Panta Lesco Group has just changed its name to Panta and unveiled a new logo signifying the evolution and resilience it displayed throughout the past 60 years, surviving and thriving through challenging times, as CEO designate Katrina Attard pouts it.

A third-generation family member, Katrina did not always plan to join the family business, started by her grandfather, Barth Attard, and growing to become a firm with a €20 million turnover and 250 employees. She spent a large portion of her early career trying to avoid making the “tricky decision of working with family”.

“When I did join, it was on the clear condition that it was a trial run,” she smiles, explaining that, having worked very successfully as an economist in London, she knew that jumping into the engineering and buildings services sector would transport her into a very different world.

“I was definitely the odd one out in those early days, being an economist in a very technical industry. But now, looking back on 10 years with Panta and the strong bonds we have built, I cannot imagine having the same level of job satisfaction with any other company.”

Today, Katrina has two distinctive responsibilities within the Group: general manager of Panta Marketing Services and CEO-designate of the Panta Group. As CEO, her main role is to centralise and streamline the Group’s key functions, set policies, and gear the organisation up for long-term sustainability.

“I am very proud to be taking over from my father, Henry,” she admits. “He has been a fantastic CEO, and has really guided me over the past few years. There was never any pressure to go into this role but it was something that occurred quite naturally, as a result of my achievements at Panta Marketing. Throughout that time, my dad always listened to and took my opinion on board, and, today, we have a very robust, three-year hand-over period planned to ensure there will be no gaps when I officially take over.”

She agrees that, throughout the past 60 years, Panta experienced several business cycles, and it both survived and thrived through each of them. “Now we are laser-focused on building and tweaking our solid foundations to ensure we are around for the next 60 years and beyond. In fact, by the time I retire I plan to hand over a solidly-successful Group as a legacy to the business my grandfather built from the ground up with so much sweat and dedication all those years ago.”

The Panta team looks back on the company’s history with pride, and is determined to set high standards for the way forward. “It is a history that has shaped our corporate culture and it is clear that our quality is non-negotiable. We do our best to give our clients the added value they deserve,” Katrina vows.

She insists it is this formula that made Panta the success story it is today. “Whether you are working with us on a single-bedroom apartment or a large-scale infrastructural project, we have the systems in place, the dedicated teams on hand, and the aftersales support to meet clients’ needs. We retain strong value-driven engineering practices. In my opinion, we stand out from the many companies in our field because of our corporate values because these are always crafted to ensure integrity, smart application and engineering excellence in all that we do.”

Katrina notes that the building engineering sector is today less about bricks and concrete, and more about a structure’s functionality, technology, engineering design and sustainability.

The Group, thus, invests in its people and processes as it adopts an approach that promotes value engineering, top-quality installation practices and what it hopes will be industry-leading aftersales support.

She sees deems it vital that the Group embraces technology and continues the move to online expertise. “We have to integrate it seamlessly into our processes, both at front- and back-office level,” she continues.

She predicts big leaps forward in the intelligence surrounding buildings and their engineering products. “Whereas, previously, product and compatibility issues posed restrictions, we are now witnessing key developments and important partnerships that are being set up, and which will overcome previous hurdles,” she says.

“Added to this, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were to see this level of intelligence and communication move out of the physical building and towards the key stakeholders, such as architects, engineers, contractors and facility managers. This will ensure a holistic solution, facilitating the new complexity of our buildings for tomorrow, and, especially, as we move towards the Internet of Things. As a Group, we will certainly be at the forefront of this development.”

Katrina deems the Group’s aftersales service a feather in its cap. “Clients, whether big or small, no longer want to buy a product and that’s it. They are looking to build a relationship with a company like ours so they can protect and extend the lifespan of the product installed.”

This is a serialisation of the publication Malta CEOs 2020. All interviews took place prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.