New Optare President
Graham Belgum has been appointed President of Optare Group, taking on the strategic and operational leadership role at the company and reporting to the Head of Global Bus at Ashok Leyland. He joined Optare on 2 March 2015 as Business Process Excellence and Aftermarket Director. Since then, he has been instrumental in delivering a series of improvements focusing on customer support and manufacturing. Graham’s previous success in the bus industry leading (and learning from) operating companies through transformation and improvement has been pivotal to the success of the program that Graham has delivered to date at Optare. Graham is a Chartered Engineer with 30 years experience in the design, development and operational support of vehicles.
Graham Belgum said, ‘Optare is about so much more than building buses. As a manufacturer we have a responsibility to innovate greener vehicles and provide service solutions that support operators in delivering an outstanding service for passengers at the best possible whole life cost. This philosophy is at the heart of everything we do. I look forward to continuing to work with the team at Optare applying my knowledge from working with operators for many years to develop quality products and service offerings and shape the future of this innovative company. Now is an exciting time for Optare, the Metrodecker demo program is in full swing and the first pre-production vehicles are due to start trail with national operators over the next two months.
Non Executive Chairman at Optare, John Fickling, said, ‘Graham has brought to Optare a wealth of experience in delivering improvements in efficiency and customer service and his operator knowledge has been invaluable in driving Optare’s program of continuous improvement. His appointment to President, which comes with the continued support and working within the overall strategic direction set by Ashok Leyland, is the natural next step for the future of Optare and the success of our current and future product range, including the Metrodecker.’