London, United Kingdom - February 25, 2014, London, United Kingdom - UBM plc, an events-led communications services business, appoints Tim Cobbold to the role of chief executive officer and member of the board as an executive director, effective May 6, 2014.
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Mr. Cobbold joins UBM from De La Rue plc, where he has been Chief Executive since 2011.
Before joining De La Rue, Mr. Cobbold was Chief Executive of Chloride Group plc, the international provider of secure power solutions.
Prior to this he was at Smiths Group plc where he held a wide variety of senior roles, including a number of Managing Director positions.
He is also a Non-Executive Director of Drax plc.
After a graduating from Imperial College with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse.
He began his career in industry in 1989 with UK engineering group TI Group (subsequently acquired by Smiths Group plc) where he worked in the automotive, oil & gas, capital goods, marine and medical industries.
Mr. Cobbold gained extensive international experience through senior leadership roles with responsibility across Asia, Europe (working and living in Germany for three years) and particularly the US where he led the integration of a $1bn acquisition.
Mr. Cobbold left Smiths Group for the international provider of secure power systems Chloride Group plc where he became Chief Executive in 2008.
In 2010 Chloride was acquired by Emerson Electric.
After a short period overseeing the integration process, he joined De La Rue Plc as Chief Executive in January 2011.
Mr. Cobbold’s appointment follows the announcement that David Levin intended to step down as UBM’s CEO, effective March 1, 2014
Mr. Levin was appointed as UBM's chief executive officer in April 2005, having previously been chief executive of Symbian, a mobile phone software licensing company, since April 2002.
He joined Symbian from Psion PLC, the handheld computing company, where he was chief executive from February 1999.
Prior to that, he spent five years with the international business-publishing group Euromoney Institutional Investor, as chief operating officer and before that as president of Institutional Investor in New York.
Previously he worked with the venture capital group Apax Partners, and with the consultancy firm Bain and Company for five years, mostly in Asia.
Mr. Levin has an MBA from Stanford University and an MA from Oxford. ■