MAY 4, 2005

Management reshuffle at Williams

Chris Chapple has been appointed as the chief executive of the BMW Williams F1 team. The appointment is part of a reorganisation which includes a new Senior Management Group, which will be the key decision-making forum within the organisation. The new group will include team principal Frank Williams, director of engineering Patrick Head, technical director Sam Michael, chief operating officer Alex Burns; Jim Wright head of marketing and John Healey, head of legal services.

Frank Williams and Patrick Head will retain overall responsibility for strategy, principal relationships and all key operating and financial decisions.

"This is a positive step which reflects the long term success, rapid growth and increased complexity of both

WilliamsF1 and Formula 1 in general," said Frank Williams. "I am confident that the changes we are announcing today will improve overall performance within WilliamsF1 and will allow Patrick and myself to spend more of our time focused on ensuring we deliver key targets upon which the success of the company depends."

Chapple joined the team recently as the finance director. He is a former Royal Marine Commando officer who saw service in the Gulf War after graduating from Oxford with a law degree. Chapple then joined Goldman Sachs and spent nearly 10 years in corporate finance before being recruited to join Marconi plc to assist with the company's financial restructuring, raising several billion dollars in the process. He was then hired by the Russian aluminium company Sual as chief development officer and prepared the firm for its listing on the London Stock Exchange.

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