View the latest management news [October 2007] From the Management Group Chair – Christopher Simpson.
My first duty is to thank my colleagues on the
Management Group Board for the honour they have given me in appointing me as your next Chairman. As a founding member of the Board, I have experienced at first hand the skill and dedication that my two predecessors in the position, Keith Millard and Mike Goodwin, have brought to the
Management Group. It is no small responsibility to follow them and take the Group forward from the strong position that they have established.
My own active engagement with the IMechE goes back some time. I am a past chairman of the
Manufacturing Division, a past Member of the Board of Professional Engineering Publications, and founder member of the Marketing Board. Apart from my current responsibilities with the Management Group, I have a long association with the
Manufacturing Excellence Awards where I am Vice-Chairman in the UK and I also sit on the Board of MX in Germany.
I had the good fortune to win a scholarship to study at the London Business School, where I am a Sloan Fellow, and this provided the foundation of my interest and involvement in management. In my subsequent career as both a chartered mechanical and civil engineer I have been heavily engaged at a senior level in international business with a particular emphasis on Europe (mainly in Germany) and the USA. Much of my present workload is related to project management - a project recently completed was for manufacturing facilities in Detroit for a major German company and we currently have a new green field project with an investment value of ca. £40 million for a UK company. The ability to conduct business in the language of the customer is a valuable asset and this is an area where I believe
young engineers should make greater efforts. I am greatly motivated by the need in the UK to place further emphasis on wealth creation and this is much dependent on strengthening our engineering base.
With over twenty five thousand members of the Institution now affiliated to the
Management Group, this is clear evidence of the importance that so many members attach to supporting and promoting the development of management skills specifically designed to meet the requirements of engineers. We have established a series of prestigious lectures and continue successfully to
run seminars in the areas of finance and marketing focused primarily on young engineers taking up their first positions in line management. We wish to provide further support to our colleagues engaged in a wide range of consultancy activities.
Much, however, remains to be achieved and we are very sensitive to the requirements of our members. Any suggestions that our members make in terms of the
programme of events we run or other objectives we should pursue will be gratefully received and given our earnest consideration. All advice is welcome so please use the web facilities to contact me with your views.
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