Leadership Archives - Page 34 of 34

Uniquely and Exceptionally Experienced Real Estate Fund Manager in Asia

Posted on December 5, 2017 | by root

ARA Korea Limited (ARA Korea) is a full-service real estate fund management company based in Seoul, Korea. Anthony Kang, CEO of the Year 2017, provides us with a breakdown of the firm’s products and services, as well as outlining the company’s overall mission and walking us through his path to success as CEO.

Established in 2002 by Macquarie Group of Australia, the company led by Anthony was acquired by ARA Group and was renamed as ARA Korea in 2014. Headquartered in Singapore with offices across 19 cities in seven countries, ARA Group is currently managing multiple private funds and REITs across the Asia Pacific Region, with close to 100 assets and AUM totalling over SG$35 billion (approximately US$25 billion).

Since Anthony took leadership in 2010, ARA Korea has more than tripled its AUM in Korea alone to over KRW1.35 trillion (approximately US$1.2 billion) and is firmly poised for further growth. Already having launched two new REITs in Korea and closed one of the largest commercial real estate transactions in Korea this year, Anthony is still thirsty for more and has set his eyes on the blue ocean sectors in Korea, namely the residential-for-rent sector and outbound investment market, to help him achieve the vision of ARA Korea to become the best-in-class real estate fund management company in Korea. ARA Korea is licensed by the Korean government as a qualified external REITs manager in Korea, and Anthony is currently in the process of also obtaining the Real Estate Fund (REF) management license from the Korean government for the company, in order to secure a stronger and broader foothold in both the private and public real estate markets in Korea. Anthony walks us through his career milestones, touching base on education, and detailing how his career has progressed and led to him becoming CEO.

“Only having had lived in South Korea my entire life, I first moved to the US with my family at the beginning of my teenage years. I went on to study Economics at Columbia University in New York and then moved straight on to get a Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.”

After working as an associate attorney with a prestigious law firm in Boston for a few years, wanting to gain more international exposure, Anthony later joined a more global law firm and moved to Hong Kong, where he continued to focus on corporate and finance matters but with more cross-border flavours.

Anthony recalls “It is there where I first worked on a real estate deal and my interest in the sector sparked. Over the following several years, I started focusing almost exclusively on real estate deals and clients. Gradually, I became more immersed and intrigued by the industry and eventually decided to quit law and pursue a new career on the business side.”

Moving into further education with a high level of ambition, Anthony paused his successful legal career and pursued a Master’s degree in Real Estate and Urban Development at Harvard University. It was there where he gained more invaluable insights and networks within the real estate industry. Anthony explains what he went on to do after Harvard, detailing how he became CEO of ARA Korea.

“Upon graduating from Harvard, I kicked off my new career on the business side with Lehman Brothers in the Global Real Estate Group in Tokyo and later moved to Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong to work in their Global Principal Investment Division.

“It was in 2008 when I moved back to Korea to join the platform which I lead today. Back then it was a subsidiary of Macquarie Group, which was later acquired by ARA Group in 2014 and evolved into the current form it is in today. I was named CEO of the company in 2010 and I continue to lead the company today.”

Being the head of a successful business, Anthony carries a lot of responsibilities. He explains his leadership style, mentioning how he has to set out a clear vision for the company, as well as explaining how a CEO and his firm can only be as good as the team behind him.

“As the CEO, I think of myself as the captain on a ship. First, I must set a clear vision for the voyage and the crew. Second, I must carefully plot the chartered course and navigate. Third, I must look out for any unexpected obstacles during the voyage and always be ready to alter the course, speed, and plan, as required to achieve the vision.

“Another big part of my job is to continue to build the best team to achieve the vision in the ever-changing market we operate in today, leading them to remain focused and motivated to achieve their individual goals, as well as the collective vision of the company. I believe that the fund management business is all about people and a fund management firm can only be as good as its people.”

Recognizing the importance and value of people within the real estate industry and relevant local markets is a key factor in Anthony’s success. He sees the power that can be derived from employing staff from diverse backgrounds, ideas and strengths, doing his best to guide and support each person to perform at his or her peak.

