Mace has brought in the former chief executive of Heathrow Airport as a non-executive director in final appointment to a rejigged group board from the start of next year.

Through his role at Heathrow, John Holland-Kaye has been a client to Mace and is currently serving as a non-executive director at Thames Water.

He brings expertise in leading major infrastructure projects, and as CEO of Heathrow led its transformation to being one of the world’s leading airports.  He has also held senior roles at Taylor Wimpey.

He joins alongside fellow new non-executive director Sylvia Metayer, former Chief Growth Officer at Sodexo, completing a raft of new non-executive appointments to the group board.

Mace has been expanding its group board as it seeks to expand across its four global hubs – UK & Europe, Middle East & Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific.

Other new non-executive directors include Dame Alison Nimmo, previously CEO of the Crown Estate; Nina Bjornstad, who has worked for Google and Microsoft; Eric Hageman, chief financial officer of Swedish telecommunications company Telia; and John Coghlan, currently a director of Landmark.

Completing the board will be Mark Reynolds, who moves to his role of executive chair, after two years as both group chairman and chief executive.

He is passing the day-to-day running of Mace Group to Jason from 1 January 2025 as the new group chief executive and David Allen, Mace Group’s chief financial officer.

Reynolds said:  “The appointments of John and Sylvia represent the final step in the establishment of our new group board, meaning Mace has access to the independent challenge and expertise it needs to realise the scale of our ambitions.

“John’s knowledge of major infrastructure and Sylvia’s significant experience in global corporate service provision will be invaluable as the business pursues its aim to be the world’s leading programme and project delivery consultant and construction expert – and with Jason taking over as our Group Chief Executive in January I couldn’t be more confident of our success.”