Press releases
Group Captain Mark Hunt, from Cranwell in Lincolnshire, has today (28 May 2014) become the youngest ever President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in its 167-year history. He is also the first Royal Air Force Officer to be President.
Mark, 42, succeeds Patrick Kniveton, Head of Engineering Improvement at Rolls-Royce Marine Power, who became President in 2013.
Mark has been an Engineer Officer in the RAF for 20 years. He has a background in airworthiness and safety and has served widely, including 4 tours in Afghanistan.
Mark is now the Type Airworthiness Authority for the Royal Air Force’s intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance fleets of Sentinel and Sentry aircraft. His last role was as Chief Air Engineer at the Royal Air Force’s largest main operating base, Brize Norton, home of the Air Transport and Air-to-air Refuelling Force and gateway to Defence operations.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, founded by George Stephenson in 1847, represents more than 106,000 mechanical engineers, in over 120 countries, across such diverse industries as automotive, rail, aerospace, medical, power and construction.
Mark said of his appointment:
“I am thrilled to lead one of the fastest growing professional engineering institutions.”
“I want to use my year as President to demonstrate what engineers have to offer society, and to broaden public awareness of how engineers are improving the world we live in. I also want to help galvanise action to inspire the next generation of engineering innovators and work hard to encourage more diversity in the industry.”
“My challenge to every engineer is to ask themselves what they have done today to improve society and then to tell someone about it. We need to be proud of our engineering achievements.”