Royal Mail has appointed an outsider to run its letters business and take on modernisation of theoperation in the face of increasing competition.
Mark Higson, formerly Divisional CEO and Group Operations Director with industrial materialsmanufacturer BPB plc, has been appointed Managing Director of Royal Mail’s letters business andtook up the post on November 5, the British postal operator said. The job has been done on atemporary basis by Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier since the resignation of the former headof letters, Ian Griffiths, in April after just one year in the job.
Higson will head the senior management team responsible for the collection, sorting anddelivery of more than 80 million letters daily by almost 170,000 postmen and women, and frontlinemanagers. His ten-year career with BPB, the world leader in plasterboard and plaster buildingsmaterials with annual sales of £2.5 billion, included board level responsibility for operationalperformance and strategy implementation.
Crozier said: “I’m delighted Mark is joining Royal Mail. He’s bringing with him a highlyimpressive track record at BPB where he played a key leadership role in boosting the focus oncustomers and achieving world-class operational capability that, together, helped deliver sustainedprofit growth. Mark joins Royal Mail as the business steps up its drive to transform its operationsto achieve the modernisation essential to enabling the company to compete successfully in thetough, open communications market.”
Higson commented: “I’m hugely excited at joining Royal Mail at this crucial time as itmodernises its operations to improve efficiency while delivering world-class, high quality,value-for-money service to all its customers.”
