Sam Laidlaw

Chairman

Sam has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group during the coalition government, the Senior Director for the Department of Transport and a non-executive director of both HSBC Holdings plc and Hanson plc.

He has more than 40 years’ experience across the energy sector and has held several senior roles including Chief Executive Officer of both Enterprise Oil plc and Centrica plc, and as the Founder and Executive Chairman of Neptune Energy Group Holdings Ltd, an international oil and gas exploration and production company. He is the senior non-executive director of Rio Tinto plc and Chairman of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB).

Sam has extensive leadership experience in long-term capital investment industries in which safety, sustainability and stakeholder management are critical.

Latest news

AWE Recognised Among Top Ten in the 2025 REDI Index for Religious Inclusion AWE is proud to announce its inclusion in the top ten of the 2025 Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Index

AWE named a top ten inclusive employer

It’s official; we’re a top ten inclusive employer in the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation 2025 Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Index. It means we join the ranks of Thames Water, Direct Line Group, John Lewis Partnership and Rolls-Royce. We take inclusion seriously and we believe in walking the walk. That’s why we have several initiatives in […]

Academia exchange: AWE sponsored PhD student’s international experience

An AWE sponsored PhD student from Bangor University, Moli, has recently returned from a unique and inspiring four-month international exchange programme that provided valuable insights into the wider nuclear industry and contributed to her PhD research which uses computational methods to explore and assess the nuclear forensics signatures of exotic materials and how they evolve over […]

Leading on all fronts: Andrew McNaughton appointed Vice President of Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Council has confirmed Andrew McNaughton as Vice President of the ICE Trustee Board from November 2025. His appointment comes with a view to taking on the role of president of the institution in November 2028, subject to interim annual election by the council.