OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Board of Directors of Black & Veatch has selected a new Chairman, President and CEO for the company upon the decision of Len Rodman to retire at the end of 2013 after 42 years of outstanding leadership, service and dedication to the company. Rodman will continue in his leadership role through the remainder of 2013 while guiding a transition period for Steve Edwards, who will succeed Rodman. Edwards becomes only the seventh senior leader in the Founder, Managing Partner or Chairman role in Black & Veatch’s 98-year history.
Rodman, as the sitting Chairman, President and CEO announced to the Black & Veatch Board of Directors his pending retirement, and worked with the Compensation & Development Committee to provide a slate of internal candidates for them to select the replacement and create a formal transition period for 2013. During the remainder of 2013, Edwards becomes Chief Operating Officer of Black & Veatch until he assumes management of the company in January 2014.
“The Black & Veatch Board of Directors has confidence in Steve based on his global, cross-divisional, cross-functional skills, project management capabilities and based on the challenging assignments he has managed during his 35-year career,” said Rodman. “Steve has lived and worked at various global locations and given he has been a member of our Executive Committee since 2005 and a member of our Board of Directors since 2012 he is well qualified to lead the company into the future.”
An Executive Vice President currently serving as Executive Director Global EPC for Black & Veatch’s global energy business, Edwards joined the company in 1978. In his current role he maintained profit and loss responsibility for expanded scope, or engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) efforts, and recently led the company’s Indonesia growth platform strategy. Rodman said he has been instrumental in the leadership of the company’s project execution and enhanced expanded scope services strategy development and he has been actively involved in the implementation of the company’s India and GCC growth plans, key elements of the company’s long-term strategy.
“There is no better time to be part of Black & Veatch and I’m excited and humbled at the same time to accept this new role,” said Edwards. “Len, the Board of Directors and our more than 10,000 global professionals work each and every day to live our Core Values and to fulfill our Mission of Building a World of Difference. It is a great honor to be asked to lead that into the future as we work with our clients to solve some of the world’s most complex energy, water, communications and security issues.”
Rodman said his decision to retire was based on his desire for the new Chairman to be in place at the beginning of the year and to have the benefit of a formal transition period. Additionally, Rodman said the timing also will allow new leadership to be in place at the end of the company’s current World Headquarters renovation and for Black & Veatch’s upcoming Centennial Celebration in 2015.
“These events should be about looking forward with a Vision toward the next 100 years, while respecting the company’s rich history,” said Rodman. “For these positive events it is fitting that the new Chairman, President and CEO be in place to celebrate the company’s bright future.”
Editors Notes:
- Rodman was named President and CEO of Black & Veatch in August 1998 and was elected to the additional position of Chairman of the Board in January 2000. During his tenure as Chairman, President and CEO, he has led several major initiatives. The first was the conversion from an 85-year-old partnership to a privately held C Corp with an un-leveraged ESOP. This transition significantly increased the equity in the company and set in motion a process for employee ownership. Parallel with this transition, Rodman led the formation of a corporate transformation that included a complete change in the company’s internal governance model. Black & Veatch now has a Board of Directors – chaired by Rodman – that has eight non-executive, independent directors and six executive directors. The non-executive, independent directors come from a variety of industrial sectors. Governance is based on the best practices from publicly traded companies, tailored to meet the diverse needs of a private company with employee ownership. A cultural change was also deployed to further instill a business-like focus for the engineering, consulting and construction company through the utilization of value based management principles.
- Edwards’ career spans 35 years and includes experience in various engineering and management roles. He has been involved in Energy projects in North America, Southeast Asia, Australia and most recently the GCC and India. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2000 and became Senior Vice President and Director of the Americas Region for Energy in 2003. In 2005 Edwards joined the Executive Committee as Executive Vice President and was elected to the Black & Veatch Board of Directors in 2012.
- Edwards is a licensed Professional Engineer and he earned a Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, from the University of Missouri.
- Please click here to download a high-resolution photograph of Len Rodman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/black_veatch/8614836530/in/photostream
- Please click here to download a high-resolution photograph of Steve Edwards: http://www.flickr.com/photos/black_veatch/8614830368/in/photostream/
About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is an employee-owned, global leader in building Critical Human Infrastructure™ in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries through consulting, engineering, construction, operations and program management. Our revenues in 2012 were US$3.3 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and in social media.