Symbian Has A New Chairman

[Ewan]

With the title of Independent, Non-Executive Chairman, Sir Peter Gershon joins the board of Symbian, taking up the space if not the exact title, of David Potter (Psion) who resigned when Psion sold its stake in Symbian. Sir Gershon is no stranger to large organisations with different objectives; he led the review of Whitehall and local UK Government efficiency in the past. So helping Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Panasonic and all the other partners to agree on future direction shouldn't be a problem.

[Ewan]

Symbian appoints independent chairman
Sir Peter Gershon joins Board of Symbian Limited.

LONDON, UK, 11th November 2004 - Symbian Limited today announces that Sir Peter Gershon is to join the Board in the newly created role of independent, non-executive Chairman with immediate effect.

Sir Peter has held senior positions in high technology industries and in government. As chief executive officer of the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce, he led a major programme to reform government procurement, saving some £1.65 billion by implementing measures aimed at improving value for money. He has also recently completed an efficiency review addressing the UK public sector.

Sir Peter has extensive experience in the IT and telecoms industries, working with companies such as ICL, STC Telecommunications, GPT (telecoms joint venture between Siemens AG and GEC plc) and GEC Marconi. Sir Peter was chief operating officer and Board member of BAe Systems from 1999 until his appointment to the Office of Government Commerce in 2000.

The Symbian Board is confident that Sir Peter Gershon will make a significant contribution to Symbian’s development, given his long and varied experience of managing joint ventures, of international business, of high technology industry, and of government relations.

Sir Peter’s appointment as independent, non-executive Chairman of the Board of Symbian follows the resignation of David Potter, the chairman of Psion PLC, who stepped down as Symbian’s Chairman in July 2004 following Psion’s sale of its shareholding in Symbian.

The decision to appoint Sir Peter was unanimously approved by the Board.

[TomJ]

Originally Posted by Ewan

Sir Gershon is no stranger to large organisations with different objectives;

Look, I tried to resist posting this, so I apologise for the knee jerk pedantry, but "Sir Gershon"? Please, no...