“As the CEO, I must optimally allocate and coordinate all resources within the firm as effectively and efficiently as possible, to achieve peak performance as one powerful team.

“When it comes to any given specified job within the company, I encourage and expect each of my crew members to become a specialist and an unparalleled expert in the specified area or job for which he or she is responsible for. Once I have set a prudent high-level risk management and control framework in place, sometimes I just need to get out of everyone’s ways to let them perform at their peak while I focus on leading and orchestrating the team at a holistic level, with due respect and trust.

“Essentially, my relationship with my staff is not necessarily a hierarchical relationship, but rather an inseparable and integral relationship of interdependency, necessity, and harmony, built upon common
inspiration to achieve the collective vision of the company.”

Overall, Anthony is keen to highlight the key attributes which make him an award-winning business leader, alongside building that ‘A’ team and always placing the clients’ interests first. Anthony found his passion in Real Estate and this is a key factor as his passion is ingrained in the ethos of the company. He signs off by explaining what advice he would give to anyone else seeking a successful career, again highlighting how important it is.

“Chance of leading a successful career and more importantly a happy life will be much higher if you can first find what makes your heart beat in the morning and simply pursue it. Because you will be doing what you love, joy and determination will follow only naturally.

“Ultimately, I would tell them to figure out what they really want to do with their lives and once figured out, pursue with uncompromised determination and persistence and never give up. If you are like me and most of the people in this world, you will certainly have downfalls and failures along the way. However, I have learned that often what differentiates the last man standing from the rest of the crowd is not all about how smart or capable you are but simply about how determined and persistent you were. In sum, never give up (and don’t forget to enjoy the journey and celebrate success along the way).”

Company: ARA Korea Limited

Contact: Anthony Kang

Email: [email protected]

Address: 20F Two IFC, 10, Gukjegeymyungro, Yeongdeunpogu, Seoul, 7326, Republic of Korea

Phone: 82 2 6137 3700

Charles Woodburn to succeed Ian King as CEO

Posted on April 17, 2017 | by root

The Board has also today confirmed that Charles Woodburn, currently Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed as Chief Executive from 1 July 2017. Until that time, Ian and Charles will continue in their current roles.

Ian King will retire after a career spanning more than 40 years in the defence sector, including serving as Chief Executive since September 2008.

Charles Woodburn joined BAE Systems in May 2016 as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Board Director, following over 20 years’ international experience in senior management positions in the oil and gas industry.

Sir Roger Carr, Chairman, BAE Systems plc said:
“After a distinguished career, Ian will retire leaving a legacy of disciplined performance, ethical behaviour, a burgeoning order book, a track record of delivering shareholder value and a strong leadership team. During his tenure as Chief Executive, Ian has built a world-class defence engineering and technology business, providing vital capabilities to our customers and contributing to the security and economic prosperity of the nations in which we operate.

“Since his appointment last year, Charles has made an important contribution to the Company, bringing impeccable engineering credentials, broad international experience and fresh perspectives to build on our existing strengths. In his new role, he will build on an enviable inheritance to create an exciting future, where we will continue to be performance-driven and values-led.”

CVWOW Appoints Ex Jobsite Boss as New CEO

Posted on March 1, 2017 | by root

CVWOW are delighted to announce the appointment of their new CEO, Mike Wall, who joined the company on 9th January 2017.

Mike joins the business with an abundance of experience gained from some big names in the recruitment industry, including Jobsite, Oilcareers, Broadbean, and Jobrapido and will be leveraging his expertise across the recruitment value chain to develop the CVWOW brand further. His position at Jobsite as their Chief Executive saw the business grow before selling to Stepstone for over £90m.

Mike has carried out multiple consulting roles and will continue to guide Myjobmatcher and REngineeringjobs to grow their businesses on global scale, which aligns well with the CVWOW strategy.

Russell Crowe, founder and owner of CVWOW comments “Mike brings a wealth of international online recruitment knowledge and experience with him to the business. Working with him will bring us a strategic and technical platform to build on, and will assist us in delivering our vision to become a global trusted recruitment partner, and market leader within our sector.”.

