Yell appoints UK president of new media

Directories business Yell has appointed former AOL executive Mark Canon (pictured) to the new role of UK president of new media. He will lead Yell’s new media teams covering strategy, product and service development, and technology across internet, voice and mobile channels.

Canon will report directly to group chief executive John Condron when he joins next month from US automotive marketing services company Autobytel. He has also worked at Banyan Systems and founded Switchboard, a US online local search provider, becoming director and vice-president of product development and business development.

In 2004, he was appointed vice-president of product development at AOL Search where he developed the strategy for integrating AOL search products across a number business units.

Condron says Canon will drive Yell’s new media expansion plans in the UK. Yell operates classified advertising markets through printed, online and telephone-based media. Its major UK online business Yell.com launched in 1996 as a local search engine and online advertising medium. It has a database of more than two million UK business listings including 209,000 searchable advertisers and can be accessed via the web or mobile phones.