Fearnley announces restructure of FirstGroup bus division

FirstGroup’s new bus division chief executive, Giles Fearnley, has announced a major restructure designed to make the company more responsive to customers’ requirements and refocus it on growth rather than cost cutting.

The changes build on the regional model, put in place last June, and the five regional managing directors have been retained in their current roles. However, new senior management posts have been created to strengthen the group’s local businesses. Fearnley was keen to emphasise that the reorganisation is not a one size fits all approach, and has different characteristics in different regions.

“We all know that local bus networks work best when they are locally planned and delivered.  This is all about upping our game on service delivery and growth, underpinned by a massive strengthening of local focus with support from regional experts,” Fearnley commented.

Changes in the five different regions are as follows.

South East and Midlands Region – Regional Managing Director: Nigel Barrett

In the South East and Midlands Region, seven General Managers will be responsible for day to day service delivery across the local towns and cities. They will report to a Service Performance Director (a new post yet to be filled) in the Regional team of specialists which has an Engineering Director, Mick Brannigan, Commercial Director, Steve Wickers, and Financial Planning Director, David Marshall.

North Region – Regional Managing Director: Dave Alexander

In the North Region, covering York and the PTE areas of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, two Service Delivery Directors – Bob Hamilton and Ken Poole - will focus solely on the delivery of service to our customers.  They will be supported by Regional specialists in finance, planning, commercial development, marketing and sales.  

South West and Wales Region – Regional Managing Director: Justin Davies

In the South West and Wales Region, the local service delivery and growth focus will be strengthened by two Service Delivery Directors – Tony McNiff and Chris Bainbridge – together with a Commercial and Business Growth Director – Marc Reddy.  The responsibility for engineering remains with Chris Jones, the Regional Engineering Director and Simon Newport will continue to work with the business as a Senior Network Planner for the South West and Wales.

Scotland Region – Regional Managing Director: Mark Savelli

The Scotland Region will retain its current structure which complements the geography of the Scottish business and facilitates liaison with the Scottish Government. However, it will reinforce the drive for growth through the appointment of a new Head of Commercial for the Region.

London Region – Regional Managing Director: Adrian Jones

The London Region, having previously introduced a lean Board and Depot General Manager structure, will not be making any further changes at this time.

"Clearly structural change can be unsettling for any business,” Fearnley said. “However I believe these changes are critical for us to ensure we get closer to our customers. This is about creating management focus and authority for delivering our services at local level where it should be.”

The following key appointments have been made in each region as part of the restructure: 

South and East Midlands

• Steve Wickers – Regional Commercial Director
• Mick Brannigan - Regional Engineering Director
• David Marshall - Financial Planning Director
• Regional Service Performance Director – Vacant
• Phil Pannell – Engineering Projects and Standards Director
• Chris McCormick – General Manager Basildon and Hadleigh
• Bob Taylor – General Manager Chelmsford and Braintree
• Cliff Hussey – General Manager Colchester, Clacton, Ipswich, Harwich
• Colin Booth – General Manager Norwich, Yarmouth, Kings Lynn, Lowestoft
• Steve Zanker – General Manager Leicester, Northampton, Luton
• David Hibbs – General Manager Kidderminster, Worcester, Redditch, Hereford
• Peter Walch – General Manager Stoke on Trent and Newcastle under Lyme

North

• Teresa Broxton – Regional Financial Planning Director
• Andy Pike – Commercial Growth Director
• Richard Soper – Strategic Development Director

Yorkshire:

• Bob Hamilton – Service Delivery Director
• Ben Gilligan – Operations Director (south)
• Phillip Robinson – Operations Director (west & north)
• Andy Foster – Engineering Director (west & north)
• Brian Wilkinson – Engineering Director (south)

Greater Manchester and North West:

• Ken Poole – Service Delivery Director
• Matt Davies – Operations Director
• Ian Robinson – Engineering Director

South West and Wales

• Marc Reddy - Regional Commercial and Business Growth Director
• Chris Jones - Regional Engineering Standards Director
• Amelia Price – Regional Finance Planning Director
• Tony McNiff – Service Delivery Director West and Wales
• Chris Bainbridge – Service Delivery Director South Coast
• Simon Newport – Senior Network Planner
• Kevin Hart – General Manager, Cymru

Scotland

• Fiona Kerr – Finance Director
• Head of Commercial - Vacant