Alexander Dennis Chief Executive Officer Colin Robertson is to move to parent company NFI Group, where he will join the board of directors as Vice-Chair. Mr Robertson will be succeeded at Alexander Dennis by Paul Davies, who will become President and Managing Director.
Mr Robertson (pictured, above) moves to NFI on 30 September. A transition period will begin when Mr Davies returns to his native Scotland in July. He is currently Regional Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region based in Hong Kong and has been with Alexander Dennis and its predecessors since 1997.
As Vice-Chair of NFI’s Board of Directors, Mr Robertson will assist Chair, the Honourable Brian Tobin O.C P.C, and President and CEO, Paul Soubry, in supporting NFI’s international growth. Mr Robertson will remain based in Scotland in his new post.
Says Mr Robertson: “Leading Alexander Dennis has been exciting and extremely rewarding. I know that the company will be in fantastic hands. Paul has been a key member of the executive team and he lives and breathes Alexander Dennis’s mission and values.
“With his thorough understanding of our business and the wider industry, I have every confidence that Paul will bring further success to Alexander Dennis.”
Adds Mr Davies (pictured, right): “I am deeply honoured to have been selected to take on the challenge of continuing the amazing journey that we have experienced under Colin’s leadership.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the NFI and Alexander Dennis teams and our partners to provide world-class solutions that deliver for our customers.”
Colin Robertson was appointed by Alexander Dennis in April 2007. He has taken the business from delivering an annual turnover of £178m, generated mostly in the UK market, to reporting a global revenue of £631m in 2018.
Among other milestones during Mr Robertson’s tenure have been the purchase of Plaxton in 2007; the development of a wide range of ‘clean bus’ technologies, including zero-emission single- and double-deckers; and the opening of numerous new export markets. Mr Robertson was awarded a CBE in 2019.
Mr Davies’ successor in the Asia Pacific region will be Steve Rose. He joins from Cummins, where most recently he has been Regional Operations Director, Taiwan and Mongolia, and General Manager, Hong Kong.
