AddThis SmartLayers

Highfield joins luxury yacht firm’s board along with ex-F1 boss

Highfield 1Former Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has joined the board of a luxury yacht firm along with an ex-Formula One racing boss.

Ashley formally stepped down as CEO as JP at Tuesday’s annual general meeting after nearly seven years in the role, to be replaced by chief financial officer David King.

Now he has been appointed as a non-executive director of Oyster Yachts, which describes itself as “one of the world’s leading manufacturers of premium sailing yachts.”

Ashley has joined the Oyster board along with Eddie Jordan, who ran the Jordan Grand Prix F1 team in the 1990s.

Posting about his new position on Twitter, Ashley wrote: “Delighted and honoured to be part of the crew. Oyster is Our World.”

Richard Hadida, Oyster’s CEO, said: “We are committed to building the best possible team here at Oyster which we believe will put us in the strongest position to deliver an effective turnaround and get Oyster back to where it should be – the absolute pinnacle in yacht design.

“Getting the right leadership, oversight and governance in place is key to building a sustainable business.

“These appointments fit perfectly. They bring extensive industry expertise and corporate experience.

“Most importantly, all Board members are a great cultural fit. Their passion for sailing and the Oyster brand is clear.”

7 comments

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • June 8, 2018 at 10:48 am
    Permalink

    All the Oyster boats should be designed and built from one centralised hub, probably in Mumbai. Any of the company’s boat builders who do not wish to move to Mumbai and accept local wage levels will have to be let go.
    There will be many specification mistakes but the demanding, multi-millionaire buyers will never notice. The product will always be much smaller than expected, with less interesting stuff inside, but the prices will continue to go up and up. This may result in less customers but Ashley will show the rest of the board how to close their eyes, cover their ears and whistle Dixie as the inevitable decline gathers pace.
    What, me? Bitter?

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(72)
  • June 8, 2018 at 12:13 pm
    Permalink

    Directors are like football managers. Once they are accepted into their working culture they are able to fail repeatedly, pocket a fortune each time, and move into new positions. Few jobs reward failure on such a scale. Here we have AH and “effective turnaround” mentioned together. AH may have many qualities but with JP his record is the opposite of an effective turnaround!

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(37)
  • June 8, 2018 at 12:37 pm
    Permalink

    I saw this story and decided against the obvious jokes, feeling in my de Brulay heart that fellow HTFP contributors, finely cultured and impeccably tasteful to a hack, would also demur. But then along came echo… All aboard for another Ashers voyage into the unknown.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(18)
  • June 8, 2018 at 2:28 pm
    Permalink

    Ah Clem, you can always trust me never to use one bad joke when two will do….

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(9)
  • June 8, 2018 at 9:13 pm
    Permalink

    Yachts…yes….let’s remove the sails, they’re expensive and…do we really need those engines, oars are great and the captain and crew can use them whilst a computer steers the ship….In fact let’s do away with the captain and crew and the passengers can row their own boat, save thousands of £££s.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(12)
  • June 11, 2018 at 6:10 am
    Permalink

    So this was the ‘leaving for family reasons’ we were all desperately worried about

    I wonder if they have any deckchairs aboard that need rearranging?

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(19)