Board and Legal Appointments for Private VNU

At an EGM on Friday, VNU changed its legal name, formally converted to a private company and welcomed new board members including Lord Hollick, following shareholder approval. Today the firm has named R. Ford Dallmeyer as the new legal chief for its MI Group.

The company name changed to VNU Group B.V. from VNU N.V. as shareholders approved the conversion into a private company. The conversion was made official with the execution of a notarial deed following the conclusion of the EGM.

During the meeting, held at VNU's Haarlem headquarters, five new members were appointed to the company's Supervisory Board as per VNU's announcement in early July (DRNO www.mrweb.com/drno/news5703.htm ). The five members replaced all joined the board during the company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on June 13, 2006: the other current members of the 12-person Supervisory Board will retain their positions.

Dallmeyer joins the company as Senior VP and General Counsel of its Marketing Information (MI) group and ACNielsen, reporting to both Earl H. Doppelt, Executive VP and Chief Legal Officer of VNU, and Steven M. Schmidt, President and CEO of VNU Marketing Information and ACNielsen. He succeeds Edward J. Riehl, who is retiring after nearly 40 years in the education and legal professions, the last 10 years with ACNielsen and VNU.

Dallmeyer joined ACNielsen in 1985 as an assistant general counsel, after beginning his legal career in the Chicago law firm of Tenney & Bentley, where he rose to Partner. At VNU he has risen through positions including Chief Counsel, Acquisitions for ACNielsen; Chief Regional Counsel, Asia Pacific, for VNU MI and ACNielsen; and most recently Senior VP and General Counsel for Nielsen Media Research International, a unit of VNU MMI.

He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

Doppelt comments: 'Ford is an outstanding attorney, with extensive knowledge of our key legal and business issues, and deep expertise in commercial, international and intellectual property law and acquisitions and divestitures... We wish both Ford and his predecessor, Ed Riehl, the best of success in the future.'

VNU is online at www.vnu.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.