New Bus Eireann Management Team

devnull

The Interim CEO is now the full CEO and the MD of Aircoach appointed to a new role of Chief Customer Officer and a new CFO
http://buseireann.ie/news.php?id=2586&month=Feb

Today, Bus Éireann are pleased to announce a number of senior management positions led by the formal appointment of Mr Ray Hernan as Chief Executive Officer of Bus Éireann. Mr Hernan has held this position in an acting capacity for the last year, leading a significant change programme for the company, to restore the finances of the business and strengthen its competitive position in the market.

Mr. Hernan joined the company in December 2016 as Chief Financial Officer and previously worked for Arnotts, Brown Thomas and Ryanair.

In addition, the company announced the appointment of Mr Allen Parker to the newly created role of Chief Customer Officer. In recent years he has been the Managing Director of Aircoach (a subsidiary of the First Group plc), which is well respected in Ireland for its high standard of operational performance and customer service.

Mr Tom Delaney will also join the business as Chief Financial Officer. Tom has gained broad experience having worked in highly respected companies including Glanbia, Coca Cola, Eircom and most recently, the Bank of England.

The Chairman of Bus Éireann, Mr. Aidan Murphy, welcomed the new appointments, adding that ‘The Board and I are very pleased to announce the strengthening of the management team at Bus Éireann. Ray Hernan has already begun the process of implementing a new vision and strategy with the support of our staff throughout Ireland, which I am confident will grow the business and ensure that we are capable of competing successfully in a fast changing transport industry.

The Board and I look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Hernan and the new management team as we enter a new phase in the development and growth of Bus Éireann’.

Very much seems a new broom - less career Bus Eireann / Public Service / Civil Service staff and more from the private sector - can only help things I think but the staff most likely won't take it lying down.

end of the road

devnull wrote: »

The Interim CEO is now the full CEO and the MD of Aircoach appointed to a new role of Chief Customer Officer and a new CFO
http://buseireann.ie/news.php?id=2586&month=Feb



Very much seems a new broom - less career Bus Eireann / Public Service / Civil Service staff and more from the private sector - can only help things I think but the staff most likely won't take it lying down.

i can't see the staff caring who the management are or who they worked for previously as long as they are able to implement a good working relationship with the staff.

kub

Well if this thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057836088
Is anything to go by, they have their work cut out. I for one welcome the reality of private sector into this dinosaur of an organisation.

end of the road

kub wrote: »

Well if this thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057836088
Is anything to go by, they have their work cut out. I for one welcome the reality of private sector into this dinosaur of an organisation.

the "reality of private sector" means jot and will make no difference in itself to this "non-dinosaur" of an organisation, as there are private sector companies all over the world who have issues within them. it will be the skills the management team have that will make any difference, not the fact they came from the private sector.

devnull

In my book Bus Eireann have needed some fresh blood for some time.

The problem with a lot of state companies that I've worked with is a lot of their management are career civil servants, public sector workers and those who have spent their whole life in that company and when they're exposed to a commercial environment they struggle because they have little knowledge outside the public sector so bring very little in innovation to the table to resolve issues.

The fact the MD of Aircoach who has been there for over a decade now has jumped ship to Bus Eireann certainly raises interesting questions about the commitment of First to Ireland and the prospects of Aircoach. It will be interesting to see how he is replaced.

XPS_Zero

It's also that staff in PS companies often light their torches and come screaming "WITCH!!!!!!!" to any manager that IS able to suggest innovation.

Jamie2k9

Papering over the cracks isn't going to change the deep problems in BE. Outsiders can only take so much sh*t before they move on, just look whats happened elsewhere....

markpb

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Papering over the cracks isn't going to change the deep problems in BE. Outsiders can only take so much sh*t before they move on, just look whats happened elsewhere....

If change doesn't come from the top, where do you think it will come from?

Jamie2k9

markpb wrote: »

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Papering over the cracks isn't going to change the deep problems in BE. Outsiders can only take so much sh*t before they move on, just look whats happened elsewhere....

