Former CRH chief executive set out blueprint for industrial transformation
By Maurice Garvey
Tributes have been paid to former CRH CEO Jim Culliton, who died unexpectedly on November 16.
A prominent businessman, he was best known for the ‘Culliton Report’ that set out a blueprint for industrial transformation in the years before the Celtic Tiger.
CEO Jim Culliton
He later resigned from a string of directorships after being linked to the so-called ‘Ansbacher Accounts’ scandal that rocked the business establishment in the late 1990s.
In his business career, Mr Culliton was a significant figure with some of the most important Irish companies of the second half of the twentieth century, including 13 years as CEO of CRH.
His CRH career began as a clerk at what was then Roadstone which he joined straight from Dublin’s Synge Street Christian Brothers School in the 1950s.
He rose up the ranks at CRH under Tom Roche and eventually led the merged Cement Roadstone Holdings to a dominant position in the Irish market by buying up smaller rivals and began the international expansion that would transform the group into a true multinational, with Ireland now a small part of the huge group’s sales.
CRH, which he chaired after retiring as CEO paid tribute to Mr Culliton: “It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Jim Culliton, former chief executive of CRH.
“Jim played an influential role and made an enormous contribution to the development of CRH, leading the expansion of the company from an Irish-focused business to an international building materials operation. Our condolences to the Culliton family on their loss.”
A message on Rip.ie said Jim was beloved husband of the late wife Maura and will be sadly missed by his children, Gary, Fiona, Debbie, Mel, Colin, Eric, along with extended family and friends.
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