Fairline appoints new CEO and Chairman

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Paul Grys is the new CEO of Fairline

Fairline Yachts has appointed Paul Grys as its new Chief Executive Officer, while Derek Carter has re-joined the British motor yacht builder as Chairman. Grys’ career includes 19 years with Jaguar followed by 17 years at JCB, where he was Managing Director of several business units, before spending three years as Group Business Operations Director.

He led and developed complex manufacturing businesses, a skillset that will drive the next stage of Fairline’s growth as he succeeds Peter McNulty, who took on the CEO role on an interim basis over two years ago and oversaw the acquisition by Hanover Investors in June 2021.

“It is a really exciting time to be leading this very special company,” Grys said. “The pandemic has led to a surge in demand in the luxury yacht market and Fairline is in a great position to benefit from this. With our heritage, our passionate workforce and exciting product range, we will create a strategy to seize a greater share of this market globally.”

Carter was CEO of Fairline Yachts for 15 years to 2011 before becoming CEO of Portakabin and subsequently its parent company, The Shepherd Building Group. He will commence his new role as Chairman of Fairline in January 2022.

Jason Carley, a Senior Partner at Hanover Investors, said: “In Paul, we have a proven leader in operationally complex businesses as we focus on optimising the Fairline factory to drive even higher levels of quality and efficiency to support the exciting new model range being introduced over the coming years.

“And we are privileged that someone with Derek’s reputation in the industry is returning to the Fairline family as Chairman, working with Paul and the entire workforce to build on the strong foundations we have.”

Founded in Oundle in 1967, Fairline has a global network of more than 50 dealers and is represented in multiple Asian markets by Simpson Marine.