Isolated start for new Stabicraft chief executive

Thursday, 26 March 2020

Newly appointed Stabicraft Marine chief executive David Glen was working from home during the lockdown on Thursday.

David Glen started his new job as chief executive of renowned Invercargill boatbuilding company Stabicraft on Monday and on Wednesday he was locking it down.

Such is life during the coronavirus pandemic, but that wasn't stopping him from working remotely from home.

Paul Adams, founder and director of Invercargill boatbuilding company Stabicraft, has stepped aside as chief executive but is remaining as company owner and director while focusing on innovation and design.

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'Not the ideal start but hopefully it's all up from here,' he said on Thursday.

Though no boats can be built at the company's Invercargill plant during lockdown, Glen said it gave him and some other staff an opportunity to work on the business from their homes, 'and not be buried in the business'.

This included improving processes, systems and data in the company's new finance and manufacturing system during the next four weeks, he said.

Glen replaces Paul Adams, Stabicraft's founder and director who earlier announced he would be stepping aside as chief executive.

Adams will remain as owner and director of Stabicraft and focus on design and innovation.

Glen's previous job was running agricultural technology company Tracmap in Dunedin, but he has experience in the marine industry where he met Adams and did business with him.

He has previously been chief executive at Sealegs, the amphibious craft manufacturer, and group general manager at Southern Spars, the world's leading spar maker with a dominant share in the grand prix race boat and superyacht markets.

Glen said he expanded production offshore at both companies.

With Adams wanting to grow Stabicraft's presence in North America, Glen said he was hopeful demand for Stabicraft boats would justify the company also manufacturing boats in that part of the world.

That said, Invercargill would still remain the epicentre for Stabicraft production and all design would come out of New Zealand, he said.

Meanwhile, the company would increase its ability to turn out more boats in Invercargill through improving manufacturing processes and potentially new technology, he said.

He was excited about being back in the marine sector.

Adams had built a good businesss and in many respects people didn't appreciate how big it was, Glen said.

He is in lockdown with his wife in Dunedin while working remotely and is searching online for a house in Invercargill to move into when the lockdown ends.