Stanley Services shareholders announce the appointment of the new Managing Director
Submitted by the South Atlantic Islands News Team (SAINT)
2022 promises to be a very significant year for Stanley Services! Quite apart from the October landmark of the 35th Anniversary of the company’s founding, long-serving Managing Director Tom Swales will retire in July and his successor Gareth Goodwin, will be the first Falkland Islander to hold the position, an increasingly important one in the commercial life of the Islands.
In announcing the appointment, Chairman MLA Roger Spink reflected on the contrast between the modern, dynamic Falklands and the depressed situation into which SSL was born.
He said: “Tom Swales arrived in Stanley in September 1987 as the first General Manager of the newly formed company and took charge of dilapidated fuel facilities made even less serviceable by the conflict of 1982. After an interval, he returned as Managing Director in 2001 and, with the consistent support of all three shareholders, has driven the expansion of the company since then.
The economic and social life of the modern Falklands would not be what it is without the Fuel Installation at Fox Bay, the expanded and stylish Malvina House Hotel, the Harbour Lights Cinema, Darwin Lodge, FITV, the new Garage, purpose-built offices, warehouses and the ATM, all of which have been introduced during Tom’s long and productive tenure as MD.”
Tom himself put the emphasis on the future. “ It gives me great satisfaction that Gareth Goodwin is going to take over because at the very outset of the company it was always the aim to maximise the involvement of local people in senior positions whenever possible. The Board feels the future is in good hands with Gareth in charge, but the continuity in staffing which has always been one of our strengths will not be lost because he originally joined the company in 1995 and he knows it inside out. I would also like to thank all my colleagues, past and present in SSL who have contributed to the success of the Company throughout all the businesses – it has been a real team effort”