Mike says “I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in at CVWOW – the business is already doing some impressive things within the industry and it’s my aim to for us to build on that success to become the biggest fixed-fee recruiter in the UK. With the current war for talent only set to increase, it’s more important than ever that our industry continues to innovate and deliver exceptional service to our customers.

“The team have been incredibly welcoming and after my first week in, I already feel like part of the furniture!”.

Hammerson CEO to Join Whitbread PLC Board

Posted on March 1, 2017 | by root

David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson plc has been appointed as a non-executive director to the board of Whitbread PLC with effect from 1 January 2017.

Whitbread, the owner of hotel chain Premier Inn, coffee shop Costa, as well as restaurant brands, including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre has over 2,200 outlets* across the UK. The organisation is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 and the FTSE4Good indices.

David Atkins, CEO of Hammerson plc added: “I’m delighted to be joining the board of Whitbread, a major leisure operator with a clearly defined vision and ambitious expansion plans. Whitbread has strong brands and large property portfolio and as our retail destinations continue to deliver an enhanced leisure offer, this role is a great opportunity for both of us.”

Richard Baker, Chairman of Whitbread PLC said: “David is the CEO of a major UK business with interests across a number of European markets. Whitbread has a clear growth strategy, which is underpinned by an extensive property portfolio, and David’s experience in the European retail property sector will provide the Whitbread Board with invaluable insights as we expand both in the UK and overseas.”

Having spent his career in the property sector, David Atkins, has been Chief Executive of Hammerson plc for the past seven years. During his time as Chief Executive David has been responsible for the Company’s transition to become a retail property specialist, the recent expansion into new European territories including Ireland and the increased focus on the premium outlet sector.

David is former Chairman of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), past president of Revo (formerly BCSC) and a member of the British Property Federation.

Post-Brexit CEOs Buzzing with Confidence but Cautiously Contingency Planning

Posted on March 1, 2017 | by root

Despite largely voting to remain in the EU, the Brexit vote hasn’t dampened the short or long term confidence of UK CEOs. It has however raised a question mark over the UK’s ability to do business and, as a result, many as part of responsible contingency planning are considering relocating operations or headquarters, according to KPMG’s first ‘100 UK CEOs’ survey.

The survey of CEOs from companies with revenues ranged between £100 million and £1bn found that, both in the short term (the next year) and the medium term (the next three years), the majority are confident about the future growth of the country, the global economy and their own businesses. However, over half believe the UK’s ability to do effective business will be hindered after leaving the EU.

Simon Collins, KPMG UK Chairman, commented: “Our research has highlighted a really positive message for the UK economy. We took a temperature check of the views of 100 CEOs from a broad range of businesses and found that they are confident about their own and the UK’s future growth prospects – a confidence reinforced in recent days by a number of important economic indicators. However, this confidence isn’t unbridled. CEOs are reacting to the prevailing uncertainty with contingency planning. In particular, the majority said they are considering relocating their headquarters or operations outside the UK. Over half believe the UK’s ability to do business will be disrupted once we Brexit and therefore, for many CEOs, it is important that they plan different scenarios to hedge against future disruption.

“In our own work, we have seen international clients who had been considering basing European headquarters in the UK, opt for Ireland instead. Our latest analysis shows that this effect could be exaggerated by UK companies moving. Contingency planning is just that – a form of insurance – but it must not become ‘plan A’. Moving headquarters abroad is radical and hits the headlines but businesses could start shifting operations abroad with little public attention. We hear it time and time again that business needs certainty. Policy makers should be really concerned about a leaching of British business abroad and should engage with business early to understand what assurances they can offer and closely monitor any shifts overseas. Equally, businesses should be sharing their on the ground experiences to convene a unified voice into government.”

The majority of CEOs felt that a division in society between ‘big business’ and the general public contributed to the EU referendum result, including over a third who believed this ‘to a great extent’. Similarly, a high proportion felt that UK big business has a responsibility to re-establish trust and communication with the general public, following the referendum vote.

