First Bus has confirmed changes to its regional organisation structure and named the leaders of the newly formed local business units that will result.
The overhaul is “designed to position the company for growth and enable it to more quickly capture post-COVID-19 changes and deliver innovative solutions,” the company says in a statement. The following business unit Managing Director appointments have been made or confirmed:
- Duncan Cameron remains MD for Scotland, a position that he has held on a full-time basis since January following a period as interim MD after succeeding the promoted Andrew Jarvis
- Doug Claringbold will become MD of Cymru and West of England. That represents an expanded remit for Mr Claringbold, who joined First Bus with responsibility for West of England in February 2021 as successor to James Freeman. The current First Midlands operation at Worcester will come under Mr Claringbold’s responsibility from 1 October
- Simon Goff, currently MD for First South West, has been named MD of the South and South West business unit
- Piers Marlow, presently MD of First Essex, will assume the role of MD for East of England, capturing the Eastern Counties and Essex businesses
- Ian Humphreys, currently MD for Manchester and York, will take on leadership of Manchester, Midlands (comprising First Leicester and First Potteries) and South Yorkshire. However, Mr Humphreys will retire on 31 August 2023 and hand over responsibility for this business unit to a successor
- Paul Matthews, MD for West Yorkshire, continues in that role. West Yorkshire will become part of business unit North and West Yorkshire on 1 October. Mr Matthews will oversee it until a permanent MD is appointed. He is “considering other, future roles within First Bus,” the group says
- Marc Reddy will continue to lead First Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire (HDB) until the establishment of business unit South and South West on 1 October, at which point HDB will come under Mr Goff’s remit. Like Mr Matthews, Mr Reddy is also exploring other opportunities within First Bus
- Dervla McKay, Andrew Scholey and Simon Cursio remain in post leading the Aircoach, First Travel Solutions and Somerset Passenger Solutions businesses, respectively.
Current First Cymru MD Jane Reakes-Davies will leave the business on 30 September, while Eastern Counties MD Steve Wickers will depart on 15 October after 35 years with First Bus and its predecessors. Former Midlands and South Yorkshire MD Nigel Eggleton has already left, departing during week commencing 8 August.
Speaking about the new regional structure and appointments, First Bus MD Janette Bell says: “I am really pleased that we are appointing such a strong group of talented people as Managing Directors of our local business units, and I look forward to sharing more detail as we grow our teams across the wider business.
“I would like to thank all of our teams for working with us as we reset the business for the future.” First Bus completed assembly of an overhauled group executive leadership team headed by Ms Bell in May.
