Is he mad or is he important?

[tigermoth]

An old friend of mine emailed me recently. He told me he is the marketing and communications director of a VERY large internet company - you've all heard of it, but I don't want to say which one it is.

Now, how can I find out if he is the only marketing and commumications director, if if he is just one of hundreds of marketing and communications directors? My friend is not based in the UK btw. I would just like to know a bit more, without asking him outright IFYSWIM.

Incidently, he was a very accomplised liar in the past, though nice with it

I have tried typing his name, job title and company into google, but havn't come up with an answer. So, what can I do next?

Is the company itself based in England? If it were, you could find this sort of information out from 'companies house', I think. But then again, I'm not sure about internet companies....so not much help really!

Its a multinational company. I don't know where it's based, but suspect it's in the States.

Could you phone the company and ask them the name of their m & c director? Would his name appear in their annual report?

How about going to the corporate website & seeing what you can find?

well, I've had a look on the corporate website. A few directors are listed by name, but there's no marketing and communications director amongst them. There is a phone number, so I'll try that on Monday, but I wanted to make my enquiries anonymously, and get a little more background detail than just the name and job title. I suspect anyone who answers my call will give me the bare minimum of information. I just thought that bearing in mind he is with a large internet company, there would be some details about him and the company that I could access on the web.

tigermoth, bear in mind you can be called a Director and not be on the board IYKWIM. It can just be part of your job title. Ask him if he's a board director - bet he's not!

Oh and call and say you are updating your database, and is your Marketing and Comms director still xxxx - if they laugh and say no he makes the tea you will know....

If it is a big listed company, they will probably have their annual report and accounts on their website, which will say who the main board directors are.

tigermoth, it would be unusual for the marketing director of an internet company to be on the board. the executive board directors are usually the ceo and cfo and maybe one other - but not generally marketing. doesn't mean he isn't a director, just not a board director.

however I do think it is odd that he doesn't come up in google, because you would expect him to be quoted in articles, named in press releases as a contact etc every so often - esp as he is responsible for communication! have you googled just his name (in inverted commas) and the company name in google? If it is an american co he probably won't be called a director, he will be called Vice-President Marketing and Communications or something, and including the job title may be screwing up your search.

I work for a large U.S. company and there must be hundreds of directors - we joke that it's what the Americans call "employee". Not that I'm one. They are not board directors.

Yes, in the usa a director is generally a somewhat junior position BELOW a senior director, vice-president, senior vice-president, president, ceo etc.

really interesting and useful stuff - thanks everyone! I didn't realise that the American version of a director is rather different to the UK one. I will now make some enquiries.

Goodness used to work for a big US bank and everyone except the tea room lady, secretarial staff and post room boys were VPs - they did try and make you think they were really important but did not wash with me!!!