Collins went on to say: “Reflecting my own conversations with CEOs in the UK, our research shows that business leaders feel the division of the referendum vote keenly. The trust which was broken by the 2008 crash is far from repaired. Every CEO I know is worried about this and determined to rebuild trust. One way this is being demonstrated is in recruitment. Many CEOs are working hard with their leadership teams to include a much broader section of society through apprenticeship schemes. Repairing trust takes time but it is positive that CEO cognisance of the issue and the will to change is high. Most CEOs voted to remain in the EU and the result of the referendum came as a shock. A break from the EU might force UK business leaders to re-evaluate their contract with the people they employ and society more broadly.”

Nestlé Board of Directors and Executive Board

Posted on March 1, 2017 | by root

At the 150th Annual General Meeting of Nestlé S.A. on 6 April 2017, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Board of Directors, will not stand for re-election in line with the company’s Articles of Association.

Mr Brabeck-Letmathe, having served Nestlé for 50 years, of which 14 years on the Executive Board, 11 years as CEO and 12 years as Chairman, will have reached the mandatory age of retirement and will relinquish all his Board functions.

The Board of Directors has decided to propose Paul Bulcke, Nestlé’s current CEO, for election as Chairman at the next Annual General Meeting on 6 April 2017.

In order to prepare for this future role as active, non-executive Chairman and respect a minimum cooling-off period, Mr Bulcke will resign from his present position as CEO on 31 December 2016.

Paul Bulcke was appointed CEO and member of the Board of Directors on 10 April 2008 and, under his successful leadership at the helm of the company for over 8 years, Nestlé has experienced industry-outperforming development and made further progress in its journey to become the leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness company.

In today’s extraordinary Nomination Committee and full Board of Directors meetings, the Board reconfirmed the long-term orientation for Nestlé as a Nutrition, Health and Wellness company and expressed the intention of fully integrating both Nestlé Health Science S.A. and Nestlé Skin Health S.A. into the Nestlé organization reporting directly to the CEO of Nestlé S.A. from 1 January 2017.

With this reconfirmation of the long-term strategy and the organizational integration in mind, the Board today unanimously decided to appoint Ulf Mark Schneider as the new CEO of Nestlé S.A., starting on 1 January 2017, and propose him for election to the Board of Directors at the 2017 Annual General Meeting.

Ulf Mark Schneider, 50 years old and a German and U.S. citizen, has been CEO of Fresenius Group since 2003. He is a graduate of the University of St. Gallen with both a graduate and a doctoral degree, and also holds a Harvard Business School MBA.

Fresenius, which offers high-quality products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient treatments, has prospered strongly under the leadership of Mr Schneider over the past 13 years. Today, with over 220,000 employees in more than 100 countries and annual sales €28 billion, Fresenius is one of the world’s leading diversified healthcare companies.

In order to ensure a smooth hand-over phase, Mr Schneider will join Nestlé on 1 September 2016 for an introductory period.

Together with Paul Bulcke, who is highly experienced in the area of fast moving consumer goods, the new team is ideally suited to accelerate Nestlé’s journey to become the world’s preeminent Nutrition, Health and Wellness company whilst fostering Nestlé’s values and principles.

Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe: “With the proposed appointment of Paul Bulcke as Chairman of the Board and Ulf Mark Schneider as CEO, the Board has increased the company’s capabilities to accelerate Nestlé’s journey to become the world’s preeminent player in the Nutrition, Health and Wellness sector. Together with our excellent executive team, Nestlé is well prepared to face the increasingly difficult external environment and deliver on both its long-term and short-term performance goals.”

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke: “I thank the Board for their confidence in proposing me as Chairman and I’m looking forward to working with Ulf Mark Schneider for Nestlé’s continued success. Ulf Mark Schneider brings to Nestlé a wealth of proven and seasoned professional and personal skills which will blend very well with Nestlé’s experienced management and company culture.”

