Barry Hibbert is Chief Executive of
the Polestar Group. Appointed in 2001 he has since set about reshaping
and refocusing Europe's largest independent printing Group, with a
turnover of $850m, employing 5,000 people across the UK, Spain and
Hungary.
Barry was previously a Director of Harman International,
where he was responsible for European operations and design, winning
an award from the UK Department of Trade and Industry for process
and design innovation; one of the products developed winning a place
in the design museum in London.
A graduate engineer who obtained his MBA in 1994,
Barry began his career with Olivetti before a senior role with Carlton
Communications.
He is a Director of the European Rotogravure Association,
a Director of the British Printing Industries Federation and also
honorary Vice President of Vision in Print UK.
Catherine Hearn joined the Group on
1st July 2002 from Diageo plc. She is based with other main board
directors at the Group’s Milton Keynes headquarters.
Catherine originally joined Guinness Brewing in June 1996 as Employee
Relations and Policy Director. She later became Human Resources
Director for some of the Guinness international markets. With the
integration of Guinness Brewing and UDV, Catherine was appointed
HR Director of Diageo Business Services, where she has been instrumental
in steering a complex and challenging programme to redesign business
processes and establish a new business services centre in Budapest.
Prior to joining Guinness Brewing, Catherine
held a number of personnel management roles during ten years at
ICL. Her experience also includes seven years at London Transport.
Peter Johnston was appointed Group
Finance Director in June 2002. He had been in the role in an interim
capacity since March.
Peter joined Polestar in April 2001 as a consultant, providing
financial and operational support. Prior to this, he spent six years
with TLG (Thorn Lighting Group), where he gained experience in group
treasury, capital markets and corporate finance, as well as operational
management. His roles included European Finance Director, Managing
Director of TLG’s central European operations and Group Supply
Chain Director.
Earlier financial experience includes roles
as Group Accountant for BET PLC and Group Financial Controller at
Shanks & McEwan PLC.
Peter joined the Polestar Group in 2002,
taking responsibility for all site budgets as well as managing a head office
financial sales and commercial team. In December 2006, he was appointed Operations
Director. In this role, Peter has day-to-day management responsibility for
Polestar's operational performance, working through the site management teams.
Peter joined Polestar from Fujifilm Electronic Imaging where, during
his three-year tenure, he was Business Operations and Planning Director.
His experience also includes Project and New Product Development accountancy roles.
Alan is a Chartered Company Secretary
who joined Polestar in 2004 from Brands Hatch Leisure Group where
he previously headed up the company secretariat team.
During
his 10 years with Brands Hatch as Company Secretary, Alan managed
the property portfolio, handled a number of acquisitions and disposals,
assisted in a full stock market flotation and was Company Secretary
to the subsequently formed Brands Hatch Leisure plc. He also dealt
with the acquisition of Silverstone by the Group and managed a number
of issues relating to the British Grand Prix.
