As previously announced, following the prioritisation draw (“Draw”) to be held by ICANN on 17 December 2012 in Los Angeles to assign priority numbers to all new gTLD applications to determine the order in which the applications will be processed and the initial evaluation results are released, the Company’s registry business, Minds + Machines, plans to expand its operational team. A first step in that process was the appointment of Caspar von Veltheim, who has been responsible for TLDH’s continental European applications in respect of .NRW and .BAYERN, as an executive director of TLDH with responsibility for Europe.
The Board is now delighted to announce that it has appointed Michael Salazar as chief financial officer. Subject to the satisfactory completion of standard regulatory checks in compliance with the AIM Rules, the Board is pleased to announce that he will also join the Board of TLDH as an executive director.
Until June this year, Michael Salazar was the Program Director at ICANN for the new gTLD application process where he was responsible for implementing and managing the gTLD programme. Michael was responsible for developing a new department within ICANN to implement the gTLD programme and manage the execution of all the operational activities necessary for the gTLD programme to function successfully.
Michael had previously been at KPMG for 16 years where he was a partner in the Advisory Services Group, responsible for the overall quality and execution of internal audit and advisory engagements for a diverse group of clients across a number of industries including technology, media and entertainment, consumer products and manufacturing. He co-managed KPMG’s IT Advisory Services group within Los Angeles and Orange County. A further announcement in respect of Michael’s appointment will be made on completion of the required regulatory checks.
Antony Van Couvering, CEO of the Company, said:
TLDH is a leading applicant for new gTLDs and we are delighted that Michael is joining the executive team. Michael has a deep understanding of the new gTLD programme from his 3 years at ICANN and he will make an immediate and valuable contribution as we develop Minds + Machines in 2013.
David Weill, who has been a director of the Company since it was first admitted to trading on AIM and has been chief financial officer, has stepped down from the Board. The Board would like to thank David for his substantial contribution in the development of the Group since admission and wish him well in his other interests and as a supportive on-going shareholder in the Company.
The Company has also published the notice of annual general meeting to be held on 21 December 2012 at which, inter alia, annual shareholder approval will be sought for the Company’s investing policy and to appoint Mazars as the Company’s auditors. Copy of the notice is available from the Company’s website.
For further information, please contact:
Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
North America
Antony Van Couvering
Tel: +1 917 406 7126
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad)
Roland Cornish
Michael Cornish
Tel +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Singer Capital Markets (Broker)
Dominic Del Mar
Tel +44 (0) 20 3205 7500
gth media relations
Toby Hall/Suzanne Johnson Walsh
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3103 3903/2
About Top Level Domain Holdings Limited
Top Level Domain Holdings is a publicly-traded holding company listed on the London AIM market. The company is focused on the new top-level domain space. Top-level domains, such as .com, run by VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), and .biz, run by NeuStar (NYSE: NSR), are regulated by ICANN. ICANN has announced plans to expand the number of top-level domains. TLDH intends to make targeted investments in this space, focusing on both infrastructure technologies and specific top-level domains.
About Minds + Machines
Minds + Machines is a registry services provider that works internationally with commercial organisations, cities, not-for-profits, and entrepreneurs to secure and operate new web domains, known as top-level domains (TLDs). Minds and Machines Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Top Level Domains Holdings Limited.