Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> November 10, 2003
RICHARD A. NEILL is President and Chief Executive Officer of Magellan
Aerospace Corporation He completed his early education in 1961 at Dundee
College of Technology, graduating with a Higher National Diploma. He was
registered as a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom in 1963. Upon
graduation, Mr. Neill joined Rolls-Royce Limited in Glasgow, Scotland,
and worked in the areas of design and performance of aircraft gas
turbines. Mr. Neill and his family emigrated to Canada in 1968. He
worked for Rolls-Royce in Montreal where he held a number of
appointments on Rolls-Royce Industrial Programs and then later was
appointed Vice President, Marketing for Repair and Overhaul of Aircraft
Engines. In 1981, Mr. Neill joined GE Canada as Program Manager for the
Aircraft Engine Group in Canada. During this time GE was successful on
the CF18 Program, the main turbines for the Navy Frigates; the capture
of both Air Canada and Canadian Airlines as new customers for Airbus; as
well as the establishing of manufacturing facilities at Bromont, Quebec.
In 1987, Mr. Neill joined Walbar Canada as the General Manager of this
700 employee company engaged in the manufacture of aircraft engine parts
in Mississauga, Ontario. He joined Hawker Siddeley Canada Inc. in 1991,
becoming Vice President in 1994, and then President of the Orenda
Division. Upon the change of ownership in May 1996, Mr. Neill was
appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of Orenda Aerospace
Corporation, becoming President of Magellan Aerospace Corporation in
January 1997. In 2002, Mr. Neill became President and Chief Executive
Officer. In addition to corporate Boards, he is Past Chairman of the
Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, Chairman of the Ontario
Aerospace Council and a Board Member of the SAE Foundation for Canada.
He is registered in the Province of Ontario as a Professional Engineer. Profile
Aerospace and a picture of things as they are now?
Mr. Neill: Magellan Aerospace was formed in 1996 when the assets of
