William Samuel Hugh Laidlaw (born 3 January 1956, Kensington) is the Executive Chairman of Neptune Energy, the independent E&P company. He is former chief executive officer of

Centrica Centrica plc is a British multinational energy and services company with its headquarters in Windsor, Berkshire. Its principal activity is the supply of electricity and gas to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest su ...

, the British natural gas and

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

company.

Early life

He is the son of Sir Christophor Laidlaw (1922–2010), a manager at British Petroleum who went on to be deputy chairman, and was later chairman of computer maker ICL. Sam Laidlaw attended

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and studied law at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, gaining an MA in 1977. He qualified as a solicitor in 1979 with the Macfarlanes law company. He obtained an MBA in 1981 from the

INSEAD Business School INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San F ...

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

, France; his father was for a time the chairman of the school's UK advisory body.

Career

Laidlaw was with U.S. oil company

Amerada Hess Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petrol ...

(1981–2001), building their North Sea business before running their worldwide exploration and production business and becoming president and chief operating officer (1995–2001). He was executive vice-president of global business development of the California-based

Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is headquartered in S ...

from May 2003 and became chief executive officer of

Enterprise Oil Enterprise Oil was a major UK independent exploration and production company based in Europe, with core areas of activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainland Europe, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company was once a constituent of the ...

in 2002 (which was bought under his leadership by Shell in 2002 for £3.5bn). Enterprise Oil also faced a hostile takeover from Eni, the Rome-based oil company. In January 2008, he was appointed a non-executive director of

HSBC Holdings plc HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tril ...

, and in December 2010 he was appointed as the lead non-executive director on the board of the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

. He was also a member of the UK Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group (2010–2012). Until August 2007, he was a non-executive director of

Hanson plc Hanson UK, formerly Hanson Trust plc, is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. The company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London S ...

. He is a trustee of the medical charity RAFT. He has been chairman of the Petroleum Science and Technology Institute, based in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, a director of the National Engineering Laboratory and president of the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association. He chaired a report on business and higher education for the CBI in 2010 and led the inquiry into the failure of the competition for the West Coast Rail Franchise in 2012. He joined Centrica in July 2006, taking over from Sir Roy Gardner and becoming chairman of the executive committee and the disclosure committee. In 2015, he founded Neptune Energy, an international oil and gas exploration and production company, and is the firm’s first Executive Chairman. He has also been a member of the UK Government’s Energy Advisory Panel, President of the UK Offshore Operators Association, a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group, the Senior Director for the Department of Transport and a non-executive director of both HSBC Holdings plc and Hanson plc. He is a non-executive director of Rio Tinto plc and Chairman of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB).

Personal life

Laidlaw married Deborah (Debbie) Morris-Adams in

Aylesbury Vale The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum ( Hertfor ...

, Buckinghamshire in April 1989; they have three sons and a daughter.

References

External links

Profile at Centrica
– archived September 2011
Becoming Executive Vice President of Chevron in 2003

News items

Low carbon future in December 2009

''Scotland on Sunday'' May 2009 discussing nuclear power

''Guardian'' February 2009

''Times'' August 2008

''Times'' June 2008

British Gas makes £571m profit in 2007

Becoming boss of Centrica in March 2006

Video clips

Prince's Rainforests in November 2009

Corporate responsibility at Centrica in June 2009

Centrica's profits decline 20% as seen on the BBC in July 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlaw, Sam Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge British chief executives in the energy industry British corporate directors Centrica people English chief executives English solicitors INSEAD alumni People educated at Eton College 1956 births People from Kensington Living people