FirstGroup appointed Dennis Maple as President of its First Student division

Aberdeen, Scotland, 2014-1-8 — /travelprnews.com/ — FirstGroup announces that it has appointed Dennis Maple as President of its First Student division with effect from 13 January 2014. Dennis joins from Aramark Corporation, a leading services organisation with revenues of over $13bn, where over the past ten years he has performed a number of senior roles most recently as President of Aramark Education. Prior to that, he undertook a number of senior management roles within large organisations including Coors Brewing Company, Kraft General Foods, Inc., PepsiCo, Inc., and Quaker Oats Company.

Dennis has an outstanding record of leadership and delivery, particularly in contract based operations, as well as considerable experience of the North American education sector. As President of Aramark Education, he has overseen the provision of integrated services to the K-12 sector (elementary, middle and secondary education) of approximately 3,600 schools across some 500 school districts in the US. Dennis succeeds Linda Burtwistle, who will step down from the role following a brief handover period. Linda joined the Group in 2008 and in her most recent role as President of First Student she has overseen the initial stages of a detailed transformation programme to create a more efficient operating model and uniform practices.

Commenting on the appointment Tim O’Toole, FirstGroup’s Chief Executive, said:

“I am delighted to welcome Dennis to the Group. He has a proven track record of leadership, business improvement and building strong relationships with customers, partners and employees. Although there remains much to be done to leverage our scale as the market leader and deliver long term sustainable growth, the wealth of experience that Dennis brings will be invaluable in driving the recovery programme forward to the next phase and building on the actions already taken. I would also like to thank Linda for her efforts and commitment in establishing the first stages of the transformation at First Student, and wish her well for the future.”

Commenting, Dennis Maple said:

“I am very pleased to be joining FirstGroup with its unrivalled scale, breadth and experience in delivering high quality transport solutions for customers and communities across the UK and North America. First Student operates within a market that I am passionate about and have significant experience of operating within. I look forward to joining the team and to the challenge of leading First Student during this important stage of its evolution in creating a stronger business with a sustainable competitive advantage for the future.”

ENDS

Contacts FirstGroup:

Rachael Borthwick, Group Corporate Communications Director

+44 (0) 207 291 0508 / +44 (0) 7771 945432

Stuart Butchers, Group Media Relations Manager

+44 (0) 207 291 0507 / + (0) 7713 317979

NOTES TO EDITORS

FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America with revenues of more than £6.9 billion a year. We employ approximately 120,000 employees and transport more than 2.5 billion passengers a year. Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.

First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of approximately 50,000 school buses, carrying some 6 million students every school day across the US and Canada.

First Transit is one of the largest private sector providers of transit management and contracting in North America. We manage public transport systems on behalf of city transit authorities, are one of the largest university campus and airport shuttle bus providers in the US and also manage paratransit operations, call centres and other transit activities. First Services, a division of First Transit, is the one of the largest private sector providers of fleet maintenance and ancillary support services for public sector customers such as the Federal Government and fire and police departments.

Greyhound is the only national provider of scheduled intercity coach services in the US and Canada. Based in Dallas, Greyhound provides scheduled passenger services to approximately 3,800 destinations carrying approximately 18 million passengers a year. Our point-to-point service Greyhound Express now serves more than 100 markets and we also operate further tailored brands for local markets including BoltBus and YO! Bus.

We are one of the UK’s largest Bus operators running approximately one in five of all local bus services. A fleet of some 6,500 buses carries approximately 2.3 million passengers a day in a huge number of communities including 40 of the UK’s largest towns and cities. We operate Greyhound UK providing regular intercity coach services linking South Wales and Bristol Airport, and we also operate some US-style yellow school buses and have a fleet of coaches available for charter.

Through our UK Rail division we operate approximately a quarter of the UK passenger rail network, with a balanced portfolio of intercity, commuter, regional and sleeper services, carrying more than 310 million passengers a year. We are the UK’s largest rail operator with four passenger franchises – First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express – and one open access operator, First Hull Trains. We also operate the London Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying more than 29 million passengers a year and the Heathrow Connect service in partnership with Heathrow Airport.

In Europe with our partner DSB, we operate rail services in and between Denmark and Sweden. We operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.

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