Sir John Parker GBE FREng DSc (Eng) (Hon), ScD (Hon), DSc (Hon), D.Univ (Hon), FRINA, HonFIMechE, IET, IMarEST, CGI has been honoured by the Institution for his outstanding leadership, and contribution to engineering, business and education.
Sir John (pictured above, centre) was inducted by the Institution's President Mark Hunt (pictured above, right) at the Ordinary Meeting – 102nd Thomas Hawksley Prestige Lecture, at One Birdcage Walk, in December. The lecture was attended by distinguished members and guests.
Mark expressed “great pleasure” in welcoming Sir John to the Institution’s “illustrious list” of Honorary Fellows.
The Institution's CEO, Stephen Tetlow (pictured above, left), gave the citation at the meeting, outlining Sir John’s many career highlights.
Stephen said: “Sir John is a passionate advocate of harnessing the benefits of economic growth to improve quality of life, address society’s challenges, strengthen social cohesion and, critically, to provide the education and training that give young people real opportunity.”
Sir John thanked the president, the CEO and the Institution for the accolade. He said: “I will treasure this honour for the rest of my professional life and beyond. It is a great honour and I am extremely grateful for it.”
Sir John, who is held in very high regard by his peers, is:
- Chairman of Anglo American plc
- Vice Chairman of DP World (Dubai)
- a Non Executive Director of Carnival Corporation and Airbus Group
In 2013, he retired as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and as a Member of the Prime Minister’s Committee of Science & Technology.
Sir John was also a recent Chairman of National Grid plc and Chair of the Court of the Bank of England, Joint Chairman of Mondi plc, Chair of the BAE – Vosper Shipbuilding Joint Venture, a Member of the Prime Minister’s Business Council for Britain and Chancellor of University of Southampton.
He was born into a farming family in County Down. He studied Naval Architecture and Mechanical Engineering at the College of Technology and Queen’s University, Belfast and joined the ship design team at Harland & Wolff in 1964.
Sir John was appointed Managing Director of Austin & Pickersgill (Shipbuilders) Sunderland in 1974. Following nationalisation of the shipbuilding industry, he was appointed to the Board of British Shipbuilders Corporation, later becoming Deputy Chief Executive. He returned to Harland & Wolff in 1983 as Chairman and Chief Executive to lead a turn around and transfer from Public to Private Sector.
He joined Babcock International plc as CEO in 1993 later becoming Chairman as well. In 1997, he became a Non-executive Director of British Gas which led to his becoming Chairman of the Lattice Group on its demerger from BG Group in 2000. Lattice merged with National Grid in 2002, with Sir John becoming Chairman of the combined Gas and Electricity company, National Grid Transco.
Sir John has also held a host of non-executive directorships including the Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland, British Coal Corporation, GKN plc, BG plc and Brambles Industries plc.
As well as holding many appointments in various organizations, Sir John was President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 2010 and President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects 1996-99.
He was Knighted in 2001 for Services to the Defence and Shipbuilding Industries and was appointed GBE in 2012 for Services to Industry and the Voluntary Sectors.
Sir John was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1983 and an Elder Brother of Trinity House in 2010.
Our Honorary Fellows
Sir John’s name now joins over 200 exceptional individuals on the Institution’s illustrious
Honorary Fellows list. Honorary Fellows are drawn from 22 countries and from the disciplines of science and engineering.
They represent the international nature of engineering, including civil engineer Gustav Eiffel from France, while others are from China, Japan, New Zealand, America, India and the Netherlands.
Inventive engineers, such as Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (inventor of the gas turbine) and Sir Frank Whittle (inventor of the jet engine) figure highly. Their innovations helped to usher in the modern world.
Other famous inventors on the list include Dr Frederick William Lanchester (early car producer and innovator), Orville Wright (of the Wright brothers) and Sir Barnes Neville Wallis ('bouncing' bomb inventor). Eight Nobel Laureates also figure, including John William Strutt (co-discovered argon, Nobel Prize awarded 1904).
More details
Find out how to apply to become a
Fellow of the Institution.