Lee Williams, currently the head of S60 inside Nokia, will become the Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation in the new year, the ten initial board members of the Foundation have announced on the second day of the Symbian Smartpone Show. His experience in running what till now has been one of the largest components of Symbian OS will be vital to the new organisation and the support from over 50 companies to the principles of the unified platform.

Whilst the Symbian Foundation is in a bit of a legal limbo (having been announced in June 2008, but awaiting various deals and takeovers to go through the regulatory process), it is heartening to see that the delegates at the Smartphone Show have a lot of confidence and keen anticipation about the endeavour. The feeling is that many are making preparations to take advantage of the opportunities available when it 'goes live' early next year.

Putting Lee Williams at the top of the table with his already extensive knowledge of the Symbian ecosystem will only boost that confidence of the partners and supports, as well as provide a solid indication to the market that the process to create the Foundation is on track.

"I feel honored to have been invited to serve in this role", said Lee Williams. "This is a great opportunity to directly help deliver on the promise of the foundation, working with the stakeholders and prospective members who are so committed to make this initiative a success. To me, there can be no more exciting role in the mobile software world than to lead the Symbian Foundation."

The Full Press Release is Here.