Board and leadership team

David John Montgomery has a long history in the newspaper industry. Most recently, he was chief executive of Local World, an aggregator in the regional news area which was acquired by Reach (formerly Trinity Mirror) in 2015. Local World had been formed in 2013 by a merger of regional media companies of DMGT and the Yattendon Group, publishing around 100 regional newspaper titles and associated websites.

David served as an editor of News of the World and as an editor and managing director of Today newspaper. He founded Mecom Group in 2000 and served as its chief executive until January 2011. At Mecom Group, he worked on several acquisitions to establish one of the leading European publishing and content businesses, delivered substantial cost savings and began to develop a new, flexible operating model fit to take commercial advantage of on-going changes in consumer behaviour, which saw particular success at Edda Media in Norway.

Prior to Mecom, David was chief executive officer of Mirror Group from 1992 to 1999, where he oversaw substantial restructuring and acquisitions culminating in its merger with Trinity to become Trinity Mirror.

David served as a director at the Press Association from 1996 to 1999, RSDB (one of Europe’s largest print businesses) from 2006 to 2009, Royal Wegener (a large Dutch news publisher) from 2007 to 2011, and Scottish Television from 1994 to 1998. He graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast in History and Politics.

David is chairman of Local TV, a network of eight public service broadcasting city channels.

Mark Thomas Hollinshead has been involved in media and business all of his working life.

Mark was the youngest ever managing director of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd and ran that business for 14 years from 1998 to 2012. He was appointed managing director of Mirror Group Newspapers in 2008, while continuing to manage the Scottish publishing business.  Mark subsequently took up the role of Chief Operating Officer and board director of Trinity Mirror Plc, managing all publishing activity for over 200 news brands – both digital and in print. Prior to joining Trinity Mirror Mark was Managing Director of Midland Weekly Media Ltd, part of Midland Independent Newspapers Plc and Marketing Director of Thomson Regional Newspapers.  He started his career in media at the Midland News Association, publishers of the Wolverhampton Express & Star in 1984.

In 2015 Mark was appointed CEO of the Great Run Company a position he held until 2017. The Great Run Company is one of world's largest mass participation events businesses with events such as the Great North Run and Great Manchester Run.

In 2017 Mark formed Hollicom a media and strategic communications consultancy of which he was the Chair until he sold the company on 13 December 2021. Following the acquisition of Express Newspapers Ltd, from Northern & Shell, by Reach Plc in February 2018 Mark was appointed Interim CEO of the acquired business during the "hold separate" period.

In addition to his executive positions, Mark was also was chairman of Scottish Athletics from 2005 to 2008, president of the Scottish Newspaper Society from 2003 to 2005, and a Non-Executive Director of the News Media Alliance from 2009 to 2015. From 2014 to 2020 Mark was a strategic adviser to Dentsu Aegis Network North, a division of Dentsu the world leading digital performance agency.  He is the current President of the Scottish Newspaper Society.

John Rowe has extensive experience in digital data insights and the understanding of on-line customer behaviour. Currently John advises and invests in a range of digital businesses including media and retail.

Until March 2020 John was chairman and chief executive officer of Clicksco where he grew the business to annual sales of over £80 million, he is currently Non-Executive Chairman of MediaQuest group.

John began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1979 and then worked at Sainsburys from 1983 to 2001 where he finished as managing director of International Operations.

John passionately believes that key to a successful business is the ability to truly understand its customers, and that the data insights available online can be used to transform the relationship between brands and customers.

Sheree Manning has over two decades of financial management and business leadership experience. She joined Johnston Press plc in 2013 as Group Financial Controller having previously worked in London for, amongst others, RBS Group, IMG Media and Sainsbury’s plc.

After reading a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of South Australia, she qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Australia with Ernst & Young in 2003.

David Fordham has completed over 50 years working in the media industry, with considerable experience in local newspapers, digital media, national and local television, as well as local radio.

David spent over 15 years working in various senior roles at EMAP newspapers, up until the sale of the newspaper division to Johnston Press in 1996. He then went on to become Chief Executive of Adscene plc.

Since the late 1990s David has worked closely with the Iliffe family and served as a main board director of Yattendon Group plc for over 15 years, until retiring from this post in 2018. David’s association with the Iliffe family continues and he remains a trustee of the Yattendon Group Pension Scheme, as well as a Non-Executive Director of Iliffe Media Ltd and a number of subsidiary companies.

Most recently David has worked as an industry consultant, specialising in M&A and launch activity. Having led acquisitions in the Republic of Ireland as well as completing a number of transactions in England and Scotland.

David is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Highland News and Media Ltd.

As well as being a past President of the Newspaper Society, David has held board positions with professional sports and arts related organisations.

David Fordham was appointed, by Media Concierge, as a Non-Executive Director to the Group.

David Lindsay is an experienced executive having served as a CEO and a CFO of public and PE backed businesses operating internationally in a diverse range of business sectors.  His previous roles include leadership positions within Initial plc, GEC ALSTHOM, Industrial Control Services plc, AEA Technology plc, Collins Stewart plc, EDM Group Ltd and TP Group plc. Mr. Lindsay is a Chartered Accountant.

Andrea Davies has over 20 years’ experience in consumer media in executive board positions at leading publishers IPC Media, Time Inc. UK, TI Media and Future. With a remit spanning M&A and strategy as well as leading significant business units, she has led some of the UK’s most iconic magazine brands through their transformation from legacy print to digital media.

She is currently Independent Non-Executive Chairman of InterMedia Brand Marketing Limited and Intersend Limited, Independent Non-Executive Deputy Chairman of RCN Publishing Company Limited (the publishing subsidiary of the Royal College of Nurses) and an Independent Non-Executive Director of Public Digital Holdings Ltd.