Caterham CEO Ansar Ali gets replaced by Graham Macdonald

Caterham Group, the parent company of Caterham Cars, Caterham F1 Team, Caterham Composites and CTI (Caterham Technology & Innovation) has today confirmed that Graham Macdonald, previously CFO of Caterham Cars will step up to the role of CEO after current Chief Executive Officer Ansar Ali leaves the business by mutual consent.

Caterham Cars Statement

• Caterham Group Announces Graham Macdonald As New CEO Of Caterham Cars

  Ansar will leave his post as CEO after leading Caterham Cars following a management buy-in which assumed control of the business in 2005 from the Nearn family who originally founded Caterham Cars. Ansar oversaw a program which initiated a fundamental shift in the engineering focus of the business, a move which revitalised the legendary Seven range. He also oversaw the long-term stability of Caterham Cars, building on its historic spirit of innovation, entrepreneurial endeavour with a core motorsport base and dedicated to the notion of serving the ‘unserved’, making racecar performance accessible to everyone.

  Ansar has now decided to move on to new challenges and Caterham Group thanks him for the integral role he played in building Caterham Cars into a globally respected automotive brand and helping form Caterham Group in its present-day guise. Tony Fernandes, Caterham Group Chairman, said: “I want to take this chance to thank Ansar for everything he has done for the Caterham brand over many years. Without his leadership Caterham Cars would not be the world renowned, profitable business it is today and we would almost certainly not be working under the Caterham name if he had not initiated the discussions with us that led to the enviable position Caterham finds itself in today.

  “Now we move on to the next phase of the expansion of Caterham Group and Caterham Cars. Graham is the perfect person to take over and lead the company and his experience and dedication will help us make a smooth transition into the next chapter of the Caterham Cars story.”

I tried to reach Ansar this morning, after receiving a tip-off that “..I might want to call whilst he’s still there”, but was unable to make contact. Now we know why..

Macdonald has played an active role with Ansar in helping build Caterham Cars into a core element of the Caterham Group and will now lead Caterham Cars as CEO.

Graham Macdonald, nickname ‘G’Mac’, has been at Caterham for 7 years but started his accountancy career at holiday company, Pontins, where he was an occasional bluecoat.

Ansar began his automotive career at Ford in 1991, after gaining an MBA from Manchester Business School.

He took over as General Manager of Lotus in 2000, leading the development of the Elise, until in 2005 he joined a management buy-in (MBI) becoming Managing Director of Caterham Cars Limited, who at the time were owned by the venture capitalist group, Corven.

In December 2010, Ansar approached entrepreneur Tony Fernandes and brokered Caterham’s acquisition by Team Lotus Enterprise (TLE). At the time, Ansar was relieved to receive the necessary financial backing to maintain the car maker’s aspirations, but slightly daunted by the scale of Fernandes’ aspirations.

Earlier this month, Mark Edwards, one of the founding buy-out partners in 2005 and more recently head of CTI at Caterham Cars, began operating a new company, “Niche Vehicle Services Limited”. Before this, he was at Lotus, then Corven.

We concluded at the time, this left Ansar without a key ally in the boardroom and when chairman Tony Fernandes’ promoted Mike Gascoyne (a.k.a. The Rottweiler) to Chief Technical Officer in February, the writing was on the wall for Ansar.