UKprocure ARTICLE

April 2006

UKprocure appoints senior eProcurement Executive as new Chief Executive Officer

Shish Lal, founder of UKprocure and CEO for the past six years, is leaving the company for family reasons and will be returning to Australia. Shish was a pioneer of the eMarketplace sector and built UKprocure to a market-leading position.

Dr Chai Patel, Chief Executive of Priory Group and a founding shareholder and Non-Executive Director of UKprocure, said: “Shish was the founder of UKprocure in 2000, and the Board would like to thank him for all his hard work and success in bringing the business to the point of having 70 public sector organisations as long-term customers. Shish will remain a shareholder and a valued advisor to the Company.”

Martin has a wealth of experience in the area of online trading, including extensive experience of public sector procurement. He was Oracle’s Product Director of B2B for EMEA, where he led the development of the Oracle Exchange and Internet Procurement business. He then became Specialist Sales Director of B2B for Oracle UK. More recently he has been CEO of smaller, innovative organisations in specialist software and eInvoicing. Earlier in his career he worked for blue chip companies including Schlumberger, BOC Gases and Boston Consulting Group. He holds an engineering degree and an MBA from INSEAD.

“The NHS and other public sector organisations have an enormous opportunity to work with their suppliers more efficiently,” says Martin. “UKprocure plays a key role in helping organisations achieve better value, which can be reinvested in front-line services. My key objective is to ensure that our customers are successful in achieving the requirements of the efficiency agenda.”

Martin’s appointment is part of a programme of recruitment currently underway in order to further improve service delivery and represents significant investment by the company.

“The Board is delighted that Martin has joined the Company,” added Spencer Skinner, Director of Active Private Equity and Chairman of UKprocure. “He knows UKprocure’s market well, and has an excellent track record for customer service and delivering business performance.”