G&W UK/Europe Region Companies’ Executive Team

Tim Shoveller became CEO of G&W UK/Europe Region in August 2023.

Tim was previously Managing Director of Network Rail’s North West and Central Region. He started this role in June 2019 after moving from Stagecoach, where he was MD of the rail division and prior to this MD of South West Trains where he led the development of the Alliance working with Network Rail. Earlier in his career, Tim was MD at East Midlands Trains from the start of the franchise in 2007.

Earlier career highlights include senior roles at Virgin Trains and Eurostar.

Tim has over 30 years’ experience in the rail industry, initially joining British Rail as a Guard at Guildford. He is Chairman of the Railway Benefit Fund charity, which supports current and former employees and their families. Tim is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators.

Will Wright became Chief Financial Officer of G&W UK/Europe in August 2021.

Will was previously Global Finance Director for a division of Amcor, a global leader in packaging solutions turning over $13bn annually. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Australia before moving to Switzerland in 2010 where he joined Amcor, before subsequently moving to the UK in 2018. He progressed through a series of senior finance roles at Amcor, including roles spanning from M&A and integration, operational controlling and business unit finance director.

Andrew Daly joined G&W UK/Europe Region as Chief Commercial Officer on 1 June 2021.

Andrew has a proven track record in world class organisations as well as leading the turnaround of a region of a PE backed industrial equipment and leasing business. During his early career Andrew gained a broad business grounding working with Ford and GE in a variety of roles before joining Unipart Group in 2004 as Marketing Director for their Mechanical Repair Division. He subsequently joined Kion in 2007 to lead one of their UK businesses – Linde Material Handling – where he was responsible for Business Sales and Services for the UK. His tenure at Linde included working both within the UK and subsequently South Africa, during which time he transformed top line growth to outperform the market in what was an inherently difficult environment.

Glynis Appelbe joined Freightliner in March 2016 as HR Director, one year after the acquisition by G&W. She is now responsible for the UK/Europe HR activities and is a consistent advocate for gender equality in the logistics industry. Prior to G&W UK/Europe she was the Head of HR for a FTSE listed global diversified mining company, Eurasian Natural Resources (‘ENRC’) PLC, spanning Europe, South America, Africa and Kazakhstan. Her experience in male-dominated workplaces gave her an understanding of the barriers minority groups may face when embarking on a career in logistics and her continued focus on breaking down these barriers has enabled many to begin a successful career at G&W in the UK.

Chris Lawrenson joined the G&W Group as part of the acquisition of the Pentalver Transport business in 2017. He held the role of Managing Director – Terminal Services until taking the role of Managing Director – Intermodal Logistics in February 2022 following an internal restructure to our three core platforms.

Chris started with the Maersk Group in 1988 becoming Managing Director of the company in 2010. Chris has more than three decades of experience working in a variety of management positions and operational roles within the logistics industry.

Louise Ward is an experienced HSEQ Leader with over 25 years experience. A Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner, her career has spanned a range of business sectors and high risk environments with companies including British Nuclear Fuels, News International. BP, JP MorganChase, the Engineering Employers Federation, the MoD, Network Rail, Thames Water, the British Safety Council, and Siemens. She is now Safety and Sustainability Director for G&W, overseeing operations across the UK and Europe.

As well as being a practicing health and safety specialist, Louise has been involved in the development of legislation, guidance material and regulatory policy. She has a particular interest in professional development and supports a number of initiatives in this area. She is a visiting lecturer at Middlesex University and a member of a trailblazer group developing degree level apprenticeships. Louise writes regularly for the trade press, co-authored a handbook about wellbeing published by Routledge, and contributed to the 1% Safer initiative. In 2021 she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Safety and Health Excellence Awards in recognition of her contribution to the profession.

Gideon joined G&W UK/Europe Region in December 2021 as Strategy & Transformation Director with responsibility for implementing a Transformation programme to deliver Freightliner’s long-term Strategy.

Having started his career in finance roles with ExxonMobil, Gideon transitioned into Strategy consulting after completing an MBA and worked for Deloitte and Booz & Co. in London and Dubai before running his own independent consulting business supporting clients in the Energy and Infrastructure sector in a number of areas including Growth Strategy, Transformation, Cost control, M&A and Process Improvement.

Immediately prior to joining Freightliner, Gideon was Interim Head of Strategy at Associated British Ports, where he supported the CEO and CFO to design and implement an ambitious growth Strategy.