After 30 years with the company, James Wates is to move up from deputy chairman to the top job of chairman of the Wates Group. Paul Drechsler, chief executive for 10 years and chairman for seven, is to step down.
James Wates will be appointed non-executive chairman at the AGM on 30th April 2013. Mr Drechsler will stay with the company until later in the year to ensure continuity and to help with the search for a new chief executive.
In a statement today the company said: “The Wates Family has always planned to return to a family chairman role and it is part of the long-term Wates Family Enterprise strategy.”
James Wates said: “Paul has made a huge difference to Wates in so many ways over the last 10 years. He has been a key component in ensuring that despite a challenging economic environment, we are well placed now and for the future.
“He has been working with me to ready me for the role of chairman and I'm delighted that he will continue to support me as we search for his successor as CEO. His values, enthusiasm, energy and dedication set the tone for our business and I know I speak for the family and for colleagues across Wates when I say that we will all miss his considerable qualities when he moves on.”
Mr Drechsler said: “When I started at Wates I was new to the world of family businesses and the Construction Industry; but I did know that I would be helping to write a new chapter for this unique business. It has been a privilege and an honour to have been Chairman during the transition from the 3rd to 4th generation of the Wates Family. Wates Group is a great business with people that I like, respect and value. In Wates it is the people that make the difference.”
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