Current Hires New-Media Director for U.K.

LONDON, April 24: Current,
the first peer-to-peer news and information network, has appointed Rebekah
Billingsley to the new role of director of new media in the U.K.

Reporting
to Joanna Drake Earl, Current’s president of new media, Billingsley will be responsible
for managing all online activities for Current in the U.K. She will work with
the U.S. team to assess new-media opportunities and form new-media partnerships
as well as oversee daily web operations.

Previously
with Bauer Consumer Media, Billingsley has 12 years of experience in both
commercial management and digital activities within the media, working across
television, newspapers, magazines, radio and mobile. At Bauer, Billingsley
launched Closer Online as well as heatworld.com, the company’s biggest digital
success last year.

Prior
to working at Bauer, Billingsley spent five years at Times Online as the
business development manager, where she was responsible for identifying and
implementing new online business opportunities as well as extending Times and Sunday Times brands online to generate traffic.

Earl
said: “I am delighted that Rebekah comes with such breadth and depth of
experience. She will help Current to forge ahead in the U.K. market with our
unique user-generated-content proposition to emulate the successes we have seen
in the U.S. I look forward to working with her to take advantage of the
continued growth of the U.K. web landscape.”

—By
Irene Lew