Can Rolls-Royce’s new boss rev up its fortunes?
What do you do if your company needs to shift from burning fossil fuels to a zero-carbon world? In the case of Rolls-Royce the answer seems to be: call an oil man.
The FTSE 100 jet engines giant on Tuesday announced it had appointed Tufan Erginbilgic as its chief executive, replacing Warren East when he retires at the end of the year. Erginbilgic was not a familiar name to aerospace and defence analysts after spending 20 years at BP, including five as head of the group’s downstream business, running its refineries, chemicals plants and network of petrol stations.
He was responsible for BP’s successful petrol station tie-up with Marks & Spencer, bringing sandwiches, ready meals and Percy Pigs to the motorway masses.
Rolls-Royce is hoping that Erginbilgic can revive its financial returns. That will be crucial for the company as it tries to recover from pandemic travel restrictions that grounded the global fleet and led to worries about its viability. At the same time it must invest heavily in technologies ranging from unproven net zero jet engines to small modular nuclear reactors, which Rolls-Royce and the UK government hope will play a big role in producing zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen.
Erginbilgic was born and educated in Turkey, studying engineering at Istanbul Technical University and a masters in business administration at Bosphorus University, also in the Turkish capital. He started his career in 1990 at US oil company Mobil (now part of ExxonMobil), before joining BP in Turkey in 1997. A tennis and football fan, he moved to the UK and gained British citizenship in 2009.
Rolls-Royce is understood to have engaged with senior civil servants in the Cabinet Office before the appointment and is seeking clearances
Read more on theguardian.com
