Biographies of Key Individuals at ETB
Dr John Morton
Chief Executive
Following his first degree in Engineering at the University of Cambridge and DPhil in Metallurgy and the Science of Materials from the University of Oxford, John held research and teaching appointments at Oxford, Imperial College, NASA and Virginia Tech. From there, he joined the Defence Research Agency (DRA) as the Director of the Structural Materials Centre and as DRA grew to become the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, his responsibilities broadened with his appointment as the Director of the Mechanical Sciences Business Sector. With the formation of QinetiQ he became Chief Operating Officer of the Future Systems Technology Division.
A Chartered Engineer, a Fellow and Co-opted Council Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, John is also a Visiting Professor in the Aeronautics Department at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.
John has been internationally recognised for his pioneering research on composite materials and is also the recipient of the Donald Julius Groen and the William Sweet Smith Prizes of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Stephen Timms OBE
Chief Operating Officer
A widely experienced Chartered Engineer, Stephen joined the ETB from the Royal Navy (RN) where as an engineer officer, he specialised in the operation and support of nuclear powered submarines. More recently, he held the position of Staff Officer to the UK Military Representative to NATO HQ in Brussels, Director of Support in Gibraltar, British Naval Attaché to Brazil and Director of Naval Reserve Forces. He also served for five years from 1993 on a working group of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, tasked with assessing the environmental impact from Russian nuclear submarine reactors dumped in the Arctic Ocean.
Stephen has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in Marine Engineering, a Post-Graduate-Diploma in Nuclear Reactor Technology and has completed an MBA. He is a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST). He was awarded the OBE in 1998 for his services to naval engineering.
Bill Falkenau
Chief Financial Officer
Bill has over 10 years of experience in finance roles in the engineering sector. He was Head of Finance at the Engineering Council for five years before joining ETB at its creation five years ago where he is now Chief Financial Officer. Bill is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and previously worked in the dairy industry.
John Halton
Business and Industry Director
John studied Aeronautical Engineering Science at the University of Salford before joining BAE Systems as a Graduate Engineer. He worked on both military and civil programmes including Tornado, Typhoon and Airbus A320. He then joined Lucas Engineering & Systems (LE&S), the consulting arm of Lucas Industries, developing Knowledge-Based Systems and Product Introduction related software. He was sponsored by LE&S to undertake a Masters in Business Management Systems at the Warwick Business School and also for a Diploma in Marketing.
He joined Computer Sciences Corporation as part of an outsourcing deal with Lucas Industries and took charge of Marketing and Strategic Planning for the Manufacturing, Aerospace and Automotive sectors. John then joined the Management Consultants A.T. Kearney and managed the Marketing functions at a European level for the Aerospace & Defence, Automotive and Operations Practices. He developed and managed a major marketing campaign at a global level for A.T. Kearney’s Global Excellence in Operations (GEO) programme, collaborating with the Financial Times and Fortune.
He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Directors.
Adrian Talbot
Business Development Director
Adrian has more than 10 years of executive level experience from the private sector with a particular focus on interactive media, internet development and strategic business development. Over the years, working in both UK and across Scandinavia, Adrian has gained significant knowledge and experience of a wide range of customer led industry sectors such as media, telecoms and financial services.
Adrian has degrees in both Systems Engineering and Film Science and has been with the ETB since July 2002.
Clare Cox
Communications Director
Clare joined ETB in April 2007, having headed up public affairs at a campaigning and service delivery charity for two and a half years. Prior to this, Clare was in public affairs and public relations consultancy, advising a wide range of clients on their corporate communications and crisis management. These included clients with engineering interests in fields such as biofuels, defence, road fuel gases and energy from waste. Under the previous Conservative administration, Clare also spent time working for a Labour MP who was a Shadow Minister. Clare has a BA (Hons) in philosophy and political philosophy from the University of Durham.
Dr Anil Kumar
Director, Education and Policy
Anil joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from university as a senior research scientist and over the next 15 years held a variety of senior roles within GSK including UK recruitment manager, HR Manager, Head of Education Affairs and Head of Science Policy and Public Understanding of Science. during his time at GSK he was also seconded to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES, formally the DfEE) for two years as Head of Higher Education Policy & Research.
Anil has tackled the challenge of improving business performance for the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors throughout his career including his time as Chief Executive of the Chemical Industry National Training Organisation, Director of the Chemical & Pharmaceutical Industry national awarding body (VQSET) and Director of People, Knowledge and Communications at the Chemical Industries Association.
Anil is currently a Board member of Foundation Degree Forward, member of the high level Government Joint Progression steering group, the Science Education Forum, the Council for Industry and Higher Education’s Policy Group, the Professional Development Forum and the City and Guilds National Advisory Committee for Engineering. He is also a Board Trustee of Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless People, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Robert Spano
Head of Research
Before joining ETB, Robert spent three and a half years as Head of Research at Automotive Skills Limited, the Sector Skills Council for the downstream motor industry.
Whilst there, he was responsible for researching a wide range of employer-led skills policy related issues, including the development of the Sector Skills Agreement. As part of this Robert undertook a wide range of engagement activities with employers, providers, learners and stakeholders across the home nations.
Since the mid 1990s Robert has managed market, social and opinion research in a number of sectors including the motor industry, covering all aspects of primary and secondary, qualitative and quantative research, B2B and consumer research. Prior to this, he spent six years working in research in broadcast media.
Terry Marsh
Director, The WISE Campaign
tmarsh@wisecampaign.org.uk
Terry Marsh is the Director of the WISE Campaign – Women into Science, Engineering and Construction, which supported and hosted by the ETB. WISE works creatively with education and industry to encourage UK girls of school age to value and pursue those courses in school or college, and move on into related careers.
After lecturing in statistics at Surrey University, Terry joined the BBC as a data analyst, moving on to produce award-winning science and technology programmes for the BBC’s Computer Literacy Project. As Head of Schools’ Programming she became a specialist in change management, diversity, and information systems, chairing the major BBC-wide project installing networked computers. Subsequently she has advised on digital projects with a range of clients including Granada, Pearson, Prudential, News International, and City and Guilds, also delivering two major digital education projects for the DfES.
Terry is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society, a member of the IET and the Institute of Directors, and a Visiting Research Fellow at Surrey University.