If change doesn't come from the top, where do you think it will come from?

Well, its a lot of middle management are the problem in CIE.

markpb

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Well, its a lot of middle management are the problem in CIE.

And who do you think will be able to fix that?

Jamie2k9

markpb wrote: »

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Well, its a lot of middle management are the problem in CIE.

And who do you think will be able to fix that?

Well the past suggests those at the top wont, somehow I cant see BE leading the change.

devnull

Aircoach are replacing Allen Parker with the operations director of their Hampshire and Dorset division, Dervla McKay

Stephen15

devnull wrote: »

Aircoach are replacing Allen Parker with the operations director of their Hampshire and Dorset division, Dervla McKay

It's hard to know if First are coming or going. Its looks to me like they could be looking at selling off their Irish operations or preparing to tender for the 6 BE routes that are up for tendering. Although the former may be more accurate as I was surprised they did not tender for the DB routes considering they already have a depot but then again they not be into tendering for routes since they sold off their London bus tenders a while back.

devnull

Stephen15 wrote: »

It's hard to know if First are coming or going. Its looks to me like they could be looking at selling off their Irish operations or preparing to tender for the 6 BE routes that are up for tendering. Although the former may be more accurate as I was surprised they did not tender for the DB routes considering they already have a depot but then again they not be into tendering for routes since they sold off their London bus tenders a while back.

Parker left/leaves Aircoach as a highly profitable business - that is not that common in First Bus these days!

They appear interested in tendering and were encouraging it a while back - the problem with the routes that went up for tender is that the depot does not have much extra capacity to what it does now - it's essentially a unit in a business park and has quite a bit less parking than Aircoach have vehicles - it might sound a bit odd but bear in mind Aircoach operates all it's routes pretty much 24 hours so there is never a need to have storage for anywhere near a full fleet.

Then you need to add in the fact that First in general are under a pile load of debt from various acquisitions and poor management, especially pre 2011 in the later days of Moir Lockhead's days, and it means that they are not able to spare the capital invest hugely in things like depots, in the same way that Go-Ahead are who were more prudently run and without the massive debt pile First have. That's why they pulled out of tendering for DB routes when the requirement to build the own depot happened.

Many believe the idea of First buying Aircoach 15 years ago was to get foothold in the market to be well placed for when the opening of the market happened. For many years First were well placed and well resourced to take advantage of that. It's somewhat ironic then that when the market was finally opened up, they no longer had the resources to really take advantage of it in the way that they always had planned.

I'm not so sure Aircoach will be sold however - it's one of the top performers right now in the First Bus stable from a profit point of view over the past two or three years and whilst that is the case and many First businesses are making a loss or only just about breaking even, they need all the profit making businesses that they can get.

Although I'm sure the fact that Aircoach paid another dividend of €6m this year to First to go with the €10m paid last year made Parker think - if only, if only I had that amount of money to spend on Aircoach and what he could do with it and perhaps that was one of his reasons for leaving. I'm sure his experience will help Bus Eireann a lot.

bebeman

devnull wrote: »

The Interim CEO is now the full CEO and the MD of Aircoach appointed to a new role of Chief Customer Officer and a new CFO
http://buseireann.ie/news.php?id=2586&month=Feb



Very much seems a new broom - less career Bus Eireann / Public Service / Civil Service staff and more from the private sector - can only help things I think but the staff most likely won't take it lying down.

So much negativity, staff have zero say in who runs the company, most dont even know or care.
Anyway the only reason there is a change is the current CIE pension scheme is changing in the summer, get out now and you keep the terms and get a nice lump as well, so top brass of BE/DB/IE are leaving in the next few months to ensure they get a nice big fat juicy pension.

devnull

Gerry Madden the former CEO of Transdev Ireland (LUAS) has also been appointed to a senior role in Bus Eireann recently with responsibility for transformation projects.