REG - Blackbird PLC - Directorate Change

BlackbirdAnnouncement

04/03/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 3531F  Blackbird PLC  04 March 2024

4 March 2024

 

 

Blackbird plc (the "Company")

 

Director changes

 

Blackbird appoints Anne de Kerckhove to the Board

John Honeycutt steps down from the Board

 

4 March, London - Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD), the developer and seller of the
market-leading cloud video platform, Blackbird
(https://www.blackbird.video/overview/) , is pleased to announce that Anne de
Kerckhove will join the Company's Board on 6 March 2024 as the Senior
Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair.  Additionally,
John Honeycutt, Independent Non-Executive Director, will be stepping down on
the same date.

Anne is an experienced international executive with a wealth of relevant
experience in technology, B2B and B2C SaaS, Media and Entertainment,
e-commerce, marketplaces and digital transformation, and in helping businesses
scale. She also has extensive Non-Executive Director experience of publicly
quoted and private companies, including at: i) AIM-quoted Eagle Eye Solutions
Group plc, where she chairs the Board; ii) 888 Holdings plc, where she is a
Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Nominations and ESG committees
and is a member of the Remuneration committee; iii) 7Digital Group Limited;
and iv) Metail Limited.

After working as a banker in Canada and then a management consultant at the
Boston Consulting Group in London, Anne focused her career on technology and
innovation. Until January 2023, Anne de Kerckhove was the CEO of Freespee, a
company in the customer experience orchestration space. Before that, Anne held
several Managing Director roles in fast growing companies such as Videology,
an online advertising technology platform and Inspired Gaming Group.

Anne is an angel investor, mentor and Limited Partner in over 20 early-stage
start-ups and entrepreneurial funds including CRE, Daphni, Andela, Flutterwave
and Carlili. She is actively involved in promoting women, both on boards and
within the technology industry, and is a speaker at business conferences and
events. She is also a guest lecturer at INSEAD. Anne holds a Bachelor of
Commerce from McGill University and an MBA from INSEAD.

In addition, the Company announces that John Honeycutt, independent
Non-Executive Director is standing down from the Board on 6 March 2024 in
order to focus on his expanding International client base.  The Board would
like to thank John for his valuable contributions over the last four years and
to wish him well with his future endeavours.

Andrew Bentley (https://www.blackbird.video/board/) , Chairman of the Company,
said: "We are delighted that Anne is joining the Board where we know she will
make a great contribution. Anne has a wealth of relevant and valuable
experience we very much look forward to working with her particularly as we
move into this next chapter of product development in the creator economy.

"I would also like to thank John for his support and the great insights he has
provided us with over the last four years."

Ian McDonough (https://www.blackbird.video/board/) , CEO of the Company, said:
"To have someone of Anne's leadership and strategic calibre join us as a
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director at this time will help myself, the
Board and the executive team enormously. Her wealth of knowledge and
successful experiences in B2C and B2B SaaS businesses will be of immense value
as we launch our new direct to creator platform, elevate.io, as well as
operating our award-winning professional platform, Blackbird."

Anne de Kerckhove said: "I am delighted to join the Blackbird plc board. The
Company has an impressive track record of video creation and editing with some
of the biggest brands in media and entertainment and at many of the world's
most important sporting events. Now, the launch of elevate.io
(http://elevate.io/) , aimed at the creator economy, brings a significant and
exciting new growth market to the business. I am looking forward to working
with Andrew, Ian, my fellow board members, and the executive team to drive the
business forward."

As required under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies,
further disclosures on Anne de Kerckhove are as follows:

Anne Isabelle Pierre Noemie de Kerckhove dit van der varent, aged 51, holds or
has held the following directorships and/or partnerships in the past five
years:

Current directorships and/or partnerships:

·    UK-888 Holdings

·    Eagle Eye Solutions Plc

Past directorships and/or partnerships:

·    Kaisa Technologies Ltd (previously known as Freespee Ltd)

·    Metail Limited

·    DNA Bridge Limited

·    7Digital Group Limited

·    Freespee AB (France)

·    Kaisa Technologies AB (Sweden) (formerly known as Freespee AB)

There is no further information on Anne de Kerckhove required to be disclosed
under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

 

Contacts:

 

Blackbird
plc
Tel: +44 (0)20 8879 7245

Ian McDonough, Chief Executive Officer

Stephen White, Chief Operating and Financial Officer

 

Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and
Broker)              Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656 Nick Naylor / Piers
Shimwell (Corporate Finance)

Amrit Nahal / Guy McDougall (Equity Sales and Corporate Broking) About
Blackbird plc

Blackbird plc operates in the fast-growing SaaS and cloud video market. It has
created BlackbirdⓇ, the world's most advanced suite of cloud-native
computing applications for video all underpinned by its lightning fast codec.
Blackbird plc's patented technology allows for frame accurate navigation,
playback, viewing and editing in the cloud. BlackbirdⓇ enables multiple
applications, which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news
video specialists, live events and content owners, post production houses,
other mass market digital video channels and corporations.

 

Since it is cloud-native, BlackbirdⓇ removes the need for costly, high-end
workstations and can be used from almost anywhere on almost any device. It
also allows full visibility on multi- location digital content, improves time
to market for live content such as video clips and highlights for digital
distribution, and ultimately results in much more effective monetisation.
Blackbird plc is a licensor of its core video technology under its 'Powered by
Blackbird' licensing model. Enabling video companies to accelerate their path
to true cloud business models, licensees benefit from power and carbon
reductions, cost and time savings, less hardware and bandwidth requirements
and easy scalability. elevate.io, built using Blackbird core technology, is
the company's new creator SaaS product, a browser based end-to-end content
creation tool aimed at the Creator Economy.

 

www.blackbird.video (http://www.blackbird.video/)
www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud
(http://www.linkedin.com/company/blackbird-cloud)
www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud (http://www.twitter.com/blackbirdcloud)
www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc (http://www.facebook.com/blackbirdplc)
www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud (http://www.youtube.com/c/blackbirdcloud)

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