Ulf Mark Schneider: “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to join Nestlé. This is a truly iconic global company with a proud heritage and tremendous future prospects. With consumers around the world taking a deeper interest in their personal health and wellbeing, Nestlé’s industry-leading global food and beverage business positions it well for advancing the vision of Nutrition, Health and Wellness. I very much look forward to working with the Nestlé team and all Nestlé stakeholders as we continue to pursue this vision.”

Changepoint Appoints New CEO and CFO

Posted on March 1, 2017 | by root

Changepoint (www.changepoint.com), a leading provider of project and portfolio management, enterprise architecture and professional services management applications, today announced it has appointed Matt Scheuing as Chief Executive Officer and Scott Mahan as Chief Financial Officer. Both bring more than 25 years of multi-sector senior leadership expertise in enterprise software to their new roles.

“Matt’s ability to connect and unify vision, people and ideas sets him apart as a leader. There’s no better person to lead Changepoint forward,” said Robin Pederson, a member of Changepoint’s Board of Directors.

“I joined Changepoint to be part of a company where I believe the possibilities are limitless and our products directly impact how people do business,” said Scheuing. “I’ve been following the company’s success for some time and am confident in our ability to help our customers run more agile businesses.”

Before Changepoint, Scheuing spent time in leadership roles as CEO and on the Board of Directors at enterprise technology companies ranging from Fortune 200 to venture funded start-ups. Most recently, he was CEO of Tideland Signal, where he led high performance teams in the delivery of innovative aids to marine navigation solutions. He previously spearheaded StrataGen, delivering enterprise telematics solutions to fleet markets worldwide. Matt also led IntelliTax, a leader in financial transactions processing in the tax industry. His prior experience also included C-level roles in enterprise document, workflow and speech recognition applications.

Chief Financial Officer Scott Mahan also joins the executive team. He’ll oversee Changepoint’s financial operations and work closely with him to develop and evaluate corporate strategy.

“Building infrastructure to support a rapidly expanding technology company is no small task,” said Scheuing. “Scott’s been the engine behind several high-growth companies. His expertise will ensure we have the foundation, tools and processes in place to support our rapid global growth and expansion.”

Prior to Changepoint, Mahan spent more than two decades managing private companies and public enterprises growing corporations from early-stage to a global presence. His diverse background includes broad experience in finance and operations at various big data, mobile, transaction processing and software companies.

These additions to Changepoint’s leadership team follow several months of steady growth marked by the addition of global customers including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Cigna Healthspring, Home Retail Group, Ricardo and Sephora. Today, more than 1,000 global customers rely on Changepoint’s project and portfolio management, enterprise architecture and professional services management solutions to improve their efficiency, business agility and performance.

In May, Changepoint continued its streak as the only technology provider named to both Gartner IT PPM Magic Quadrants with an appearance in the “Leaders” quadrant of the IT Project and Portfolio Management Software Applications1 and the Cloud-Based IT Project and Portfolio Management Services Magic Quadrants2. Changepoint was also recognized as a “Visionary” in the Gartner Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis (IIAP) Magic Quadrant3. Reprints of these Magic Quadrants are available from Changepoint here.

Adobe’s Board of Directors Elects Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen as Chairman

Posted on February 28, 2017 | by root

Adobe today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Shantanu Narayen as Chairman of the Board. Narayen will continue in his role as President and CEO of Adobe and succeeds Co-Chairs and Co-Founders of the company, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, who will remain on the Board.

The company also announced that board member Jim Daley, a 35-year Price Waterhouse veteran and prior CFO of a publicly traded technology company, has been named Lead Director to ensure continued sound corporate governance. Daley has been a board member since 2001 and was formerly the head of the audit committee.

Narayen’s vision and leadership drove Adobe’s transformation from a packaged software provider to one of the world’s largest and most diversified cloud companies. In 2009, Adobe acquired Omniture, launching what is now a multibillion-dollar digital marketing category and business for Adobe. In 2011, Adobe moved its highly profitable creative software business to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, becoming the first packaged software company to successfully pivot to the cloud. Adobe is now transitioning its documents business—based on its PDF standard—to a cloud services model with its Document Cloud.

