Roy Stanley

Biography

"Roy Stanley is a North East of England based entrepreneur. He is an experienced businessman having been a director of a number of businesses. He has been chairman of two AIM listed companies, Tanfield Group, previoulsy makers of Arial Access Equipment and Electric Vehicles and Optare plc, a bus manufacturer. Roy founded Tanfield in 1998 and helped develop it into the world's largest manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles now Smith Electric Vehicles US. Through its Snorkel division it became one of the worlds largest aerial access platform manufacturers. Both of these entities have been sold to investment vehicles leaving Tanfield with shareholdings in these investments. In 2006 Roy moved from Chief Executive to Chairman of Tanfield to concentrate on other ventures. In 2007 he subsequently became founder and chairman of the Darwen Group, buying the former bus manufacturer East Lancashire Coachbuilders. With acquisitions and restructuring, by June 2008 Darwen had become the enlarged company Optare plc, employing 830 people and with a £80 million turnover, with the goal of developing electric and hybrid buses. Roy stepped down from the Board of Optare in 2009. Roy was Chairman of Business Enterprise Group, from 2008 to 2012. This was a body responsible for managing significant funding to help businesses start and grow in the North East of England. Roy has been involved in Young Enterprise and a number of local schools. He has several charitable interests and is an investor in a number of private North East based technology businesses. Married with three children, Roy holds an MBA from Newcastle University."