Mark Wood named as new Nominet Chair

[Acorn Newsbot]

Mark Wood, formerly Reuters PLC Board member and Chair & CEO of ITN, has been appointed Chair of Nominet. Mark is currently Chair of educational content business Knowledge Motion, advisor to Ascension Ventures, and sits on PwC’s Advisory Board and the Board of Citywire.

Nominet is an internet company best known for running the flagship .UK domain name registry, relied upon by over 3.75 million businesses every day. Against the backdrop of slowing domain name growth, Nominet is pursuing a strategy of strengthening its core registry business while developing new commercial opportunities to bring the benefits of its technical expertise and of new internet technologies to a wider audience. Committed to contributing to a vibrant digital future, the company invests in public benefit projects and funds Nominet Trust, its charitable foundation.

Commenting on his appointment, Mark said: “Nominet has an excellent track record running the .UK infrastructure, a highly talented team and plans for the future which are exciting and ambitious. I’m looking forward to leading the Board, and working with Russell and Nominet members to make the most of the opportunities ahead.”

Russell Haworth, Nominet CEO commented: “We have a strategy that builds on our strengths to create the Nominet of the future. Mark has a wealth of experience across digital and media sectors that will be enormously valuable, and I very much look forward to working with him to take the company forward.”

Mark will become Chair on April 28th. He replaces outgoing Chair Baroness Fritchie DBE, who is stepping down after seven years with Nominet. The appointment follows a formal recruitment process led by independent Non-Executive Director Jane Tozer.

The post Mark Wood named as new Nominet Chair appeared first on Nominet.

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[Sean]

Nepotism at it's finest!

I've always given Nominet the benefit of the doubt, I've even fallen out with other members of this forum because I felt they were being too cynical! No more!

Is David Thornton still around? If you are perhaps you can explain how this was got past the board given that Russell Howarth's previous job was with Thompson Reuters?

 

[RobM]

They'll say it's irrelevant and there's no link.

 

[Sean]

They can say whatever they want but it's far from irrelevant. It's a cushy little number with a very nice renumeration package so his appointment is either poor judgement or total arrogance. Either way, it raises serious questions.

Does this go to the board for approval?

 

[VolkerG]

As a member of the selection panel and current elected board member, I can weigh in here:
Basically RobM sums it up: It was irrelevant and there is no link.

Nominet had an open call for candidates. All candidate applications were received and initially reviewed and graded by an outside recruitment agency.
A longlist was presented to the recruitment selection panel (of which our CEO was no member) and based on that a shortlist was created to arrive at a list of potential candidates. These candidates all met with the CEO and the then current chair. A final round of interviews was then held by the selection panel and the outstanding character was chosen.
Of all applications received, Mark Wood was the best candidate. He showed a keen interest and understanding in the challanges facing Nominet going forward.

The fact that both the CEO of Nominet and the candidate had worked for the same employer at one time had been flagged at the time of the review of the long list but was not perceived as a conflict or problem as both confirmed they never worked together.

The panel made its proposal to the board based on the application and the interviews, which formed our impressions of which candidate would be the best for the role. Our proposal was then approved by the board.

At no time did the panel feel pressured or even prodded towards a certain choice.

 

[Sean]

Can members request a list of all the applicants?

You say that Mr Russell and Mr Wood never worked together while at Reuters. Where they asked if they had ever had any kind of contact with each other either professionally or privately in the past?

 

[RobM]

....Basically RobM sums it up: It was irrelevant and there is no link......

That's not at all what I said and you know it - very dishonest. I said that's what nominet would say. Please don't put words in my mouth in an attempt to give your propaganda some credibility. You may be used to dealing with people who can be easily fooled (or you believe what you're told) but I assure you that's not me. Really people here are just deciding whether or not they actually care so you're wasting your time trying to pull the wool over their eyes.