Colt Group SA today announced that it will appoint Mark Ferrari as Chief Financial Officer with effect from 31 March 2011. Mark Ferrari is currently a Non-Executive Director of Colt and will become an Executive Director on this date. He was initially appointed to the Colt Board on 1 January 2009. Mark presently serves as Managing Director of Devonshire Investors, the private investment firm affiliated with FMR, LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, where Mark is responsible for oversight of a number of companies within the Devonshire Investors portfolio. Mark previously served as Chief Operations Officer and CFO of Devonshire, and before that he served as CFO of Fidelity Investors Limited Partnership and as CFO Pembroke Real Estate. He joined Fidelity in 2000 as SVP Finance of the Fidelity Broadband Group. Prior to joining Fidelity, Mark was Vice President of Finance at Kronos Inc. and began his career at Ernst & Young. With effect from 31 March Mark will step down from his day-to-day role with Devonshire Investors and join Colt on a full time basis.
Mark’s appointment follows the decision of Stuart Jackson to resign from his position of Chief Financial Officer. Stuart Jackson informed the Company that he intends to move away from day-to-day executive responsibilities and pursue a Non-Executive Director career in due course. He will step down as an Executive Director from the Board of Colt Group SA on 31 December 2010 and the Company has agreed with Mr Jackson that he will leave the Company on 31 March 2011.
Commenting on these changes, Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Since his arrival at Colt in 2009 Stuart Jackson has been an integral member of my senior management team and has played a central role in helping to define the new organisation that Colt is now implementing across its business and establishing a firm financial strategy for the Group. We wish him success in the next stage of his career and thank him for the contribution he has made during this important time.”
“I’m really pleased that Mark has agreed to join the executive team at Colt. He brings a wealth of experience in finance and general management for global businesses. Mark has been working with Devonshire’s telecom and technology portfolio since he joined Fidelity Broadband in 2000, and, of course, he has been a Non-Executive Director of Colt since the beginning of 2009. He knows us and he knows our industry. He will make a significant contribution to Colt at a time when we are transforming our business. “
Mark Ferrari said: “I am delighted to be appointed as Colt’s Chief Financial Officer. I am very much looking forward to joining the Colt senior leadership team. These are exciting times for the business and I hope that my combined financial and business experience, along with my existing knowledge of Colt, will serve me well as we move the business forward.”
In line with an earlier announcement made in July, Colt today also confirmed that Frans van den Hoven, a Non Executive Director, will be retiring from the Board on 31 December 2010, after serving as a member of the Colt Board for 14 years.
The Chairman Tim Hilton said “Frans has been an exceptional Non Executive Director. Colt has had the good fortune of benefiting from his wise counsel and independence of thought since the original flotation of the company. We are grateful for his valuable contribution and commitment over the years and wish him all the very best for the future.”
About Colt
Colt is Europe’s leading information delivery platform, enabling its customers to share, process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated networking and IT managed services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers, Colt operates a 19-country, 25,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 34 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 17,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres. In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative high quality modular data centres which are rapid to deploy and power efficient.
Colt is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT). Information about Colt and its services can be found at www.colt.net.
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