Dr Brian Clark to Join National Australia Bank Board - 15 October 2001

Dr Brian Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Pacific has been appointed as a Director of the National Australia Bank.

In announcing the appointment, National Australia Bank Chairman, Mr Charles Allen said Dr Clark brings valuable international experience, especially in consumer service organisations.

"Brian's role in the highly competitive telecommunications industry and experience in change management will also clearly benefit the organisation," Mr Allen said.

A member of Vodafone Group's Executive Committee and its Global Operations Review Committee, Dr Clark has been part of the team that has seen Vodafone Group grow to become the largest mobile telecommunications company in the world.

In the Pacific region, Dr Clark has led the expansion of Vodafone Pacific from a company with 300,000 customers in August 1997 to three million customers at the end of September 2001.

Before joining Vodafone, Dr Clark was President of CSIR, the premier scientific and research organisation in South Africa from 1990 to 1995.

In April 1995 he was appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telkom SA Ltd. His role at Telkom SA was to move the organisation from a state-owned monopoly to a world-class, customer-focused telecommunications company. In 1997, 30 per cent of the equity in Telkom was sold to SBC Communications and Telekom Malaysia. This was the first privatisation undertaken by the new South African government.

Dr Clark, 52, relocated to Sydney Australia in September 1997 when he took up his role at Vodafone Pacific.