Survitec Drives Growth Ambitions Through Board Appointments

Survitec, a global safety and survival solutions leader, has today announced the strengthening of its Board of Directors with the additions of Nick Henry, Ian Plumb and Phil Swash as Non-Executive Directors.

These three industry leaders have 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.

Mr. Krisanda commented:

"I am delighted to have Nick, Ian and Phil join our Board. 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."

He continued:

“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 have been as Chief Executive.

During his tenure as CEO, Nick 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, Nick 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. 

Ian started his private equity career at Endless LLP focusing on transformational investments and later specialising in portfolio management, including a number of Chief Restructuring Officer 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 has been the creation and execution of value creation plans. Ian 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, Phil 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.

Phil then joined GKN where he held various chief executive and board positions. As CEO of GKN’s largest division, Phil 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.

As a GKN Board Director, Phil played a crucial role during the Melrose take-over and, crucially, the subsequent value enhancement which was secured for GKN.

About:

Survitec is a global leader in survival and safety solutions to the marine, defence, aviation and offshore markets. Survitec has over 3,000 employees worldwide covering 8 manufacturing facilities, 15 offshore support centres and over 70 owned service stations. It is further supported by a network of over 500 3rd party service stations and distributors. Across its 160-year history, Survitec has remained at the forefront of innovation, design and application engineering and is the trusted name when it comes to critical safety and survival solutions. w: www.survitecgroup.com