Bob is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IMechE who has a passion for the personal development of Engineers.

He has spent 30 years in engineering, predominantly in the aerospace industry working on a wide variety of projects and with most of the major companies in the country.

Then 15 years ago two factors changed his life. While completing his MBA he realised the high impact that communication has on the success of projects, something he saw reflected in industry. Secondly, he joined Toastmasters International(1) to improve his public speaking and presentation skills.

Not only did he succeed, but found that he enjoyed speaking in public. He achieved Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award available within Toastmasters and became a double national speech champion representing UK and Ireland at the World Public Speaking Championships in 2002. 

Engineers, like many of the professions, have the problem of delivering complex information and yet retaining the audience’s interest, and helping Engineers achieve this is  one of  Bob’s main challenges. He now splits his time between his engineering and public speaking.

His focus on the Management Group board is to advise on the development of soft skills for engineers.

A life long learner, Bob is not one to rest and his current challenge is learning to play a Saxophone, but it's not all fun. He says playing in a band  gives him many different insights into communication in groups!

 (1) Toastmasters International is a group of not-for-profit clubs teaching public speaking throughout the world. Details of clubs within the UK can be found on their web-site at : http://www.toastmastersd71.org/