Sir Richard Lake Olver FREng (born 2 January 1947) was the chairman of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

, one of the world's largest defence contractors.

Biography

Early life

Richard Olver was born on 2 January 1947. He studied at

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

, where he gained a first class honours degree in Civil Engineering.

Career

He joined BP in 1973 and over the course of his 30+ years with the company rose to become deputy group chief executive in 2003. His early career involved a wide range of oil, gas and refining projects in Britain, Canada, Scotland, the Middle East and Norway. He was appointed vice-president, BP Pipelines Inc, BP North America, in 1979. In 1983, he became divisional manager for new technology with responsibility for offshore, Arctic and enhanced oil recovery technology development. In 1985, he became divisional manager of corporate planning and led the strategic team on the acquisition by BP of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

in the United States. In 1988, he became general manager, Gas, BP Exploration Europe, responsible for the operation, new business development and asset management, of BP and Britoil's European gas portfolio. He was made chief of staff to the chairman of BP and head of corporate strategy for the BP Group in May 1990. In April 1992 he became chief executive, BP Exploration, USA. In 1995, he became deputy chief executive of BP Exploration. He was appointed to the board of BP and became CEO of Exploration and Production in 1998. He led the Upstream E&P business of BP for 5 years taking the business from 1.5mboepd to 3.6mboepd through the merger with

Amoco Amoco ( ) is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company i ...

and the acquisition of ARCO, thereby more than doubling the size of the business and generating $20bn/yr operating cash. He was then appointed deputy CEO in January 2003 and served in that role until his departure for BAE Systems plc in July 2004. He continued his association with BP as deputy chairman of TNK-BP until 2006. He became the non-executive chairman of

on 1 July 2004. He replaced Sir Richard Evans, who had served with BAE Systems and its predecessor companies for over 30 years. He was a non-executive director of

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and

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from 1997-2008 and a member of former Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

's Business Council for Britain from 2009 to 2010. He is a former member of Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

's Business Advisory Group and also serves as a UK Business Ambassador. He is an adviser to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and

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and a board member of SandHill Petroleum BV and EdgeMarc LLC

Civic service

He served as chairman of the Academy's Education for Engineering (E4E) Policy Group whose membership is drawn from the chief executives of the Professional Engineering Institutions, the Engineering Council, Engineering UK and The Royal Academy of Engineering. Under Olver's Chairmenship, the E4E Policy Group had major successes in influencing government policy in education. He also chaired the Academy's Development Advisory Board which is committed to raising the recognition of the contribution engineering and engineers make to the health and wealth of UK society. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science from City University, London in November 2004 and was awarded a second Honorary Doctorate in Science from Cranfield University In June 2006. He was elected as a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of The

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

in July 2005 and served on the Academy's Council from 2006 to 2009. He was awarded the President's Medal in 2015 for services to the Royal Academy of Engineering and to the nation in education. He was awarded the non-executive director (NED) of the Year Award at the 6th annual NED Awards sponsored by The Sunday Times in March 2012. He was knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to business and contribution to UK Corporate Governance.

Personal life

In 1968, he married Pamela Larkin. They have two daughters. In 2011, Olver, who lived in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, came under fire by local residents upon announcing his plan of developing a 9-acre estate called Hunterswood near Greenway Estate,

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

's estate on the River Dart near Galmpton in Devon.

References

External links

A Man of Learning – Dick Olver FREng
''Ingenia'', Issue 29, December 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Olver, Dick 1947 births Living people BAE Systems people Reuters Alumni of City, University of London Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Knights Bachelor British chairpersons of corporations British chief executives British corporate directors Businesspeople awarded knighthoods