New Board appointments to take Hughes forward

Stockport based JD Hughes Group, Europe’s largest manufacturer of Emergency Safety Showers, has announced three new appointments to the Group Board.

Steve Tyler becomes Operations Director. He joined the Company in 2010 and has led a major re-organisation of manufacturing and assembly to improve productivity. Steve has also been responsible for bringing a second factory on stream, close to the Company’s Stockport headquarters, increasing production capacity to accommodate the growth in business.

Paul Darlington has been appointed Sales Director. Since Paul joined the Company in 2006 as Export Sales Manager, year-on-year sales increases have helped to establish Hughes as a global business. He has expanded and strengthened the distributer network and taken the Company into new markets, notably in Australasia and South America.  He is responsible for the Company’s regional sales offices in Canada, the US, Middle East and Germany and in his new role will also assume Board level responsibility for UK sales.

Stephen Dootson is now Group Finance Director. Since joining the Company three years ago, he has been responsible for financial forecasting, planning and administration. As the business has grown, his department has recruited order real phentermine online additional financial staff, including a Chartered Accountant, to manage day-to-day administration.  While retaining overall responsibility, in his new role, Stephen will focus on long-term financial planning and develop investment strategies to fund continued growth in the future.

Announcing the appointments, Tony Hughes, Group Managing Director, said: “We recognized some time ago that future growth would increasingly depend on exports. We have invested strongly in this side of the business while continuing to maintain our lead position in the domestic market. During the last six years, our overseas sales have increased by more than 200%, an achievement that was recognized this year with a Queen’s Award for Export Achievement. To support this sustained growth we have re-organised our manufacturing and made significant changes to the way we run our business. The three Board appointments will ensure we have a strong and experienced top-level team who can provide the strategic leadership necessary to take us forward and continue to grow the business.