Join GlobalScot Les Hutchison for his talk entitled 'Passport to Success' where he shares the international aspects of his career from the 1970’s to the 2010’s - outlining his international experience with specific points on lessons learned.
Hear about the successes and failures that have shaped this highly successful entrepreneur and engineering graduate during his career.
Programme
8.00am - 8.30am Buffet breakfast and networking
8.30am - 9.00am Presentation
9.00am - 9.30am Q&A session
About Dr Les Hutchison
Lanarkshire-born businessman and alumnus Dr Les Hutchison is a veteran business figure who reached the top in a global engineering company and now lives in Barbados. Les, who left Bell College of Technology (now UWS Lanarkshire Campus) with an HNC Electrical Engineering in 1975, went on to become Vice Chair and a Director of Canadian energy services company, ShawCor from 2008 until his retirement in May 2013. An electrical engineer with British Steel, the young Les went on to set-up and run an electrical contracting business before taking on roles with various Scottish engineering firms working on projects around the world.
In 1998 Les was head-hunted by Canadian energy services company Shaw Industries, then a $350m turnover business with operations in Scotland, and forged a reputation as Shaw Industries’ turnaround expert. Moving to Houston, Texas, Les ended up running several divisions of the now ShawCor, before becoming Vice Chairman and invited to join the board. ShawCor won contracts to build some of the world’s longest subsea pipelines with annual revenues in excess of $1.3bn in 2013.
“The University has played a big part in my successful career. It not only gave me engineering expertise, but it also gave me the skills to problem-solve, and that was invaluable when I moved into a competitive business environment.”
Les is Founding Patron of the Saltire Foundation and an Honorary Member of Entrepreneurial Scotland which aims to inspire and develop Scotland’s people to build the most entrepreneurial society in the world. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at UWS's Hamilton graduation ceremony in 2015 and was owner of Motherwell FC before transferring the club into fan ownership in 2016.
Les and his Canadian wife Virginia are both committed to giving back and helping others in many areas of the world. The Hutchisons established the annual Hutchison Prize for the top engineering student at UWS in 2013.
