John Armitt

Sir John Armitt CBE
Sir John Armitt (right) during a visit to the Olympic Park, 2011.
Born	John Alexander Armitt (1946-02-02) 2 February 1946 (age 71) Edmonton, London, England
Alma mater	Portsmouth College of Technology London Business School
Occupation	Chairman, National Express Group

Sir John Alexander Armitt, CBE, FREng,FICE (born 2 February 1946) is an English civil engineer, who was from 2007 Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body which successfully built the venues, facilities and infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic Games. He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 2015-16, having been a vice-president since 2012.

He is also Chairman of the Council of the City and Guilds of London Institute, and took office in October 2012. He was Chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council from 2007 until 2012. He was appointed Chairman of National Express Group on 1 January 2013, he took office on 1 February.

Armitt was born in February 1946 in North London. He is 6 ft 4 in tall. He attended Portsmouth Northern Grammar School. He graduated in Civil Engineering from the Portsmouth College of Technology in 1966 and took his first job with John Laing Construction. He has a master's degree from London Business School.

He spent 27 years with John Laing plc, on various projects including the Sizewell B nuclear power station rising to become the Chairman of Laing's International and Civil Engineering Divisions. In 1993 he was appointed Chief Executive of Union Railways, the company responsible for implementing the Channel Tunnel rail link. From 1997 to 2001 he was Chief Executive of Costain Group, which he converted from an annual loss of £62M to a profit of £6.5M. In 2001 he became Chief Executive of Railtrack, and from 2002 to 2007 its successor, Network Rail, the not-for-dividend company which owns, maintains, and runs the railway infrastructure in Great Britain.