John McDonald, the CEO of OPITO, a global not-for-profit skills and safety organization for the energy sector, has announced that he will step down this year, OPITO has revealed.
A formal search process for a successor is now underway, the organization said in a statement posted on its website, noting that McDonald has spent more than a decade “leading the organization to through a period of significant change and transformation in the energy industry.”
On 12 July 2017, OPITO announced that it had appointed McDonald as CEO “as the organization looks to further drive the international skills agenda for the oil and gas industry”. McDonald had been acting CEO since January 2017 and was previously OPITO’s UK CEO after joining the organization in 2012.
McDonald’s appointment as CEO followed an external and internal recruitment process following the sudden death of former CEO David Doig in early 2017, OPITO noted in a company statement at the time.
In its latest statement, OPITO noted that over McDonald’s tenure, OPITO has become a recognized and respected name in nearly 60 countries, “with annual records of its training standards more than doubling to to 480,000”.
“It has been a real privilege to lead such an impactful and well-respected organization for the past 10 years,” McDonald said in a statement from OPITO.
“It has been my long-standing ethos that building strong and progressive relationships with our partners and stakeholders is the secret to achieving lasting results. From governments and industry to unions and the workforce, OPITO is a trusted and credible partner”, he added.
“But change is constant and now is the right time to do it. Over the coming months, I remain committed to working closely with our leadership team and partners to deliver on our priorities, including the Energy Skills Passport, to ensure a safe and skilled workforce, ready to thrive in the future net zero,” McDonald continued.
Energy Skills Passport
In October last year, OPITO announced it had received $6.3m (£5m) from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund to support the delivery of an Energy Skills Passport .
In a statement published on its website at the time, OPITO said the funding will help deliver “the innovative digital solution to create pathways for workers to pursue flexible careers in the offshore energy industry”. The passport will expedite the transfer of skills and address the lack of recognition of cross-sector skills, OPITO said in the statement, adding that it will support oil and gas workers who, by choice or through the natural reduction of jobs, they will need to move to another energy sector.
In the statement, OPITO revealed that the energy skills passport will show an individual worker’s current qualifications and credentials required for transition to another energy sector. It will allow users to prove they have the recognized qualifications and training needed to access jobs, OPITO said in the statement.
“With UK offshore energy jobs forecast to grow to more than 211,000 by 2030, it is vital that we prepare and equip a diverse, agile and adaptable workforce, fueling the skills we need in oil and gas, offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen,” McDonald said in the October statement.
“With a third of the UK’s offshore energy workforce based in Scotland, this is both a challenge and an opportunity for Scotland to be a leader in the energy transition. Supporting workers to get the training they need to moving from one sector of the offshore energy industry to another is essential,” he added.
“This critical funding will help deliver the Energy Skills Passport, a digital solution that will transform the transition between sectors for offshore energy workers, while delivering on the commitments of the North Sea Transition Agreement and several of the just transition outcomes from the Scottish Government,” he continued. .
In November last year, OPITO revealed in a statement posted on its site that 3t Energy Group had been selected to develop an energy skills passport as part of a competitive tender process. In this statement, OPITO highlighted that the Energy Skills Passport was expected to be rolled out in 2023.
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
