BT rings changes in boardroom

Nick Goodway12 April 2012

BRITISH Telecom announced a clearout of its board with more than half its non-executive directors departing. Four non-execs who were appointed under former chairman Sir Iain Vallance will quit next week. The newcomers include investment banker John Nelson, who was one of the driving forces at Lazards, the merchant bank that helped make BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland one of his first fortunes.

In 1994, Lazards was adviser to Granada in its hostile but ultimately successful £760m bid for LWT, the London weekend ITV franchise. Bland was chairman of LWT and held £14m of shares when the bid went through.

Nelson moved from Lazards to CSFB two years ago but will shortly step down as chairman of its European operations following the arrival of John Mack as worldwide chief executive. Nelson became deputy chairman of retailer Kingfisher last month.

Baroness Jay, former leader of the House of Lords and very much part of New Labour's success story, is another newcomer. She is also on the board of Independent News & Media. The third new face is Carl Symon, a former chairman and chief executive of IBM UK. A fourth new non-executive is still being sought.

The departures are Economist chief executive Helen Alexander, former Carlton Communications managing director June de Moller, ex-diplomat Sir John Weston and Neville Isdell, the former boss of Coca-Cola Beverages.

A BT spokeswoman said: 'We're a new company so these are new people.'

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