John Hawkins Named Chief Exec at AMC

John Hawkins became chief executive of Atex Media Command (AMC) on June 1, taking over from Robert Banner, who led the company since the July 2002 merger that created it and completed the initial phase of the group's restructuring. Banner will continue as a director and AMC's second-largest shareholder.

Hawkins, who has more than 30 years' experience in the telecommunications and IT industries, also will become an AMC director.

During his 19 years with Philips Electronics, Hawkins became its youngest senior director and finished his career there as global head of multimedia, in which position he was instrumental in formulating the DVD standard. His work on three continents over 11 years in senior positions included Digital Equipment Corp.'s $1.1 billion retail banking business.

Citing Hawkins' ""significant experience in acquisitions and disposals,"" AMC said it ""intends to use his acquisition experience to build and consolidate the opportunity for AMC in the media market."" AMC is controlled by Norwegian investment group Kistefos. In a prepared statement, Hawkins said he intends to ""invest in the company"" and to ""encourage Kistefos and potential new investors, in our strategy and vision for the future.""