Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Tufan Elgin Birzyk has appointed the group’s finance chief in the first major overhaul of his top team since joining the UK’s flagship engineering group in January. He replaced them and appointed new leaders for the two main businesses.
The FTSE 100 group announced Friday that Helen McCabe, currently senior vice president of finance for BP’s customer and product division, will become chief financial officer. He will replace Kakoullis.
As part of the overhaul, Rob Watson, who has led the company’s electric aviation business, will become head of the company’s significant commercial aerospace business.
Adam Riddle was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce North America, as well as the new head of defense operations. The company had previously announced that incumbent Tom Bell had decided to step down at the end of March to take over as CEO of US group Raidos.
Rolls-Royce is also shaking its leadership in the smaller nuclear business. Tom Samson, who has led Rolls-Royce SMR since its inception, has announced that he will be leaving the company with immediate effect.
Chris Chollerton, who previously led the company’s commercial aerospace operations and was transferred to the position of group president earlier this year, will assume operational responsibility for all nuclear operations. Cholerton will also serve as interim CEO of the SMR business until his replacement is found.
Rolls-Royce said the changes are part of a transformation program launched by Erginbilgic in January. The former BP executive has moved quickly to leave his mark on the company since taking command from Warren’s East earlier this year.
In January, Erginbilgic gave a solid assessment of the group, telling staff that Rolls-Royce was underperforming all of its major competitors, describing it as a “burning platform”. In May, he announced a strategic review of the company’s activities.
McCabe’s appointment is the second time Elgin Birgic has turned to a previous employer for expertise. In February, he hired Nicola Grady-Smith, another BP executive who worked with him at an oil company, to lead the transformation program.
Erginbilgic said Friday that McCabe’s “track record in driving rigorous financial discipline and experience in providing performance management to achieve dramatic improvements will be invaluable as we accelerate the pace towards Rolls-Royce’s transformation.” It is.”
“I also want to thank Panos for his dedication to Rolls-Royce and for supporting me since my arrival,” he added.
Erginbilgic said the change in leadership showed the group was “moving at the pace and gaining the momentum needed to transform Rolls-Royce”.
“My management team shares a winning mindset, strong strategic alignment and a shared ambition to make Rolls-Royce a company that serves all its stakeholders.”
