Strong Leadership
The company’s current president, CEO and chairman of the board, William Utt, holds more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry. Before coming to KBR, he was president and CEO of SUEZ Energy North America, and before that was president and CEO of Tractebel’s North American operations.

He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, and has been a chairman of the Electric Power Supply Association.

Brown joined the firm as an engineer in 1992, and spent approximately 15 years traveling the globe to work on international projects. Before being named president, he was in charge of KBR’s construction operations in the Middle East.

“I guess I’ve seen a lot of the world, I’ve seen a lot of different projects and I’ve seen a lot of up-and-down cycles,” Brown notes.

Looking Up
Brown says he sees KBR Canada in the midst of an up cycle right now, with possibilities open to the company for expansion.

“I see the future for KBR Canada as having a greater spread across the province of projects, more across the north,” he says.

“We’re playing a bit of catch-up as we didn’t really drive the business over the late ’90s as much as we could have been.”

As a whole, Brown believes the energy construction industry in Alberta needs to roll up its sleeves and keep working.

“These are exciting times in Alberta,” he says. “For KBR, that means delivering on our promise to grow our business by adding talent, remaining cost focused, and ensuring predictability and results.”