Ligentia solidifies growth strategy with new board member

Ligentia has appointed Melanie Fitzpatrick as its chief people and strategy officer, and first woman board member.

Ms Fitzpatrick has been tasked with delivering the forwarder’s growth plans on strategy, people, digital transformation, brand, and the design of the organisation, as it looks to spend the investment made earlier this year by Equistone Partners Europe.

Ms Fitzpatrick has form in the field: she was most recently chief people and brand officer for CPA Global, an intellectual property software and tech company, which was bought in October by Clarivate.

Ms Fitzpatrick has also worked at Allegis Group, a “talent management” firm, where she was managing director with responsibility for strategic direction, marketing and communication.

Garry Watts, Ligentia chairman, said: “Since I joined Ligentia earlier in the year I have been hugely impressed by the speed that the organisation moves and the outstanding commitment of all our people. As a board, we’ve recognised the need to complement our existing capabilities with additional expertise and experience in areas that we know will be critical to our ability to implement this new phase of our development.

“This is a significant investment in the future of the business and gives us a new depth of resource to continue Ligentia’s incredible journey.”

Chief executive Nick Jones added: “We have an ambitious growth strategy through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions and are delighted to welcome Mel to the team. She’s worked and lived on four continents and has been instrumental in a number of large-scale M&As in technology and services with a track record of delivering value creation for both people in organisations and investors.”

Ms Fitzpatrick said: “This is a transformative time for the supply chain industry fuelled by the demand for more resilient, digital and sustainable supply chains. I’m excited to be joining the Ligentia team with its strengths in people, technology and customer experience, to help realise these opportunities and deliver value for our customers, community partners and society as a whole.”