New appointments as Oyster Yachts enhance and strengthen senior management team

Oyster Yachts © Oyster Yachts

Ashley Highfield, new Chief Executive Officer of Oyster Yachts, has confirmed two key appointments to the senior management team. Peter Ingram joins as Chief Financial Officer, with David Braben OBE appointed as non-Executive Board Director at the British luxury bluewater yacht builder.

Peter Ingram joins Oyster having spent the past thirteen years at the marine electronics giant Raymarine, most recently as VP of Finance for the global group. Ingram qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young. He brings with him a wealth of experience from a variety of complex, high profile financial roles, including having been financial controller at QinetiQ Maritime.

Non-Executive Board member David Braben is a digital entrepreneur and influential video game developer and designer who founded Frontier Developments in 1993. He was CEO for 28 years before stepping down last year. Braben developed the Raspberry Pi in 2011, a revolutionary inexpensive computer used to stimulate the teaching of computer science in schools, of which over 40 million have been sold worldwide.

Ashley Highfield says: "I am delighted to welcome Peter and David to Oyster Yachts. Their collective experience in the marine and digital industries, and successful business track records, are an incredibly valuable asset as we continue to strengthen Oyster Yachts. Their arrival coincides with our 50th Anniversary, full build-bays across all three sites, and a very strong order book out to late 2024.

"It is no secret that Oyster Yachts, like many other British companies, has been faced with some difficult challenges because of Brexit, global supply chain issues and the remaining impact of the global pandemic, which in turn delayed our turnaround plans to return the business to profitability. My first task on becoming the CEO has been to define a clear plan on how we take Oyster Yachts to the next level. This is based on continuing to deliver the world's finest yachts on time, to a standard that is beyond expectation; continuing to build on our values-based customer-centric ethos and renowned reputation for customer support and quality; and finally, continuing to innovate to bring international sailors more iconic, award-winning yachts to go anywhere they choose.

"To help achieve this we have a fantastic team of over 600 skilled and passionate people who are dedicated to building our amazing yachts, a great management team and Board, strengthened by today's announcements, which includes Owner & Chairman Richard Hadida, who remains fanatically devoted to Oyster, and who will continue to serve as a company director. Collectively, we will continue to work closely together to ensure we have the strategy and investment required to keep innovating and growing.

Ingram and Braben join Highfield and Hadida on the Board of Oyster Yachts, along with existing Director Glynn Chambers and non-Executive Director Ivan Ritossa.