Iconic Labs PLC (LON:ICON) saw its shares soar higher on Thursday as it announced the appointment of experienced journalist Katharine Lewis as a non-executive director of the company.
In a statement, the multi-divisional new media and technology business noted that Lewis has more than 20 years' experience in senior roles in the media and technology industries, across the UK, US and Asia.
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After starting as a journalist, she joined Bloomberg in New York in a management role and, following considerable success there, worked at several digital media start-ups, including eBay.
Lewis then joined Fremantle, one of the world's largest TV and entertainment companies which produces over 450 TV programmes per year with in excess of 12,000 hours of programming. Fremantle's productions have achieved over 1 billion views on You Tube.
At Freemantle, she worked initially as deputy head of Fremantle Media Ventures, and ultimately became senior vice president Strategy and Operations for Fremantle Digital and Branded Entertainment worldwide.
In 2016 Lewis left Fremantle to create FutureSmartMedia, a media consulting business which advises some of the industry's leading content distributors, publishers and producers.
Commenting on her appointment, John Quinlan, chief executive officer of Iconic Labs, said: "We are delighted that Katharine has agreed to join the board, as not only will her seniority and experience help us further improve our corporate governance, but we will also be able to benefit from her considerable sector experience and contacts.
“Few others can combine having been at the hard end of both traditional and new digital media with leaders in the fields. She also understands both technology and the process of taking start-ups and early stage companies and helping them grow into serious businesses."
Lewis added: "Having watched what the team achieved at UNILAD, I am very excited to work with them at Iconic Labs to help them execute on their very exciting plans. In my view, the role and reach of digital media is still at an early stage compared to what it is capable of achieving, and that presents a rare opportunity for the emergent players in the sector. I look forward to helping Iconic Labs becoming one of the leaders in this very exciting field."
In morning trade on Thursday, shares in Iconic Labs topped the risers board in London, up 42% to 0.037p.