Williams appoints two new directors

Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC today announces the appointment of Nick Rose and Louise Evans to the company’s Board of Directors. Nick joins Toto Wolff, Mike O’Driscoll and Eddie Charlton as the company’s fourth Non-Executive Director and will chair the Audit Committee. Louise steps up to Finance Director from her current position as the Group’s Head of Finance. Nick and Louise join the Board with immediate effect. As a Non-Executive Director, Nick has been appointed for a term of three years, although both Nick and Louise will be required to stand for re-election at next year’s Annual General Meeting.

Nick Rose started his career with 12 years’ service within the Treasury and finance departments of the Ford Motor Company. In 1992, Nick joined Grand Metropolitan plc as Group Treasurer before promotion to Group Controller and Chief Finance Officer of the drinks division. Nick played a key part in the merger with Guinness to create Diageo plc and the company’s subsequent manoeuvre into a focussed drinks business. In 1999, Nick was appointed CFO of Diageo before adding Group Strategy, Global IS and Global Supply to his list of responsibilities. Nick retired from Diageo at the end of December 2010.

Nick was educated at Oxford University, from where he has a Masters in Chemistry. Today, he serves on three Boards, including BAE Systems plc, where he chairs the Audit Committee, BT Group plc and Edwards Group plc, where he is Chairman. Nick is also Founding Patron of SITraN (Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience); involved in raising funds to build a leading research institute to find a cure for Motor Neurone disease.

With a First Class degree in Management Science, Louise Evans joined Ernst and Young from university where she spent four years before heading to Reynard Motorsport in 1998 as Financial Project Manager. In 1998, Louise moved to the RPS Group plc, an international environmental management consultancy, to take up the position of Divisional Finance Director. At RPS, Louise was responsible for the operational management of several UK divisions and managed the post acquisition integration of a number of acquired subsidiaries.

In 2004, Louise joined Williams F1 as Financial Controller, and was soon appointed Head of Finance, responsible for all aspects of operational and structural finance for the Group.

On the appointments, Williams F1 Chairman, Adam Parr, said, "I am delighted to welcome Nick and Louise to our Board. As a highly experienced finance professional, and a member of the Board of two of Britain’s largest listed companies, Nick will chair our Audit Committee. As a businessman with experience in the automotive, consumer and luxury sectors, he will be an invaluable asset for Williams F1. Since joining Williams eight years ago, Louise has implemented the highest standards of financial control and reporting and she played a key role in enabling the company to achieve a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange earlier this year. The combination of our executive and non-executive directors means we now have a tremendous and balanced Board which can provide the Company and our shareholders with the highest standards of leadership and governance."