Leading timber expert, Donaldson Group, has appointed Mark Murphy as Chief Risk Officer in a newly created role.

Mark’s appointment will see him join the Group’s board and executive team, and follows a period of significant growth for the business. As Chief Risk Officer, Mark will continue to support the expansion of the Group into a more diverse product range and service offering through the ongoing delivery of a risk management strategy. By building on the safety culture which has been driven by him and his team to date, and also creating and implementing standardised best practices across the Group, Mark will continue to identify and mitigate risks to make the business more resilient and more secure for stakeholders, and especially for colleagues.

Mark joined Donaldson Group in 1986 as a management trainee before taking roles as a production assistant, quality assurance representative, stock manager and mill foreman. He then moved into systems management firstly as integrated systems manager, and then head of occupational risk and compliance management.

Mark has a MSc in quality assurance and throughout his time with the Group, he has led many advancements and improvements, including developing roof truss offloading procedures that later became the standard specification for the main housebuilder forum; developed and installed a mobile phone app for emergency procedures, which was noted by insurers as best in class; and implemented the health and safety training and e-learning system across the Group, which was recognised by external auditors as the best in the industry.

This breadth of experience with the business over three decades gives Mark a thorough understanding of the Group’s strengths and challenges, and the needs of the evolving business.

Commenting on the appointment, Andrew Donaldson, CEO of Donaldson Group, said: “Creating the role of Chief Risk Officer not only reflects the Group’s commitment to a sustainable future for the business through our ESG strategy and dedication to continuous improvement, but it also recognises the significant impact Mark and his team have made over the last few years. Mark is a highly respected member of the Donaldson Group – both with colleagues and with customers – and this is a very well deserved promotion.”

Mark added: “Given my new role, it’s hard to believe I started with Donaldson Group before the internet was invented. There has been a lot of change over the last 30 years, and we have welcomed many new team members in recent times, but throughout this growth I continue to love working for the business.

“I am fortunate to have visited every site in the Group and I believe we have the best colleagues who all want to strive for the same objectives: to make customers happy; to act and behave safely and with integrity; and to be a sustainable business. I’m proud that both of my sons work for the company, which I think also represents the family core values of the Group. This is an exciting opportunity to further develop our safety and risk processes and overall culture, and I’m looking forward to working with the board to drive this forward.”