Sir Neville Ian Simms (born 11 September 1944) is a British businessman and civil engineer who was CEO of Tarmac plc from 1992 to 1999.

Career

Simms was born in 1944 in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, the son of naval officer Arthur Neville Simms MBE and his wife, Anne Davidson McCulloch. Simms was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Crediton and King's College, Durham, which had become Newcastle University by the time he graduated with a first class honours degree in civil engineering in 1966, and then completed a post-graduate degree in engineering at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1970. After training at

Ove Arup Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, an ...

, he joined a civil engineering contractor, A M Carmichael on the M9 motorway out of Edinburgh and when that firm went bust in 1970, the contract was taken over by Tarmac. He went on to become head of Tarmac Construction in 1988 and Group CEO of Tarmac in 1992. Simms became executive chairman of Carillion on its demerger from Tarmac in July 1999. He stood down as CEO in January 2001 but continued as non-executive chairman until May 2005. Simms was heavily involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel and served as Joint Chairman of

TML TML may refer to: * Taiwan Major League, former Taiwan baseball league * TML Entertainment, record label established for the Canadian band Triumph * Toronto Maple Leafs, Canadian pro ice hockey team * TransducerML, transducer markup language * T ...

for the last three years of the contract. He chaired the

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales). BITC work ...

regional teams in the West Midlands and the Solent areas and served as Chairman of the

Building Research Establishment The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides resear ...

Trust and Deputy Chair of Ashridge Management College. Simms was chairman of

International Power plc Engie Energy International, formerly International Power, is a multinational electricity generation company headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the French company Engie (formerly GDF Suez). The company was form ...

from October 2000 until its acquisition by

GDF Suez Engie SA is a French multinational utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie, which operates in the fields of energy transition, electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and petroleum. It ...

in July 2012 and became chairman of the Thames Tideway Tunnel in December 2013. He has also served as a non-executive director of Courtaulds plc and was a Member of the Court of the Bank of England for seven years. Simms was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

in the

1998 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1998 for the United Kingdom, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis were announced on 30 December 1 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Neville Living people 1944 births Engineers from Glasgow British chief executives Alumni of Newcastle University Businesspeople awarded knighthoods British civil engineers Knights Bachelor Carillion people People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Crediton