Entrepreneurs Forum

For One Night Only – We are immensely privileged to be able to offer you a truly unique open event, in the company of a compelling speaker and story teller.

 

Named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006, 2007 and 2008, Bob Keiller is renowned as an inspirational leader who cascades his core principals throughout his team and achieves dazzling results.

 

There is no question that Bob's straightforward optimism has led to one of the great entrepreneurial success stories of the past decade.  He is a highly driven entrepreneur, exhibiting the passion, belief and energy you would expect of someone who has created a company with a turnover of over $1.2 billion.

 

Bob’s business, PSN, has approximately 8,500 employees doing everything from high- level engineering consultancy to construction and maintenance for oil operators in more than 20 countries around the world. Locations are as diverse as the US, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Papua New Guinea.  In 2009, Bob was recognised by a panel of his peers for making an Outstanding Contribution to the oil and gas industry in the official Scottish Offshore Achievement Awards.

 

During the evening Bob will talk about his unique leadership style which once led one riveted audience member of the Entrepreneurial Exchange to remark, “Bob’s company culture is permeated by his core values which creates an environment of ambitious like minded employees who want to work there.  This is an outstanding achievement.”

 

He will also offer his personal experience on spotting an opportunity, going through a management buyout (one which, under Bob's leadership, won the ‘Management-Buy-Out' of the year at the 2006 Scottish Business Insider Deals and Dealmakers awards ceremony), achieving sustainable growth and channelling commercial acumen to huge returns.  And of course inject a bit of his light hearted sense of humour throughout this fascinating journey.

 

As well as his Entrepreneur of the Year accolades, Bob has been awarded the National Business Award’s corporate social responsibility award for Scotland in 2007, and the Scottish Offshore Achievement Award 2007 for ‘succeeding through people' for creating a corporate culture that inspires the business leaders and technical champions of the future.

 

This event is a unique chance to glean invaluable tips and nuggets of knowledge from one of Scotland’s best business stories.

As the evening draws to a close guests can enjoy a light supper and tap into the experiences of fellow guests, as well as having the opportunity to ask further questions of Bob more informally.

 

Bob’s leadership qualities, technical operational experience and outstanding commercial expertise have been developed through over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

 

After graduating in 1986, Bob Keiller worked as an engineer for BP, becoming a chartered engineer in 1990.  He was then head-hunted by a technical consulting company where he worked for two years.  He was head-hunted again by oil producer Amerada Hess in 1992, where he held a variety of management roles across the group.  Further career progression at Amerada Hess would have disrupted his children's education with overseas postings, so an offer to join Halliburton in January 2002 was irresistible.

 

In May 2002 Bob became head of UK operations for the Production Services division within Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR).  Bob re-focussed the business, assessing key strengths, divesting non-core assets and improving tender success from one in ten, to nine in ten.  Following this success, Bob was made Global MD of the Production Services division in 2004.

 

Recognising that the business model for Production Services differed from the rest of KBR, (it was less capital-intensive and had a lower risk profile), Bob saw the opportunity to spin out the division.  Bob secured over $400m (US) of funding from the Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance and on 1st May 2006 created PSN through an award-winning $280million (US) management-buy-out. 

 

Since the origination of the deal, Bob has overseen a sustained growth in the business with EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) several million dollars ahead of plan.  PSN has also created over 2500 new jobs globally and now employs a network of over 8,500 people, working in 26 countries, across five continents.  Bob's charismatic leadership style, technical operational experience and outstanding commercial acumen has lead the creation of a company with turnover over $1.2 billion, an order book worth more than $2.3 billion and work secured to 2014.

 

Under Bob's leadership, PSN won the ‘Management-Buy-Out' of the year at the 2006 Scottish Business Insider Deals and Dealmakers awards ceremony, the National Business Awards for Scotland 2007 award for corporate social responsibility and the Scottish Offshore Achievement Award 2007 for ‘succeeding through people' for creating a corporate culture that inspires the business leaders and technical champions of the future.  In 2008 and again in 2009, PSN was elected into the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to work for list.  PSN has also achieved Best Companies accreditation for the second consecutive year, which is awarded to organisations that demonstrate high levels of employee engagement.

 

Bob was declared Entrepreneur of the year at the Entrepreneurial Exchange awards ceremony 2006, Insider Elite KPMG Businessman of the Year 2007 and Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year 2008.  In June 2008, Bob was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Business Administration from Robert Gordon University.  In 2009, Bob was recognised by a panel of his peers for making an Outstanding Contribution to the oil and gas industry in the official Scottish Offshore Achievement Awards.  He is currently co-Chair of the Scottish Government's Oil and Gas Advisory Group, co-Chair of the Oil & Gas UK board, Chair of the Helicopter Issues Task Group and a Fellow of the Energy Institute.