Colin Stephen Matthews CBE FREng (born 20 April 1956) is a British businessman, and the Chairman of Highways England, a position he has held since 2014; and EDF Energy.

Early life

He attended the independent Oundle School in north Northamptonshire. He is the son of Sir Peter Matthews, the former boss of Vickers, and was born in Canada.[1] He holds dual Canadian-British nationality.

In 1977 he gained a First Class MA degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge. In 1984 he gained an MBA from INSEAD, a famous business school in France. He became a Chartered Engineer.

Career

He started out on an engineering apprenticeship at Lucas Girling, a brakes manufacturer, in Birmingham, in 1977.

As Technical Director of British Airways in 2000 he tried unsuccessfully to keep Concorde flying

General Electric

He joined GE in 1988.

British Airways

In 1997 he became Managing Director of the engineering division of British Airways. As Technical Director, he left British Airways in 2001.

BAA

In 2008 he became Chief Executive of BAA plc, renamed Heathrow Airport Holdings in 2012. He announced his resignation from Heathrow Airport Holdings on 1 April 2014[2] when he announced he would leave the company later that year. Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport.

Highways England

On 21 July 2014 he was appointed as Chairman of the Highways Agency,[3] which became Highways England in December 2014.[4] He took up his position at the Highways Agency on 1 September 2014. As of 2015, Matthews was paid a salary of between £130,000 and £134,999 by the agency for his part-time role, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[5]

Personal life

He is married with four children. He has a French wife, Florence. In 2015 he became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He lives in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, with another house in France. He enjoys sailing in Cornwall.[6] He is a devout Christian.[7]

See also

  • Jim O'Sullivan, Chief Executive of Highways England since July 2015, who also came from BAA plc, and a former Chief Engineer of Concorde.

References

  1. ↑ "Cool fixer who must engineer BAA out of trouble at T5". Evening Standard. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Colin Matthews makes surprise exit from Heathrow". Telegraph.co.uk. April 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "New chairman of Highways Agency announced - Press releases - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Colin Matthews CBE FREng - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Senior officials 'high earners' salaries as at 30 September 2015 - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "INTERVIEW: Will Heathrow boss Colin Matthews succeed in giving". Evening Standard. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Northedge, Richard (2 March 2008). "To save BAA on a wing and a prayer". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
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