A round-up of other stories in brief.
BT chairman masters art of the agm
Should there be an MBA course in how to chair annual meetings, Sir Christopher Bland's performance at yesterday's gathering of the great and the disgruntled at BT will stand as a masterclass.
Lesson 1: Relate to your audience. Faced with questions about how long customers have to hold for a customer service operative, be frank: "The bane of everyone's life . . . what we unaffectionately call the BT shunt: press 7, press 6, wait for the classical music and then go mad." Wait for applause.
Lesson 2: Share their pain but stress you are powerless to alleviate it. When asked why the stock price had not gone to the moon, say: "Beware of chairmen who say the share price should be x. The last person I heard say that was Bernie Ebbers [ head of WorldCom] and . . . he went to jail." Wait for applause.
Lesson 3: Divide and rule. Point out the awkward squad. If a shareholder suggests doing away with 40 per cent of management, say: "I hope he'll tell me which 40 per cent to get rid of at the end of the meeting and we probably will not take appropriate action."
Again, wait for applause. - (Guardian service)
Buckley named head of WDC
Gillian Buckley has been appointed head of the Western Development Commission, the statutory group promoting economic and social development of the region.
Ms Buckley replaces Lisa McAllister, who is taking a three-year leave of absence. Ms Buckley has been with the commission since it was established. As the group's investment manager, she developed the €34 million WDC Investment Funds from the concept stage to the point where it is a key source of seed and venture capital to high potential, knowledge enterprises in counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare.
Engineering sector appoints directors
Business is booming in the engineering sector to judge by announcements this week. Arup Consulting Engineers and Roughan & O'Donovan have both appointed a significant number of new directors to their businesses.
Arup has named eight new directors across their three regional offices. They are: Troy Burton, Mike Evans, Sean Mason and Donal McDaid in Dublin; Denis Crowley, Liam Luddy and John O'Mahony in Cork; and Kevin Dolan in Limerick.Arup Consulting Engineers is one of the largest engineering practices in Ireland with 430 staff in offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
Roughan & O'Donovan, which has been behind many of the high-profile recent bridge projects in the State, has announced five new directors - Tony Dempsey, Marc Jones, Mark Kilcullen, Harry Meighan and Richard Power. The firm is also responsible for the William J Dargan Luas Bridge in Dundrum and the Boyne Bridge on the M1 Drogheda bypass.
