Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the audit firm Coopers & Lybrand, Roland joined the Shell Group in 1995.
He started in the retail business in the UK as a management accountant and then moved to West Africa where he was Finance Manager of Shell’s Downstream Business, firstly in Gabon, then in the Ivory Coast. He returned to the UK in 2002 and joined the Downstream Finance Portfolio team where he spent four years working on acquisition and divestment projects before being seconded by Shell to the Project Financing team of an LNG Joint Venture Company.
After that, he moved to Lagos, Nigeria, where he set up and ran the M&A and Commercial Finance team. In 2012 he came back to London to take up the role of GM Finance for the Lubricants and Commercial Fuels Business across Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA). In 2015 Roland returned to the M&A and Commercial Finance team as Head of Global Downstream, based in London.
Roland has been an executive sponsor of the Shell African Network, the employee network for people of African and Caribbean heritage, since 2012.
Roland is married and has three sons. In his spare time, he plays, watches and talks about cricket.
About Business in the Community’s Race Leadership Team
Each area of work Business in the Community (BITC) undertakes is led by a group of senior executives who provide strategic guidance and support us in achieving our objectives.
The purpose of BITC’s Race Equality Leadership Team is to support employers to help break down the barriers that prevent the progression of ethnic minorities in their workplaces and show how an inclusive organisation better serves its customers, clients and communities.
Find out more about BITC’s work on race equality.