Optare Group Limited, the wholly owned trading company of Optare plc, is pleased to announce the appointment of Gopal Mahadevan to the Board as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 18 February 2014.

Yorkshire based Optare is one of Britain’s leading bus makers and is 75% per cent owned by Ashok Leyland, which is among the top five global bus producers.

Mr Mahadevan, 47, is currently CFO for Ashok Leyland Ltd.

Optare’s Chairman, John Fickling, said,” We are delighted to welcome Gopal to the Board, he brings a wealth of financial experience and will be a great asset to the Company.

Mr Mahadevan is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary with 25 years’ experience in finance functions across a variety of industries. He started his career with the TTK Group and then moved to Sanmar Group where he progressed to head Finance for their PVC business. He later joined Sify Limited to head Mergers and Acquisitions, Legal and Nasdaq Compliances, following which he joined Amara Raja Batteries as Group CFO. Prior to his appointment to Ashok Leyland, Gopal was CFO of engineering company Thermax Limited.

Speaking of his new role Mr Mahadevan said, “I look forward to using my wealth of financial experience to contribute to the future success of Optare”

Optare also announces that Mr Jorma Halonen has stepped down from the Board. John Fickling, Chairman, said, “On behalf of the board I would like to thank Jorma for his contributions to the Company, thank him for all his advice and efforts and wish him well for the future.”