Wates Group appoints new CEO

by Facilitate team

Construction and property services provider Wates Group has appointed Eoghan O’Lionaird as its new chief executive.

O’Lionaird (top) joined the family-owned group’s board on 20 February.

He will be based in Wates’s headquarters in Leatherhead, Surrey, taking over from interim chief executive Philip Wainwright, who has been in the post since last summer. Wainwright will resume his role as chief financial officer.

Cork-born O’Lionaird joins the group from his previous role as CEO at FTSElisted marine services company James Fisher and Sons plc. He has also held executive positions at Spectris plc, Danaher Corporation, Philips and Mitsui Kinzoku. He has degrees in engineering from University College Cork, and the University of Limerick, and an MBA from the Institute of Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Sir James Wates (bottom), group chairman, said: “Eoghan is a globally