12 February 2008

Skyscanner recruits chairman

Flight search engine Skyscanner has recruited IT industry veteran John Nicholson as chairman.

He will help Skyscanner build the first search engine to cover every commercial flight in the world.

Nicholson is on the board of several other technology businesses and has worked in Europe, Australia and the US.

He is currently chairman of Office-Shadow, a continuity software provider and non-executive director on two of SEP's portfolio companies, including high performance computing firm, Nallatech, and VirtenSys, innovators in IT solutions which improve data centre performance.

His previous posts include vice president customer relationship management and business intelligence with Compaq.

For the last six years Nicholson has worked successfully with venture capital funds and investors to assist venture-backed companies.

Skyscanner, founded in Scotland in 2003 by CEO Williams and fellow entrepreneurs Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith, raised &#pound;2.5 million in venture capital backing from Scottish Equity Partners last November to execute its global growth strategy.

Williams said: 'It is a real coup for us to get John Nicholson on board. He is a very dynamic and focussed individual with a strong global network, a deep understanding of the technology sector and invaluable experience of working successfully with high-growth companies.'

Skyscanner displays prices from more than 180 airlines, including low-cost airlines, to more than 5,000 destinations, and attracts more than one million price enquiries per day.

By Bev Fearis