Berendsen Hires New CEO

Berendsen PLC, London, recently announced that it has hired James Drummond to take over as the company’s CEO on Aug. 1. Berendsen’s current CEO, Peter Ventress, will retire from the company on July 31.

Iain Ferguson, Berendsen chairman, said that, “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Peter for his excellent leadership of Berendsen over the past six years. During this time, the team at Berendsen has delivered significant shareholder value and has created a business with continuing momentum toward achieving its strategic objectives. We wish Peter well in the next stage of his career as he builds his non-executive portfolio. We are delighted to appoint James to succeed Peter. James has the right skills and experience to lead Berendsen during the next stage of its development.”

Drummond, 53, comes to Berendsen after serving as the CEO of Avincis Group, a London-based provider of aerial services for mission critical operations with a footprint in 10 countries over three continents and 4,000 employees. Prior to that, Drummond was the CEO of Invensys Rail, a division of Invensys PLC. He will join the Berendsen Board of Directors on July 1, a month before he takes over the role of CEO.