Barhale appoints new chief executive

Martin Brown is joining Barhale from Keltbray, where for the past nine years he has been managing director of its UK rail infrastructure business. Before joining Keltbray he was a project director for Balfour Beatty.

He takes over in September from Julian Ripley who has led the business as interim chief executive since June 2020. Mr Ripley will now resume his former role as chief financial officer.

The previous chief executive, Matthew Behan, recruited from Murphys in 2016, stepped down a year ago, reportedly because his long-distance commute became too difficult.

Chairman and founder Dennis Curran said of Martin Brown : “He has a proven track record of delivering first-class services across the rail and infrastructure sectors. In the process he has both added value to client relationships and improved bottom line performance. Barhale is an engineering-led business and I wanted to ensure that this was the core discipline of our new leader.”

He added: “From the outset, Martin felt like a good fit for Barhale. He has a real understanding of and commitment to the Barhale values, our collaborative way of working and our direct delivery model. I am delighted to be welcoming him to the team.”

Martin Brown said, “My priority will be to lead Barhale into its next phase of growth, building on the strength of its family-orientated core values and existing client relationships and expanding its operations within the infrastructure sector.”

Keltbray has replaced Martin Brown by recruiting former Birse Rail managing director Neil Thompson. [See separate report here.]

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