Keith Eddy Snell, who passed away on 24 July at the age of 80, was an elder statesman of Australian defence industry and a highly successful business figure with an immensely likeable personality. Keith was a big man – in stature, intellect, humour, and generosity. Blessed with an exceptionally lively mind, he was a great conversationalist, always happy to share information, discuss politics and life, laugh at a joke and impart wisdom.
He grew up in Shepparton in rural Victoria and never lost touch with the town and the local community even though he spent most of his adult life in Canberra. With a mathematical brain, he was attracted to electrical engineering and a career with the Department of Defence. After starting with the Naval Technical Services unit (now defunct) and an early posting to Scotland to work on Oberon submarines, a pivotal moment in his life was when he was chosen to lead the Australian team supervising the build of the RAN’s first four Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7) class ships in the United States.
At that time in the late 1970s the FFG program was the largest naval shipbuilding activity in the world with 71 ships ordered – and Keith was in the middle of it. He spent seven years with the program and was responsible for the fiscal, management and engineering aspects of the Australian frigates. He was always generous in acknowledging his mentors, who he described as the best two engineering Admirals on both sides of the Pacific: John D Beecher (USN) and the RAN’s William J Rourke.
After this, with the encouragement of his naval colleagues and the assistance of the love of his life, his wife Margaret, Keith decided to venture into the world of private enterprise. This took the shape of a new logistic support company formed with then Scientific Management Associates Inc. With Margaret and initially little more than a second-hand Datsun 180B, he was the right person with the right business idea at the right time. Australia was ramping up for the Collins submarine program – and at the same time Defence in general and the RAN in particular was undergoing a seismic change, privatising naval dockyards and shifting responsibility for support and maintenance to the private sector.
SMA expanded rapidly on the back of the Collins and ANZAC frigate programs, diversifying so that it was also providing support services to the Army and RAAF. By the early 1990s, SMA was the ‘go to’ company for large Australian defence projects and it played a crucial role in improving the readiness and operational effectiveness of the ADF for both peacetime and combat operations.
Leaving the day to day running of SMA in the more than capable hands of Owen Culley – his good friend as well as business partner – Keith then pursued a veritable kaleidoscope of business ventures. Just in Australia, these included investments in things as diverse as boats, restaurants, cattle, commercial aircraft, a Kaolin mine (look it up) and real estate – the latter being his great passion, after SMA. He was also involved in a variety of business activities in both Britain and the United States.
Despite such an impressive track record, Keith was remarkably modest and would only talk about his successes when pressed – and even then downplayed his achievements. He had the knack of always appearing at ease and relaxed, even though there were occasional moments of pressure as a result of the breadth and variety of his business interests. Not one for routine administration, Keith with his inquiring mind always had a new idea about what he wanted to do next, or what could be done better, or what was about to come over the horizon.
Even though he could simply have relaxed and enjoyed success, Keith was absolutely passionate about defence policy – and was a champion of Australian sovereignty and industrial self-reliance. He tracked all of the major naval acquisitions and he had views that almost invariably turned out to be correct about what was going right and what was going wrong. When sufficiently alarmed, he had no hesitation in writing to various figures in detail – up to and including the Prime Minister – using all of his experience and knowledge to suggest corrective actions.
At a personal level, Keith enjoyed explaining how things worked. Often with the aid of a pencil and a writing surface – be it a page torn from a notebook or the back of a serviette – he would talk and sketch, producing graphs, charts and statistics about everything from what a cost schedule control system was through to the gaps in the models being used by climate scientists. He was equally at home chatting with a CEO about a corporate merger or with a bar manager about how to find the right staff.
Keith was one of those rare people for whom his work was a pleasure and the idea of retirement never seemed to occur to him. For relaxation he enjoyed spending time in the garden, gaining satisfaction even from small tasks such as re-potting plants, watering the lawn and arranging decorative ornaments. He was a cricket tragic – and also liked betting on horse races, not for the money but because his mind was stimulated by watching the ever changing odds on a particular event.
He always had a kind word for everyone and possessed an encyclopaedic memory for the families of all of his friends. Probably without being aware of it, he inspired many – including me – especially by his kindness to others. Keith has passed on – but memories of him will remain.
Editor’s Note: Kym Bergmann is editor of Asia Pacific Defence Reporter & Defence Review Asia.
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