Sir Richard Lake Olver FREng (born 2 January 1947) was the chairman of BAE Systems, one of the world's largest defence contractors. Biography Early life Richard Olver was born on 2 January 1947. He studied at City University London, where he gained a first class honours degree in Civil Engineering. Career He joined BP in 1973 and over the course of his 30+ years with the company rose to become deputy group chief executive in 2003. His early career involved a wide range of oil, gas and refining projects in Britain, Canada, Scotland, the Middle East and Norway. He was appointed vice-president, BP Pipelines Inc, BP North America, in 1979. In 1983, he became divisional manager for new technology with responsibility for offshore, Arctic and enhanced oil recovery technology development. In 1985, he became divisional manager of corporate planning and led the strategic team on the acquisition by BP of Standard Oil in the United States. In 1988, he became general manager, Gas, BP Exploration Europe, responsible for the operation, new business development and asset management, of BP and Britoil's European gas portfolio. He was made chief of staff to the chairman of BP and head of corporate strategy for the BP Group in May 1990. In April 1992 he became chief executive, BP Exploration, USA. In 1995, he became deputy chief executive of BP Exploration. He was appointed to the board of BP and became CEO of Exploration and Production in 1998. He led the Upstream E&P business of BP for 5 years taking the business from 1.5mboepd to 3.6mboepd through the merger with Amoco and the acquisition of ARCO, thereby more than doubling the size of the business and generating $20bn/yr operating cash. He was then appointed deputy CEO in January 2003 and served in that role until his departure for BAE Systems plc in July 2004. He continued his association with BP as deputy chairman of TNK-BP until 2006. He became the non-executive chairman of BAE Systems on 1 July 2004. He replaced Sir Richard Evans, who had served with BAE Systems and its predecessor companies for over 30 years. He was a non-executive director of Reuters and Thomson Reuters from 1997-2008 and a member of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Business Council for Britain from 2009 to 2010. He is a former member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group and also serves as a