The Engineering Council is pleased to announce the appointment of two additional team members, who will be working in newly created roles resulting from the recent restructure of the organisation. As of 20 August, Ben Jones has been appointed as Professional Development Executive and Geoff Atkins as Licensing Executive. 

Joining the Engineering Council’s Policy and Standards team from King’s College School, where he worked as Exams Coordinator, Ben will be working closely with employers and professional engineering institutions to develop a shared understanding of the benefits of professional development throughout the career of engineers and technicians.  “From an early interest in education policy, I’ve tried to move my career in the direction of professional development, which is shaping up to be the hot topic of the UK’s constantly shifting economy for the foreseeable future,” says Ben.  “I’m excited about becoming part of the Engineering Council team and helping to work with employers to drive professional development forward.” 

Since graduating from Warwick University with a degree in languages Ben has worked for Islington Town Council, Creative Skillset, Creative & Cultural Skills and Edexcel. He has, therefore, built up a wealth of experience across the skills, CPD and lifelong learning landscape, which he will put to good use and further build upon in his new role. 

Geoff will initially be learning about and reviewing the work of the Engineering Council’s established licensing team.  He is keen to contribute to the process of improving PEI engagement and brings a wealth of experience from his previous role at the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). Geoff says “I really look forward to being part of the challenging, yet exciting future of the Engineering Council, and to working closely with the Professional Engineering Institutions.”

Geoff’s six years as Quality, Audit & Compliance Co-ordinator for the ILM included six months maternity cover for the QAC Manager.  Prior to this he spent 22 years in various roles within the City & Guilds Group, where he gained excellent knowledge of quality and audit procedures within the educational field and was also a (nominated) staff representative on the City & Guilds Group Employee Forum.

Jon Prichard, CEO of the Engineering Council said: “The changes that we have made to our organisational structure have been designed to deliver efficiency and continuous process improvement, whilst retaining the strengths of our supportive culture.  I am confident that Ben and Geoff will quickly become valuable members of our team.”