Appointments: KCOM Group; Venturefest Yorkshire; Tissue Regenix

COMMUNICATIONS group KCOM has appointed former Microsoft executive Patrick De Smedt as a non-executive director.

Mr De Smedt held a number of senior positions during a 23-year career with Microsoft, including founding its Benelux subsidiaries and later being chairman of Microsoft for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

He will replace Tony Illsley as senior independent director, who is retiring after seven years on the board.

Graham Holden, non-executive chairman of KCOM Group, said: “I am delighted to welcome Patrick to the Board.  His background and experience of working with both technology and publicly quoted companies will, alongside the contributions of our existing established members, further strengthen the board.”

In December, KCOM completed the sale of its national network infrastructure outside its East Yorkshire base to CityFibre for £90m.

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THE former chairman of Sheffield City Region LEP, James Newman, is to chair the Venturefest Yorkshire Advisory Group during a period of transition for the event.

Venturefest Yorkshire is a one-day event designed to showcase Yorkshire’s most inspiring science, technology and innovative entrepreneurs.

Responsibility for managing the event is being handed over from York Professionals to the city’s destination management company, Make It York.

Mr Newman, who is also chairman of Finance Yorkshire and Fishing Republic, said: “This is a timely appointment for me after standing down after over five years leading the Sheffield City Region LEP.

“I have built up an excellent network of good business contacts and friends across Yorkshire. I plan to put my experience and contacts to good use to make Venturefest a big success so that it benefits the many entrepreneurs and their small and innovative companies across Yorkshire.”

Heather Niven, head of Science City York, will be leading the operational team putting on Venturefest.

She added: “Venturefest in Yorkshire has a great track record and reputation but we have been charged with giving it a new lease of life and ensuring that it is an event that involves the whole of the Yorkshire region.

“The appointment of James Newman to head up our Advisory Group is a great boost and will certainly help with the challenge of engaging with all parts of the county.”

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THE chief executive of Consort Medical is to join the board of AIM-listed Tissue Regenix as a non-executive director.

Jonathan Glenn has been appointed to the York-based regenerative medical devices company with immediate effect.

Before joining Consort Medical, Mr Glenn held senior financial roles at Akubio and the Celltech Group, and he has a broad range of commercial experience across the medical devices industry.

John Samuel, chairman of Tissue Regenix Group, said: “He has excellent experience in the medical devices market and we look forward to working with him, we believe his appointment will strengthen the Board as we move into our next stage of development.

“This is an exciting time for Tissue Regenix following the successful commercialisation of our woundcare products in the US, and the encouraging progress from the orthopaedic clinical trials in the EU, as well as the ongoing work in our cardiac applications.”