GMT Communications Partners, a private equity investor focused on the communications sector in Europe, has appointed Bernard Gray to the GMT Industry Council, a network of media industry experts who provide market perspective on the communications industry.
Gray was recently appointed chairman of Magicalia, the digital cross media publisher and platform provider, and Group GTI, a graduate recruitment business.
He was previously chairman of TSL Education, the educational publisher.
Prior to taking up the appointment at TSL in 2005, Gray was for five years chief executive of CMP Information, the UK media arm of United Business Media. Gray was also strategy director of UBM, and led negotiations on the proposed Carlton-UBM merger, as well as the subsequent sale of UBM’s ITV franchises to Granada for GBP1.75bn.
Gray’s earlier career involved two years at the Ministry of Defence, where he was centrally involved in the Strategic Defence Review of 1998, and almost ten years as a journalist on the Financial Times Group.
Jeffrey Montgomery, managing partner at GMT, says: “We are delighted to welcome Bernard, he will be a strong addition to the team. They will give us a competitive advantage in assessing opportunities for our current and prospective portfolio investments as well as introducing us to a new level of business contacts. The ethos fits and he should help us consolidate our lead in the vanguard of the media and telecoms industry. “
Gray adds: “I am delighted to have been appointed to the GMT Industry Council, I relish the prospect of debating with the team some of the issues facing the media industry on a regular basis and applying these discussions to GMT’s portfolio.”
