Senior Board Changes at IHC Engineering Business
22 October 2009
IHC Engineering Business announced today (22 October) that Dr Tony Trapp has been appointed Chairman of its Supervisory Board. Toby Bailey is to take over his role as Managing Director of the company.
"I am very pleased to be passing over the reins to Toby, this is part of a long term succession plan, and it is appropriate to put that plan into action now," explains Tony Trapp. "Although I am stepping back from day to day involvement, I will remain an active ambassador for EB, watching it continue to go from success to success. It is in some ways a new chapter for EB, but in others it is very much business as usual."
Toby Bailey, who was until today Sales and Operations Director, joined EB in early 2001 as Sales and Marketing Manager. He has been on the Board of the company since 2005. "I have worked closely with Tony Trapp throughout my time at EB and have learned a huge amount from him. He has a reputation for ensuring that those that work for him not only achieve their full potential, but exceed their own expectations, and I can certainly attest to that; I thank him for his continued support and encouragement.
"Ours has been an interesting journey and together with EB's first class management team, I relish the forthcoming challenge working with some of the world's best engineers to deliver some truly ground-breaking projects."
EB was founded in April 1997 by a four-man team of engineers, led by Tony Trapp. He managed the growth and development of the business from a start-up to a £27m success story, sold in Spring 2008 to IHC Merwede.
The company specialises in designing, building and supplying engineering solutions for the offshore oil and gas, submarine telecom, defence and offshore renewables industries.
Tony Trapp's success has been widely acknowledged, he was awarded the Entrepreneurs Forum 'Entrepreneur of the Year 2008'; North East Business Executive of the Year 2008 at the 25th North East Business Executive of the Year Awards; and he is currently the David Goldman Visiting Professor of Business Innovation at Newcastle University.
Toby Bailey has played an active role in the rapid growth and development of IHC EB. Over the past eight years he has built strong links across the global offshore industry, and his knowledge of customers, projects and the IHC team will allow him to continue to take the company forward in the coming years.
EB has won a host of awards over the past 12 years including 'Fastest Growing Company in the North East of England' in 2007, and a Queen's Award for Enterprise, Innovation in 2009.
