Vue International has appointed Alison Cornwell as Chief Financial Officer.
Alison starts immediately and will assume the CFO responsibilities previously held by Alan McNair. Alan will continue to work alongside CEO Tim Richards in his capacity as Deputy CEO.
Alison has extensive film, television and broadcasting experience gained with major USA studios and with independent companies. She qualified as a chartered accountant in 1990 and spent 5 years in corporate finance before joining Disney’s International TV business. At Disney, Alison was involved in the launch and management of 40 TV channels across Europe, Asia and Latin America and oversaw significant growth in Disney’s TV licensing business and in its portfolio of investments in third party broadcasters. She was a non-executive director of GMTV, in which Disney had a shareholding, from 2002 to 2005.
In 2005 Alison left Disney to become CFO of private equity backed Sparrowhawk Media which acquired the international assets of Crown Media Holdings. The business expanded and was sold to NBC Universal at the end of 2007 at a substantial profit.
In 2008 Alison was appointed CFO of the international film distribution company, Alliance Films. Following various successes including the acquisition of Maple Pictures from Lionsgate and the financing of movies such as Insidious and The Woman In Black, Alliance’s owners decided to sell the business. Alison led the exit process which concluded in a successful sale.
Alison was appointed to the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute (“BFI”) in 2013.
Alison will report to Tim Richards, Vue’s founder and CEO, and Alan McNair the Deputy CEO.
Commenting on the appointment, Tim and Alan said: “We are both absolutely delighted to have attracted such a highly respected CFO to Vue. This senior appointment will not only enhance our talented executive team, but it will also allow us to personally increase our efforts to deliver on our strategic plan of acquiring the highest quality assets in the UK and continental Europe combined with organic growth through new openings and the implementation of other key initiatives.”
Alison commented, “I’m thrilled to be joining one of the fastest growing and most dynamicentertainment companies in Europe who share an exciting long term vision for further growth anddevelopment. With years of experience in TV and film distribution I’m looking forward to bringing myexpertise and knowledge into the exhibition and entertainment arena.”
Formed in May 2003, Vue Entertainment International is a world class operator and developer ofmodern state-of-the-art multiplex cinemas. Following the acquisition of Apollo in the UK in May2012, CinemaxX in Germany in August 2012, Multikino in Poland in September 2013 and, mostrecently, Space Entertainment in Italy, Vue has more than doubled the number of cinemas andscreens under its ownership from 70 to 187 cinemas and from 678 to 1,727 screens. The companynow has leading positions in three of the top four cinema markets in Europe, the United Kingdom,Germany and Italy, as well as Poland, Denmark, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Taiwan.