Our leadership

Appointed to the Board as chief executive with effect from 15 April 2019.

Andrew has a strong track record of business leadership across a number of sectors and significant experience of M&A and strategy development and implementation. From 2014 to 2018, Andrew was the chief executive officer of Wates Group Limited, the construction, developments and property services group. Prior to leading Wates, Andrew spent over 28 years with BAE Systems plc, undertaking a range of senior operational and corporate roles.

Andrew is also a senior independent non-executive director of Chemring Group PLC and non-executive chairman on the Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall (EKFB) JV board, which is responsible for delivering 80km of the new high speed railway, HS2. He is a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Appointed to the Board as chief financial officer Designate on 26 August 2019 and as chief financial officer on 27 September 2019.

Simon has a broad range of financial, strategic and IT leadership experience in his former senior roles in the engineering and manufacturing industries.  He has significant experience in the implementation of cost reduction, M&A and profitability improvement programmes. From 2013 to 31 July 2019, Simon was Group finance director at RPC Group plc. Prior to this, he was chief financial officer, Europe and also chief strategic officer at IAC Group, where he worked from 2006 to 2012.  Simon is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Matthew Lester was appointed to the Board as non-executive chairman on 1 January 2020 and was independent on appointment. He is the chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Matthew has substantial strategic and financial experience, though senior finance roles at Diageo plc, as Group finance director of ICAP plc and as chief financial officer of Royal Mail plc. 

He has significant non-executive director experience from former appointments with Man Group plc, Barclays PLC and Capita plc. He is a chartered accountant, having trained and qualified at Arthur Andersen.

Matthew is a non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee of Intermediate Capital Group plc.

Justin was appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director in October 2015 and as senior independent director in March 2016.

Justin was the chief executive of Keller Group plc ("Keller") from April 2004 to May 2015. Previously, he had been Keller's Group finance director and its chief operating officer. Justin has significant operational, financial and strategic experience. He has in-depth knowledge of the construction sector, both in the UK and internationally.

Justin trained and qualified as an accountant at a predecessor firm of PwC. 

Justin is the chairman of Forterra plc and a non-executive director and chairman of the Audit Committee of James Fisher and Sons plc.

Appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director in December 2020.

From May 2023, Alison has been a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Anglo American plc as projects & development director. Alison has significant operational experience in large scale national infrastructure. She has in-depth experience of oversight of civil engineering and contracting through her roles as projects & development director at Anglo American plc, as chief executive officer at AWE plc, and at Halcrow. Alison has significant experience in safety, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability matters. She is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director on 15 September 2022.

Chris has experience of the construction sector through her current role as a non-executive director of Vistry Group PLC. She is also a non-executive director of Constellium SE and of C&C Group plc.

Chris has significant commercial and operational experience through senior leadership positions within the aviation industry, most recently as chief operating officer of easyJet plc until June 2019, where she also served as their non-executive director from January to September 2016. She served as a non-executive director of Norwegian Air Shuttle AS from June 2020 to December 2022.

Chris has a Doctorate of Science (Honorary) for Leadership in Management from the University of Ulster, a Doctorate of Science (Honorary) in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the Aviation Travel Industry from Cranfield University and a Doctorate of Science in Economics (Honorary) from the Queen’s University of Belfast. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to aviation.

Appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director on 5 April 2023.

Margaret has significant experience of remuneration matters through her current and former appointments as chair of Remuneration Committees and she is an experienced non-executive director.

She is currently the chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Nomination Committees of AJ Bell plc. Most recently she served as the chair of the Remuneration Committee at Tandem Bank, held non-executive director positions with Phoenix Group life companies, was the chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees of Nucleus Financial Group plc and served as a non-executive director and member of the Risk, Audit and Integration Committees of One Savings Bank plc.

Margaret has broad experience in business operations, technology and large transformational change developed across a range of different industry sectors. During her executive career, Margaret held senior roles within some of the world’s largest banks. She also worked as a consultant for Deloitte for seven years and led the financial services consulting business for Charteris, a consulting company.

Appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director on 30 March 2020.

Clive has significant experience in financial matters, through senior finance positions both in the UK and overseas, latterly as the Group finance director of Spectris plc.

Clive has experience of the engineering sector through his roles at Borealis AG and as a non-executive director of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc. He has detailed knowledge of systems of risk management and internal control.

Clive is currently the senior independent director and chair of the Audit Committee of Breedon Group plc, chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of discoverIE Group plc and senior independent director, chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a Member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committees of Trifast plc.