Welcoming our new Chair, Mark Hodgens

Here he shares his first steps with WaterSafe and his hopes to add value for members:

What drew you to WaterSafe?

I finished a major project earlier this year as chief executive with Talis, which involved selling the company and its subsidiaries around the world, and then I thought ‘what do I do now?’ I decided it was time to give something back. I thought if I have an imaginary tombstone, what would I want it to say – beyond working hard at my profession, being a good husband and father.

I’ve recently become a trustee for Citizens Advice and I was looking for other opportunities to put something back into an industry that has been good to me for a long time.

The opportunity to apply to become Chair at WaterSafe arose and I thought that’s an interesting role at a challenging time in the water sector.

What are your priorities?

WaterSafe’s previous chair, Ceri Jones, and the team have done a great job of getting WaterSafe to where it is now. I’m very much in my induction phase and this first phase for me is about meeting the directors, talking to WaterSafe members and gathering input. I have no pre-conceived ideas and I want to hear everyone’s thoughts.

It’s the part of a job I’ve always enjoyed, being honest, listening and talking. I’m excited – I very much see my role as facilitating and bringing the strategy together for the next three years.

We’ve done a really good job to get where we are and I want to continue to find more ways to add value and raise the profile of WaterSafe and its members.

I’m hoping to bring a voice to WaterSafe. We need a loud voice and to work with partners to help raise that voice. We have to find a way to raise the topic of approved installers to a higher level with Government and regulators and it’s a good time to do this. Water is such a hot topic right now and people are thinking about water more in their daily lives, when previously they have taken it for granted.

Water Safe is a not-for-profit organisation that’s primarily for its members and they need to tell us what’s important so we can develop and protect the things we are already doing well. I encourage everyone to come forward and share their thoughts with me.

What do you think you can bring to WaterSafe?

I’ve spent 30 years promoting competent installers in a variety of industries and it’s this experience I bring to WaterSafe. What everyone in the industry needs is proper, professional, competent installers and plumbers to optimise the manufacturers’ product and protect customers.

During my career I worked with many of the big distributors, such as Wolseley, and got to know them and their needs well. Manufacturers also recognise the need for high-quality engineers who can install products properly. The bane of our lives was people installing products when they weren’t sure how to as the resulting poor performance of the product then reflected badly on the brand. I think we can get manufacturers more engaged with what we’re trying to do ­– ­their motivation is the same.

I’m coming at things from a slightly different angle as I have a commercial background and I believe we can now move up to the next level to increase member numbers and the value of their WaterSafe membership to them.

 Mark would like to hear members’ thoughts and ideas for the future of WaterSafe via info@watersafe.org.uk.