“My remit is profitable growth,” he explains. “I think that if you start with the customer and work backwards, you’re not going to mess things up.” The company has built strong relationships with city transportation authorities, such as Transport for London: “We do a lot of customer-led development. Listening well is an important work skill.” As a result, Newhard says he will be “listening, asking good questions, trying to understand”.
He adds: “We have the domain expertise here and we know how to apply it. There is a level of trust. We understand context: how do customers think about their environment? How do they think about procurement and new technologies?”
Since being spun out of Siemens several years ago, Yunex has bought Aimsun and VMZ. As well as being an ITS veteran, Newhard has experience of the private equity sector and doesn’t rule out further buys, but he warns: “If you do acquisitions wrong, they become distractions. So I want to make sure we do them well, to make sure that it’s an enhancer to our growth. Right now, integrating businesses is not a core competency.”
Stand 01.327
