Interview by Ginny Farrell Sir Dick Olver


From designing bridges in Essex to working on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, overseeing BP’s $50 billion merger with Amoco and chairing BAE Systems, Sir Dick Olver has spent a career at the sharp end of British business.


N


ow, life is rather closer to home: sailing the Dart, spending time with


family and friends, and helping the next generation of South West entrepreneurs. “I never imagined it,” says Dick,


now 79, when asked if he ever expected to end up in the board- rooms of some of the world’s biggest companies, dealing with some of the biggest corporate crises of his generation and being knighted by the Queen. When he joined BP in 1973, Dick


was a civil engineer fresh out of uni- versity designing bridges in Essex. He’d seen an advert in New Civil


Engineer for an engineer at BP, he applied - and subsequently turned the job down. “Tey offered £3,000 a year but I


was already earning that. I had a wife and a young daughter and I thought


it’s going to cost me to travel into London, so I’m going to end up with less money to feed the family.” A few months later, while working


on yet another viaduct, BP called again. “Tey said, ‘You don’t really


understand. We’re BP.’ In those days, of course, it was a really important company.” Tis time he accepted the job. Te decision changed the course


of his life. Aſter initially working on foundations, bridges and airports in the Middle East, Dick was unexpectedly moved into the


commercial side of the business and ended up working on the Trans- Alaska Pipeline, then the largest privately financed civil engineering project in the world. It was quite a change for a civil


engineer. He was one of just two engineers in a 20-person team dominated by accountants. It was a steep learning curve, but Dick quickly identified a problem with the project’s investment tax credits worth around $50 million. It was the beginning of a career in


which his ability to move between technical, commercial and human


Just Magic – a J95 which Dick races in the Dartmouth area.


Pam and Dick with President George W and Laura Bush .


Dick with daughters Kate and Claire after his investiture in 2013.


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