Former Lotus, PSA exec Gales named chairman at Williams Advanced Engineering

LONDON -- Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) has appointed former Lotus Cars CEO and top PSA Group executive Jean-Marc Gales as chairman of the board at the UK-based engineering consultancy.

Gales, 58, will work alongside CEO Craig Wilson "to develop the future direction and growth" of the business, the company said in a statement.

WAE was created as an extension of the Williams Formula 1 racing team but was sold at the end of 2019 to private equity fund EMK Capital. The company is still based at the F1 team's HQ in Oxfordshire, southern England.

WAE recently partnered with Italdesign to market an electric-car platform aimed at premium brands looking to sell long-range, high-performance EVs costing more than 100,000 euros ($121,000).

Gales was appointed CEO of Lotus Cars in 2014 as a belated replacement for fired Ferrari executive Dany Bahar. Gales left Lotus in 2018 soon after Geely took a majority stake in the company.

Gales has since between working as CEO of UK-based classic car dealer and restorer JD Classics.

A native of Luxembourg, Gales was head of European supplier organization CLEPA prior to joining Lotus. Before that he was head of brands at PSA, now Stellantis.

Gales holds a MSc in Management from London's Imperial College, and a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.

WAE has worked with a number of manufacturers including Lotus, Aston Martin and Porsche modifier Singer. It currently runs Jaguar's Formula E race team. WAE will also supply the Formula E battery pack for all teams from the 2022-23 season.

WAE generated a revenue of 63.7 million pounds ($90 million) in 2019 with profit of 221,000 pounds, its most recent accounts show.