New board appointments for Survitec

Survitec has announced Nick Henry, Ian Plumb and Phil Swash are joining its board of directors in a non-executive capacity.

The three industry leaders have been chosen for their exceptionally strong knowledge and experience in guiding companies through periods of major transformation to profitable growth. The new directors join a group of other industry experts led by Ron Krisanda, Survitec Executive Chairman.

“I am delighted to have Nick, Ian and Phil join our board,” says Krisanda. “Between them, they have decades of global, M&A, Plc and Private Equity experience having successfully led major manufacturing and service businesses through large scale transformation to deliver sustainable profitable growth. These appointments represent a major coup for Survitec and are a clear signal of our intent to become the world’s most trusted company for critical safety and survival solutions.

“Our path to reach our vision is clear – an absolute focus on delivering for our customers through investing in our people and driving operational excellence in our systems and processes. Our financial position is very strong, having received the full backing of our lenders, and boasting a strong, recapitalised balance sheet. We are now ready to execute on our plans and partner with our customers to become a complete compliance solutions provider. These additions to the Board will prove invaluable in providing the guidance to help us reach our vision.’’

Nick Henry has 36 years of experience in the commercial maritime field, across a number of its sub-sectors including container operations and offshore services globally. He spent the last 16 years with James Fisher and Sons, a marine services group, 15 of which were as Chief Executive.

During his tenure as CEO, Henry led the company through a period of extraordinary growth and transformation, delivering 40 successful global acquisitions, driving 20% annual growth, and increasing the market capitalisation of the group by almost tenfold. Prior to this, Henry worked for 20 years for P&O Containers and P&O Ports, of which 10 years were in senior management positions based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the Netherlands and the Indian Sub-Continent.

Ian Plumb is a highly skilled private equity professional following more than a decade of working within private equity firms. He has significant experience in all aspects of private equity exits, business transformations, acquisitions and refinancing projects.

Plumb started his private equity career at Endless LLP focusing on transformational investments and later specialising in portfolio management, including a number of restructuring roles on more intensive investments. He was recruited by NorthEdge LLP to establish and manage the portfolio function, becoming Head of Portfolio, where his primary focus was the creation and execution of value creation plans. Plumb has extensive experience of supporting both businesses and investors through transformative periods.

Phil Swash has over 25 years’ experience in global senior leadership, transformation and P&L roles, with expertise in aerostructures, automotive, off-highway, global industrial operations, and lean and digital manufacturing.

Earlier in his career, Swash led the manufacturing launch of the largest commercial aircraft wings then produced and was ultimately responsible for all Airbus Wing manufacturing. He also led the deployment of lean manufacturing across Airbus’ European operations.

Swash joined GKN where he held various chief executive and board positions. As CEO of GKN’s largest division, Swash had full autonomy and P&L responsibility for the £5.4bn global business. He led a global re-structuring of the business and successfully re-shaped and re-focused product research & development which led to the company capturing over 40% market share, in a hugely competitive space.