We were sorry to see Neil Gaydon has stepped down as CEO of Pace plc – especially after we posted his talk last week… He did some pretty amazing work in the 5 years that he was CEO, turning round a mess of a business into one of the biggest UK technology companies.
With serial, ‘strategic reviewer’, Allan Leighton on board as chairman and a very tough year of trading, interrupted by supply chain issues that the company pinned on the Japanese earthquake and Thailand’s floods, it was probably, sadly, only a matter of time before Nigel was off. Mike Pulli, head of Pace plc’s US division will replace him as CEO.
In July, Neil spoke at the BLN Growth Forum and his talk considered how you turn round a lumbering technology beast. Neil took over at Pace plc in 2006 when the company was doing £250 million revenue, losing £25 million a year and sitting at number 4, 5 or 6 in almost all of the markets it served. Some really great, simple ideas about strategy and culture – so many companies focus on the strategy without the culture. These days, strategy is almost a hygiene factor in business. Creating the right culture is critical.
This is a great story from the 2011 BLN Growth Forum, July 5th in Cambridge. To make sure you don’t miss other talks, (and we have some brilliant ones coming up…), subscribe to our blog updates here.
P.S. Don’t miss Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup in London, 16th January. For information and tickets: https://thebln.com/event/18544/