Stuart Kirby
Founder & Executive Lead
A Mechanical Engineer by profession, Stuart started his working life in the late 1970’s in the food and drug processing industry. A career change came in 1991 to automotive when he joined the Caparo Group in Barcelona, Spain, providing powertrain components to the European automotive industry from their two operations in Spain.
With the ever increasing global need to control emissions and improve the fuel economy of ICE powered vehicles, from 1996 Stuart and his team changed the product focus to emissions controls systems which led to their acquisition by Dayco Products in 2001.
From 2001 Stuart and his team managed a tenfold increase in emissions controls sales in as many years with expansion to 5 new global locations including two JV operations in India and China prior to their acquisition by BorgWarner in 2010.
By 2012 Stuart was again with Dayco and by 2014 was the VP of their Original Equipment Division, however the lure of once again working on powertrain systems led to a change to Hanon Systems in 2016 to help drive their Thermal and Emissions group.
In 2019 Stuart decided that the time was right for a change of pace and founded Kingston Gorton, a specialist automotive consultancy.
Pablo Freire
Partner
Pablo started his automotive career in 2004 joining the Lear Corporation after graduating as an Electronic and Electrical Engineer from Heriot-Watt University.
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In 2006 Pablo joined ENSA as the Account Manager for the UK market for passenger car and commercial vehicle applications achieving significant growth in business in his first years in the role. Following the acquisition of ENSA by BorgWarner in 2010, Pablo assumed the role of European Sales Manager in the newly formed Emissions Control Division of BorgWarner. as well as playing a key role in the integration and rationalisation of ENSA and BorgWarner processes. Pablo was also part of the M&A and integration team during the acquisition of Gustav Wahler GmbH in 2014.
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By 2015 Pablo was promoted within the organisation to Director of Global Business Development giving him responsibility for all markets. During this time Pablo gained extensive experience in India, and the AsiaPac region.
During his time at BorgWarner, Pablo was responsible for defining, leading, and executing the product strategy and all sales activities for the emissions products globally helping BorgWarner to become the No.1 supplier of emissions control systems with over 25% global market share.
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In 2021 Pablo joined the Kingston Gorton team to use his extensive knowledge and experience in the industry to assist our clients to grow their business and help improve their processes and internal systems.
ABOUT US
We are an automotive industry focused team of professionals with decades of experience in the business for major Tier One suppliers.
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Our team has led successful mergers, developed products and system specifications, built engineering capability and sold and manufactured from facilities across the globe for most of the major auto makers.
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Founded in 2019 our mission is to add insight, value and leadership to projects in the automotive sector. Our team has a proven track record of delivering results, creating growth combined with global business expansion and developing exceptional teams.
I have worked many years with Stuart in business. One of the keys to any successful business is to treat clients with respect, social competence, and exceptional service. Stuart excels at this.
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Jim Orchard. CEO of Dayco Products LLC. (retired)
I have worked many years with Stuart in business. One of the keys to any successful business is to treat clients with respect, social competence, and exceptional service. Stuart excels at this.
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Jim Orchard. CEO of Dayco Products LLC. (retired)
Stuart applies his 30 years of automotive experience across all business functions driving the companies he has worked for, and with, to be successful. His market knowledge, engineering know-how and business acumen have provided solutions that are second to none.
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Jim Vamvakitis. Automotive Tier 1 Executive.
I have known Pablo for the last 10 years and in 2015 I asked him to join my team to establish the global product strategy and business development function. Pablo has solid experience in developing business with OEMs globally as well as a development leader in charge of launching new products to the global market. His strong interpersonal skills allow him to build long lasting relationship with customers.
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Jean-François Savajols. Vice President Product Strategy and Business Development,
BorgWarner Emissions, Thermal and Turbo Systems
I have worked with Pablo for over 10 years and always found him to be professional, hardworking and fully focussed on supporting his team and his customers. He is especially good at listening to customers and understanding the business underlying issues. This enabled him to unlock win-win solutions which are critical to building long term relationships.
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John Pioli. PTO Purchasing Manager, Ford Motor Company (Retired)