Geoff Baker has been appointed as the 133rd president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (
www.imeche.org) and has set out “an exciting vision” for the future of the Institution.
He said: “In the Year of Engineering, I am delighted to have been elected by the membership to be president. I intend to engage with them and wider stakeholders to ensure that we have an Institution that is relevant and fit for purpose in the 21st century.
“Our engineering profession is in the process of radical change, which is challenging not just people’s perspective of our profession but also the way it has operated for the past 170 years.
“Society will call upon engineers to solve the challenges the world is now facing: how we will live with an exponentially increasing population, how we will feed ourselves, and how we will deal with the challenges of climate change.
“As president, I hope to create an environment where talent can come together to address the multi-dimensional issues that society faces.”
Mr Baker’s global business experience includes establishing operations in Europe, America, the Middle East, Malaysia and Australia, and he co-founded two successful engineering companies: the ATL Group (a leading technical services company in the industrial, defence, oil and gas), which was sold to Bureau Veritas; and Plant Asset Management Ltd, which was subsequently acquired by the oil services company Petrofac.
Mr Baker started his career serving a five-year apprenticeship with the British Aircraft Corporation and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
He has been an active member of the Institution since early in his career.