London, UK, 1 February 2023 – GKN Automotive, the global leader in drive systems, has appointed Tom Salisbury to the newly created role of Director of Sustainability. The primary responsibility of the position is to lead and accelerate the delivery of the company’s sustainability strategy, supporting the business’ corporate purpose to drive a cleaner, more sustainable world.
Having joined GKN Automotive on 3 January 2023, Tom Salisbury takes on the responsibility of delivering the company’s sustainability strategy and will report into the Chief Communication & Sustainability Officer, Dr. Clare Wyatt. He will lead on managing a team of people working across different workstreams across the sustainability programme, ensuring the implementation of the strategy, as well as the business’ sustainability reporting and governance.
Tom arrives at GKN Automotive with more than 15 years’ experience in sustainability teams within global organisations. His previous role was Senior Sustainable Business Manager at Vodafone Group, where he co-led the global environmental strategy and was responsible for Vodafone’s sustainability impact measurement, reporting and communications. Prior to that, Tom worked in the global sustainability teams at AB Inbev and SABMiller.
GKN Automotive’s sustainability strategy, launched in 2021, provides a formal framework to coordinate the business’ existing sustainability activities. It gives clear, measurable targets, demonstrating the company’s commitment to its corporate purpose, and is aligned with and contributes to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. GKN Automotive will continue to work towards meeting eight ambitious targets set out as part of the strategy, including having a net zero transition plan with certified science-based targets in place in 2023.
Tom Salisbury comments: “I’m delighted to be joining GKN Automotive, a global leader in its industry and a business at an important stage in the rollout of its sustainability strategy. I’m already impressed by the company’s drive to embed sustainability into its products and contribute to the decarbonisation of the automotive industry. I believe one of the most important levers for embedding sustainability is people, so a key focus will be to maximise collaboration across the business to help us reach our goals.”
Dr. Clare Wyatt, Chief Communication & Sustainability Officer at GKN Automotive, comments: “Creating the Director of Sustainability role is an important milestone in our sustainability journey and I’m delighted to welcome Tom Salisbury to the company. His leadership and management of the team, workflows and reporting will ensure the strategy is implemented and measured effectively and ensure that we’re able to meet short term targets whilst also building our capabilities to deliver on our long-term sustainability agenda.”
