The Door and Hardware Federation (DHF) has announced that its new chair is Paul Browne. Paul is a former chief technology officer and business development director for Assa Abloy UK.
Paul has been involved with DHF since 2006, when the issue of cylinder snapping illustrated the importance of driving up product performance standards to meet the changing needs of end users. He has been on the DHF board since 2007, and in 2011, joined the board of the European Hardware Association – ARGE – where he was active in both European and UK standards development over the nine years that followed.
In his early career, Paul joined the Lucas Graduate scheme after leaving Aston University with a business studies degree. He worked for 17 years at Creda, a UK manufacturer of white goods, mainly in marketing roles. Later, he worked as general manager of the contracts division.
After two years in the construction industry, Paul joined Assa Abloy UK as marketing director. There followed different roles that included being general manager of the residential division. After this, Paul moved to senior board roles over a 21-year period.
Bob Perry, the DHF’s CEO, said: “Paul recognises the power of driving standards for the benefit of end users, DHF members and the industry overall, and understands that huge opportunities that can be unlocked from the UK post-Brexit standardisation landscape and the need to change building regulations following the Grenfell disaster. I have known Paul for more than 20 years, having worked alongside him at Assa Abloy, and I very much look forward to sharing his drive and enthusiasm in continuing the development of DHF.”
Paul replaces longstanding chair David Whitworth, who held the position since 2007 and played a major role in guiding the DHF through its development programme. David is also stepping down as chair of the Building Hardware Group.
“David has been chair of the DHF Building Hardware Group for many years,” said Bob. “His knowledge of building hardware is unparalleled, having started in the family architectural ironmongery business, Laidlaw and Thomson, in 1955. David continues to be active in the building hardware industry, primarily through his ownership of Access 2, a company specialising in security cylinders. We thank David for the outstanding contribution that he has made, both to DHF and to the building hardware industry as a whole. I am particularly pleased that David had agreed to continue as a director on the DHF board.”
Paul Browne said: “David has an unrivalled history of achievement and active involvement in our industry. With Bob Perry and the team, he has helped steer DHF in becoming the forward-looking and capable association that it has become today, and it is a privilege to pick up the mantle from him. Through making DHF the foremost industry authority, I believe it can lead the drive for change and improvement, creating opportunities and commercial benefit for our members, and I very much look forward to being a part of what will undoubtedly be an exciting future for the federation.”
