McGlinn to lead ICRG

Perth-based Indigenous Construction Resource Group is poised to become a bigger player in the mining services sector after its chairman, Clinton Wolf, lured NRW Holdings founder and former managing director Jeff McGlinn out of retirement.

Mr McGlinn’s return to an executive role comes five years after he retired from NRW.

As chief executive of ICRG, he will work with Mr Wolf, who is taking a non-executive role, and former managing director Angelo Radiski, who has moved to an operations role.

ICRG was founded in 2010 and has grown to have 209 staff, with more than 60 per cent being indigenous.

Mr Wolf said the group had grown to a point where it needed to bring in more experienced people.

“We got to a stage where the nature of the contracts we could take on was limited by the experience of our management team,” he said.

Mr McGlinn started at ICRG last week.

“He has already instilled a tremendous amount of confidence into the business,” Mr Wolf said.

“Jeff has a proven track record of success and I look forward to seeing his vision for ICRG come to fruition.”

Mr Wolf said Mr McGlinn’s move to ICRG had already prompted several other former NRW executives to join the group.

Mr McGlinn’s arrival at ICRG, and the prospect of more growth, is likely to assist long-running efforts by Mr Wolf to bring in new shareholders and achieve majority indigenous ownership.

The group’s private backers include Azure Capital, with indigenous ownership believed to be about 25 per cent.

ICRG describes itself as the indigenous sub-contractor of choice to John Holland, BGC, BMD, Brierty, and Mineral Resources.

Much of its growth has been achieved through joint ventures that are accredited by SupplyNation.

Guma ICRG, for instance, is jointly owned and operated by Nyiyaparli traditional owners Raymond Drage, Michael Stream and Victor Parker, and is chaired by indigenous leader and academic Marcia Langton.

A more recent initiative is Muntulgura Guruma, half-owned by Wintawari Guruma Enterprises, which in turn is owned by the Eastern Guruma traditional owners in the Pilbara.

ICRG also has partnerships in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria.

Mr McGlinn said he planned to diversify and grow ICRG further to deliver benefits for all stakeholders, employees and the wider Indigenous community.

In a statement, he named four Pilbara-focused mining companies, and their executives, as leading the way in indigenous training and employment – Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Roy Hill Holdings.

He conspicuously failed to name BHP Billiton, which has recently been criticised by Mr Wolf for failing to offer enough support to indigenous businesses.

Mr McGlinn co-founded NRW in 1994 and listed the company in 2007, before stepping down as chief executive in 2010.

It was one of the great success stories in the mining construction boom, achieving rapid and profitable growth.

It has partnered with multiple indigenous groups over the past decade, including Eastern Guruma, Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation, and more recently Wirlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Contracting, which is FMG’s preferred indigenous partner.

NRW was financially rewarding for Mr McGlinn, who took out $72 million as part of the float and sold $42 million of shares after he stepped down as chief executive.

Since retiring, Mr McGlinn has pursued several ventures through his private company Caballus International, most notably the Mystica Arabian horse stud at Bullsbrook.