A quartet of top-level industrialists have been appointed to the board of directors at Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd.
Janice Munday CBE, David Duggins and Jon Bolton take non-executive roles and James Tate has been appointed as CFO at the engineering specialist, bringing a wealth of collective experience to help chief executive, Dr Graham Honeyman, drive the business forward in challenging markets.
The appointments follow the recent retirement of Peter Birtles as group director who worked with Dr Honeyman and Chairman Tony Pedder during and throughout the ten years following the management buyout, initiating much of the change which saw Forgemasters move into high-technology manufacture.
Janice was formerly Director of Advanced Manufacturing and Services for the UK Department of Business Innovation and Skills and Jon brings more than 15 years of board level responsibilities including time as managing director of Corus Engineering Steels and is CEO for Liberty Steel Plates and UK Steel Development and chair of UK Steel, the sector’s trade association.
David Duggins is a highly experienced non executive director and has held several board positions and leading advisory roles.
James has many years experience as CFO within the manufacturing industry, most recently as Head of Group Finance for CPL Industries and previously as UK and Europe finance manager for Nord Anglia.
Dr Graham Honeyman, chief executive at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “As part of this company’s turnaround plan and forward business strategy, we sought out new directors with very relevant skills and experience to help Sheffield Forgemasters into its next phase of development.
“I am delighted that we have agreed positions for Janice Munday, Jon Bolton, David Duggins and James Tate on the board and look forward to working with them to push Forgemasters into new markets and to build on our existing skills base.
“Each appointment brings a different element to our operations. Janice has a long history of working with manufacturing businesses from a government level and will help in the work we do on defence and research projects but also as we increasingly offer services to other countries.
“Jon Bolton has vast experience of working at the highest level in the steels and engineering industries and will be a great asset. And James Tate takes the role of chief financial officer after a long search to find someone with the correct understanding of a multi-faceted engineering business.
“David Duggins is extremely well versed in the directorial side of large businesses and brings a vast amount of insight and a new approach to achieving operational efficiencies for a company of this size.”
Sheffield Forgemasters operates in sectors including defence, offshore oil and gas, civil nuclear, materials processing and power generation and is a world leader in the advancement of large forging and casting technologies.
As the world’s only independently owned forgemaster, Sheffield Forgemasters employs 640 staff, exports approximately 70 per cent of its products and counts many world firsts in its engineering portfolio, including the largest castings and some of the most complex forgings ever manufactured.
The group board is now made up of Dr Graham Honeyman, chief executive, Tony Pedder, chairman, John Lovell, company secretary, James Tate, chief financial officer, Janice Munday, non executive director and Jon Bolton, non executive director and David Duggins, non-executive director.
