Financier Dermot Desmond has nominated David Harrison to the board of Independent News & Media (INM).

Mr Harrison, chief executive of the Desmond-backed Intuition Publishing, will join the board of the media group “with immediate effect”. Mr Desmond has a 6.36 per cent shareholding in INM.

Intuition is a provider of specialised online education and knowledge-management products to the investment banking and financial markets sectors.

Mr Harrison is also a non-executive chairman of GOS Holdings and a non-executive director of Rapt Holdings, a developer of optical multitouch technologies.

The board of INM has been significantly reconstituted in recent months, following the departure of Gavin O’Reilly as chief executive in April.

Seven directors departed the group in 2012, while James Osborne was ousted as chairman in June, to be replaced by Leslie Buckley in August, a close business associate of Denis O’Brien, INM’s largest shareholder with a 29.9 per cent stake.

Board appointments

Other recent appointments include Terry Buckley, Jerome Kennedy, Triona Mullane and Len O’Hagan. Mr Harrison’s appointment brings the number of board members at INM up to 11, including chief executive Vincent Crowley.

Mr O’Brien has three nominees on the board, the chairman Mr Buckley, Lucy Gaffney and Paul Connolly.

Appointments to the INM board are considered by the nomination committee.