Appointments: New chairman for Hill & Smith

International infrastructure-products-to-galvanising-services concern Hill & Smith has appointed experienced engineering figure Bill Whiteley as its new chairman. He has been drafted in to oversee the next stage of growth at the fully listed concern that, alongside its galvanising work, makes products ranging from road safety barriers and pipe supports for energy markets to temporary station platforms.

Whiteley takes over from long-serving Hill & Smith man David Grove, the current incumbent in the chair and one-time chief executive officer, who retires from the board at the end of this year having served the business with energy and verve.

Commanding considerable gravitas in the sector, Whiteley spent the majority of his career at global engineering group Rotork, where he occupied the chief executive’s hot seat from 1996 to 2008. Earlier this year, he took over as chairman of FTSE 250-traded group Spirax Sarco Engineering, having been a non-executive director there for seven years, and he currently acts as a non-executive director at industrial products distributor Brammer.

Hill & Smith’s senior independent director, Clive Snowdon, sees the appointment as a canny one.

He notes Whiteley’s ‘extensive experience of the industrial engineering sector’ and ‘proven track record in both international expansion and in delivering shareholder returns’.

Hill & Smith shares have proved to be strong performers in 2009, rising from below 150p to the present 354.25p, at which level the business is valued at £269 million.