Marshalls makes leadership changes

Marshalls plc, the landscaping and concrete products manufacturer, has announced a number of significant leadership changes. which demonstrate its commitment to growth, development and innovation.

Simon Bourne has taken on the role of Chief Operating Officer. Now appointed to the Marshalls plc board, Bourne has worked for the business for almost seven years, most recently as Group Operations Director.

In recent years, he has made several significant changes to the operations function at Marshalls, including the integration of business acquisitions into existing operations.

Ian Dean has become Managing Director for Landscape and Building Products at Marshalls, having worked for the business since August 2020, when he joined to manage several specific business divisions. Dean’s current leadership of the divisions of Civils and Drainage, Bricks and Masonry, Mortars and Screeds, Aggregates, and Landscape Protection will be extended to include the core Marshalls Landscape businesses. Before joining Marshalls, Ian was Managing Director of Knauf, where he worked for 19 years and progressed from roles in sales and marketing. He takes over the reins of the landscape business from Pete Hallitt, former Group Trading Director, who will retire at the end of 2022. Hallitt has been with Marshalls for over 17 years; he will manage a number of strategic projects until he retires.

Demonstrating a further investment in sustainability, Marshalls has also appointed Louise Furness to drive strategy and change as Chief People and ESG Officer. This new role will see her lead the business’ sustainability work in its broadest sense; creating better futures for everyone through a continued focus on strong ethical, environmental and corporate social responsibility principles. Louise takes this on in addition to her existing responsibilities for people strategy within the business, she will work alongside Chris Harrop OBE who is ESG Strategy Director on a part-time basis.

Furness joined Marshalls in 2018 as Group HR Director, in that time she has successfully spearheaded a change in the culture and engagement agendas for the business, raising the importance of talent, skills development and agility. Louise has extensive experience of driving people change and transformation in multi-national contexts.

Marshalls has seen strong trading in the first months of 2022 and its £24m investment in a new plant in St Ives is well underway and on track to bring increased capacity and product choice to the market. In addition, the business has also announced that it has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Marley Group plc (Marley) at a value of £535 million.