PC Retail

He will be succeeded by Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, the current chairman and chief executive of Redcats Group, the world’s third largest home shopping business for fashion and home decoration. This is in turn part of French mega-retailer PPR, which also owns Fnac plus the Gucci and Puma brands. Commenting on the appointment, Kesa’s chairman David Newlands said: “I am delighted to welcome Thierry to Kesa as our CEO. He brings with him substantial experience in European and international multichannel retailing and I look forward to working with him to build on the strong foundations for growth established by Jean-Noël.”

Falque-Pierrotin will join the firm on January 5th 2009, with Labroue formally retiring after a short handover period.

FORMJET: The publisher of the popular Panda Security range has appointed Tommy Morrisas its new retail manager, with the firm hoping to strengthen its retail and reseller arms. Morris, who has worked for Apple and O2, has been brought in to help the firm maximise awareness of its brands, focusing specifically on the education and finance sectors. Speaking about the move, Morris said: “I am pleased to have joined Formjet. This is a great opportunity for me to work with such a unique business with a strong channel network and an enviable list of successful leading brands.

“I’m looking forward to developing new ideas for increasing sales penetration and create a prospective opportunity to push Formjet’s software brands forward.”

MERONCOURT: The Letchworth-based distributor has strengthened its business with three new appointments. Ian Dunbarjoins the firm as the new operations manager, Daniel Hickman joins as Meroncourt’s new trade account manager and Philip Parkerjoins its support team as technical support.

“These are key appointments to drive our business forward and to allow us to achieve our potential,” commented sales director Steve Walsh. “We are confident that the current financial situation will not affect our plans and our confidence is shown by investing in additional staff in all areas of our business.”

AVG: The security software giant has hired David Fergusonas its new chief marketing officer. The firm is currently looking to strengthen its online presence ahead of an anticipated upswing in that area of its business. Ferguson has previously worked in a similar role at Vodafone mobile virtual network operator dot mobile and he has a wealth of experience in the online sector having been group director of Telewest and marketing director of internet provider Bulldog Broadband.

“David brings a wealth of marketing, online and broad technology experience to AVG,” said chief executive of AVG Technologies JR Smith. “As the software business moves more heavily onto the web, his years of building successful online businesses in both the consumer and SME segments will be invaluable.”

“I’m excited to be joining AVG at this time of rapid international expansion,” added Ferguson. “We have a tremendous opportunity to build our business in key
markets worldwide, especially online.”

LINKSYS: As it looks to strengthen its grip on the European market, the Cisco owned firm has appointed Ulrike Tegmeieras its new vice president for European Markets. She will be responsible for leading Cisco’s consumer efforts throughout Western Europe, including the UK, across the retail, distribution, ecommerce and VAR channels.

Speaking about her appointment to the firm, vice president of global consumer sales at Linksys Chris White, said: “During our first meeting, Ulrike demonstrated her passionate vision on business management and the consumer market, as well as her ability to translate high level strategy into clear execution plans without losing sight of the company’s goals.”