Locus today announces that Audrey Mandela has become the new Chair of the Association. She takes on the role having previously been a member of Locus through her position with Multimap, where she was a Co-Founder.

Michael Nicholson, Chief Executive of Intelligent Addressing who has chaired the Association since it was launched in 2006, will continue to be closely involved with Locus as Vice-Chair alongside Dave Fox, Chief Executive of Infoterra, who also becomes Vice Chair.

Audrey Mandela commented:

“I am delighted to be taking on the position of Chair of the Locus Association at what is a critical time for the future of the re-use of public sector information (PSI) marketplace in the UK. Locus was extremely disappointed at the missed opportunity of Budget 2009 in addressing the lack of fair competition in the PSI marketplace. I now look forward to leading the Association in its calls to transform the Public Sector Information marketplace to the advantage of the public sector, the private sector and the end consumer.”

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Notes for Editors:

1.       Locus was established in autumn 2005 and formally launched on 26th January 2006. The Association’s President is a former Director General of the OFT and Oftel, Sir Bryan Carsberg.

2.       The Association exists to raise awareness of, and promote the development of, a healthy and competitive private sector in relation to PSI. Locus acts as a forum for exchange of information, keeps its members up to date with latest policy developments, and provides advice and guidance. Our members recognise the potential of PSI, but also the benefit of uniting to address some of the challenges and pooling resources to meet them. It is worth noting that the particular nature of the PSI market structure, where individual private sector organisations have limited influence, lends itself to the development of a trade body.

3.       Audrey Mandela is Co-Founder of Multimap, one of the world’s leading online mapping providers. Multimap was sold to Microsoft in December 2007. Prior to Multimap, Audrey worked was Senior Vice President, International, for the Yankee Group, a telecommunications research and consulting firm, where she was responsible for managing all of the Yankee Group's research and sales activities in Europe, Latin America and Asia.  Audrey continues to work as an independent telecommunications consultant, and is the author of many studies on telecom subjects, and a frequent speaker at industry conferences around the world.  Audrey holds a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

4.       Enquiries: Harriet Crosthwaite - 020 7340 6260 or harriet@quintuspa.com