The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has announced the appointment of Phil Peel as its 137th president. A Fellow of the Institution, he takes office as the IMechE celebrates the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 1847.

He said: “I am proud to take office in such a momentous anniversary year, in which we aim to celebrate and honour our past while looking confidently towards the future. As the president, I want to focus on how we can build for the future and support our members to tackle the many global challenges we face.”

Mr Peel, who lives in Switzerland, will be the organisation’s first president that lives outside of the UK and one of his priorities in office will be to extend the IMechE’s global reach. He will also be looking to develop its new long-term strategy and support diversity and inclusion.

After attending the University of Durham, his engineering career began in Rugby, where he joined GEC Turbine Generators Ltd as a graduate engineer working on steam turbine blading design. Mr Peel has stayed in the power generation sector throughout his career and relocated to Switzerland in 2001, where he currently works as General Electric’s Steam Turbines chief engineer.

He was instrumental in launching IMechE’s Switzerland Group, has been a trustee since 2016 and chair of the Finance Board since its launch in 2019.