People: Listed engineering firm announces new CEO to succeed founding member; CYBG bolsters its board; New director at SIG; robotics firm makes senior hire; and more
Pressure Technologies, the specialist engineering group, has announced that John Hayward is to retire as chief executive, and step down from the Board, from 1 October. He was a founding member of the company has worked for the firm for 21 years.
Chris Walters will become CEO of the Group with effect from 3 September. Walters will work with Hayward to ensure a smooth handover and to provide continuity for the Group.
Walters is a Chartered Engineer, with a Masters degree in Naval Architecture from Southampton University and an MBA from Imperial College, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects and The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology.
He has over 20 years of senior management experience gained whilst working for P&O Group and for Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, where he held positions as Senior Vice President of the Oil & Gas services division and Operations Director of the Marine services division. More recently, Walters was CEO of TSC Inspection Systems, a private equity and VCT backed non-destructive testing technology and services business, where he led the growth and development of the group and achieved a successful sale for the investors.
Alan Wilson, Chairman, commented: “John was a founding member of Pressure Technologies plc and has served the business for 21 years. He originally joined Chesterfield Special Cylinders in 1997 as Finance Director and went on to lead the Management Buy-Out of Chesterfield Special Cylinders in 2004 and the subsequent listing of the Group on AIM in 2007.
“During his time, the Company has seen substantial change; including several acquisitions, a divestment and, most recently, the prolonged severe down-turn in the Global Oil & Gas industry which John managed to successfully navigate the Company through. The Board would like to thank John for his hard work, dedication and stalwart leadership during his time with us and wish him well for the future.
“We are delighted to welcome Chris to the Company, particularly as he has an enviable track record of leading change and driving global growth of businesses in the Energy and Marine industries.”
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CYBG, the owner of Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank, has appointed Geeta Gopalan and Darren Pope as independent non-executive directors of CYBG and Amy Stirling as a non-executive director of CYBG to the board following tyhe announcment of the firm’s £1.7bn offer to acquire Virgin Money.
They will each also join the Board of Clydesdale Bank. Each appointment will be effective on completion of the Virgin Money offer, subject to the usual regulatory approvals. In addition, following completion of the Offer, Geeta Gopalan will be appointed a member of the CYBG Risk Committee and of the Clydesdale Bank Risk Committee and Darren Pope will be appointed a member of the CYBG Audit Committee and of the Clydesdale Bank PLC Audit Committee.
Jim Pettigrew, CYBG Chairman said: “We are delighted Geeta, Darren and Amy have agreed to join the CYBG Board on completion of the Offer. We believe the combination of CYBG and Virgin Money will be a powerful force in UK banking and the insight, expertise and experience of all three proposed directors will be invaluable as we bring both businesses together to create the first true national competitor to the status quo.”
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Paragon Entertainment, the York-based attractions design, production and fit-out business, has announced Neil Jefferies as CFO.
Jefferies has 10 years’ senior management experience working in SMEs across a variety of different sectors. He joined on 13 February and has been acting in an interim position since then.
John Dobson, CEO of Paragon Entertainment said: “We are delighted to have Neil on board full time. As noted in our recent Annual Report, this has been a difficult period for all our employees, but we emerge with a motivated team and a leaner business.
“Neil’s appointment comes at a time when the future is looking substantially better for Paragon and his presence will continue to create stability within the Finance Function while providing financial support to the board. This will allow the Board to develop a better financial radar with more forward-looking information, more focused project analysis and a more flexible production base.”
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Sheffield-based construction materials supplier, SIG, has appointed Stacey Morgan as Sales & Marketing Director for the company’s distribution division.
Morgan, who is reporting to managing director, David Walmsley, has joined from the same position at Flogas, part of DCC . He comes to SIG Distribution with a wealth of knowledge gained from heading up large national sales teams at DCC, Regus, Yell and Equifax and having often lead business transformation within the internal and external sales and service areas.
