Williams Grand Prix Holdings Board Announcement
Posted on Friday 02 Mar 2012
Claire_williams_article
Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC (Ticker: WGF1) today announced that Claire Williams will join the Board with effect from 1 April 2012 as Director of Marketing and Communications. The key marketing position at Williams has become available following the decision of Dominic Reilly to leave the Company at the end of March. At the same time, Sir Frank Williams, Founder and Team Principal, announced his decision to step down from the Board.

Adam Parr, Chairman, said, “Claire has worked at Williams for 10 years, taking on increasingly demanding positions and demonstrating throughout all of the qualities needed in this critical role. Claire will be accountable for acquiring new partners for the Williams F1 Team as well as continuing to be responsible for ensuring effective communication about the team and the Group as a whole. The Board concluded that Claire’s appointment would further strengthen its quality, diversity and effectiveness. I would also like to join Frank in expressing sincere thanks to Dominic Reilly for eight years’ of dedicated service to Williams, during which he has been highly successful in acquiring and working with our partners. Dominic plans to set up a new venture, with the support of Williams, and we wish him great success.”

Frank Williams, Team Principal, said, “It is no secret that Claire is my daughter but I am proud to say that she has fought hard to earn this appointment and of all the battles she has had to fight, the prejudices of her father were not the least challenging. Dominic Reilly has proven a unique talent in the field of sports marketing and filling the gap he leaves was daunting. But I have come to the view that Claire, with her profound love and knowledge of the sport and the team, can do so and I am proud and delighted that the Board has given her this opportunity. I am equally delighted that Dominic will remain close to the team with his new venture and that we can thank him for his contribution to Williams by supporting him now.

“This is an opportune moment, also, for me to consider my own role in the team. I turn 70 in April and I have decided to signal the next stage in the gradual but inevitable process of handing over the reins to the next generation by stepping down from the Board at the end of this month. This is not as dramatic a move as it may appear: I shall continue to work full-time as Team Principal and I shall continue to attend all Board meetings as observer. I also remain the majority shareholder of Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC. Nonetheless, I shall be looking to Claire to represent the Williams family on the Board and I know that she will work tirelessly alongside Adam to make the Group and the team just as successful as we can be.”

Sir Frank is managing very well his disengagement, everything is going step by step ... but I'm very sad, is a figure so familiar to me (as for all of us I think)






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2012 11:25 by J4ck.

as i said in the other msg..a sad day for us...fw is a living legend...but life goes on.

Quote:

Gwanni
as i said in the other msg..a sad day for us...fw is a living legend...but life goes on.

surely it is better to plan the succession rather than improvising

Well he'll still be Team Principal and like he said, it seems inevitable...

this is certainly the next stage in frank retiring. We dont want it to happen but that day draws ever closer. Lets hope the team can go out in winning ways when frank finally hands over control of williams for good.

thank you anyway frank for the good times.

sorry for posting twice. didnt see this thread

Quote:

J4ck
surely it is better to plan the succession rather than improvising

Agreed. It would be sad to wake up one day and read that the team has been bought out by a 'total stranger' who immediately renames it. At least this way, the Williams name should stick around for years to come (we hope!).

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2012 14:32 by IndyAndy.

This is a day to thank SFW for his contributing to why we are all here on this board.

Yes the last ~7 years have been a slow descent from the peaks where we were accustomed to - but I for 1 wouldn't care for F1 if it wasn't for SFW & the Williams name.

Best wishes on many future great years @ the helm & for the Williams name to always be on our cars!

I think Sir Frank is working towards Williams always being called Williams, it wouldnt make sense to throw away a heritage that can only be matched by Ferrari and Mclaren anyway.

" I shall be looking to Claire to represent the Williams family on the Board"

I don't know about the laws in the UK, but from that I interpret that Claire could inherit Sir Frank's shares someday.

Sad day

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GO TEAM WILLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very sad and distressed at this news, and time for a little more soul searching.

I fell in love with this team due to the people at the helm; Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head. They both instilled a confident, ruthless, pure racing, no nonsense ethos into the team, blended with old-school integrity which I loved and admired.

Over the years, with the handing over of Technical duties to first Sam Michael, then Coughlan, and the sharing/handing over of principal responsibilities to Parr, the picture has seemed very complex, with people (eg Parr/Head) falling out, and decisions taking a lot longer than one would expect.

At least now, with SFW/PH no longer having a say, we know with absolute certainty now that this is Parr's show- no ambiguity. He is not a racer, he has...stretched the truth on a couple of occasions, undermining Head's retirement and being rather ambiguous in his handling of Michael's dismissal, however, Ecclestone was alluding the fact that change was required at the top at Williams, and I really hope this was the change he had in mind.

