U.K.’s Thomson Local Gets New CEO

Thomsonlocal.com, the U.K. local print and online directories company owned by Italy’s Seat PG, has changed CEOs. Effective April 1, Elio Schiavo will move over to run Seat’s Telegate (directory assistance) operation full time. Schiavo has recently been dividing his time between Telegate and Thomson.

His replacement is veteran Seat executive Paolo Giuri, currently CEO of Europages, a B2B search operation under the Seat umbrella. Schiavo will remain chairman of Thomson Directories Ltd.

Giuri has a challenging task ahead guiding Thomson through a difficult transformation to a multi-product local print and digital SMB marketing company, competing with everyone from U.K. directories leader Yell to online only players like ReachLocal.

Thomson has a strong brand in the U.K. and a history of being creative in its approach to products and partnering. Some recent moves include a deal with CBS Outdoor to sell remnant bus advertising space and an agreement with Samsung to be included in its smart TV app store.