Ray O’Rourke is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive of Laing O’Rourke, Europe’s largest privately owned construction company, employing 30,000 people across Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Since the acquisition of John Laing Construction in 2001, Laing O’Rourke has delivered a fivefold increase in revenue to £4.2 billion in 2008, driven primarily by broadening the focus of the company from building and contracting to include fully integrated construction project management services to its global clients.
Notes to Editors:
Ray O’Rourke, age 62, was born in Mayo in
the Republic of Ireland. He founded the O’Rourke Group in
1977, having begun his career at Kier and J Murphy & Sons. In
2001, the O’Rourke Group acquired John Laing, to form Laing
O’Rourke, now Europe’s largest privately owned
construction company, of which Ray O’Rourke is Chairman and
Chief Executive.
Ray is the third new non-executive director appointed to the
Board of Anglo American since the appointment of the Group’s
new Chairman, Sir John Parker, on 1 August 2009.
Anglo American plc is one of the world’s
largest mining groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and
associates, it is a global leader in platinum group metals and
diamonds, with significant interests in coal, base and ferrous
metals, as well as an industrial minerals business. The Group is
geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South
and North America, Australia and Asia.
(www.angloamerican.co.uk)
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