This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WAL King has decided to retire from Leighton after serving as CEO for 23 years.
David Stewart, the current chief operating officer, has been announced as his replacement following a two year search to find King’s successor.
Leighton chairman David Mortimer paid tribute to King’s extraordinary contribution to Leighton over his 42 year career.
“During Wal’s leadership, Leighton has risen from being a middle ranking Australian construction company to a global leader as a contractor and the world’s largest contract miner. Just recently, Engineering News Record ranked Leighton as the 12th largest contractor by revenue in the world.
“His time as CEO has seen Leighton grow from revenue of $1.3 billion and a profit of $7 million in 1987 to this year’s record result of $18.6 billion worth of revenue and $612 million of profit after tax with market capitalisation growing from $85 million to $10.2 billion,” Mortimer pointed out.
King will retire as an executive from 1 February 2011 but he will remain engaged in a consultancy role.
The Australian Constructors Association executive director Jim Barrett said King has made an enormous contribution to the development of the Australian construction industry and has been an outstanding leader in industry affairs.
“In 1994, King was elected as the inaugural president of the ACA and in each successive year since, he has been re-elected to that position, confirming his standing among his peers in what is generally regarded as the most fiercely competitive of all industries,” he added.
Meanwhile Mortimer said the transition from King to Stewart is the result of a comprehensive succession process that has been underway for the last two years.
“David (57) has served as one of Leighton’s chief operating officers since July 2009 and prior to that was managing director of John Holland for 3.5 years.
“David is an exceptionally capable manager having led John Holland to record levels of revenue and profitability, and he continued to expand the diversity of that company. He has been with the Leighton Group for some 24 years, having been a senior manager with Leighton Major Projects and Thiess for 15 years before moving over to John Holland in 2000,” Mortimer said.
“During David’s time at Thiess he was responsible for that company’s offshore operations in Indonesia and he also has extensive operational experience of the Asian region. More recently, in his role as COO, David has taken responsibility for the operations of John Holland, the Al Habtoor Leighton Group and Leighton Properties,” he added.
“On behalf of the Board, all Leighton Group employees and our many shareholders, I thank Wal for his wonderful contribution to the Company and wish him all the best for the future. We will have further occasions over the coming months to acknowledge Wal’s special contribution to the Leighton Group and to the construction industry in this country,” Mortimer concluded.
Australian Property Journal
