Opus major for retiring engineering CEO

BY JAMES WEIR

Kevin Thompson has a cartoon of his Opus family up on his office wall.

It is a mark of the man that the cartoon is jam packed with dozens of caricatures of his senior team and board, and not just himself.

In fact, it is hard to spot Mr Thompson in the crowd – he leads a big team in the engineering consultancy.

Mr Thompson, who is about to turn 60, is stepping down as chief executive of Wellington-based Opus after close to a decade as chief executive. Since 2001, he has led the company on its global expansion plan and sharemarket listing.

He decided from the outset that the job as chief executive was not a job for life and that he would leave while he was "still contributing", rather than when people thought he should leave.

"You have to deliver at a high level and leave while you can still do that," he says.

The plan had been to stay for seven years, but he stayed on longer to bed in the company after it listed on the NZX sharemarket in 2007.

"And I didn't anticipate leaving in the middle of the global financial crisis – that would have been pretty tough," he said.

Dealing with the impact of the global downturn has been stressful, but he says the efforts have been "quite successful".

The company went global between 2005 and 2008, doubling staff to about 2500 with offices in Australia, Britain and Canada as well as New Zealand. The further expansion to 3500 staff by 2011 was put on hold during the financial crisis, but is now active again.

Since the crisis Opus has done much more to share people and opportunities around the world – a greater connection between the international cousins in the family.

Mr Thompson admits that poses many challenges.

"But the benefits are so tremendous – everyone sees the potential. People don't like to share anything with a stranger, but you will share with your friends," he says.

That meant developing greater connections between personalities, understanding them and their capabilities.

"We have shared a lot with the UK [office], which has been bereft of opportunities [since the global financial crisis]," he says. The British business made a small trading profit in the six months to June this year after a $6.7 million loss in the same period last year.

Each of the four regional managers in New Zealand spent time in Britain, sitting down with staff there who were doing work remotely for New Zealand clients – "to make that personal connection". That process has worked well, Mr Thompson says.

"We have had people come over and work here [in New Zealand] and they go away as colleagues and friends," Mr Thompson says.

One of the highlights of his time at Opus, Mr Thompson says, was changing the culture.

"The culture now is one of openness – very open. Information and understanding [about Opus] is freely available to everyone [in the company]," he says.

Staff know what they are part of so they can deliver their part in the "team and the family".

"We are a people organisation and rely on the intellectual grunt of all of our people, to make us successful," he says.

Mr Thompson spends about 10 weeks a year visiting 2500 staff in each of the 81 offices around the world, talking to them about the group's aims and strategy. And through personal diligence he aims to be able to greet staff in the office by name.

He admits that travel has taken a personal toll with a lack of exercise, which he aims to remedy after stepping down, including more time on the golf course at Heretaunga to improve his handicap.

Born in Wellington of Irish Catholic stock, Mr Thompson grew up in the suburb of Brooklyn and went to St Patrick's College in the city. He completed an engineering degree and doctorate at Canterbury University in the 1970s, before joining the Ministry of Works and Development.

His personal professional achievements include projects such as the Motunui Synthetic Petrol plant infrastructure in Taranaki, the Clutha Valley roading development and the Maniatoto irrigation scheme.

Colleague Melvyn Maylin, who joined the Ministry of Works Invercargill office after Mr Thompson left it, says Mr Thompson was "renowned for his prodigious workload, a fearsome intellect and his principled approach".

Another colleague Peter Mathewson says Mr Thompson has "a keen sense of humour and a personable nature".

Asked about his biggest achievements at Opus, Mr Thompson jokes: "Getting an electric hand towel dispenser in the men's room."

But as an engineering consultancy, Mr Thompson points to Opus' scheme assessment for the Transmission Gully roading project north of Wellington, which Cabinet minister Peter Dunne has called a "brilliant piece of work".

Opus managed to cut costs out of the earlier plan to make the giant roading project more affordable and more reliable, after many years of delays in the planning phase.

"It now looks like it is going to be buildable – so that is a great success," Mr Thompson says.

Transmission Gully is expected to be completed within 10 years.

"And having started it and improved it we hope to continue right through," Mr Thompson says. "We are optimistic and keen."

The Britomart railway station in central Auckland was also a proud achievement because it brought together a team involving people from Britain who had worked on underground railway stations. Those people came to New Zealand and worked in local offices on the project.

"It showed how teams can come together and get the best talent available," he says.

While it was challenging to bring together people from different cultures from around the world, he believes they now have a "one company" approach and culture. "People are not living in isolation – there is a strong personal connection across the globe."

Mr Thompson thinks hard before admitting to any disasters during his time at Opus.

"When the global financial crisis hit us early in 2009 – it hit us pretty hard in the first quarter and we had to react vigorously and quickly to that," he says. It took a while "for the penny to drop" about how serious the global financial crisis was.

It also took some time for actions to deliver results. Cutting staff involved a consultation process and it could take three months to implement.

But the staff and cost cutting last year was done in the context of still maintaining the company's capability. The answer was to put many people on reduced hours and salaries, rather than laying more off. Most offices in Britain went down to four days a week and some in Australia, though not in New Zealand or Canada.

Those who didn't go down to four days a week in Britain had a 10 per cent pay cut.

"We didn't want to cut numbers because we put a lot of effort [earlier] into growing numbers and our capability," he says.

In Britain most staff are now back to five days a week and are coming back to full salary.

Just laying off staff would also have been "destructive to the culture", he says. There was an immediate reaction of "bitterness and anger" about pay and job cuts, but later a recognition that it was the right thing to do.

In total, Opus laid off 133 people last year, and did not replace 140 staff who left the company, dropping the total head count by 273, about 10 per cent of the total workforce.

"So it was a tough time, but a growing time and our culture strengthened tremendously," he says.

The staff in Britain "are now well and truly painted with Opus red and are part of the team".

"Having been through it, we know we can do it again," he says.

While retiring from his role as Opus chief executive role, Mr Thompson hopes to become a non-executive director on company boards. He does not want to move straight on to the Opus board, though he does not rule that out at a later stage, "after a big gap".

Unlike some former chief executives in New Zealand, Mr Thompson says it would be "unreasonable" to be a director immediately.

"I'd love to be on the Opus board, but I don't think it is in principle correct."

Even the best chief executive with the highest ideals would still try to maintain "what he has created" despite stepping down.

But he says he has not had time to plan for his future. Speaking like a true engineer he says: "The first thing I need to do is develop a plan".

And his wife Anne is not retiring either, from her role as head of collections at the National Library, in charge of acquiring books.

"She has been a tremendous support and she has been engaged with the company whenever needed," he says.

"And she has never left me with a sense of guilt [about travelling]," he says, giving him the freedom to do the job.

After leaving Opus, Mr Thompson also plans to spend more time with his five grandchildren, who are spread around – Auckland, Dunedin and Hong Kong – though not quite as far as his Opus family.

"It is an ambition to get to know them as they grow up," he says.

- © Fairfax NZ News