Stephen Etheridge joins SATRA board

Stephen Etheridge, group chief executive of Church and Co, has joined SATRA Technology Centre's board of directors. He was formally elected at the centre's annual meeting. Stephen joined the Church group in 1994 and was chief executive of J. Cheaney and Sons from 1995 to 2001 before taking up his current position in Northampton. While acknowledging the shift of mass footwear production to the Far East Stephen is upbeat about the future of a slimmer, more focused UK industry. 'Businesses have closed and jobs have been lost, but we are not looking at the rump of a dying industry. Instead I feel we now have a defendable core of manufacturers producing quality footwear for the higher end of the market which, on a global basis, will always remain in demand,' he says. Chief executive Dr Ron Whittaker says: 'I am delighted that Stephen has agreed to join the SATRA Board and his marketing expertise will assist our strategic planning in the years ahead. I am also pleased to see Church and Co continuing to play a significant role in our development because the company was one of the founding members of SATRA in 1919 and has been a great supporter ever since.' At the same meeting, three non-executive directors who have retired from the board at SATRA have been honoured by the technology centre. All three were presented with pewter figurines of a cobbler at SATRA's annual meeting. Dudley Cheesman joined the SATRA board during its earliest days in 1990 as a result of nomination by his senior management at Clarks/K Shoes. He has chaired the SATRA technical committee, was deputy chairman of the board from 1994 to 2000 and was a trustee of SATRA's pension fund. "We owe Dudley an immense amount of gratitude for his outstanding voluntary service," said chairman Iain Kennedy. Having also retired from business life, Dudley now plans to devote much of his time to two wildlife charities in the West Country. John Pittard had joined the board in 1993 as group managing director of Pittards but had now felt it was time to step down and 'make way for younger blood.' 'As a non-executive director at SATRA it has been a valuable experience to sit on the other side of the boardroom table — and I hope I have been able to contribute in some way to the successful decision-making processes of the board.' Robert Perkins had been involved with footwear manufacture at Clarks/K Shoes and was with the Pentland group when he joined SATRA in 2000. He was a driving force on SATRA's technical committee and helped pioneer the 'just in time production' systems for the footwear industry. He has now stepped down to devote more time to developing his own brand resourcing company. SATRA chairman Iain Kennedy described Robert as a man 'never afraid to speak his mind and with strong views on many subjects.' These qualities, he felt, were very helpful when the SATRA board had been faced with difficult decisions.