Guardhat Launches Advisory Board With Deep Expertise in Industrial Operations; Adds First Two Members

DETROIT, Oct. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardhat, a pioneer of end-to-end connected worker solutions, has launched an advisory board to extend access to expertise across product, partnership development, regional expansion, employee recruitment and more.

The board, comprised of venerated experts from industrial and tech sectors, will help Guardhat further develop, embed, and promote its connected worker technology to ensure greater safety and productivity across key industrial verticals. The Guardhat advisory board's first two appointees are Florian Budde and David Sutherland, both authorities in their domains.

Budde is a former senior partner at McKinsey & Company. He built the firm's Global Chemicals Practice from the ground up and led it for eight years. He also led McKinsey's Global Energy and Materials Practice, which operates in the oil, gas, power, metals, mining, and chemicals industries, in the EMEA region from 2012 to 2015. Budde has advised world's leading companies in these fields through extensive transformation projects, and authored articles and books on strategic management of chemical companies. In total, Florian has led nearly 600 projects across strategy, mergers and acquisitions, organizational and functional excellence, across petrochemicals, technical polymers, fibers, organic intermediates, inorganics, specialties, and more.

"I have no doubt that chemical operations will invest in a more digitally connected and empowered frontline workforce," said Budde. "This is a given, considering the goals and needs these companies have around transformation. But, that doesn't mean adoption at scale will be without its challenges. How quickly and effectively this transition occurs depends on worker acceptance and privacy considerations. It depends on ease of deployment and maintenance, connectivity options and more. I believe Guardhat has the strongest solution to break through these potential barriers and am excited to help bring their vision to life."

Sutherland currently serves as chairman of the board of U.S. Steel and is the former president and CEO of IPSCO, Inc., a leading North American steel producer, as well as a board director of GATX Corporation and Imperial Oil, Ltd. He is also a former chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute and served as a member of the Boards of Directors of IPSCO, Inc., the Steel Manufacturers Association, the International Iron and Steel Institute, the Canadian Steel Producers Association, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

"I've spent my career in hazardous industrial sectors – steel, oil and transportation – but always with organizations that valued and invested in safety above all else," said Sutherland. "Even those companies with the best safety records need and want to do more. We want every to worker go home safe. I joined the Guardhat advisory board because I believe the company's technology is revolutionary for safety. Guardhat makes it possible to not only better identify and respond to hazards and risk, but actually prevent and even predict incidents before they occur, while offering functionality that makes work easier for individual workers and improve productivity, quality, and site safety to drive dollars to the bottom line. That's what it will take to change worker safety across the globe."

Saikat Dey, co-founder and CEO of Guardhat, added, "David and Florian have seen firsthand both the constraints and opportunities in steel, oil and gas, construction and chemical production, globally, from the boardroom to the production floor. Kicking off our advisory board with such trusted and eminent counselors is both humbling and incredibly exciting. Right now, because of converging trends around tech cost, worker shortages, and digital transformation investment, we can meaningfully change industrial work to make it safer and smarter. With David, Florian and future advisors on board, Guardhat will more quickly enter new markets, reach new customers, and connect with key partners. Their first-hand insights about the needs of the industries we serve will help propel us to the next phase of our growth."

About Guardhat
Guardhat is pioneering end-to-end connected worker safety solutions for industrial workers. The company offers cutting-edge, wearable technology; a proprietary connected worker platform – unrivaled in its ability to ingest, manage and analyze unstructured data; easy to deploy monitoring and reporting software; and a growing ecosystem of partner integrations. With Guardhat, companies can monitor worker location, health and work environment to speed reaction time and help proactively solve safety challenges. Guardhat is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and operates globally. The company holds 13 patents in real time location systems, wearable solution design and connected worker software. For more information, visit: www.guardhat.com.   

SOURCE Guardhat