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    1. News & Analysis
    2. Supply Side

    Former Ashtead Chairman Drabble Joins Ferguson Board

    May 23, 2019
    British plumbing products distributor Ferguson Plc on Wednesday this week named Geoff Drabble, former chairman of Sunbelt Rentals parent company Ashtead plc, as chairman.

    British plumbing products distributor Ferguson Plc this week named Geoff Drabble, former chairman of Sunbelt Rentals parent company Ashtead plc, as chairman. He succeeds Gareth Davis, who has held the role for almost nine years. Drabble was head of Ashtead Group for 12 years.

    Drabble begins as a non-executive director and will succeed Davis as chairman after the 2019 Annual General Meeting, subject to shareholder approval.

    He was previously an executive director of The Laird Group plc and held a number of senior management positions at Black & Decker. Drabble is also a non-executive director of Howden Joinery Group Plc.

    “[Drabble] is the ideal candidate,” said senior independent director Alan Murray. “His record of value creation is outstanding, and he brings a wealth of experience in the distribution, technology and manufacturing sectors, particularly in the USA.”

    Drabble will also serve on the Nominations, Audit and Remuneration Committees of the Board.

    About the Author

    Michael Roth | Editor

    Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.