United Arab Emirates: Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, announces the appointment of John Gay as Regional Director, Middle East. John takes over from Dr Rob Watson, who will be moving to Bristol to take on the position of Senior Vice President Customer Business Asia-Pacific within the Defence business.
John moves to the Middle East after a two year posting in India, where he served as Rolls-Royce's Senior Vice-President of Defence Aerospace in South Asia. He began his career with the company at the age of 16 as a technician apprentice and has held a number of key business roles including international assignments in Europe, South America and India before accepting the position of Regional Director, Middle East. John will be based from the company's office in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
Robert Watson, Rolls-Royce, outgoing Regional Director, said; "It has been an exciting three years developing our business in The Middle East, which is an important growth market for Rolls-Royce. John's international experience and deep knowledge of Rolls-Royce will help us make the most of the market opportunities we see ahead."
John Gay, Rolls-Royce, incoming Regional Director, Middle East, said, "The Middle East remains a strong focus for Rolls-Royce as our business and our customer relationships continue to grow. Our recent achievements in the region are a testament to Rob's hard work and we look forward to building on this success. As part of our business objectives, we are keen to support the skills and industrial development agendas of the region's governments."
In the Middle East, Rolls-Royce products have been in use for over 75 years, with the first Rolls-Royce powered aircraft flying in the region in 1929. Rolls-Royce is a major supplier to airlines and defence ministries, provides marine equipment and design expertise to a number of shipyards. It also has installed over 400 industrial gas turbines servicing the oil and gas industry across the region.
Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.
As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in more than 80 countries.
Annual underlying revenue was £12.2 billion in 2012, of which more than half came from the provision of services. The firm and announced order book stood at £60.1 billion at 31 December 2012, providing visibility of future levels of activity.
Rolls-Royce employs over 45,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 14,000 of these employees are engineers.
In 2012, Rolls-Royce invested £919 million on research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental performance of its products, in particular reducing emissions.
Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which connect the company's engineers with the forefront of scientific research.
The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills.
For further information, please contact:
Media Relations:
Wajih HalawaDirector
Brunswick
Tel: +971 4 446 6282
Email: whalawa@brunswickgroup.com
Corporate Communications:
Erin Atan
Head of Communications- Asia Pacific & the Middle East
Rolls-Royce plc
Tel: +65 9068 8639
Email: erin.atan@rolls-royce.com
www.Rolls-Royce.com
© Press Release 2013
