Balfour Beatty appoints QinetiQ's Leo Quinn as new chief executive

Balfour Beatty has appointed Leo Quinn as its new chief executive officer. He takes up the new £800,000 a year position and joins the Balfour Beatty board on 1 January 2015. 

Antony Oliver
16 October 2014

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Quinn joins after five years as group chief executive of defence solution business QinetiQ. A civil engineer, Quinn began his career at Balfour Beatty in 1979 in the UK construction services business. 

News of the appointment on Wednesday halted a two month decline in Balfour Beatty’s share price which rallied from its low on Tuesday of £1.48 to finish at £1.56, but still down on its August high of £2.56 and before that its May high of £3.21.

"I am very proud to be rejoining a company so ingrained in British engineering and am resolute in my ambition to realise its enormous potential for customers, employees and investors." Leo Quinn

Throughout his senior career, Quinn has been involved in leading a number of business turnarounds and Balfour Beatty shareholders will be hoping that this appointment is no different. 

Shareholders will vote on the sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff to WSP on 28 October and the firm has warned that if the £820M deal is not approved it would risk breaching its banking covenants.

Executive chairman Steve Marshall will continue to steer the business until Quinn joins in the new year, a role he assumed in May after previous chief executive Andrew McNaughton was sacked following the firm third profit warning in 18 months.

Quinn has spent the last five years as group chief executive of QinetiQ, the former government defence research business and restructured the business to provide an range of technology solutions in defence, security and aerospace.  

Before that from 2004-2008 he was chief executive of bank note printer De La Rue. Other business transformation roles have included posts as global president of Honeywell Building Controls and chief operating officer of Production Management, the largest division of Invensys PLC.

Marshall said: “Leo is an outstanding individual with an excellent track record in improving the performance of major international businesses.

“He has the depth and breadth of experience and the drive to lead our company through the next stage of its development. I am confident that Balfour Beatty will thrive under Leo’s leadership.” 

Commenting on his appointment Quinn said: “Balfour Beatty is a world-leading brand with world-leading talent. Having started my career there, I am very proud to be rejoining a company so ingrained in British engineering and am resolute in my ambition to realise its enormous potential for customers, employees and investors. 

“I am keen to work with them to create something significant and lasting.”