Worley chairman takes a bow

FOR John Grill, his receipt of an Officer in the Order of Australia award is the culmination of more than four decades.

FOR John Grill, his receipt of an Officer in the Order of Australia award is the culmination of more than four decades spent building a small Sydney-based consultancy into a global leader in its field.

Mr Grill joined what had up until then been known as Smith, de Kantzow & Wholohan as chief executive in 1971, and over the next 40 years helped grow the engineering group into a giant.

Growth and acquisitions saw the company evolve into WorleyParsons, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2002. Today, WorleyParsons is a multi-billion-dollar heavyweight with 165 offices across 41 countries and more than 40,000 employees.

For much of its listed history WorleyParsons has been a favourite of the investor community, with the company recording strong share price appreciation and dividend growth for the bulk of Mr Grill's tenure.

The group's reputation as one of the world's leading oil and gas consulting, engineering and project management groups saw it grow in tandem with Australia's own petroleum industry.

Described as one of the most effective corporate managers in Australian history, Mr Grill handed over the reins to Andrew Wood in October 2012.

Mr Grill marked his final day running WorleyParsons with one of the largest ever donations in Australian history. Mr Grill donated $20 million to the University of Sydney to establish the John Grill Centre for Project Leadership, aimed at improving the skills of the managers responsible for delivering major projects worth tens of billions of dollars.

At a time when Australia's reputation as an investment destination has come under question after a series of embarrassing project cost blowouts and delays, the establishment of the project leadership centre is particularly timely.

Upon leaving the chief executive role he moved directly to the chairmanship of WorleyParsons, a move that goes against standard corporate governance guidelines but which was strongly welcomed by the investment community.

His ongoing presence on the board has been needed, with WorleyParsons enduring a difficult first full year without him in charge. A series of profit downgrades has eaten into the WorleyParsons share price, forcing the company to make serious cost-cutting measures. Mr Grill is now predominantly based overseas.

Other business people who were also recognised in the honours list include Darwin-born and now US-based head of Dow Chemical Company Andrew Liveris, who was awarded an Officer in the Order of Australia. Rory Argyle, who served on the Woodside board for more than 10 years, was the recipient of a Medal of the Order of Australia. Also awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia was Geoffrey Stewart, the founder and chief executive of North Flinders Mines and then chairman and managing director of East African Gold Mines. Founder of the research firm IBISWorld, Phillip Ruthven, was also named a Member of the Order of Australia, as was competition policy and market regulation expert David Round.