Mark Lyndon UK, based in Nottingham, supplied 1.5 million tonnes of cardboard and other grades to its parent company Lee & Man for use in China and other countries last year. The firm announced today (3 May) that Mr Briggs will be retiring at the end of August – Mr Clarke is currently Mark Lyndon’s commercial manager.
Mr Briggs, 57, has played a big role in getting the export market accepted within the UK and has also taken a strong stance on the need for quality measures, most notably speaking out recently on moisture problems found in some supplies.
Difficult decision
He said he had “taken the difficult decision to retire” after spending all of his working life in the recovered fibre industry, having “worked his way up from driving a van to becoming the managing director of Mark Lyndon”.
Mr Briggs commented: “I’ve loved every minute I have worked in the paper industry since I left school. It has been a pleasure working in a sector with so many characters and where you can trust people and know a deal will be honoured.
“I managed to save the best until last though by setting up Mark Lyndon Paper Enterprises UK in 2007 and turning it into the biggest recovered paper exporter within four years.”
Entrepreneurial
And, Mr Briggs paid tribute to his UK team and the Lee and Man operation in China. He said: “The team here in Nottingham has been amazing to work with, and it has been great to work for a Chinese company that is entrepreneurial, not at all bureaucratic and has let me get on with the job.”
Colin Clarke will take up his new position at Mark Lyndon from 1 September 2016. Before joining Mark Lyndon last summer as commercial manager, he spent 11 years with DS Smith and prior to that was with BPB Recycling for 10 years.
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