Fishing in new waters
Engineering solutions provider Fishbone, has entered its 2026-27 financial year with a new senior leadership team in place and with it, two external hires: Stephen Pole as Head of Business Development and Albert Porter as Head of Infrastructure.
The Derby-based consultancy has restructured its internal team to better deliver on its clients’ aspirations and explore opportunities for the transfer of skillsets developed for the rail industry, to the aerospace, automotive, defence and energy sectors.
Its restructure starts at the top with founding directors Mark Gadsby and Ed Johnson taking on new roles as Managing Director and Solutions Director respectively. Joining them as a new director is long-standing Fishbone Head of Engineering and Products, Steph Coates – now promoted to Operations Director. The Head of Business Development role has been assigned to former Buckland Rail Head of Sales and Bids, Stephen Pole, and former Network Rail Programme Director Albert Porter has been appointed as Head of Infrastructure – a function which will sit within Ed Johnson’s new Solutions Directorate.
Commenting on the restructure, Fishbone Solutions Director, Ed Johnson, said: “We’ve seen a shift in our clients’ aspirations for their supply chain partners to demonstrate value in their delivery of services – and, while we already offer an innovative range of solutions at Fishbone, we want to ensure we continue to identify challenges and engage with emerging trends to enable us to advance possibilities for our clients.”
Fishbone Managing Director, Mark Gadsby, added: “Rail has been our core focus for many years and as an established consultancy, with well-developed design, engineering and software capabilities we’re in a strong position to be able to deliver large scale projects across a wider range of industry sectors.
“To date, we’ve been successful in transferring our skills across to the aerospace and automotive industries and I want to see that continue, while also exploring options in defence and energy.”
Fishbone employs 40 staff and associates at its Pride Park office. The business is heavily focussed on technology innovation with expertise spanning Project Management, Business Intelligence, Operations, Logistics, Design and Engineering. It’s also developed its own purpose-built cloud-based software solution.
Recent work includes the development of an engineering change platform for EMR and Greater Anglia Railways, the creation of a digital logistics control tower for HS2 Ltd, and the application of versatile handheld 3D scanning technology which is proving a game changer for the engineering design industry.
Further information can be found at: https://fishbonesolutions.co.uk/
Media enquiries:
Catherine Ashworth: catherine@darchir.co.uk
About Fishbone
Fishbone was founded in 2012 and is an independently owned transportation solutions provider. Led by innovation and new possibilities in data technology, it serves the wider transport sector with a suite of tailored engineering services, products and consultancy solutions. The Team pride itself on using its experience and independent thinking to turn complex challenges into data-driven, cost-effective solutions.
