A Round Up of Staff Movements in the Supply Chain This Week

UK – The United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has appointed Jerry Oughton as its Head of Training. The move comes after the UKWA recognised the importance of cementing skills in the logistics sector at its recent annual conference where the focus was on ‘Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Today’.

Jerry’s philosophy is one of lifelong learning. He has led a varied career that has taken him all over the world, from working in hospitality to serving in the Army’s Royal Logistics Corps, as well as teaching at a college of Further Education, and providing training for young offenders. Jerry says he learned through his many experiences, gaining an MSc in IT and an MBA in later life.

His role as Head of Training at UKWA will include working with established partners and new training providers, seeking to build new relationships, both to develop training and qualifications in line with members’ needs, as well as promoting opportunities in the industry and widening the recruitment net to include such as ex-offenders, those who are neuro-diverse and disabled people, all currently under represented in the workplace.

UK – Forth Ports, the UK’s third largest ports group, has boosted its award-winning learning and development team with the appointment and promotion of Simon Harper to Group Learning and Development (L&D) Manager and Natalie Dalgleish to L&D Manager leading the team in Scotland. Simon takes on responsibility for the Learning & Development teams across the Group which operates eight ports in Scotland and The Port of Tilbury on the Thames.

His role will see him develop and deploy a more digitally enabled Group L&D strategy, that includes greater use of Artificial Intelligence such as simulators and virtual reality, to future proof Forth Ports’ employee’s skills and capabilities to meet the challenges of a more technology focused post Brexit/Covid world. Simon has worked with Forth Ports for 15 years in previous L&D roles in Tilbury.

Natalie Dalgleish has been promoted to Learning & Development Manager reporting to Simon Harper. In her new role, Natalie will lead the L&D team in Scotland and oversee the launch of a new learning management system, management and supervisory programmes and a refresh of the annual review process. Natalie has worked with Forth Ports for three years in L&D positions in Scotland.

UK – Emma Barber Collins, Director at W.H Barley (Transport & Storage) Ltd has been elected RHA vice-chairperson looking forward to helping lead the RHA as it embarks on its Skills, Facilities and Environment campaigns. Her father, Peter Barber, who founded the family-run firm W.H Barley in 1970, is a former RHA chairman and her appointment on March 31 came a day before the RHA launches its first National Coach Week.

UK – VKVP Haulage has boosted its management team with the appointment of Phil Steedman as office manager and Mark Connor as operations manager, effective immediately. Phil is responsible for a mix of commercial and business development activities across the company having spent the last decade working in various roles at Ziegler UK.

Mark joins the business with over 20 years of supply chain experience across a range of hands-on roles, including HGV driving, transport planning and vehicle conformity and will be responsible for providing leadership for the day-to-day operations, including team development, business growth, customer management and compliance. The recruitment of Phil and Mark are two of five strategic appointments in as many months for the container haulage specialist to support its 2022 growth and expansion plans.

UK – BULGARIA – DRONAMICS, the middle-mile cargo drone developer and operator, has announced the appointment of Paul Morton as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive team. The appointment comes at a key moment as the company prepares for the first commercial flights of its flagship Black Swan aircraft, gears towards operating its first commercial routes, and prepares for its Series A funding round set to launch later this year.

Paul brings two decades of financial and commercial expertise, having previously held senior roles at DAZN, Perform, and Deloitte. Paul will report to CEO and founder Svilen Rangelov. Based in the UK, Paul will boost DRONAMICS’ growing international Executive team.

NORWAY – Xeneta, the ocean and air freight rate benchmarking, market analytics platform and container shipping index, has announced the appointment of two new sales executives. Scott Irvine joins Xeneta as VP of Freight Forwarding and Laura Finbow will serve as Director of Sales Enablement. The announcement comes shortly after the fast-growing company acquired Amsterdam-based air freight data analysts CLIVE Data Services.

Scott Irvine has worked in the logistics industry for over two decades holding senior leadership roles across both shippers and freight forwarders. Most recently Scott was the VP of Air & Ocean for Zencargo, a leading digital freight forwarder. At Xeneta, Scott will spearhead freight forwarding initiatives and help grow the company’s business within the segment.

Laura Finbow will lead initiatives intended to transform the company’s revenue operations. Finbow’s knowledge and experience will play a critical role in guiding the organisation as it scales systems and processes across sales, marketing and other departments. Before joining Xeneta, Finbow served as Managing Director EMEA at digital freight platform Magaya. Finbow has also held management roles at INTTRA and Safmarine.

US – After 27 years’ service as Chief Executive Officer of Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), the manager of the American P&I Club, Joe Hughes will stand down from that role on August 1, 2022. Dorothea Ioannou, currently Deputy Chief Operating Officer of SCB, will succeed Mr. Hughes as CEO from that date, making history as the first woman to ascend to the top executive position of an International Group P&I club in the 167 year history of the marine mutuals.

At the same time, Vince Solarino will step down as Chief Operating Officer of SCB, Inc. after a similar length of service to that of Mr. Hughes, with Dan Tadros, presently Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of SCB, taking over the role of COO from Mr. Solarino. Arpad Kadi will continue to discharge his duties as Chief Financial Officer and Tom Hamilton will continue in his role as Chief Underwriting Officer.

At the recent meeting of the American Club’s Board of Directors at which this news was announced, it was explained that Messrs. Hughes and Solarino would remain, respectively, as Chairman and President of SCB to focus on the transitioning of their day-to-day operational roles to their senior colleagues, led by Ms. Ioannou in concert with Messrs. Tadros, Kadi and Hamilton, and supported by SCB’s service teams throughout the world.

DENMARK – Swedish company Echandia, a developer of battery systems for maritime electrification, is expanding in the Danish market through the appointment of Morten Larsen as head of business development in the country where, through the award-winning Copenhagen commuter-ferries, built by Damen Shipyards, Echandia already has a foothold.

As the Danish market is increasingly seeking solutions to build a sustainable shipping and transportation sector, Echandia establishes a stronger presence in the country by welcoming former Fjord Line CTO, Morten Larsen to the Echandia team. Morten has an extensive background in the maritime industry and adds substantial technological and regulatory knowledge to the team.

Denmark has high ambitions to decarbonise maritime transportation. In a partnership between 13 industry actors and the government, clear goals have been set. In a report by ‘Klimapartnerskabet’, led by A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S, CEO Søren Skou, it is stated that Denmark should reach climate neutrality for the maritime sector in 2050 and have the first ocean going zero-emission vessel in commercial operation by 2030.

Photo: Jerry Oughton, who has boosted the UKWA management team.