David Singleton

David Singleton was Austal's chief executive and managing director from April 2016 to December 2020. He had previously served as a non-executive director since 2011.

Mr Singleton's prior executive roles included being chief executive and managing director of mineral exploration company Poseidon Nickel, chief executive and managing director of engineering group Clough between 2003 and 2007.

Prior to moving to Perth, Mr Singleton held senior roles with BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest defence companies, including as group head of strategy and mergers & acquisitions in London from 1997 to 1998 and again in 2003. In the intervening years, he was BAE’s managing director of asset management, before spending three years in Rome as the chief executive of Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS), a joint venture between BAE Systems and Finmeccanica that had turnover of circa Euro1.4 billion and employed 7,500 people across the UK, Italy, the USA and Germany.

Mr Singleton served as a member of the National Defence Industries Council in the UK, and as a board member and vice president of Defence for Intellect, a leading trade association for the UK technology industry.