McCaig takes over the role from David Kelly, who has left the company to join eBay. McCaig will take over responsibility for operations across the whole of the group.
The appointment is designed to allow Lastminute.com founders Hoberman and Lane Fox to concentrate on the strategic issues of growing Lastminute without having to spend so much time devoted to the day-to-day management of the dotcom.
At Nokia, McCaig was vice-president of 3G operations for Nokia and managing director of Nokia UK & Ireland. Before that, he was at Telewest Communications, where he was UK sales director.
"Lastminute.com has made enormous steps over the past year and this is a fantastic opportunity to ensure it continues to keep ahead of the competition. On a personal level, it is great to join a company that is not just successful but has the drive, enthusiasm and commitment to grow and develop into a large and thriving worldwide brand," said McCraig.
Lastminute has been expanding its offerings, and the group now owns sites including , and .
Lane Fox, group managing director of Lastminute, said: "Ian's excellent background and experience in heading operations at Nokia, as well as his proven financial achievements, will be a real strength to the lastminute.com group of businesses."
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