So who am I supporting? Who are we supporting? I have no emotional connections to Gillan, Somerville, Coughlan, Parr, Senna, Maldonado. Indeed how CAN I develop an emotional connection to a technical director the team are ashamed to show in public? (although I like Maldonado's spirit on track) Is it the factory? Is it the concept of a formula one team that isn't trying to shift cars, or soft drinks, but to just go racing, with an owner who has no ulterior motive other than to win? Is it their lateral thinking when it comes to the flywheel? Is it outdated loyalty? Is it because they are british underdogs and have a nice livery? Is there now no reason other than the fact that there is no better reason to support another team, and I have too much emotionally invested in this...whatever this is?

Hmmmmmmm.....I hope with time we see things we like in the new order, and start to build confidence in what they are doing and how they do it (looking at you Parr). This is what I want. They don't have this confidence by default- they need to earn it, all of them, so I suppose this year is a pretty important one for me.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2012 08:45 by crusty_bread.

well excuse me for not participating in the melodrama. time has a habit of moving on...nothing is forever.FW is starting to move on to another phase in his life. so what? everyone does it sooner or later.

Quote:

K1
well excuse me for not participating in the melodrama. time has a habit of moving on...nothing is forever.FW is starting to move on to another phase in his life. so what? everyone does it sooner or later.

Well said K1, though I understand other posters points of view. Time waits for NO man and that includes a knight of the realm. As long as "our" team is called Williams I'll support them till the day that I die. Williams supporter and proud of it :-)

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Be safe, Be happy and NEVER let anyone make you afraid!!!

antOO7.... i have been a follower of williams since the seventies...since inception. watched them fly through the good times and plunge in the worst times. however it is just F1 at the end of the day and although it has been a passion of mine for aeons i somehow could never quite form these 'emotional' attachements that some people profess to have. each to his own.

I support the team from Grove, WilliamsF1 ... I'm very sorry for the release of Frank, but he is 70 years old and ill health .. they had to think of a succession, if he chose Parr .. for me it's ok!

Let's remember Sir Frank has stood down from the board but he is still team principle and majority shareholder, he might decide to carry on as team principal for a good few years yet, bloody amazing though considering what he has done since 1986 and to still be doing it as he approaches 70. hats off to Sir Frank, i salute you Sir.

Entirely logical, if a little disconcerting.

It seems as if Frank and Patrick *have* realised that perhaps they are no longer in a position to give what they used to. This is life. Their actions are to try and insure the company against the future.

Crusty, I can see your logic, and I am in exactly the same situation. The ideals that attracted me to Williams were in evidence up until the end of 2010. 2011 was upsetting performance wise, but also because the team seemed to abandon many of the sporting ideals i loved about them.

I see 2012 as a new start. They don't have to prove anything to me or anyone else (bar the shareholders), but if they continue to adhere to the ideals of 2011 (irrespective of performance) I fear I will tire of the whole shooting match.

I'm not being melodromatic as it has been put, but as I read somewhere, the Williams we knew is increasingly hard to identify, and I too and trying to work out what I am supporting.

As for Claire, I know Frank is her harshest critic professionally, so she must be good. All the best to her and she is after all a bone fide Williams who will be emotionally invested in the company, and for that she deserves support.

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mayhemlurker ;-)

We are on the same wavelength, MF. I am not saying SFW is wrong, I am not saying this wasn't inevitable, but that doesn;t diminish the significance of this moment. From now on, control of the team has passed from a proven successful racing obsessive to a financial laywer. Parr will now get the final say over budget allocation and driver signings. He will now have the biggest say over the culture of the team.

I have tried to provoke a debate about why we support Williams, and why we will continue to support Williams in future. Everyone has different reasons- for me, some of my reasons have now been eliminated. For me, the name "Williams" isn't enough. Serena Williams has the same name, but I don't support her.

K1- sorry to be harsh, but what utter rubbish. I don't believe for one second that you don't have any emotional attachment to Mark Webber, that you did not feel the need to respond to his emotional criticisms of Williams, and that you have not unanimously chosen to take his side on issues when a counter argument has been equally, or more valid? Do you mean to tell me that that you will not be saddened when he eventually retires?

Bunk.

For me, a team is about the people, and if the people change, then that affects my opinion of the team.

This video may have already been posted.... but given he has recently announced he is stepping down, thought it would be a nice time to post

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