Committee

Bob Ferguson - Chairman

Confident Communications

Bob Ferguson’s focus in the MG Board is on developing soft skills in engineering. Early in his 32 year aerospace engineering career he saw many poor presentations and decided he wanted to do a better job himself  - and he did. Within a few years he had won his first of three National Speech titles going on to represent the UK and Ireland in the World Public Speaking Championships.

Bob’s time is now split between engineering consultancy, event speaking about how communication skills help engineers in their careers, and training engineers to achieve their full potential through confident verbal communication skills.

Dr Mark Berrill

EADS Astrium UK Ltd

Mark Berrill has recently (June 2009) joined the European Space Agency at Estec, Netherlands.  Following a Masters degree in Aeronautics at City University and a PhD at Brunel University, he started his career with AWE Aldermaston in 1998 as a Senior Structural Analyst. Two and a half years later he joined EADS Astrium, Stevenage as a Stress Engineer and after three years changed role to Mechanical Architect, and finally Lead Mechanical Architect. His interests include all; the exploration of space, cycling, 5-a-side soccer and movies. He has been a member of the Management Group Board since 2001 and is one of two vice-chairman.

Robin Clark

Aston University

Robin Clark worked in the UK and the USA as both an engineer and manager during a 14 year career in industry. His area of expertise is in non-destructive testing. His career has been in the rail, nuclear, offshore, power generation and aerospace industries. On joining Aston University in 2003, he led the development of an MSc in Engineering Management. In 2007 Robin became a National Teaching Fellow. Robin is currently focusing on Learning and Teaching Research in particular in engineering education. Robin chairs the Engineering Education Research SIG within the HEA Engineering Subject Centre and is a Fellow of the IMechE.

Claire Edwards

GlaxoSmithKline

Claire Edwards has been a member of the Management Group Board since 2003. She has an MEng degree in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford and an MRes from the University of Swansea. She has worked for GlaxoSmithKline in a production operations leadership role since 2004 and prior to this worked for Corus in South Wales. She chaired the "Essential Management Skills for Engineers" conference in 2004 and currently leads the Events Committee.

Robert Green

Independent Consultant

Robert Green was a Technical Staff Trainee with the UK’s Central Electricity Generating Board with subsequent appointments to operational and construction sites. Prior to privatisation he worked in corporate formations addressing the commercial aspects of power station asset management.

In the period since UK electricity privatisation he has led a number of new independent power and waste to energy project developments in the developing, transitional and developed economies for client organisations employing project financing. He holds an M.B.A. from Imperial College and since joining the Management Group Board has, together with colleagues, led the development of events focusing on Collaborative Strategies, Projects and Contracts.

Tim Podesta

BP Oil International Limited

Tim Podesta is currently a Subject Matter Expert and Advisor for BP in project performance and benchmarking. This involves assessment of BP’s major project performance relative to the key competitors, and the identification of best practises to help improve project performance. His ambition is that through leveraging benchmarking data and process BP can make the best investments.

In 2010 Tim celebrates 29 years with BP, starting as a Mechanical Engineer in 1981, becoming a Chartered Engineer, and recently a Fellow of the Institution. His career saw him develop into a commercial manager following a BP engineering sponsored MBA at Warwick in 1991-92. Tim has worked in most parts of BP and most recently in IT as a Commercial Manager; and prior to that in the Exploration & Production Angola Business, finance treasury as their Innovation Leader and a secondment to the Lavera refining/petrochemicals site in France as synergy leader and change manager working in French.

Christopher Simpson

Simpsons Associates

Christopher Simpson was educated at Sheffield University and the London Business School where he is a Sloan Fellow. He is Managing Director of Simpson Associates, an international engineering consultancy providing advice and support at Board level to engineering companies in the UK, USA, Germany and other European countries. He was previously Divisional Chief Executive of the Engineering Products Division of Yule Catto plc, and responsible for operating companies and manufacturing operations in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands & Eire. Before that, he was Chief Executive of the UK Division of Gildemeister AG in Germany, the world's largest computer controlled machine tool company.

In addition to his position as Chairman of the Management Group, he is Vice Chairman of the UK Manufacturing Excellence Awards, a Member of the Board of MX Germany, Past Chairman and current Board Member of the Manufacturing Industries Division at the Institution. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers and a Freeman of the City of London.

Ted Smith

Ted Smith Consulting

Ted Smith runs his own consultancy firm specialising in strategic advice on e-learning and represents the interests of consultants in the Management Group. Ted is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), where he undertakes research in the Jost Institute for Tribotechnology, focusing on energy conservation and emissions reductions in internal combustion engines. He has previously held posts as a Plant Engineer with ICI Ltd, Head of Computing Services at UCLan, Dean of Engineering at Coventry University, and non-executive director for technology at Fluid Conditioning Systems Ltd.

Ben Truman

Goodrich Actuation Systems

Ben Truman works at Goodrich Actuation Systems in Wolverhampton, as a design engineer on the Airbus A350 XWB Electric Thrust Reverser Actuation System. It is a challenging role with a high degree of technical responsibility. Basically, without thrust reversers your plane would run out of runway before stopping! He has recently taken on the responsibility of being the Engineering Graduate Training Manager and enjoys helping to develop the Company’s future business leaders.