On the 2nd June 2021, Pennant saw the appointment of a new Chairman with John Ponsonby taking on the responsibility and role. Following our latest appointment to the team we are pleased to able to introduce John and share his impressive career to date.
At the beginning of his career John served in the Royal Green Jackets and Royal Air Force for a total of 33 years. This service took John to many parts of the world including Gibraltar, Hong Kong, West Germany, The Falkland Islands, The Former Yugoslavia, and Northern Ireland.
John retired from the Royal Air Force as an Air Vice-Marshal and in 2007 joined the helicopter company AgustaWestland, as the director responsible for creating an integrated worldwide training division for the Company. In 2012, John’s role was broadened to lead an integrated training and support division with responsibility for the support of over 5000 helicopters worldwide.
After four years, John was appointed Managing Director of AgustaWestland Ltd in 2016, and led a workforce of over 3000 people designing and manufacturing helicopters for the UK Armed Forces and many international Defence organisations.
In the April of 2018, John joined Pennant as a Non-Executive Director. He was appointed Chairman in June 2021.
John has commented on being apart of Pennant as Chairman and said “The last 18 months have been a period of considerable upheaval for everyone in Pennant and I would first like to thank you all for your resilience and commitment over what has been a very turbulent time. You have kept going and because of your efforts I believe Pennant is in good shape to tackle the challenges ahead.
Pennant has great people, great products, and great customers. We need to maximise the potential we have and organise ourselves to deliver Pennant’s global strategy. The Pennant Board will do all it can to support Phil Walker and the executive team and all of you to achieve this success. I look forward to meeting employees and customers in person as soon as we open up again.”
Pennant CEO, Phil Walker commented “we are delighted to appoint John as the new Chair of the Pennant Group. John brings a unique perspective to the role having led the RAF’s training Group as Air Vice-Marshal and more recently worked as a Senior Executive in the aerospace industry. We look forward to working with John over the next period to implement the Group’s strategy.”
Congratulations on your appointment to Chairman, John.
