VTU Group announces the appointment of Liam O'Neil as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), succeeding long-serving CEO Friedrich Fröschl who will transition into an advisory role at the end of 2025.
Liam O’Neil brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record across the engineering services and project management sectors. With over 23 years of experience in the energy sector, he has held various leadership roles in both private and public companies, serving as Chief Operating Officer of Private Equity owned Engineering and Construction firm PD&MS Group and most recently serving as President of Growth and Execution at Wood, where he led several key Execution and Development functions in New Energies, Process and Chemicals, Life sciences, Minerals and Metals.
Born in Scotland and having spent formative years in Canada and the UK, Liam’s career in industry began in technical roles in automation, controls and instrumentation. As well as his most recent roles, Liam has held roles at a variety of larger PLC companies in the customer and contractor side, with notable past roles at Petrofac, AMEC Foster Wheeler and Worley, amongst others. Liam has held a variety of technical, project management and leadership roles, and he has successfully led a wide range of modifications projects, programs and large capital projects, as well as driving organic business growth with Blue Chip customers.
Liam O’Neil holds an MBA from the University of Warwick, an MSc in Project Management, Post Graduate Degrees in both Construction and in Management. Liam has completed executive programs at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School and is currently in the process of completing an MSc in Finance at the University of Manchester.
With his broad expertise and dedication to excellence, he is well-equipped to lead VTU Group into a successful future.
“With Liam O’Neil, we have found a highly experienced engineering manager whose background in engineering and project management, along with his career development, has equipped him with the ideal skill set to continue VTU’s story. It will be a pleasure to support him as he takes on the role of CEO, and I wish him all the best for his new leading role at VTU Group.”
“I’m incredibly honored to join VTU as CEO at such a pivotal moment in the company’s journey. VTU is known for its deep technical excellence, trusted long-term customer relationships, and a strong, people-centered culture – all of which I intend to protect and build upon. My first impressions are that we have a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, ready to support our customers as their needs evolve in response to a complex and shifting macro environment.
VTU stands as a trusted and adaptable partner – focused on delivering what our customers truly need, not just what we want to offer. This customer-centric mindset, combined with our technical depth and flexibility, is what sets us apart. To serve our customers even better, we will scale up responsibly: enhancing systems, strengthening delivery, and introducing new capabilities – while preserving the essence of what makes VTU special.
Growth and professionalization must go hand-in-hand with culture. I’m committed to leading VTU into its next chapter of success while staying true to the values and spirit that brought us here. I look forward to listening, learning, and working closely with our exceptional teams across Europe as we shape the future of VTU together.”