“We are delighted that Shantanu Narayen, who has repeatedly demonstrated that he has the vision and capacity to lead Adobe into the future, will be the next chairman of Adobe,” said John Warnock and Chuck Geschke. “You cannot imagine how proud we are of our employees and the company that we have all built.”

“Adobe’s co-founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke have been instrumental in shaping Adobe’s innovation agenda and our unique culture for decades,” said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe president and CEO. “I’m grateful to John and Chuck for their ongoing counsel and for entrusting me with the leadership of the amazing company they founded.”

KPMG Reveals Nearly a Third of Global CEOs Feel Their CFOs Are Not Up to the Challenge

Posted on February 28, 2017 | by root

New KPMG study reveals that globally, CEOs want to see CFOs share in their priorities, derive competitive advantage from the constantly evolving regulatory environment, and find a balance between automation, shared services and outsourcing.

In today’s complex global economy, what do CEOs expect from their CFOs? The answer: strategic partners. However, a new report released today by KPMG International reveals that nearly one-third (30 percent) of global CEOs say their CFOs are falling short.

KPMG’s The View from the Top report, which surveyed more than 500 executives from six continents, reveals that globally, CEOs want to see CFOs share in their priorities, derive competitive advantage from the constantly evolving regulatory environment, and find a balance between automation, shared services and outsourcing. The findings echo KPMG’s Global CEO Outlook Survey released in July 2015, which found that more than half of CEOs (53 percent) indicated that the CFO would become more important to their organization over the next 3 years.

“We’re entering the age of the Renaissance CFO,” said Morris Treadway, KPMG Global Head of Financial Management. “CFOs are being challenged to step out of their traditional role and take on a bigger role. We’re finding out from CEOs that the CFOs’ previous nice-to-have qualities are now must-haves.”

More specifically, almost half (48 percent) of CEOs surveyed believe that global experience is the most important attribute a CFO can possess, compared to other more traditional attributes, such as industry experience (32 percent) and regulatory experience (19 percent). Global strategy and experience was also a key priority identified in the Global CEO Outlook Survey, which found that 30 percent of CEOs believe their business isn’t taking enough risks with their global growth strategy and 56 percent admit they don’t have a fully developed process in place for innovation.

“CFOs have a golden opportunity to help CEOs with the issues that keep them up at night,” continued Treadway. “But today’s CFOs need to rise to the challenge and close the gap between the expectations of CEOs and the reality on the ground. This means turning numbers into actionable intelligence and showcasing strong leadership qualities, collaborating with operations and thinking and acting globally.”

The report also reveals that many CEOs think their CFOs have their sights set on moving to the top of the C-suite. Nearly half (47 percent) of those surveyed believe their CFO would like to become CEO, but at a different company. However, there could be some roadblocks. If they want to become a CEO they have to strengthen their leadership skills (41 percent), broaden their focus (38 percent) and – most importantly – overcome their lack of experience outside of finance (45 percent).

Report key findings:

CEOs have set a high bar for CFOs. Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of the surveyed CEOs from high-performing organizations believe that the CFOs role will increase in significance over the next 3 years, as compared with other C- suite roles1. The CFO role seems to be the most important in North America (91 percent) and South America (93 percent).
CFOs need to approach the regulatory burden as an opportunity. CEOs named the regulatory environment as the external factor that will most influence the future role of the CFO. That is not necessarily a negative: 61 percent of CEOs also see regulation as an opportunity to derive competitive advantage.
The CFO of the future leverages the latest technology. Leveraging IT, such as cloud-enabled ERP systems, should be the main focus of CFOs in the future, say CEOs from high-performing organizations. Yet less than half of CEOs from these organizations think their finance functions are doing a good job in exploring and implementing the best new technology.
Data and analytics will increasingly drive strategy and profits. Eighty-five percent of CEOs of top-performing organizations say applying financial data to achieve profitable growth is the greatest strategic value a CFO can bring to an organization.
CEOs put a significant value on people skills, but many see their CFOs as lacking in this area. Almost all (97 percent) CEOs say that attracting and retaining top-notch finance talent is the most important or equally important contributing factor to improving the finance function, yet only 33 percent of CEOs give their CFOs a passing grade in talent management.

