Award-winning automotive clean-tech firm AVID Technology Group in Northumberland has appointed one of the region’s most prominent business figures, Andrew Hodgson, as its new non-executive chairman with immediate effect.
AVID Technology is a pioneer in the field of vehicle electrification and hybridisation. From its HQ in Cramlington, the company designs, manufactures and exports electric motors and powertrain components for next generation hybrid and electric vehicles.
Mr Hodgson has held various chief executive and senior board positions in high-end engineering businesses, including Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD), Spirit Aerosystems, Airbus and BAE Systems. He is also the Chairman of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and received an OBE for his services to manufacturing and the regional economy in 2015.
Ryan Maughan, managing director, AVID Technology, said: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome Andrew to the AVID team. He brings a wealth of knowledge from his highly successful career building and scaling high growth technology focused businesses.
“I am looking forward to learning from his experiences and working together to further accelerate the growth of AVID.
“There is a fantastic opportunity to scale the AVID business right now, creating a true global leader in electrified powertrain components and a major employer in the region as the automotive market shifts to electric power.”
Welcoming his new appointment, Andrew Hodgson said: “I am thrilled to join the AVID board, I’ve known the company for a number of years and when the opportunity arose to join Ryan’s team, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“My focus and experience lies in high growth, high tech businesses. Carbon reduction and climate change are major global issues and the electrification of vehicles is a huge opportunity. I am excited for the future of the business and believe that we are very fortunate to have a company with the capability, capacity and expertise of AVID based in the North East, and I look forward to the challenge of helping to drive its continued growth.”
AVID exports its products and services into mainland Europe, the US and Asia. Its customer base includes high performance passenger car manufacturers and motorsport, alongside heavy-duty trucks, buses and off-highway machinery manufacturers, including AB Volvo, Caterpillar, Cummins, Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren Automotive, Paccar and Scania.
The company’s rapidly growing reputation as one of the most advanced and skilled businesses in the electric vehicle sector led to AVID being named a potential tech ‘Unicorn’ by international investment group GP Bullhound in 2018. Through its inclusion in the list, GP Bullhound says AVID has the potential to follow the likes of Uber, AirBnB and Spotify to massive growth, which could one day be valued at over $1bn.