Partner Article

New CEO among px group changes

Mark Kenrick has stepped up to the Chief Executive Officer’s role with the px group, replacing Ian Clifford, who has held the position for the past four years – during which time the company has enjoyed record growth.

Until recently the group’s Director of Safety, Health, Environment (SHE) and Risk Management, Mark brings over 35 years’ experience in the chemicals and processing industries to the role.

He said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to take on this position at a pivotal time for px as we look to capitalise on our rich experience of providing comprehensive long term operations and maintenance services to partners in the power and gas sectors and work with a wider client base.

“I am honoured and excited to be taking over from Ian and hope I can drive further growth in the business and continue his legacy of an outstanding safety record which was highlighted recently by us securing eight gold Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Awards. I look forward to leading an excellent, motivated and dedicated team to build on these achievements.”

Born on Tyneside but brought up in Wigan, Mark joined ICI at Runcorn from school as a Technical Apprentice, before gaining a mechanical engineering degree at Imperial College, London.

He spent time in Brazil and the USA and was part of ICI’s polyester business, sold to DuPont in 1998. There followed a spell with Elementis Chromium and another with DuPontSA, before this business was sold to La Seda de Barcelona (LSB). It was subsequently bought by the Lotte Group of Korea. Mark was Chief Executive Officer of Lotte Chemical UK Ltd. between January 2012 and September 2015.

Ian Clifford was one of the founding directors of px in 2002 – formed after the collapse of Enron in November 2001. Working with four colleagues, he set up px to deliver the operations and maintenance contracts at Teesside Power Station and Gas Processing Plant.

Since then, the company has expanded to operate major gas processing plants in Scotland and on Teesside; gas pipeline operations in the North Sea; power generating operations on Teesside, in Cumbria, Lincolnshire and Wales and fuel storage and distribution facilities in Cheshire and Wales.

It is also supplying owner’s engineering and project management services on the £650 million construction of the world’s largest, new build, biomass combined heat and power (CHP) station at Teesport.

And its energy trading division – E24 – manages energy buying and selling on behalf of clients, as well as services relating to industry ICT and administrative activities.

Ian, who has almost 25 years’ service – including his time with Enron - will continue to work with px group on a part time basis, supporting its growth plan.

The group’s new Director of SHE, Technical and Risk Management is Greg Mitchinson, who had previously managed the St. Fergus Gas Processing Terminal, following its transition to px. Prior to joining px, Greg spent 25 years working for bp in a variety of senior global operational and corporate roles. His replacement at St. Fergus is Lindsay Boswell, who also joined px after long service with bp in senior operations roles.

Another new face at the company’s Stockton headquarters is Katie Woods-Ruddick, who joins as Head of Human Resources and brings a wealth of senior HR, organisational development and coaching experience from roles with Hays Travel.

Non-executive Chairman of the group, Christopher Picotte, said of the changes: “Mark has established himself rapidly and successfully within px’s business and culture. This, combined with his previous experience gives him a solid foundation to lead the company in the coming years and bring a new perspective to our business.

“The board and all px employees would like to thank Ian for his decades of commitment to the company and in particular for the success achieved under his leadership.”

Ian added: “I have been very fortunate to have enjoyed an exciting, successful and at times, challenging job in an industry which I love and with the support and backing of some fabulous people. However, after almost a quarter of a century I felt it was time to take a step back and let someone with new ideas take px forward to what I am sure will be a bright future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Dobbie .