Tetra has announced a planned leadership transition, with Paul Sadlier retiring from his role as CEO and Giles Desforges appointed as the company’s new CEO from 1 September.
Paul has spent the past decade at Tetra, leading the sales function before becoming Managing Director and then CEO. During that time, Tetra has grown from around 40 people to almost 200 and established itself as a leading name in property risk and compliance.
Alongside that growth, Tetra has developed a strong market reputation for technical quality, practical expertise and trusted guidance through its work with clients across the property sector. Its guidance and wider industry activity have also helped make the business a recognised source of knowledge and insight for organisations navigating increasingly complex safety and compliance responsibilities.
Paul has also played a key role in shaping Tetra’s culture, developing its client base, backing people across the organisation and building a strong senior leadership team.
Paul said: “Deciding to retire from full time employment was a hard decision to take, but it is the right one. I’m not getting any younger, and this is the right moment to do it. I’m proud of what we have delivered as a business and of the part everyone has played in that. I hand the reins over to Giles and fully expect Tetra to go on to bigger and better things over the next few years.”
This change has been carefully planned over several months. Paul has played a key role throughout the search, recruitment and interview process to find the right person to take Tetra into its next phase, and has been directly involved in selecting his successor.
Paul and Giles have been planning the handover for several months so that the transition can take place with continuity across the business. Paul will hand over responsibility for Tetra’s executive team and board and investor relationships to Giles in September, working closely with him as the transition is completed.
Giles brings a wealth of commercial leadership experience to Tetra. He was previously CEO at Energy Park, Chief Commercial Officer at JLA Group and CEO of the Smart Home division at HomeServe Plc.
Giles said: “Tetra is the clear market leader, with a reputation for technical quality and a culture that people want to be part of. I’m looking forward to working with the team, with Martin Smith as Chairman, and with the team at CBPE to build on that position and grow the business substantially over the next few years.”
Ben Lewis, Director at Tetra investment partner CBPE said: “Paul has made an enormous contribution to Tetra over the last decade, building an outstanding business with a market leading reputation for quality of service and people. I am sure everyone at Tetra would join us in saying how hugely grateful we are for everything he has done, and we are delighted that he will remain a shareholder in the business. We are equally excited to welcome Giles. His experience of leading and scaling high quality service businesses makes him an excellent fit for Tetra, and we look forward to working with him and the wider team on the next phase of Tetra’s growth.”