How finding a proven Chief Operations Officer helped one of the UK's fastest-growing EV charging manufacturers to scale up.
Indra Renewable Technologies, one of the UK’s fastest-growing electric vehicle charging manufacturers, spun out of OVO Energy in 2021.
The business develops and manufactures smart energy products, including an electric vehicle Smart Charger, a Vehicle to Grid (V2G) charger, and vehicle battery systems.
Background
With support from investors including the Clean Growth Fund and Gulf Oil, Indra has the opportunity to play a significant role in supporting EV OEMs, energy retailers, and electricity grids in the transition to decarbonising transport and homes in the UK and beyond.
As such, the business is scaling rapidly to meet the ever-increasing demand for its offering, amidst the exponential growth of the EV market.
To facilitate this, Indra required a highly experienced COO to develop a resilient manufacturing and supply chain strategy, and lead the ramp-up in production in line with forecasted demand and business growth objectives.
The Search
Having previously worked with the newly appointed CEO, we were asked to support Indra on this key appointment and conducted an in-depth search, targeting exceptional operational leaders from electronics manufacturing companies.
We focused our efforts on finding experienced candidates with a successful track record of managing multi-site operations, and introducing new products and developments into a production environment.
Shortlist + Appointment
Our shortlist comprised a range of candidates from leading consumer electronics firms. Each individual had successfully led scale-ups; establishing new geographical regions, bringing new products to market, and/or rapidly growing SMEs.
The appointed candidate was James Falla, who brings a wealth of experience in scaling manufacturing and engineering operations for large international organisations (such as GKN and TRW). More recently, as COO of Ceres Power, he supported the scale up of operations to mass production, growing the market valuation from £10m to over £1bn.
“I have worked with Georgina multiple times. She commits early in the process to understand your company, the role and what a successful candidate will need to bring to your party.
Georgina challenges you to think very clearly about your needs up front, provides constant feedback and communication throughout the process and, therefore, when the shortlist arrives, it always hits the mark!
Working with Georgina is a pleasure, always fun and enjoyable, and maximises the chance of a successful process”
Ady Moores, CEO, Indra Renewable Technologies Limited