Blue Group appoint Susan Shardlow

Blue Group, a supplier of world leading material handling equipment for a wide range of industry sectors has announced the appointment of Susan Shardlow as Chief Financial Officer.

Working closely with CEO Adrian Murphy, as well as the four owner Directors, Susan will be responsible for all financial matters across the business as well as Governance and Compliance, HR and IT. Susan has previously worked in a number of senior leadership positions within the construction sector, so brings extensive relevant experience, and a strong appreciation of Blue’s business categories. Specifically, Susan has worked for Finning International a Caterpillar dealer, Hewden Stuart the major plant hirer company, and Cogen who build power stations for the Waste to Energy industry. She has extensive commercial and corporate governance experience, working in both a corporate and private equity environment. She has also worked on a number of major strategic projects in her career; including ERP implementations, acquisitions and disposals, and delivery of efficiency programs.

Having been in the role at Blue Group since the start of the year, much of Susan’s time is initially been spent visiting the different Blue offices to understand the various processes. Susan commented “Presently it’s mostly about analyzing the current financial procedures within the business and of course potentially identifying any changes that could have an immediate positive impact on the business from an economical perspective. In the longer term, the focus is on making The Group more ‘joined up’. Bringing increased synergy to The Group will make us more efficient and ultimately more proficient, which, in turn, will allow us to focus on what really matters, the customer.

The governance and compliance element of the role will involve ensuring best practice, placing Blue Group as a leader within this area. IT is also likely to take up much of Susan’s time as the business is currently implementing SAP across The Group. Something Susan is looking to achieve by the end of 2018.

Commenting on the appointment, CEO at Blue Group, Adrian Murphy stated, “We are delighted to have Susan onboard. Not only does she posess an abundence of financial experience, but the sectors in which she has previously worked are very closely aligned with Blue Group. This is an exceptionaly exciting time for the business and it’s good to know we have someone of Susan’s calibre within the Senior Team to help us meet our ambitious growth plans“.