BEng (Hons) CEng
MRAeS FRAS MIET
A little bit about what makes me tick...
I am an accomplished Board Member and Executive with experience gained from over 30 years in a variety of engineering fields, working in start-up companies through to listed organisations. I have positioned myself such that I can dedicate my time and knowledge to enjoy playing my part in a selection of Non-Executive Director, Board Advisory, and Outreach roles.... sometimes business leaders just need a friendly ear to bend! I welcome the opportunity to be a part of your journey; please do get in touch.
I am passionate about outreach, giving back to the community, encouraging new talent, and nurturing existing skills. The experience I have gained as my career has progressed has better equipped me to provide support to others.
I've taken part in a diverse range of outreach activities, where I am happy to engage with groups of varying sizes, or one-to-one. If your event or programme is something I could help with please contact me.
Being a panel member or speaker allows me to represent organisations and/or put forward opinions prompting healthy discussion and enquiry. These forums provide an excellent coming together of experts and novices alike and can really spark new approaches and understanding. Most recently I sat on the panel of 'Advanced Design Techniques for Space Applications' at Made For Space 2022.
Events that encourage direct interaction with experiments and demonstrations combined with personal annecdotes of real life experiences is a brilliant way of getting through and giving people a proper 'light bulb' moment to open them up to a whole mindset of "I could do that too!"
A programme to assist students giving them insight into what engineers actually do in industry, and relating it to business demands. The students had amazing commitment and enthusiasm for the extra-curricular effort; run as a competition with the winning team prize, a trip to CERN!
I am adept at translating behaviours into the strategic, commercial, and operational domains. Using my experience and working knowledge to positively influence decision-making.
I have enjoyed my career as an engineer whereby the opportunities I have taken along the way have allowed me to learn the trade across a number of industries. I have expanded my base skillset as a design engineer to encompass analysis, systems engineering, project engineering and leadership. Some examples are:
Olivier Panis - Toyota TF103 by Karting Nord license CC BY-SA 2.0
Design of Formula 1 gearbox internals in the early 2000s, performing complete end-to-end design (engine input to differential output) and optimisation over 2 full seasons. Responsibility for assemblies from drawing board through manufacture, making sure that parts were dispatched to meet tight raceday deadlines.
Management of a team of skilled engineers, analysts and suppliers to design and procure a twin optics structure for MIXS - a University of Leicester instrument on the BepiColombo Mission to Mercury (launched 2017). Ensuring robust process was followed to complete all stages of successful procurement for the customer (Requirements Review, Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews, Testing and Delivery Reviews).
Carrying out a project to support the European Space Agency (ESA), improving and extending standard structural and fracture control methodoligies for acceptance of manned spacecraft windows. Testing to failure was carried out to confirm analyses allowing a Structural Verification Guide to be generated for ESA (Contract No:400102496/10/NL/NA).
RR engines by Michael Rehfeldt license CC BY-SA 2.0
After university I joined Rolls Royce Aerospace as a Graduate Trainee, becoming a fully fledged design engineer with a role bridging two departments (Compressors and Composites). I have also worked on General Electric, Allied Signal and European Gas Turbines products, gaining further experience in Compressors and also Combustion and Turbines.