HS2 Announces the Appointment of it’s New Chief Executive

Posted on February 28, 2017 | by root

The Board of HS2 is pleased to confirm that it has selected Mark Thurston to be the new Chief Executive for the organisation.

Mark began his career in the rail industry over 30 years ago as an apprentice with Transport for London (TfL), before fulfilling a series of roles with The Nichols Group, Metronet, and working for CH2M since 2008, on the London 2012 Olympics and Crossrail, where he was lead for the Programme Partner joint venture for three years. He is currently the regional managing director overseeing CH2M’s European operations, which includes those in the UK.

His appointment comes after a five month global search led by Heidrick and Struggles, which reviewed some 20 potential candidates working on projects in America, Australia and Asia, as well as in the UK.

The Chairman of HS2, David Higgins, said:

Mark not only knows the UK rail industry from the bottom up, but has worked for organisations operating at the highest level globally. His grasp of how to manage the transition from page to reality makes him not only the right person to take over at HS2 as we are on the verge of Royal Assent, but also to see it through the years leading up to the first train being commissioned.

The challenge is huge in terms of the task and timescale, but the Board believes Mark has the knowledge, experience and leadership qualities to deliver the project within the budget we have been given and to do so in a way that recognises our responsibility both to Parliament and the communities in which we will be operating.
Mark will start with HS2 in the spring, once he has transitioned his leadership responsibilities at CH2M.

On being appointed, Mark said:

HS2 is arguably the most important investment in infrastructure in the UK for a generation, which will serve businesses and communities across much of the country. I am looking forward to leading the HS2 team and its partners to deliver a railway that will transform connectivity between our major cities and regions.

QuantuMDx CEO Elaine Warburton OBE to join Prime Minister

Posted on February 28, 2017 | by root

QuantuMDx CEO Elaine Warburton OBE has been invited by Prime Minister Theresa May to join a small group of delegates representing the best of British business to India on 6-8 November for Theresa May’s first bilateral visit outside Europe since taking office.

Chosen as one of the UK’s fastest growing and most exciting SMEs, QuantuMDx’s CEO Elaine Warburton OBE will represent the company alongside the Prime Minister and a delegation of representatives from UK SMEs and multinational businesses. The Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, will also join the delegation.

Elaine is CEO and co-founder of QuantuMDx Group. The company, founded in 2008 by Elaine, Jonathan O’Halloran, CSO and Julian Warburton, CFO, is transforming molecular diagnostics with the development of rapid, low cost, and highly accurate leapfrog diagnostic technologies for use in any global healthcare setting but focused at humanitarian health challenges such as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

QuantuMDx’s flagship device, Q-POC™, is a handheld molecular diagnostic device that will deliver referral standard results, in minutes by the patients’ side. The device, invented by Jonathan O’Halloran, will become a powerful tool in the fight against diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and STIs, as well as providing a solution to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. The first commercially available test will be a warfarin sensitivity genotyping test with clinical trials commencing in India next year.

Elaine Warburton OBE says “We are immensely proud that the work we carry out at QuantuMDx has been recognised nationally and internationally and I am thrilled to have been chosen, by the Prime Minister, to represent the best of British business on the world stage.

She continues “Our aim is that Q-POC™ will have global impact, something that can only be achieved with strong international relationships. India is an exceptionally important country for us, as we believe we hold a low cost, but highly effective, solution to help reduce India’s enormous MDR-TB burden, which accounts for 26% of global TB cases. We already enjoy a modest collaboration with India so strengthening relationships between our two countries will undoubtedly lead to further Anglo-Indian collaborations that could help save millions of lives a year, for both countries, through early diagnosis helping create significant economic and financial savings in the longer-term.”

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Prime Minster said “In the past the focus of trade delegations has been big businesses, but I want to take a new approach that recognises the full range of British business. So this time we will be focussing on small and medium sized businesses – and, importantly, the delegation will include representation from every region of the UK. I want to create an economy that truly works for everyone – and this new approach to international trade missions will help achieve just that.”