IT services provider Claranet has appointed Paul Court as technical director. Mr Court, formerly technical services director of Telecity Group, was also chief operating officer of Globix, where he worked with organisations such as Transport for London and Carphone Warehouse. * Mark Paraskeva has been appointed Autodesk's vice president of Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. The company reports that Mr Paraskeva's appointment reflects the EMIA region's increasing contribution to its business. * Michael King has joined German software company CAS. He moves from Lawson, where he worked as vice president of global sales for the Americas, and Emea and Asia Pacific regions. Before Lawson, Mr King served as national vice president of strategic accounts at Oracle. He was also group vice president for PeopleSoft. * Stephen Read becomes director of small and medium sized enterprises for the UK arm of SAP. He has 16 years experience in sales and marketing. He joined SAP in April 2006 as a senior director and was later appointed vice president of business development. * HCL, the IT services provider, has appointed Liselotte Hägertz Engstam as vice president for the Nordic countries. She joins after 20 years at IBM and is responsible for supporting customers in the region. * Social media expert John Linwood has left Yahoo to join the BBC as its new chief technology officer. Mr Linwood will be responsible for delivering the BBC's technology strategy, in a role that includes the maintenance of all output technical infrastructure. He was senior vice president of international engineering at Yahoo and has worked in technology for 28 years, with four years at Yahoo and 11 years with Microsoft.
