It's time you met Jonny Logan (36), our new CEO from Scotland.
– You have been CEO for nearly two months now, what has it been like?
– It has been an exciting start with some interesting, but positive challenges already. However, we have a fantastic team globally and the support I’ve experienced in the position already has been important and I thank everyone for that, says Logan.
In March 2012 he joined Global Maritime as a senior Naval Architect in GM’s Aberdeen office. In 2014, he was made Engineering manager for Scotland and was involved in setting up and opening of the GM office in Glasgow. Latterly, he was the Country Manager for Scotland, responsible for the offices in Aberdeen and Glasgow, before being made Group COO in October last year.
– What are your goals for Global Maritime?
– Global Maritime has a strong brand that is highly respected in our industry and market areas. Our main goals are to capitalise on that, and to continue to provide high quality services to the maritime industries and thus continue the positive trends in growth, market share and profitability that we have seen in the last few months.
One of Global Maritime’s major goals is to continue to expand on their already strong market position and capabilities within offshore renewables.
– This is an area which will certainly see significant growth in the years to come and we see it as a huge part of our future to continue to contribute to a more sustainable world.
– What are the most important challenges for Global Maritime the following years?
– Right now, building on the well-established and stable base of the business so that we can grow in a controlled manner is key. However, doing this in the face of continuing market pressure on our prices for services is certainly going to be a challenge. One of the first major tasks is to further enhance our support network globally, for both our sales initiatives, to generate more business, and so that we can create an even more efficient product, ultimately saving our clients time and money, within the business areas where that is most important, says Logan.
– Do you want to be a visible leader?
– Yes, I do. In an organisation like ours, I feel it is very important to be a visible leader. One of the things that has always been notable in GM is that the visibility of management personnel has added to the good cooperation between our different offices and regions by continuously promoting the working relationships that drive this.
– How do you find social media?
– I’m not personally a big user of Facebook, but I find it interesting to see the power of it, and sites like LinkedIn, in connecting people and promoting our business. We have been significantly more active with our social media presence lately. This has been extremely positive in terms of the visibility of our brand, interaction with our news feeds and the, certainly related, enquiries that we receive via our website, says Logan.
Who is Jonny Logan?
Logan is originally from Edinburgh, married to Sheena, who works as a pharmacist near their home on a farm in Auchtermuchty, Scotland.
– We have two young boys, Angus (5) and James (2), both of whom are completely obsessed with tractors and are therefore far more interested in growing up to become farmers than to follow their Dad into Engineering, Logan admits.
Logan is quite an athlete. In fact, he spent more than a decade competing internationally in Rowing and won five commonwealth gold medals and eight British Championship titles between 2001 and 2010.
– With the time commitments of work and family life, it’s not possible to maintain the level of commitment to sport anymore and I have retired from rowing. In my spare time now, I quite enjoy running and still compete in this, along with mountain biking. The mountain biking is particularly suitable these days as you can compensate for being less fit with extra bravery when going downhill, says Logan.
– Are you tired of being asked questions about the artist Johnny Logan?
– Ha ha, that always makes me laugh. Interestingly, I hardly ever hear it mentioned when I’m in the UK. It is in Europe and Scandinavia where it seems to be most often picked-up. I had one notable visit to Orsted’s offices in Copenhagen, where the receptionist simply refused to believe that I wasn’t joking about my name, repeating the phrase ‘no, seriously, what is your name?’
– What is your favourite Johnny Logan-song?
– It would be ‘What’s another year’. A few years ago, one of my former rowing clubs wanted to name a boat after me. Since this is something that people normally do after you had died, we agreed to name the boat after that Johnny Logan song. Therefore, that song always makes me think fondly of my time in the rowing world.
