NCT slims down executive team
David Astill, the new managing director of Nottingham City Transport, has announced several notable changes to the management team at NCT, as the bus operator slims down its executive team.
Astill said: “Our engineering director, Gary Mason, will be retiring from NCT at the end of this calendar year. Gary has made a significant contribution to this business and will always be associated amongst other things with driving through the bio-gas bus project at NCT. Indeed, with 120 such buses and more on order, Nottingham can boast the largest fleet of biogas powered double-deck buses in the world. On behalf of all staff, I wish Gary a well-earned long and happy retirement.”
Marketing Director, Nicola Tidy, will also be stepping down from the board. Tidy was behind the GO2 network of high frequency services and the colour coding of the route network, as well as establishing the Travel Centre on South Parade.
Astill added: “I am pleased that Nicola will remain with the company in a part time role as strategic projects manager. She will continue to oversee our ticketing and IT developments.”
He added: “It is with great pleasure that I can confirm the appointment of Liam O’Brien, our current chief engineer, as the new head of engineering and Anthony Carver-Smith, our current marketing manager as the new head of marketing.”
NCT will now operate with a slimmed-down board of only three executive directors. The executive board will comprise of Astill as managing director, Rob Hicklin as the long-standing finance director (and deputy managing director) and Ben Potgieter (currently head of HR) as HR director.
Astill said: “I congratulate Ben on his appointment to the board and confirm that the Facilities Maintenance and Health & Safety sections within our business will now operate as a stand-alone function of the HR department, recognising the importance of safety and well-being across the entire business.”
The new appointments take effect from 1 September 2021.
Astill added: “These alterations represent the biggest change in two decades to a very stable management team at NCT. Whilst it is a big step, it is actually the culmination of an evolutionary process. I am particularly pleased that these three promotions demonstrate this company’s ethos of nurturing and developing its own staff as preparation for more senior roles.
“We are entering a period of great uncertainty but also great opportunity as we drive our business through the recovery period from the pandemic. I am confident we have the mix of personalities and collective abilities to succeed as a team and business.”
