London, October 19th 2009 – Today European Directories is announcing the appointment of Ben Legg as Chief Operating Officer. Ben joins the company from Google, where he was COO Europe
Before joining Google, Ben Legg was Vice President of Sales for Coca-Cola’s operations in India and prior to this Commercial Director for Coca Cola in Poland. Ben will take on direct responsibility for three of the European Directories’ country operations as well as for groupwide initiatives that will continue to drive the continuing transformation of the company from a predominantly print based directory business to a multi-media lead generation business.
European Directories provides local search and lead-generation products in eight European markets including the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland . The company is providing its over 700,000 SME customers with a wide range of multi-media solutions to their local advertising needs.
I’m delighted to be taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer for European Directories,” commented Legg. "Local search and lead generation is at an exciting stage of development in the internet search space and. European Directories with its combination of great local brands, significant advertiser coverage and high quality sales forces in the countries, has great potential for growth".
Legg’s formative years were spent with strategy consultants McKinsey and the British Army where, as an officer in the Royal Engineers, he was involved in the relief of the siege of Sarajevo that ended the Bosnian civil war in 1995.
Group chief Executive, Cornel Riklin, said, “I am very pleased to welcome Ben to our management team.;He brings a terrific blend of skills to the table. I’ve no doubt he will help accelerate our transformational agenda as well as bring direct leadership to key areas of our business.”
Earlier this month European Directories announced a strategic partnership with Skype which will offer customers free calls to its participating advertisers. On-line advertisers will have the opportunity to be highlighted with Skype’s blue “Free Call” button anywhere their number appears on the internet.
Notes to Editors:
About European Directories European Directories is a local search and lead-generation company with well-known brands in Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Czech, Slovak, Poland and Gibraltar. It employs 4,700 staff and has a customer base of over 700,000. The company delivers leads to advertisers through a range of products including print, on-line, search engine marketing, mobile, affiliate networking and RFP/RFQ.
The company is headquartered in Amsterdam but has an on-line centre of excellence in Chiswick Park, West London where Legg will be physically based. The headquarters also determines group strategy, co-ordinates key initiatives and facilitates inter-company best practice transfer.
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