| Richard Evritt (53)
qualified as a solicitor and then spent five years in private practice. 'But I
hated the tyranny of billing clients and decided to go into industry’. He joined
BAA’s legal department in 1978 very much on a ‘let’s see how it goes’ basis. At
that time, of course, BAA was firmly in the public sector with the prospect of
privatisation no more than a twinkle in Margaret Thatcher’s eye.
'I was put on the spot very early on. There was
nowhere to hide. The department was small and there wasn’t the specialisation
that there is now. With Terminal 4 at Heathrow and then the north Terminal at
Gatwick, planning was very high profile and on a vast scale. I had to get on with
it. My appetite for business was whetted.
In 1984, with the run-up to privatisation, Richard
was appointed ‘Head of Legal’ - equivalent to the wide-ranging ‘general counsel’
role in North America. ‘At the same time, Sir Norman Payne, BAA’s Chairman, asked
me to attend every board meeting. That was a fantastic door opener. I had to get
all the privatisation legislation sorted out such as drafting prospectus. It was
pioneering stuff.
Six years later in 1990, Richard became a Main
Board Director in charge of Planning and Regulatory affairs. This was prompted,
in part, he says by Michael (now Lord) Ashcroft’s building up of a near 10% equity
stake in BAA. ‘He put the wind up the whole organisations. There was a perception
of the Board getting stale. Young blood was needed.
Shortly afterwards, Sir John Egan of Jaguar fame
arrived as Chief Executive. ‘It was a new world. He hit the ground running with
some very clear philosophies.
The customer is always right and business has
to get better and better at everything it using the principles of continuous improvement.
These were enormously appealing ideas. Egan Liberated the energy of everyone in
the company. He brought a razor sharp focus to the things that will really make
a difference'.
|
|
In the 23 years at BAA,
there's little doubt that Richard gained an impressive reputation for sound thinking
and excellent decision making.
It's what he calls coming to sensible conclusions
not last when dealing with unusual situations. Like writing a well received
report on a serious incident involving the Fire engine that overturned at Heathrow.
and B has always been subject to intense public scrutiny whether its protestors
lobbying about the impact of its plans on the environment, British Airways arguing
about landing charges, concerns about airport security or the new regulatory regime
under which the company will operate. this all demands resilience and toughness
as well as diplomatic and intellectual skills of a high order.
it was, therefore, no surprise that Richard became
the natural choice as Chief Executive of NATS in July 2001. This newly constituted
organisation is a public-private partnership between a consortium of seven UK
airlines and the government. It's a world leader' in air traffic management
with responsibility for the safety of more then 2 million flights annually over
UK airspace. the company's income (£600 million a year) comes mainly from
charges to airlines and airport companies.
It employs 5,500 staff on air traffic control and
the complex technical systems that support the air traffic control operation.
Nearly 400 controllers are now based at Swanwick, near Southampton, not far from
the location that will become the new NATS Headquarters.
If Richard was expecting a relatively quite life
after the 'hurly-burly' of BAA, he has been disappointed. Within weeks of
taking over, there was 'September 11'. The event forces NATS into a major
re-organisation of its finances in order to restore its commercial viability and
there have been the well publicised problems at Swanwick and west Drayton with
the infrequent but major disruptions to flight schedules.
Page
2
|
