Change at the top for RDS
Angela Simkins to succeed Richard Danby as managing director of specialist electronics firm
AFTER 40 years with mobile machinery electronics specialists RDS, managing director Richard Danby has announced his decision to retire at the end of the year. Mr Danby (pictured) has been with the Stroud-based firm since its formative years working out of a chicken shed, through to the current day where the business is now part of US company DigiStar and employs more than 95 people and sells to 28 countries.
‘In the early days, the challenge was trying to get the industry to accept the concept of electronics on farm and other mobile machinery; the situation today is very different – walk round any mobile machinery exhibition and you struggle to find any machinery not equipped with electronics,’ said Mr Danby.
‘The agricultural and mobile machinery industry in general is currently undergoing a sea-change in the application of electronics technology. With DigiStar’s investment and long-term strategy, RDS will be further strengthening their position as a leading player in these markets.’
The new person at the helm at RDS will be Angela Simkins, who has wide experience in the electronics manufacturing industry, and most recently has been running a sensor manufacturing company, supplying the off-highway and other sectors. She will take over her responsibilities in January 2014, at which point Mr Danby will step down but will be retained by the company in a non-executive role.
