Case Studies
Background
Lloyds British, as a division of Speedy Hire, is a well-established, cash-rich & acquisitive provider of engineering testing and certification services. They are best known for testing and certifying the anchor for the Titanic.
Prior to Rowan’s involvement, Lloyds were ran & managed by COO, Dan Evans, as part of his role within Speedy Hire.
Dan running the day-to-day of Lloyds, as well as spending the majority of his time within Speedy Hire.
With plans to double Lloyds British’s turnover in the next 5 years, the business looked to appoint a Business Unit Director to:
- Enhance operational efficiencies
- Deliver high net-growth strategy
- Free up Dan to focus on Speedy Hire
- With the new Business Unit Director eventually moving into a Managing Director role
Rowan were retained by Speedy Hire COO, Dan Evans, to appoint a Business Unit Director who would drive this anticipated growth and progress to a vital leadership position.
Journey
Rowan worked closely with Dan and the Speedy Hire Board, through a highly consultative & research-focused process, in order to understand the role requirements and future vision for this appointment.
As experts in Executive Search, Rowan devoted time and attention to ensure they understood the keys to success of this position:
- Rowan already worked in partnership with parent company, Speedy, but it was clear how important it was to understand the Lloyds model & market
- Given the need for accuracy and ability to mitigate risk in a critical safety focused company, it was clear that Lloyds needed an expert who understood the industry well.
- After Rowan’s research team conducted an in-depth review of the market & competitors, it was evident that Lloyds held a unique niche and the market was very fragmented, meaning suitable candidates would be few and far between
Rowan realised the most suitable candidates were either:
- Business owners of a small business, who wanted to move into a larger group
- Divisional Directors at a large business, who wanted to move into a smaller company in a senior leadership role
Rowan created a bespoke assessment process and consulted in detail with the Board to determine the advantages & disadvantages each category offered.
Through bespoke our search & assessment process, Peter Milton was appointed after being described by Dan as “the best candidate he’s ever met”
Impact
Peter joined Lloyds British with an impressive background of experience:
- Chartered engineer & former chair of the Safety Assessment Federation
- Significant change management experience at board level
- Consistently improved margins and delivery standards in previous roles
Joining the company only 3-weeks before Covid-19 started, Peter made a fantastic impact:
- Showing senior leadership capabilities far greater than expected, Peter hit the ground incredibly quickly & immediately freed up Dan as COO
- He was promoted to Managing Director of Lloyds British
- Peter has brought an SME mindset & commercial acumen to the business and significant increased the bottom line by re-negotiating and re-structuring several key contracts
