Philip Yea and Tristan de Boysson have joined as non-executive directors. It is believed that non-executive chairman Nicholas Bryan (pictured) will step down. He left Investcorp at the end of last year.

Polestar divisional managing director Mike Walmsley has also joined the board as operations director, where he will take on a more strategic role.

Yea and de Boysson both have extensive corporate experience. Before joining Investcorp in 1998, de Boysson spent six years at McKinsey & Company in Paris, where he advised customers on strategy and operational performance improvement, on which Polestar has concentrated over the last 18 months.

Yea joined Investcorp in 1999 from Diageo, where he had spent six years as group finance director, including four years in the same role for Guinness before its merger with Grand Met in 1997. He has also served as chairman of Gleneagles Hotel and was a director of Mot Hennessy.

Walmsley joined Polestar in 1998, when he was appointed as managing director of its consumer magazines division. He has latterly been responsible for 12 companies within the groups sheetfed, reel and digital operations.

Polestar chief executive Barry Hibbert said the group wanted to "tap into" the international experience of Yea and de Boysson.

* Creo is believed to be the favourite to secure Polestars group-wide CTP contract (PrintWeek, 16 November 2001). Negotiations are continuing between the group and the GPMU at Greaves in Scarborough, while consultation is ongoing over the closure of Chromoworks in Nottingham.

Story by Gordon Carson