Forbidden Technologies hires Stephen White from Comcast as Chief Operating and Financial Officer with additional strategic hires made

Posted: 22/10/2018

October 22, 2018, London – Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT), the developer and seller of Blackbird, the workstation experience in the cloud, announces that it is creating a new board role of “Chief Operating and Financial Officer”. The Company has appointed, subject to usual due diligence checks, Stephen White to this role.  Stephen is currently Vice President Finance, UK and EMEA Emerging Markets at Comcast’s NBC Universal’s Networks Division and will start with the Company after serving his notice period.  It is currently anticipated that Stephen will join the Board and commence his role in April 2019.

Stephen has 25 years experience in senior finance roles with media companies such as NBC Universal, BBC Worldwide (now known as BBC Studios), The Walt Disney Company and Jetix after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and Young. A further announcement, which will include the required disclosures under the AIM Rules for Companies for the appointment of a director to the board, will be made in due course.

The Company also announces that Jonathan Lees, the Company’s current Finance Director, will step down from the board when Stephen joins the Company, and will leave the Company to pursue other opportunities after an appropriate handover period.

In addition to the creation of the Chief Operating and Financial Officer role, the Company has recently made a number of important appointments including Adrian Lambert as Marketing Director and Oliver Parker as a Strategic Account Director.  The Company has also hired George Maddocks in its Pre-Sales team and appointed a senior developer.

David Main, Chairman of Forbidden, said: “With our strategy in place, and since a successful fundraising, we have been looking to add to our capabilities to grow and deliver against our focus. The creation of a combined Chief Operating and Financial Officer role is part of this strategy. I look forward to welcoming Stephen White on to the management team and the board.  We have also recently added new talent to our sales and marketing capabilities.

“The board would like to thank Jonathan for all his hard work over the last 5 years.  He has been very effective in his role as Finance Director, including helping us in several successful fundraisings.  We all wish him well with his future endeavours.”

Ian McDonough, CEO of Forbidden, added: “I am looking forward to welcoming Stephen White on to our team. We have made some important new hires to our sales and marketing team already as we build the right capabilities to take Blackbird to the global market.

“Thank you to Jonathan for his contribution to managing and guiding the business to its current position.”

About Forbidden Technologies plc

Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT, www.forbidden.co.uk) floated in February 2000.

Forbidden develops, markets and licenses a powerful cloud video platform using our patented Blackbird technology. The technology underpins multiple applications, which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, eSports live events and content owners, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations.

The Blackbird technology allows full visibility on multi-location digital content, improves time to market for live content such as video clips and highlights for social media distribution, and results in much more effective monetization.

Blackbird® is a registered trademark of Forbidden Technologies plc.