Institution news
Group Captain Mark Hunt, from Cranwell in Lincolnshire, has become the youngest ever President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in its 167-year history.
Succeeding Patrick Kniveton, Head of Engineering Improvement at Rolls-Royce Marine Power, who became President in 2013, Mark said of his appointment:
“
I am thrilled to lead one of the fastest growing professional engineering institutions.”
Mark has been an Engineer Officer in the RAF for 20 years. He has a background in airworthiness and safety and has served widely, including four tours in Afghanistan.
Mark is now the Type Airworthiness Authority for the Royal Air Force’s intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance fleets of Sentinel and Sentry aircraft. His last role was as Chief Air Engineer at the Royal Air Force’s largest main operating base, Brize Norton, home of the Air Transport and Air-to-air Refuelling Force and gateway to Defence operations.
A Chartered Engineer, Mark is experienced in forming, training, motivating and leading teams of military and civilian personnel in peacetime and on operations worldwide. As the youngest Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, he promotes the engineering profession whilst championing education and charitable causes. Mark is postgraduate-educated in leadership and business management and strategic defence studies and international politics. When elected, Mark became the youngest Fellow of both the Chartered Management Institute and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, with whom he has 15 years’ Board-level experience as Deputy President, a Member of Council and a Trustee on the Trustee Board.
In his Presidential Address, entitled ‘
From Young Member to Youngest President’, Mark encourages the global community of engineers to be daring, to promote the industry, to take responsibility – and much deserved credit – for all that engineering contributes to society. Speaking of those who inspired him, and of his pride to be an RAF Engineer Officer, he states:
“
I am not just a military engineer, nor just a mechanical engineer, but a multi-disciplined engineer. We are the future. Today, there are over 200 types of engineering disciplines recorded with a common bond between us all – entrepreneurial spirit. This personifies the best of engineers.”
His Address considers the challenges facing engineers: to grow the profession, to make it more inclusive and diverse, to champion an enterprising spirit, and to inspire those of the next generation to work towards becoming engineers. He accentuates the importance of a joint approach from professional institutions, industry, academia and Government, noting that the Institution has achieved significant influence at Westminster in recent years, and has engendered a collaborative future among fellow engineering institutions.
Mark adds this message to members of the Institution throughout the world:
“
I want to use my year as President to demonstrate what engineers have to offer society, and to broaden public awareness of how engineers are improving the world we live in. I also want to help galvanise action to inspire the next generation of engineering innovators and work hard to encourage more diversity in the industry.”
“
My challenge to every engineer is to ask themselves what they have done today to improve society and then to tell someone about it. We need to be proud of our engineering achievements.”
The
results of the 2014 elections to the Trustee Board and Council were announced at the Institution’s 167th Annual Meeting on Wednesday 28 May.