Richard L. Olver

Olver is Chairman of BAe Systems. Born in 1947, Dick Olver joined BP plc in 1973. His early career involved a wide range of oil, gas and refining projects in Britain, Canada, the Middle East and Norway. He was appointed Vice President, BP Pipelines Inc., BP North America, in 1979. In 1983 he became Divisional Manager for new technology with responsibility for offshore, Arctic and enhanced oil recovery technology development. In 1985 he became Divisional Manager of Corporate Planning for British Petroleum and led the strategic team on the acquisition by BP of Standard Oil in the United States. In 1988 he became General Manager, Gas, BP Exploration Europe, responsible for the operation, new business development and asset management of BP and Britoil's European gas portfolio. He was made Chief of Staff to the Chairman of BP and Head of Corporate Strategy for the BP Group in May 1990. In April 1992 he became Chief Executive, BP Exploration, USA, where he led BP's growth in deep water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1995 he became Deputy Chief Executive of BP Exploration. In 1998 he was appointed to the Board of BP and became CEO of Exploration and Production.

In 2004 Olver was appointed Chairman of BAE Systems plc and at the same time retired from the Board of BP. Before leaving BP he was Deputy Group Chief Executive. He continues with BP as Deputy Chairman of TNK-BP. Mr. Olver is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering. He is a Non-Executive director of Reuters Group plc, is Chairman of the Reuters Audit Committee, as well as a member of their Nomination Committee and the Senior Independent Director. ^[1]