A new Head for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency

M

Mirelle

N/A
Joined
30 Nov 2002
Messages
4,531
Visit site
The firm of “head hunters” appointed by the British Government to select a new head of our Maritime and Coastguard Agency have selected one Peter Cardy, a graduate in social sciences and politics from the University of Durham, whose current post is as managing director of a cancer charity. Mr Cardy’s entire life has been spent working for pay in adult education, organising voluntary work and in medical charities.

Mr Cardy is clearly a New Model Generalist – the old model generalists went to Oxbridge, read Classics, History or PPE and joined the Civil Service. They are yesterday’s men. The levers of power in today’s Britain are held by men like Mr Cardy..

We may take it that Mr Cardy’s political connections, especially with Mrs Gywneth Dunwoody, the Chairwoman of the Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons, are excellent, else what would be the good of appointing him?

It is a great relief to all concerned that, rather than appoint anyone from the shrinking pool of talent that remains in the UK’s maritime sector, the head hunters have found us a social sciences graduate who has spent his life being well paid by charities. This shows a correct understanding of the role of the maritime sector in today's Britain.

Mr Cardy is apparently a yachtsman.

The current head of the MCA, John Astbury, an ex Royal Marine who made a career in the Coastguard, steps down in May this year.
 
Oh dear oh dear.
Shame about John Astbury, but unfortunately he was always just a stand-in after the dreadful Captain Bligh, John is actually retiring in May.
I see that one of the selection panel was Maurice Storey, who preceded Capt.Bligh in the job and wasn't a howling success either.
Speaking as a coastguard, this does not look good news at all.
 
I couldn't possibly comment!

Oh. maybe I will.

The post is reserved for UK nationals.

Why this should be, I cannot imagine.

The Hong Kong Marine Department, probably the most admired MCA type body in the industry, recently appointed a new Director - Roger Tupper. I've known Roger for 20 years, and he ain't a Chinese citizen.
 
who specialises, like Tom Lehrer\'s mate, in \"Diseases of the Rich\"

AU_peter_cardy_0306.jpg


From the website of the charity that he;s just stepping down from:

"Peter became chief executive of Macmillan at the end of 2001.

From 1994, Peter headed the UK Multiple Sclerosis Society, which is governed by people affected by MS. During his period the Society was in the frontline of controversy about new treatments for the disease and was rarely out of the news.

Previously, he led the Motor Neurone Disease Association, founding the International Alliance of MND Associations of which he was also secretary general for five years. His early career was in adult education in the fenland of East Anglia and the North of Scotland, following which he worked for ten years at the national Centre for Volunteering.

He has held a number of honorary and part time posts in the UK and abroad in social and health policy affairs. He is on the NCRI Board for which he chairs the Lung Cancer Strategic Planning Group, chair of the Brain and Spine Foundation and writes a weekly column for the non-profit sector journal, Third Sector.

Until 2001 he was chair of the Neurological Alliance, bringing together fifty neurological charities. He was previously a member of the NHS R & D Consumers In Health Research Group, a member of the Medicines Commission advising Ministers on matters to do with medicines and their uses, an adviser on a National Audit Office enquiry and chaired a Foresight task group for the Office of Science and Technology. "
 
I suggest you forward a version of that to the editors of the Times and Telegraph as it eloquently sums up the nation we have become.

Personally I am not so aggrieved by the news considering what a bunch of self serving, empire building, H&S inflaming, statistics manipulating scumbags the previous lot were.

Who mandated that the shipping forecast be "published on behalf of the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency" in every Radio 4 bulletin?
 
Mirelle you grumpy old person, you are nearly as bad as me.

Personally, I'll wait and judge by results. As a counter to the argument that you need loads of industry experience, I'm not convinced that someone who has been brought up in an industry is the best person to be the CEO, operating officer maybe but not the CEO. Insiders tend to be too narrowly focused and can bring a whole load of baggage from 'their' part of the industry
 
"Who mandated that the shipping forecast be "published on behalf of the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency" in every Radio 4 bulletin?"

I believe that I may be able to answer that.

IIRC, John Astbury did, with effect from the moment when the Met. Office started sending the MCA the bill for it.

Don't ask me to explain the policies which require one government agency to send a bill for a public service to another government agency...I've never worked in the index linked pension sector...
 
Hey, lay off the Archbishop of Canterbury, will you?

I was at Uni with him; he's all right!

In fact he'd probably make quite a good head of the MCA...good at running a charitable organisation full of fractious specialists..isn't that just what Peter Cardy was appointed for?
 
His basic skillset seems to be in managing, organising, chairing and advising at the highest level, I'd say that this is why they chose him.

He's also a yotty and if the peeps on this board are anything to go by, he'll have opinions and knowledge about almost every aspect of the marine industry /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Yup,

But ultimately, he's got to own the strategic vision, or at least sign up wholeheartedly to one that his management team have created.....

And how can he do that if all his experience is in a completely different sector?

Why do large banks recruit CEOs with financial services backgrounds?....not because they want him/her to set the banks core lending rate, but becuase they want him to appreciate the impact of the different lending rates, understand what markets they operate in, or could operate in, who their competition are, and most of all, who the people in the industry are that he/she can trust and who are those that he/she should be wary of......

This guy may be a great leader, and an advisor of fantastic talent, but he's not going to know whether the first shipping company CEO that walks through his door is playing him a personal or industry agenda......

......As a 'yottie' about the only things I really know about the shipping sector are that we by and large share the same radio spectrum for communications, and that the ships are big, and best avoided!... hope he's a bit more informed!
 
"you are nearly as bad as me"
geronimo .. can't resist gie'ing that ba' a kick, youse auld grumbling tootanamay troot .... !!

the organisation of which he's soon to run is, according to the last but one ceo, dysfunctional which cardy might have some experience of or is that a joke?

on the other hand, you could well be right abt bringing somebody "without baggage" but one would hope that he'd at least have some experience of managing an organisation employing over 1,000
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top