Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) has appointed a new regional managing director to lead its Australia & Asia Pacific business. Andrew Stewart (36), previously the company's southern operations business manager in Australia, takes the reins as part of a planned handover from Matt Gavin, who has served as the company's regional director for more than five years. WGPSN's Australia & Asia Pacific business employs more than 2,000 people, providing engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services to customers in the oil & gas, refining, chemicals, coal seam gas and water industries in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. 

Mr. Stewart first joined WGPSN in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia in 2009 following a number of domestic and international assignments in India, the UK and the Netherlands. Since then he has held roles as project delivery manager, assignment manager and project director, before joining the Australia & Asia Pacific regional leadership team as southern business manager in January 2013. In his new role, Mr Stewart will be based in Melbourne and report to WGPSN's chief executive, Robin Watson. 

Speaking about his ambitions for the business, Mr. Stewart said: "It's an exciting time to be a leading brownfield production services contractor in the Australia & Asia Pacific region. We have an amazing group of people spanning project management, engineering, business services and the full suite of maintenance and construction trades. What this means for our customers is low transaction costs and single point accountability for 'cradle to grave' delivery performance."

Robin Watson, WGPSN chief executive said: "Our business in Australia & Asia Pacific has grown from 700 to more than 2,000 people in the past five years under Matt's direction and I would like to thank Matt for his commitment and wish him well as he takes on a new role with Wood Group in the Oman.

"Andrew has played a key part in our regional growth story and in transforming our southern operations in Australia where we maintain contracts with Esso, Caltex and Melbourne Water. He is an exceptional leader who has a natural ability to engage with customers and employees alike. I am very much looking forward to working with him to grow our business in this important region."

Mr. Stewart has an honors degree in mechanical engineering, a post graduate diploma of management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Melbourne Business School. In 2010, he was awarded Australian Financial Review (AFR) BOSS Young Executive of the Year in recognition of his career achievements and his ability to manage a 300 strong team through adversity during the global financial crisis.