Essential Management Skills 2024

Kusum Trikha: Engineering and Technical Lead, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Kusum is a versatile Chartered Mechanical Engineer with over twelve years of private and public sector experience in delivering large-scale energy transition projects in over 7 countries. She has extensive experience in implementing sustainable energy processes such as Carbon Capture Usage and Storage(CCUS), Allam-Cycle, Biomass-Gasification, Energy-from-Waste,  Combine Heat and Power, and Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion. Currently she is responsible for delivering the UK's commitments to tackle climate change through deployment of UK’s first CCUS Power Projects for Track-1 clusters. Kusum is passionate about developing others and would love to share her knowledge acquired about the CCUS market, project development and risk appetite in the UK.

Mike Eason: Chief Technology Officer, John Crane

Mike Eason is Chief Technology Officer, responsible for leading John Crane’s global innovation team.

Prior to joining John Crane in 2023, Mike served as the Divisional Board Director at James Walker, initially as the Technical Director and more recently as the Technical and Quality Director. Mike's expertise covers sealing products for both rotating equipment and static seals, with extensive industry knowledge in oil and gas, wind, carbon capture, and hydrogen sectors.

Mike holds a Ph.D. in polymer science from the University of Warwick. He is a chartered engineer, fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), and a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Mike is also a member of the European Sealing Association executive committee.

Dr Alice Bunn OBE: Chief Executive, Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Dr Alice Bunn is Chief Executive of the Institution for Mechanical Engineers. Alice is a Fellow of the Institution and took up her role as CEO in July 2021. Alice is responsible for delivering our mission of improving the world through engineering, working as one team with our highly valued members and staff. Alice brings a focus on our values of inclusivity, impact, innovation and integrity - in developing future strategy and in the day to day running of the Institution’s business. In her previous role, she was International Director at the UK Space Agency, responsible for increasing the UK’s global influence in science, security and trade through space.

Alice sits on the Board of EngineeringUK; is Chair of the Professional Engineering Committee; is President of the UKSpace trade association; acts as advisor to Orbitfab; and sits on the World Economic Forum Future Council on space technology. She is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Chair of the trustee board at the charity SwimTayka and is Patron of the General Steam Navigation Restoration Project. She is married with 4 children, 1 dog and 1 cat.

Alice also has a PhD in Metallurgy from Darwin College, University of Cambridge. Alice was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the UK space sector and to charity.

Giles Hartill: President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Giles joined the Institution as a Young Member in 1999, gaining a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from University College London in 2002. He has worked in the UK defence industry since 2003 and is currently Chief Technologist for AWE Plc, responsible for technology improvements, providing direction on R&D, innovation and experimentation and driving technology integration into capital investments. Giles obtained an MSc in Industrial Materials from Loughborough University in 2008 and became a Chartered Engineer the same year.

He has been volunteering for the Institution since 2004, focusing on supporting career development for members and promoting science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to schools via various initiatives. Giles started as a Publicity Officer promoting activities and events to Young Members in the Greater London Region (GLR) and was then elected GLR Young Member Panel Chairman, where he greatly expanded the size and diversity of the panel, winning the Young Member Panel of the Year award in the process. Following this he represented Young Members on the Institution’s Young Members Board, Council and Trustee Board.

In 2008, Giles joined the GLR Committee, starting as Publicity Officer and was then elected Hon. Secretary for four years. He became a Fellow of the Institution in 2014 and was elected GLR Chairman as well as representing members on the IMechE Council and Regional Strategy Board.

Giles served as a Trustee and Vice President (casual vacancy) in 2016-2017, and during this time sponsored the Institution’s Digital Transformation Programme, as well as serving on the Audit & Risk Committee. He was elected as Vice President in 2018 initially chairing the Education and Skills Strategy Board (2018-2019), providing leadership to the profession and society at large by facilitating the inspiration and retention of young people in engineering.

Giles was a member of the team that delivered the 2019 Governance Review and was subsequently a member of the Implementation Group responsible for actioning the Review recommendations and helped the start-up of the refreshed Nominations Committee.

In May 2021, Giles took over as chair of the new Strategy Committee, responsible for developing the long-term vision for the Institution and leading strategic planning activities. Since becoming Deputy President in May 2022, he now also continues to support the Nominations Committee in its important work opening up volunteering opportunities and supporting the improvement of diversity and inclusion across the Institution.

Maira Bana: CFD Manager, RED Engineering Design; Trustee, SheCanEngineer; Co-chair, IMechE Construction and Building Services Division

Maira leads RED Engineering Design's global Computational Fluid Dynamics Team. She’s been working in the data centre industry for over a decade, following her degree in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London.

She became Chartered with the IMechE in 2017, and joined the Construction & Building Services Division (CBSD) to bring a voice to the data centre industry. She has been co-chairing the division since 2021, and sits on Council and Technical Strategy Board.

Maira is a trustee of SheCanEngineer, a charity that encourages girls into Engineering and highlights the roles and achievements of women in the sector. She joined the SheCanEngineer initiative in 2018 as a volunteer, and went on to Chair the committee for two years. She and her fellow trustees registered the organisation as a charity in 2023. This is a subject close to her heart; she is passionate about raising awareness on the power of diverse teams and inclusive environments.

Ian Joesbury: Non-Executive Director, Manufacturing Technology Centre and Teaching Fellow, Aston University

Ian has spent his career in high technology engineering environments, working for a number of major companies including Ford, Lucas Industries and Meggitt.

He is currently a non-executive director at the Manufacturing Technology Centre,  CEO of the charity Exovent and teaches at Aston University. Formerly President of the Meggitt's Polymers & Composites division, he has also run technology start ups and worked in consulting.

Within the IMechE he will be chair of the Manufacturing Industries Division from May 2024 and has previously been chair of the Management Group, Honorary Treasurer and a Vice President of the IMechE.

Jennifer Maher: Principal Mechanical Engineer, Sellafield Ltd

Jennifer Maher is a Fellow of the IMechE and an INCOSE Associated Systems Engineering Professional.

In 2023 Jennifer was awarded the 'Top 50 Women in Engineering' award by the Women's Engineering Society. She works within Sellafield Ltd’s retrievals value stream, leading projects and supporting operations that deliver ‘high hazard risk reduction’ of legacy nuclear facilities.

Jennifer is also a member of the IMechE Management Committee and the Nuclear Institute's Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee.