As South Australia’s growing multi-million dollar defence sector enters an exciting era of growth and new horizons, experienced industry leader Mr Richard Price has been announced new Chief Executive of Defence SA.
Defence and Space Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith announced the appointment in Parliament today and thanked outgoing CE Andy Keough for his efforts since 2015, a time that represented one of the most challenging periods in South Australia’s defence history.
Background
Richard Price has extensive leadership experience in defence comprising maritime, land, aerospace, science and technology domains over 30 years.
He worked at British Aerospace in the UK in 1985 and later joined SAAB Systems in Adelaide. In 2009 he took over as deputy managing director of SAAB Systems and in 2011 became Vice President and Managing Director.
Mr Keough is joining SAAB Australia as Managing Director.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence and Space Industries Martin Hamilton-Smith
The State Government’s advocacy campaigns have been vital to the delivery of the multi-billion dollar OPV, frigate and submarine programs to the state and Andy should be proud of the part he played in helping us achieve this.
Andy’s drive helped the South Australian Government successfully lobby the Federal Government and change the national agenda on shipbuilding. We went from a proposed purchase of submarines building in Japan, to a Continuous Shipbuilding Program based in SA.
But we must not be complacent. There are challenges ahead. The South Australian Government remains focussed on creating jobs of the future and delivering maximum benefits for local workers and industry.
We will continue to grow defence and space industries as the state economy transitions towards a high-tech advanced manufacturing future. Our vision is for a strong, sustainable economy for future generations that builds on our strengths and our established defence industry is one that will continue to support that aim.