01.11.2019

New IPAF CEO announced

IPAF has confirmed that its new chief executive will be UK access industry veteran Peter Douglas.

He joins the association from the Pullman Fleet Services division of transport and logistics group Wincanton, where he has been managing director since March. Prior to that he had spent more than 27 years with Nationwide Access/ Platforms in a number of increasingly senior roles.

Douglas joined Nationwide Access - as it was then - when it acquired Access Rentals in 1992, and was instrumental - along with Mike Evans - in setting up the Nationwide Skylift truck mounted lift business in 1995. He became commercial director in 2006, northern managing director in 2008 and UK managing director the following year. In 2011 he was appointed as UK operations director, a job he held until the end of last year. Having left the business he worked with IPAF on a few projects, before joining Pullman in March.

He has also worked with IPAF for many years as a member of the Council, chairman of the UK Council and a board member from 2014 until 2018.
He was one of almost 50 applicants that applied for the job and will take over from interim chief executive Andy Studdert at the start of December. He will be based in the UK. The role became vacant after the sudden departure of Tim Whiteman in July.
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Peter Douglas

Andy Studdert, a key player in the recruitment process said: “I am pleased to confirm our recruitment process has attracted some truly impressive candidates and that after such a competitive and wide ranging search Peter has been selected to lead this organisation as it continues to thrive and grow. I am honoured to hand over the leadership of IPAF to such a well qualified and enthusiastic chief executive who will take IPAF to the next level of excellence.”

Douglas added: “I am delighted and honoured to have the opportunity to lead such a well recognised and respected global safety, technical and training organisation. I am looking forward to the challenge of making the powered access industry worldwide as safe as it possibly can be.”

“It is a privilege to have been selected for this exciting role and I cannot wait to get started. The work of everyone involved with IPAF is so valuable, promoting the safe and effective use of powered access worldwide and ensuring people conducting temporary work at height get to go home safe at the end of every day is about as worthwhile as any job can get. I am very grateful to be given this fantastic opportunity to bring my ideas and expertise to bear and look forward to working with IPAF staff and industry colleagues once more.”

IPAF’s new president Norty Turner who was also involved in the recruitment process said: “The past few years have seen IPAF go from strength to strength, innovating to update its training courses into new languages and eLearning, developing virtual reality applications and creating exciting new events. With Peter being based in the UK, this will consolidate IPAF’s global headquarters.”

Vertikal Comment

Peter Douglas is certainly well qualified for the role with years of experience in the aerial work platform market, having helped run a large organisation as well as being involved with the association over many years. His appointment is also timely in that there has been some growing unrest among UK members in the past year or so regarding the manner in which some policies, such as IPAF+ have been applied.

He is extremely well known throughout the UK industry and was heavily involved with making the decisions that some UK members are finding challenging. He is therefore well placed to help the UK team support UK members through these changes and upgrades.

He has less experience internationally but has a very strong and experienced multinational team with senior managers who are more than able to get on and continue the good work that they have been doing without requiring a great deal of supervision.

While some other first class candidates have been passed over - indicating how well the job opening was communicated - the appointment is a sound one. Douglas is more than capable of not only building on the associations strong foundation, but also well placed to tidy up the rough edges and issues that inevitably arise when an organisation experiences so many years of rapid growth and expansion.