New Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and board member

EurActiv announced the promotion of a new Chief Executive Officer and the hiring of a new Chief Operating Officer, while founder and Publisher, Christophe Leclercq, will assume a more strategic and external role. Julian Oliver, Company Sectretary, is appointed to the board of EurActiv.com PLC.

Rick Zedník, who joined EurActiv in summer 2008 as Commercial Director and Deputy Chief Executive, has been promoted to CEO. Coralie Berael joins EurActiv as COO from London-based Investis, where she spent six years.

Zedník assumes responsibility for running the Brussels-based business of EurActiv.com , the leading independent portal for EU policy news and information. EurActiv’s founder, Christophe Leclercq, continues as Publisher and will be focusing more on communication and building EurActiv's 10 country CrossLingual Network.

Berael will direct the company's HR, Finance and Technology operations. The former two areas had been managed by Julian Oliver, who in addition to his new role as a board member, will spend time to develop Fondation EurActiv, of which he serves as Secretary General, while continuing to lead relevant EU Projects.

Zedník's 15 years as a media entrepreneur and executive date to 1994, when he co-founded The Slovak Spectator, an English-language newspaper in Bratislava. Immediately before joining EurActiv, Zedník spent six years in Brussels directing The Wall Street Journal Europe's marketing and sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Zedník has an MBA from Harvard University, a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University, and a BA. He was born in Germany to a Slovak father and an American mother.

Berael served Investis, most recently as Director of Strategic Projects. Investis is the leading provider of investor relations and corporate communications websites, tools, and data feeds for FTSE 500 listed companies. She also set up and managed the company's India operations (IT, Production, HR, Finance & Admin). Prior to Investis, Berael spent six years at Dalkia Group, working in Belgium, France and the UK, rising to be Group Information Services Projects Director. Berael earned a Master's Degree from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where she specialised in computer modeling. A Belgian, Coralie is trilingual in French, English and Dutch.

Zedník said, "I am thrilled by the challenge of helping lead EurActiv to the next steps in its development. Over its first 10 years, EurActiv has established a leading reputation in EU circles for innovation, reliability and professionalism. This gives us a strong foundation on which to build services and products that serve our readers and clients even better than we already do today."

Leclercq said, "As EurActiv celebrates its 10th anniversary, we have now put in place a management team of great potential who will help take us further forward from our existing strong base. Over 60 professionals in ten countries contribute to this expanding and exciting venture. We have achieved a lot in ten years but have ambitious plans to build an even stronger brand over the coming decade.

The new top management team also includes Frédéric Simon, Editor and Daniela Vincenti Mitchener as Managing Editor. The EurActiv Network is also led in 10 countries by experienced Publishers and Editors.

Note to the editor:

www.EurActiv.com is the network of independent policy portals on EU Affairs, counting 590,000 unique visitors together with the Web2.0 platform Blogactiv.eu (CIM certified figures – October 2008). Set up in 1999, the portal is an important working instrument for the majority of EU Actors (institutions, industry federations, NGOs, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies.

National policy portals of the CrossLingual network in 10 countries and 10 languages are accessible here www.euractiv.com/en/Fixed/about/crosslingual.htm

In order to provide free services and ensure independence, EurActiv's services are financed from four sources: corporate sponsoring, EurActor membership, online advertising and EU projects.

EurActiv's CrossLingual network is sponsored by Visa Europe, the European Year of Creativity and Innovation and the European Commission’s Small Business Act / SME week campaigns. General sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: CEFIC, Honeywell, ExxonMobil, TNS, INRIA, Enel, Syngenta, Veolia and the Nickel Institute. Section sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: Air France/FNAM, Dow, Nike, IBM, Kellen Europe and the European Publishers Council. Further supporters include: Shell, McKinsey & Company and Organisation International de la Francophonie. EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, up to the editorial team. Input welcome: editor@euractiv.com.

EurActiv content extracts can be re-used freely by other media, subject to clear attribution, and copy sent to content@euractiv.com.