Incisive Media's John Barnes named new AOP chair

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Managing director of digital and technology at Incisive Media, John Barnes, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP).

Barnes will take over from Tim Faircliff with immediate effect, after Faircliff, the general manager of consumer media at Thomson Reuters, stepped down in June after two years as chair.

In a release from the AOP , Barnes, an executive board member of AOP and previous chair of its business-to-business committee, said the appointment is "a great privilege".

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The proliferation of new devices, competing distribution channels, and constantly changing business models makes the industry exciting and dynamic, and the AOP is ideally placed to help UK online publishers seize these challenges to their advantage to build better digital businesses," he added. The director of AOP Lee Baker said the association is "thrilled" to have Barnes take over as chairman. "

He is committed to the AOP and has shown the vision and appetite to lead the organisation forward to meet its potential. "The chairman is a vital role of leadership for AOP. Tim Faircliff, our previous chair, was crucial in establishing an independent AOP, and John has the skills and ideas to build on that platform to position AOP as the UK’s most influential publishing industry body.”