LONDON: Chemring Group announced the appointment of Tony Wood as an independent non-executive director and Chairman-designate.

He joins the Board with effect from 1 October 2024 and will succeed Carl-Peter Forster as Chairman of the Board on 1 December 2024, following Carl-Peter’s retirement on 30 November 2024.

Carl-Peter joined the Board of Chemring on 1 May 2016 and was appointed Chairman on 1 July 2016. Since then he has successfully led the Group through a period of significant transformation as we have built a stronger, higher-quality and more resilient business. The investments made in both culture and infrastructure position the Group well to capitalise on its many opportunities.

Tony is a member of the Board of Directors of Airbus SE, the CAC 40 aerospace and defence firm, and National Grid plc, an energy company operating in the UK and the US. From 2018-2022 he was Chief Executive of FTSE 100 Meggitt plc, where he led the operational and cultural transformation of the company. He brings to the Board significant engineering and sector experience having also been a Non-Executive Director and former President of ADS Group Limited, the trade association for the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space sectors in the UK, from 2020-2023. Prior to joining Meggitt he spent 15 years at Rolls-Royce plc, latterly serving as President of Aerospace from 2013-2016.

Tony holds a degree in Engineering from the Open University in the UK and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in France. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Fellow of the Association for Project Management.

Michael Ord, Chief Executive of Chemring, commented: “On behalf of the Board I would like to thank Carl-Peter for his immeasurable guidance and commitment to Chemring over the past eight and a half years. He has led the Board through a period of significant transformation, and he leaves the Group in an excellent position to continue this success.

“We are delighted that Tony has agreed to succeed Carl-Peter as Chairman of Chemring. He joins at an extremely exciting point in Chemring’s development and his knowledge and understanding of the defence and aerospace sector will be invaluable. Tony is an extremely experienced individual with a strong business track record, and the Board believes that he is the right person to oversee the next stage of the Group’s development.”

Carl-Peter Forster, Chairman, said: “I have greatly enjoyed my eight and a half years as Chairman of Chemring, during which time the Group successfully focused its operations within its core niche markets, re-entered the FTSE 250, steadily improved profitability and now has the ambition to achieve annual revenues of c.£1billion by 2030.

“The transformation of the Group could only have been achieved with the dedication and hard work of its management and employees. I am grateful for the many years of successfully working with the team at Chemring and I wish them all well in the future.”

Tony Wood added: “I am very much looking forward to joining the Board of Chemring succeeding Carl-Peter as Chairman, and to working with the Board, Michael Ord and the leadership team to support the next exciting stage in the Company’s development.”

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