Yell appoints Wigley as new chairman

8th Jun 2009 07:23

Yellow Pages publisher Yell has appointed Bob Wigley as its new chairman. He will take up his new job following the Annual General Meeting in July.Wigley, (48), an accountant, was previously the Europe, Middle East and Africa chairman at Merrill Lynch International, and held a number of senior corporate and investment banking positions with Merrill Lynch and, before that, with Morgan Grenfell.He replaces Bob Scott who announced last month he would stand down at the next AGM. Scott had been head of the remuneration committee at Royal Bank of Scotland that signed off Sir Fred Goodwin's controversial £703,000 annual pension. There were reports that some institutional shareholders would have opposed Scott's re-election at Yell's AGM on 24 July because of his involvement in that matter."I have followed Yell since before its flotation and have a very high regard for the group and its management," said Wigley."Its customer delivery and operational performance despite the economic climate are impressive, and I know of few companies which are so successfully building and monetising a rapidly growing online business to complement its highly cost-effective print operations."