In the walls of the Dyson Group’s head office in Bundoora, 40 minutes north of Melbourne as the crow flies, the operator holds many of its leaders throughout its 71-year history in high regard. In recent decades, ‘high regard’ has become synonymous with Dyson Group’s three former managing directors.
For nearly 40 years, cousins Lance Deacon, Neil and Shane Dyson expanded the Victorian bus operator into what it is today as one of only a few family bus businesses still thriving around Australia.
Their impact has been felt from Kyneton to Reservoir, from Bell Street to Wangaratta, and even as far north as Deniliquin. As a new era commences, their influence will now shift to the boardroom.
Late last year, a plan five years in the making came to its conclusion. Following a collective 143 years of service at the family-owned Victorian operator, the three managing directors hung up their respective keys from both the company and the bus industry.
“There is no denying the significant contribution Lance, Neil and Shane have had at Dysons and in the bus industry in general,” Dysons told ABC.
Out of those 143 years of collective service, 100 of them came from Shane and Neil. Even before they began officially working at the company, the Dyson boys were still helping out. Originally, both started at the company’s Reservoir depot after school at age 12, cleaning and fuelling buses with many of their cousins.
In these early days, Shane became well known to Dysons’ drivers by riding buses back and forth each day after school. When his time at the company started, it didn’t quite go to plan.
Wanting to begin as an apprentice, Dysons’ directors were looking for someone to take over as its operations manager in due time. When asked to fulfill this role, Shane accepted. In 1982, he then took over the role he was destined to fill.
At 15 years old, Neil followed in his dad Col Dyson’s footsteps and became an apprentice mechanic. As he gained more experience with the company, he became more interested in the buying and selling of fleets and the management requirements of maintaining fleets of buses.
For Lance, his work life began outside of Dysons as a tax accountant. Back then, he worked with a member of the Dyson board in Terry Henderson. After Henderson opened Henderson Transport Consultancy, Lance began working with Dysons at arm’s length.
Eventually he joined Dysons in 1987, putting his tax accountant skills to work as the administration manager. Seven years passed, during which time his father, Bill, sadly passed away and Lance became general manager.
The year 1994 was a special one for Dysons and particularly for the trio as they took over the business as managing directors from Col and Bill Dyson. Neil took over the company’s fleet services and Shane the service delivery, while Lance became Dysons’ corporate services manager.
At that time, the only acquisition Dysons had made was of Reid’s Metropolitan Services. That all changed when the three cousins came to power.
Nine years after taking over the business, their first acquisition as a leadership trio came in the purchase of the Bell Street Bus Company and the ageing Cobb & Co. This was then supplemented by the acquisitions of Kyneton Bus Lines in 2006 and the Wodonga-based Mylon Motorways and Northern Bus Lines in 2008.
A fruitful decade in the 2010s saw Dysons expand its presence further. It first acquired Melbourne-based operators Reservoir Bus Company and Midland Tours in 2012, before expanding further north with the purchases of Wangaratta Coach Lines and Shepparton Transit in the following five years.
The golden touch of the three cousins was then able to reach New South Wales with the acquisition of popular Deniliquin-based operator Purtill’s Bus and Coach in 2019.
After COVID hit in 2020, the focus then turned to Victoria’s south-east for the set of managing directors. With that focus came the acquisition of two more companies, one based in Maffra and the other in Sale. With these purchases, the trio grew the company from less than 100 vehicles to more than 700 buses and from three depots to 12.
Eventually came time for the three to begin the search for a new leader to guide Dysons into the future. Following a year of searching, the managing directors found their successor. Breaking tradition and stepping outside of the Dyson family, they turned to a man with military and corporate logistics experience in Andrew Jakab. When first announced, Shane said that out of all the candidates the three looked at, he shined the brightest.
Jakab’s commencement at Dysons in mid-2022 then saw the beginning of a smooth transition for him into the role of managing director and CEO. By 2023, the transition was complete, and so too was Dysons’ most successful era.
To honour their legacy, the company held a farewell party at its Bundoora headquarters on December 8. More than 150 guests attended the event, including Victorian climate action minister and member for Mill Park Lily D’Ambrosio.
While they may no longer sit on top, the trio will still play a role in Dysons’ new era as board members. Their lengthy stint may have ended, but they’ll still be able to drive off into the sunset knowing that they’ve left their mark on the bus industry through an emerging force in the Victorian and Australian bus sector.
“From everyone at Dysons, we thank them all for their incredible achievement and lasting memories,” Dysons says.
“We hope they enjoy their retirement years and reflect on their incredible work with pride and gratitude.”