He said: “SIG is a great company with great people, but like many companies built on traditional values and long history it is in need of fresh direction and a more modern approach to sales and service. To be a part of this transformation, leading the improvements across our sales, service and marketing functions is something I‘m looking forward to being involved with. I guess fate also had a hand to play, one of my first ever sales appointments as a rookie field sales executive 25 years ago was selling credit reports to the Credit Manager at Sheffield Insulations, so I’ve known the business for a long time.
“Over the next few months I’ll be evaluating our sales effectiveness and ability to deliver a best in class customer experience, which will involve lots of travelling to SIG branches and customers to gain a more in-depth understanding of the business.”
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Robotics specialist Sewtec has appointed a highly experienced project director, as the company implements a growth plan which will see it double turnover to £32m in five years.
Ian Walch joins the Dewsbury-based company with over 15 years’ experience in project management, most recently as operations director at advanced engineering company Stirling Dynamics.
Sewtec designs and manufactures high-technology factory automation systems for global blue-chip clients in the food, pharmaceutical, personal care and tobacco industries. It counts Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson amongst its clients.
Walch completes Sewtec’s new senior management team, following a series of senior hires including head of finance, Lizzie Hay, and head of business support, Mark Atkins. The appointments follow a successful management buyout (MBO) in August last year.
He will manage all new and existing work to enable Sewtec to deliver its projects efficiently and effectively. His role involves project management, manufacturing, assembly, purchasing, IT and quality processes. He is also responsible for increasing the business’s capability by enhancing efficiencies and further improving internal processes.
Walch also has ten years’ working history with Sewtec managing director, Mark Cook, having worked with Cook at intelligence solutions company Datong, engineering services company Misas Technology and Stirling Dynamics.
Cook said: “With Ian’s appointment we’ve built a strong and highly capable senior management team. Effective project management is vital to us achieving on-time delivery and improving efficiencies which in turn helps us to win new business, so his contribution will enable us to achieve the business’s ambitions.
“Ian is a talented project management expert with a strong track record of transforming businesses and delivering high-value strategic projects. He thrives under pressure and can motivate teams very effectively, so I’m confident he’ll play an integral role in our ongoing expansion.”
As well as doubling its turnover to £32m in the next five years, Sewtec also anticipates increasing its highly skilled engineering and manufacturing workforce to more than 120 people by 2023. The company revealed in June that it had opened a design office at Silkwood Park in Wakefield to begin the recruitment process.
Walch added: “Sewtec has an outstanding reputation and I’m hugely impressed by the opportunities open to the business. This is a very exciting time to be joining and I look forward to tackling this challenging role to help grow the company.”
Sewtec’s MBO was backed by Leeds headquartered private equity firm Endless. The company’s management team of technical director Gary Day, controls director Karl Conqueror and sales director Paul Johnson led the buyout.
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York-based The Franchising Centre has welcomed two new starters to the business. Robert and Richard Dancy join as Franchise Development and Recruitment Consultants.
They will provide potential franchisors with expert guidance through the financial modelling process before managing their franchisee and recruitment processes.
The brothers grew up in franchising as their family business, Oscar Pet Foods, developed as a franchisor in the early 1990s. Robert brings over 20 years’ experience of working in the franchising arena. Following graduation, he helped to develop recruitment portals for the franchising community as well as holding sales, marketing and business development roles.
Richard comes to The Franchising Centre with a background in sales and marketing, working with a wide range of franchisors at all levels. He specialises in delivering digital marketing and social media training for franchise networks and is a regular contributor and speaker at British Franchise Association events.
Brian Duckett, Chairman of The Franchising Centre said, “I’m really pleased to welcome Robert and Richard to TFC, especially as I knew their Dad when the Oscar business was being developed. Their knowledge and years of experience in franchising will prove to be invaluable to our clients and we’re all very excited for what the future holds with them both on board.”
The Franchising Centre is Europe’s leading firm of franchise consultants and recruiters, with a combined experience of more than 300 years of practical franchise management and a network of associated consultants and brokers in more than 60 countries.
