In business: on the road with Keltbray

By Dave Rogers2022-02-14T07:00:00

After 30 years at Costain, Darren James was unable to resist the call from Keltbray wanting to help to diversify and tighten up governance

“It was an odd time to be a new CEO,” concedes Darren James. The 54-year-old is looking back to April Fool’s Day in 2020.

He had just swapped 30 years at Costain to join Keltbray, with his first day in the new post coming on 1 April, a week after Boris Johnson put the country into lockdown to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.

James had been recruited after a call from Keltbray’s owner, Brendan Kerr, the year before. He had only been made chief operating officer at Costain in the spring of 2019 when former chief executive Andrew Wyllie stepped down, but Kerr – who was looking for someone to help grow the business into new markets and tighten up its corporate governance – got in touch nonetheless.

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