Telent is a leading supplier of integrated operational technology solutions and services to critical national infrastructure customers in the UK and Ireland – our largest customers include National Highways, Network Rail, Transport for London and Openreach. I’m responsible for leading Telent to deliver excellent service for our customers, increased EBITDA and cash generation for our shareholders, and ensuring that Telent is a great place to work for everyone.
I’m an Exeter University law graduate and practised as a barrister before joining Marconi – an international telecommunications product and services business – in 2000. I held various commercial and legal roles at Marconi and was Head of Legal for AsiaPac and the Americas prior to the sale of 75% of the Marconi business to Ericsson.
The residual business was rebranded as Telent in 2006, and I was a member of its founding management team as General Counsel. Over the years I expanded my remit to include Commercial, Company Secretarial, Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety and Cyber Security.
I became Telent’s COO in March 2020 and CEO in July 2020. I’ve successfully led Telent to be optimised for growth by transitioning the business from a fragmented contract service business model to a commercially focused engineering organisation. This meant reshaping our strategy, structure, and processes, but doing so with transparency and collaboration at every step. Telent now has a simplified structure and clear strategic priorities with improved business performance from 1% EBITDA in FY22 to 9% EBITDA in FY25 (31 March year-end) and cash conversation in excess of 85%.
To improve and control business performance, risk management and forecasting – resulting in significantly improved profitability – I improved key governance controls including standardisation of engineering practices, a “One Telent” project management approach, improved risk assessments, a gated process for the review of bids and contract approvals, and in-life performance reviews for all contracts. The success of all these changes has been possible with a culture that encourages people to speak up and identify potential issues early so that future problems can be avoided. Of 60 projects taken through the new Lifecycle Process to date, over 600 corrective actions have been taken, and the portfolio is delivering in excess of bid revenue and margins. I\’m proud of the open, speak-up culture we’ve built at Telent, where issues are surfaced early and improvements are continuous.
All of this has been possible only because of the amazing colleagues we have in Telent. I strengthened my team with the appointment of new Exec roles: Engineering Director (Jan 2021), HR Director (May 2021), CIO (Jan 2022) and Business Development and Growth Director (Sept 2024). My team have been instrumental in supporting me to drive change and improvement across the business.
Across our workforce (c.2,500), employee engagement has significantly improved over the last 4 years – 48 eNPS (Nov 2024, industry top quartile), with Telent being rated as the 9th best large place to work in the UK by Glassdoor with a 93% CEO approval rating. Our average length of service is over 9 years and voluntary attrition is c.6.7% (below industry average) across the whole workforce including the 45% of our workforce who are engineers.
Employees consistently describe me as approachable, transparent, and inspiring and as someone who communicates clearly and honestly, especially during change. I’m proud to hear that my regular updates, whether through calls, written messages, or video, help people to understand the direction of the business and feel part of our journey. One colleague said they could see I \”mean what I say\” through my facial expressions – which reinforces the value of showing up as my authentic self in every interaction.
The fact that new joiners are struck by how accessible and engaging senior leadership is (citing their first call with me as a standout moment) shows that this approach is making a difference from day one.
My role is to enable, support, and guide – it’s the collective commitment of our teams that drives our success. I’m proud to lead with integrity, and even prouder that people see and feel it. I’ve been deeply encouraged by comments recognising the positive changes since I took on the CEO role, not just in performance, but in culture, leadership style, and communication.
(Snapshot of feedback from our employee survey):
• Jo is our anchor, great info well presented, steadfast, inspiring, transparent
• The business has thrived since Jo Gretton took over as CEO
• Everyone from team leaders to Jo Gretton are approachable. I believe this helps the culture massively at Telent
• We have an inspiring CEO
• Great support from CEO, sense of belonging
• Clear communication from the CEO down to every member of Telent
• I really enjoy working for Telent, the people are friendly, the CEO is really down to earth.
Jo Gretton | Warwick, UK
