercial Audio marketing manager, has been promoted to the role of deputy general manager, Commercial Audio UK. This is a UK position leading the local team alongside general manager Ricci Hodgson, say Yamaha.

Karl Christmas will now assume overall responsibility for the coordination and management of the rapidly expanding UK sales and marketing operations, and will also oversee the continuing drive into new sectors, in particular the install systems markets.

One of the longest-serving members of the Commercial Audio team, Karl is widely respected and has been responsible for some of the company's most significant product launches and notable marketing successes. He will now head up a growing team and contribute to a range of up-coming pan-European initiatives.

01/10/08 - Vodafone has promoted two directors to run its emerging markets division and appointed a new UK chief executive, in the latest move by chief executive Vittorio Colao.

Earlier this month, Vodafone said it would separate its emerging markets division into two and hire two new bosses to focus on the group's higher growth markets. Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone UK, has been appointed chief executive of its Asia Pacific and Middle East region that comprises Vodafone's operations in Australia, China, Egypt, Fiji, India, New Zealand and Qatar.

Morten Lundal, the chief executive of Middle East and Africa within the emerging markets unit, will run Central Europe and Africa. Guy Laurence, chief executive of Vodafone Netherlands, will become chief executive of Vodafone UK.

01/10/08 - Mazda Motors UK has appointed marketing director Mark Cameron to the position of sales director.

His replacement to handle marketing responsibilities for the car marque has not yet been decided. He replaces Jeremy Thomson who now becomes managing director. Thomson is also a former Mazda marketing director.

Cameron became Mazda marketing director in July 2005 and joined from Ford, where he had held sales and marketing positions, including marketing manager in the customer services division.
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He has overseen several campaigns working with advertising agency JWT, including activity for the Mazda6 at the end of last year.

Current Mazda managing director Rob Lindley has now moved to a sales position with McLaren Automotive.

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