The directors
and management team bring extensive industry skills and management
experience in e-commerce, entertainment retailing and the media industry.
Ian Watson - Executive Chairman
Ian
Watson holds dual qualifications as a solicitor in Scotland and England
and spent 11 years in London as a corporate finance lawyer initially
with the city firm S.J. Berwin & Co, and subsequently as head
of corporate law with the music and entertainment firm Sheridans.
In 1998 he, along with John Gildersleeve, joined Streets Online, and
as Commercial Director Ian was responsible for establishing initial
supply and licensing deals with major record, film and games companies
and for negotiating some of the high profile portal deals that Streets
Online managed to secure during that period. Ian set up, and became
a director and shareholder in, Tornado Entertainment Limited in November
1999, following his departure from Streets Online. He became a Director
of Tornado Group PLC in December 1999.
Neil Ferris - Chief Executive Officer
Neil
started his career at the BBC, working as a producer in local radio
and later moving to national radio and television as a director. Having
gained much experience in radio and television, Neil took his career
into the music business initially with EMI Music Publishing and some
independent record labels, and subsequently to Sony as head of promotion.
In 1980, Neil formed his own company, Brilliant PR Limited, which
encompasses management, publishing, recording and publicity. In March
1997, having been a consultant to EMI for the previous two years,
Neil agreed to become managing director of EMI UK. Neil resigned from
EMI and took on consultancy roles at BMG Entertainment Limited and
Tornado, joining the Tornado board in September 2000.
Gareth Roblin - Chief Financial Officer
Gareth
is a chartered accountant who started his career with Deloitte Haskins
and Sells (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) in 1981. He joined
Exco in 1986, taking up positions in Australia and the Far East, before
being promoted to Finance Director of the UK business in 1995. When
Exco merged with Intercapital in 1998 and then with the subsequent
merger of Garban and Intercapital, Gareth was involved with the integration
of the finance areas before being appointed UK finance director of
Garban-Intercapital plc (now ICAP plc). Gareth joined the Tornado
board in August 2000.
Nicholas English - Business Development Director
Nick
founded Virtue with his brother Giles English and headed up thecompany,
forging strategic opportunities for Virtue, while developing manyof
Virtue's media client relationships. He qualified as a chartered accountant
in London with Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), working
in audit and corporate finance. After qualifying, Nick moved to the
merchant bank Henry Ansbacher in corporate finance and shortly afterward
made the decision in 1997 to set up Virtue.
Giles English - Sales and Marketing Director
Giles
is the sales and marketing director of Virtue and has helped define
its product and market strategy whilst moulding the company into a
digital media service provider with real revenues. In conjunction
with heading up the sales function at Virtue, Giles has been responsible
for many of Virtue's large corporate wins. After obtaining a degree
in general engineering in 1996, Giles moved to the City to work in
corporate finance for the investment bank, Williams de Broe. There
he specialised in fund raising and IPOs for engineering and high tech
firms. Giles left investment banking in 1998 to found Virtue with
his brother Nick.
John Gildersleeve - Strategic Director
John joined Tornado in January 2000 and has been involved in the music industry for 15 years both as a musician and songwriter and as a stage musical director. Until December 1999, John was Head of Music at Streets Online where he was responsible for all aspects of audiostreet.com, Streets Online's on-line compact disc retail store. John's role encompassed: co-ordinating specialist teams of database technicians and web designers; customer services; negotiating supply agreements with major record companies, independent record companies and wholesalers; developing and initiating strategy, pricing and promotional activities. John has acquired a high level of technical and practical knowledge of systems and infrastructures through the development of audiostreet.com. John's knowledge of the entertainment industry and his awareness of the effect of developing technologies on the industry has allowed him to develop strong relationships with senior executives and representatives of those industries.
James Ormondroyd - Commercial Director
James joined Virtue in February 2000 and has overseen Virtue's first and second round fundraisings totalling some �5.5 million. He is a chartered accountant, having qualified with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London in 1996. James was a manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers until 2000, with responsibilities for a number of listed companies and has experience of financial planning, listing and acquisitions.
Lord Waheed Alli - Non-executive Director
Lord
Alli joined the Tornado board in February 2001. Lord Alli is a Labour
peer and was managing director of Carlton Productions until the end
of 2000. Previously he was managing director of Planet 24, one of
the largest independent production companies in the UK, which he founded
with Charlie Parsons and Bob Geldof. He was appointed as a working
Labour peer in July 1998 and has served on the Board of the Teacher
Training Agency, the Foreign Office, Panel 2000 and the Government's
Creative Industries Task Force. In addition to his responsibilities
at Tornado, Lord Alli is Chairman of DRg (London), the consortium
made up of GWR, The Wireless Group, Emap, Scottish Media Group and
Car Phone Warehouse.
Ohad Finkelstein - Non-executive Director
Ohad
is the chairman and chief executive officer of Interoute Telecom,
the largest data network in Europe with revenues of US$400 million.
He joined Interoute from VocalTec Communications Ltd, a leading international
software house developing and marketing voice and multimedia communications
over packetised networks, where he was vice president of global operations.
During this time he was also a senior adviser on the advisory board
at I.D.E.A.: a world leader in financial and economic analysis. Prior
to that, he was director of computers and peripherals at Eurocom Communications
Ltd and head of international activities at Packard Bell Electronics.
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