What attracted you to take on the position of CEO for Lamprell?
In a nutshell, the challenge, the owners and the Company.
The prospect of leading an organisation with a history spanning almost five decades in the Middle East and the expectation of spearheading growth, fostering technological advancement, and navigating industry shifts such as the energy transition into renewables excited me.
The owners offered me a role that would allow me to leverage my experience, drive positive change, and create value for all stakeholders, which I am passionate about doing. Embracing challenges, nurturing collaboration, and driving transformative change excite me and knowing that I could make an impact to turn the business around after the past few difficult years is one of the many things that drew me to the role.
What have you been impressed by the most since joining the Company?
Without a doubt, it’s people and the culture within the organisation. Even though we have around 6,000 employees on the payroll, there truly is a distinctly strong family culture here at Lamprell. We have over 1,000 employees who have been with the organisation for over 15 years and around 650 who have been here for over 10 years. That speaks volumes.
The Company’s safety record is world-class and has been for several years. Our TRIR at the end of November stood at 0.07, and the industry standard in the oil and gas sector is 0.15 so this is a really positive result and only achievable thanks to the people and the culture within the organisation.
What is your long-term strategic vision for Lamprell?
To grow the business back into a billion-dollar plus company. The owners want to see this business expand, which is one of the reasons they brought me on board. With the right teams in place, I have managed to do just that a number of times in my previous lives.
We have a very long and successful history in the new build and refurbishment of rigs. Additionally, we have the core oil & gas EPCI business and the renewables division which is focused on offshore wind. Lamprell also has three very successful smaller business units, namely its onshore EPC, O&M and Sunbelt divisions, and we plan to grow all three across different geographies.
The offshore wind sector is growing at an accelerated rate, and there are significant opportunities in the market which we are pursuing. Given our experience and location, we are well-placed to deliver projects to the UK, European and US markets. We also commissioned our renewables production line this year, which allows for serial fabrication of offshore wind components, and this opens a really exciting revenue stream for the business.
Saudi Arabia is a core focus area for our oil & gas division and one where we see great opportunities. We are a partner on Saudi Aramco’s prestigious LTA programme, which gives us access to bid billions of dollars’ worth of work for the region in a sector in which we have over four decades of experience. We are also in a partnership alongside Aramco, Bahri and HHI in the IMI yard and are collaborating on future projects for the region.
Talk to us about your leadership philosophy
I’ve been with the company for some months now and have tried to interact with as many of our people as possible. Hopefully, you are getting to know my style of leadership and management. I am a great believer and strong advocate of “The Team”. I firmly believe we can achieve much greater outcomes as a strong cohesive team. I have a very hands-on leadership style and would never ask anyone to do anything I wasn’t willing to do myself. I like to lead by example and I believe in actively and positively engaging in the day-to-day operations, fostering direct involvement and providing guidance and support. I work alongside our teams to understand challenges, offer support, and make informed decisions. This approach hopefully cultivates stronger relationships, promotes quick problem-solving, and ensures a deeper understanding of the business and our objectives.
While it can be time-intensive, and I certainly cannot be around all the time, I believe that hands-on leadership builds trust and empowers team members, resulting in ownership, accountability and a heightened morale and improved outcomes.
What do you think will make Lamprell successful?
It’s people. The opportunity to shape Lamprell’s vision, steer its growth, and inspire our team fuels my passion. I am committed to realising the company’s potential and guiding it towards a successful future. However, I cannot do that without a committed team, and I firmly believe that Lamprell’s talented workforce and dedication are what will lead us to our ultimate success.
Tell us a little about your personal life?
For those that know me well, you’d know I’m very much a people person and very family-orientated. We have four amazing children and three beautiful granddaughters. As mentioned, I was born in Liverpool, UK and I spent the first half of my life in the UK and with the other half, I was fortunate enough to travel the world professionally. As a result, my home base these days is in Australia, about two hours’ drive north of Brisbane in a place called the Sunshine Coast. I am very proud of all of our kids, they are all very different with unique personalities, most importantly they have all grown to be wonderful caring people with our family values. In terms of my extended family, although I only have one sister who is in the UK, I have a very large broader family, my Dad was one of ten and my Mum was one of five, so I have lots of nieces, nephews, cousins etc which I love. I’m also very fortunate to have very good friends some of which I grew up with and I’ve known pretty much all of my life. I am very close to my family and friends; they are extremely important to me and they have always supported me and they keep me grounded which I very much appreciate.
Which football team do you support?
If you could hear my accent, it would be clear. Liverpool – my place of birth. Football is almost a religion in Liverpool and as soon as you can walk, you start kicking a ball and playing the game. My team’s anthem is called “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, I love this song, I would encourage anyone to listen to it, no matter what your football allegiance and particularly the lyrics which are very powerful and meaningful. When I lived in the UK, I used to be a season ticket holder and I’ve been fortunate to follow the team home and away including their Champions League finals across Europe.
A couple of fun ones
Mac or PC? PC
Book or Audible? Book
Beach or mountains? Very difficult love both, but if I had to choose one it would be beach
Dine out or home delivery? Dine out
Horror or Comedy? Comedy
Any final words?
In my relatively short time with the company, we have achieved so much together as a team. There’s been a huge amount of very hard work, a lot of fun and the great thing is, all of our hard work is being rewarded. I hope everyone can see the tangible improvements in the health of the business. We are not where we want to be yet, but we are well on our way and if we stay committed and we maintain our focus, we will achieve and hopefully exceed all of our objectives.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome I received in joining the company. During our first Town Hall together, I asked everyone to ‘get on the Lamprell bus’, I’d like to sincerely thank everyone for really embracing that philosophy and joining us on this exciting journey. I’m really looking forward to seeing us grow, develop and ultimately realise our full potential.
With strong support from the new owners, the Board of Directors, the management team and the entire workforce, we do not doubt that Ian will lead the company into a successful future.
Key highlights from Ian’s career history
Ian joined Shell as an apprentice in the UK at the age of 16, and the company sponsored him through university, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Instrumentation and Control Engineering from the University of Teesside. He later also received an MBA from Bond University. After 14 years with Shell working in their UK facilities, Ian joined Aker Solutions (previously known as John Brown Engineers and Constructors, then Kværner, and also Aker Kværner) in 1992.
Ian commented: “In 1993, the John Brown Engineers and Constructors team asked me to go to Thailand to commission an oil terminal. It was a 12-week assignment, and that was the last time I lived in England.”
Ian spent a couple of years in Thailand, where he completed a project that was the world’s largest multi-product pipeline at the time. He was reassigned to Australia and became the Director of Aker Solutions, running their Northern Australia region. A noteworthy achievement is that when he started this role, the business employed 23 people, and by the time he took on another role with the company, roughly six years later, they employed well over 1000 people, which constituted more than half of the Australian business for Aker Solutions at the time.
In 2008, Ian was approached by Global Process Systems (GPS) and asked to run their Asia Pacific region, based out of Singapore. Two years later, he was promoted to CEO, a role based in Dubai, from where he ran the company. The company experienced significant growth under Ian’s leadership and pre-qualified to win work for Exxon, BP and Shell amongst others. After eight years with GPS, Ian joined Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin, who asked him to set up and spearhead their Asia Pacific business.
Ian then joined McDermott, based in Kuala Lumpur, where he sat on the company’s Executive Committee and oversaw the Asia Pacific region comprising offices in Kuala Lumpur, India, Indonesia, China and Australia. Upon joining, their annual turnover was around USD 200 million a year, employing about 4,000 people. By the time he left, they had over 20,000 employees in the region and were approaching a turnover of USD 2 billion per year, another remarkable achievement.