London, United Kingdom - January 9, 2015, London, United Kingdom - UBM plc, a media company, announced that its chairman Dame Helen Alexander, is recovering from a recent operation and is expected to resume her
role during March 2015.
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Dame Helen is Chairman of UBM plc, the Port of London Authority (PLA) and Incisive Media. She is also deputy chairman of esure Group Holdings, a non-executive director of Rolls-Royce Group plc, and senior adviser to Bain Capital.
Dame Helen was president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) until June 2011. She is Chancellor of the University of Southampton and is currently involved with other not-for-profit organisations in media, the arts and education. She was Chief Executive of the Economist Group till 2008, having joined the company in 1985 and been managing director of the Economist Intelligence Unit from 1993 to 1997.
Committee Membership: Chairman of the Nomination Committee. Member of the Remuneration Committee.
Alan Gillespie, Senior Independent Director, will stand in for Dame Helen as Acting Non-executive Chairman, during her temporary absence.
Mr. Gillespie spent ten years at Citibank, followed by 13 years at Goldman Sachs as a partner, with responsibility for corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions in the UK and Ireland. He jointly led the firm's financial services practice in Europe and in 1996 established Goldman Sachs' presence in South Africa.
Mr. Gillespie has worked in the UK, USA, Europe and South Africa. From 2001 to 2008 he was Chairman of The Ulster Bank Group. He is currently the Senior Independent Director at Old Mutual plc. Within the public sector, Alan is Chairman of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and Chairman of the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm.
Mr. Gillespie has been Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the Chair of The Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board. He is a Member of the Audit Committee and the Nomination Committee.
The company also announced that its CEO Tim Cobbold, will be having an operation shortly and he is expected to resume his role within a period of up to two months.
Mr. Cobbold was previously Chief Executive Officer at De La Rue, an international business employing 4,000 people in more than 150 countries covering Africa, Asia, Continental Europe, Latin America, Middle East and the USA.
His previous roles included UK engineering group TI Group and Chloride Group plc where he became Chief Executive in 2008. Chloride operates in Continental Europe, Asia, US, Middle East and Australia.
After graduating from Imperial College with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mr. Cobbold qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse.
During Mr. Cobbold's temporary absence, CFO Robert Gray will take on the additional role of Acting Chief Executive.
Mr. Gray joined UBM's Board as Chief Financial Officer in September 2009 having previously been at Codere S.A. for five years where he was Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. Before joining Codere, he enjoyed a successful 24 year career in investment and commercial banking. ■