Futuremedia Announce Appointments to Board of Directors

Futuremedia plc, a European e-learning content and services provider, today announced the appointment of three new independent directors to the company’s board. The new directors include Michiel Steel, Mick Pilsworth and John Schwallie.

Jan Vandamme, Chairman of Futuremedia, said, With the appointment of these three seasoned executives to our board, we have significantly strengthened our governance. These executives bring to Futuremedia a wealth of experience in building, organising and improving the performance of a wide range of companies and have successfully managed and guided organisations during periods of rapid growth and industry change. They are committed to working with the Futuremedia management team to develop a strategy that will capture the growth opportunities ahead. I welcome them to the Board and look forward to working with them in improving the performance of the company to the benefit of our shareholders.

Michiel Steel brings to Futuremedia over 34 years of experience in managing and consulting for complex and fast-growing companies. He currently serves as an independent director on the board of AIB-Vincotte Group, a global solution provider in the field of quality, safety and the environment, employing over 1,800 people. He was most recently a member of the management committee of The Belgian Post, where he assisted in the organisational transformation of the company, which is Belgium’s largest employer. From 1992 to 2000, he was a vice president at Gemini Consulting, one of the world’s leading consulting firms, where he specialized in strategy formulation, shareholder value creation, M&A, organisational effectiveness and business process re-engineering. Previously, he held senior management positions, primarily in human resources, operations improvement and management training at Union Carbide Corporation, Cegos Benelux NV and the Procter & Gamble Corporation.

Mick Pilsworth has over three decades of experience in building, organising and managing companies in the media industry. He is currently the chairman of television consultancy Martini Media Ltd. He also serves as executive chairman of Motive Television Plc, a television production group based in London and Dublin, and non-executive chairman of Cheeky Productions, Ltd., a UK-based children’s animation company. Previously, he was chief executive officer of Chrysalis TV Group, where he founded and developed the TV production division, including a portfolio of eleven TV production companies in seven countries. His prior senior management roles spanned content production, merchandising and revenue diversification at a number of media and entertainment companies, including SelecTV plc, MGMM Communications, TVS and LWT.

John Schwallie has a track record of effectively building and restructuring companies operating in nascent and fast-growing industries. He is currently a finance and operations consultant. Most recently, he was the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Wildbrain, a U.S. based producer of animation and entertainment content. While at Wildbrain he negotiated and closed a multi-picture co-production and distribution deal with Miramax, a TV series production contract with Disney and raised private equity financing. From 1995 to 2000, he was the chief financial officer of Central European Media Enterprises (CME), the leading terrestrial broadcast television group in Central and Eastern Europe. To fund CME’s rapid growth, he raised over $500 million in public equity and debt. Previously, he was the chief financial officer and financial director of CME’s largest station, Nova TV, the first private national television station in Central Europe. Earlier, he was the advisor to the finance director of Prague Breweries. John is a Certified Public Accountant and has an MBA from Cornell University.

The Company also announced today that David Bailey has resigned from the Board. As a result of these changes, the Company now has a total of six directors, four of whom are independent.