An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

180A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCIL2002Appointment of ETB Chief ExecutiveThe appointment of Sir Peter Williams as ETB Chairman was to be followed by theappointment of a Chief Executive Officer, a post advertised on 12 November 2001 at anindustrial rather than Institution or academic salary. The result announced on 7 March 2002was the appointment of Alan Clark to take effect from 14 April. Alan Clark had taken anengineering degree at the University of Bath and an MBA at the University of Hartford,Connecticut. He spent much of his career with GEC(USA) both in Europe and the USAbecoming Vice-President Electrical Distribution and Control. Most recently he had been withNovar plc as Chief Executive of their Intelligent Building Sector. On his appointment to theETB he commented:“I am delighted to be joining the ETB as its first Chief Executive. Trained as an Engineer, mycareer has been spent mainly in tackling the business issues of major corporations but alwayswith engineering and technology as the key drivers. I firmly believe that an appropriateengineering and science based culture is essential to national competitiveness and that theETB has a key role to play. I look forward to working with Peter Williams and with all ourpartners in industry, education and the engineering profession”.An Appraisal of the Hawley InitiativeAt this point a tribute must be made to Dr Robert Hawley. He had inspired and strongly led aremarkably rapid transformation of the EngC into the ETB and the linked EC(UK). In thewords of Professor Dowling at the end of Dr Hawley’s final meeting as chairman of theEngC, “he had provided leadership and vision backed by hard work as Chairman of Senatesince February 1999. He had faced a huge challenge following his initial meeting with LordSainsbury, and had tackled this with enthusiasm and energy. This work had required anenormous time commitment, and had succeeded in laying the foundations on which a solidfuture could surely be built.At the heart of the problem facing the Shadow Board was the need to formulate aims thatwould carry conviction and take the engineering and technology banner forward in directionsthe EngC either had not, or could not, follow. But crucially this had to be accomplishedwithin an administrative and driving structure that would satisfy and balance the interests ofInstitutions, Registrants and many other organisational stakeholders, not to mention theconcerns of Government. And there had also to be a convincing democratic element in theway the various Boards and Committees were formed.The solution arrived at by the Hawley Group was undoubtedly a skilful attempt to meet thesedisparate requirements. The idea of a broad-based ETB constituted as a company limited byguarantee, linked financially and structurally to a Chartered EC(UK) responsible forregistration and standards had much to commend it. The Institutions gained representation onthe Board of the new EC(UK) – but this was short of full control because about one-third ofthe members would be nominated by the ETB. Conversely the Institutions would be in aposition to influence membership of the ETB by nominating through Electoral College ‘A’.Organisational stakeholders and individual employers could be represented on the ETBthrough the other Electoral Colleges, the ETB retaining an element of choice through its© Engineering Council UK 2004