Aberdeen transport company FirstGroup has revealed it has appointed Graham Sutherland as its new chief executive.
The firm said the announcement came after a “comprehensive search process” and almost a year since the previous chief executive announced his resignation.
Sutherland, who has held a number of leadership roles in the telecommunications sector, will take up the next month on 16 May.
Sutherland will become the company’s fourth CEO since Sir Moir Lockhead led a buyout of Grampian Transport, in 1989, to found the firm.
The group’s former chief executive Matthew Gregory announced his departure last June after he came under the criticism of a company shareholder, the US hedge fund Coast Capital.
Coast and other investors were unhappy over the sale of the company’s two US businesses, First Student and First Transit, believing the £3.3 billion deal had left them short-changed.
The role has been managed on an interim basis since September by the group’s executive chairman David Martin.
Sutherland was chief executive of KCOM Group, a LSE-listed telecommunications company, from 2018 until its sale to a Macquarie-managed infrastructure fund a year later.
Prior to this, he held a number of senior executive roles within BT Group for over twelve years. These included a stint as chief executive of the telecom giant’s business and public sector division, where he led the integration of EE’s business unit, creating a division with £4.6bn in annual revenues and 13,000 employees.
Sutherland was also chief executive of BT Ireland where he was responsible for all consumer, business and network activities. He is a non-executive director of Savvi, one of Ireland’s largest credit unions.
Born and raised in Inverness, he and studied at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
Martin hailed the incoming boss’s “strong track record” in the delivery of “critical services and in creating value for shareholders”
He added: “Graham joins at an exciting and important time for FirstGroup which is now a focused and resilient business with a strong platform from which to develop.
“I am confident that Graham is ideally suited to take the group forward and I look forward to working with him to maximise the widespread opportunities that exist for growth and sustainable value creation.”
Sutherland said: “It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to lead FirstGroup.
“I look forward to working with my new colleagues to drive the group forward and deliver the vital services that are key to achieving society’s sustainability and economic goals.
“With its prime positions in bus and rail, strong balance sheet and clear purpose, FirstGroup has many opportunities ahead and I look forward to helping shape its exciting future.”
