Iron Mountain appoints William Meaney president and chief executive

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Iron Mountain Inc., an information storage and management company headquartered in Boston, said Monday that its board of directors has voted unanimously to appoint William Meaney president and chief executive, effective Jan. 7.

Meaney will succeed executive chairman and chief executive Richard Reese, who announced his intention to retire after 31 years at the company, Iron Mountain said. Reese served as chief executive from December 1981 to June 2008 and returned as CEO in April 2011, the company said in a press release. The company has more than $3 billion in annual sales.

Iron Mountain’s board also announced that Al Verrecchia, lead independent director, will succeed Reese as board chairman, effective in March when Reese will also retire from the board.

Meaney, 52, comes to Iron Mountain with more than 20 years of experience successfully overseeing diverse businesses in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Most recently, he served as chief executive of the Hong Kong-based Zuellig Group, a business-to-business conglomerate.

In mid 2011, Iron Mountain sold off a major portion of its digital data storage business, a Globe story from that year noted. Iron Mountain faced tough competition in that sector from companies like EMC Corp. in Hopkinton and IBM Corp.