Iain Rae: Iain Rae, 56th Chair, IMechE Railway Division and Strategy and Sustainability Director, Brodie Engineering
Iain Rae is proud to be Strategy and Sustainability Director at Brodie Engineering, based in Kilmarnock. In his role he is developing their business strategy, as well as leading their new consulting business. In his previous role he was the Project Manager of the Scottish Hydrogen train project, which has been a highlight of his career to date. In this project, science meets engineering and learning is at the centre of the work being undertaken. A previous career highlight was the role of Engineering Lead for the award-winning Class 365 Fleet Introduction for ScotRail.
Iain started his railway career in 1989 as a BR Sponsored Student and completed a BEng in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Iain benefited from the BR Engineering Management Trainee Scheme which gave him a broad background in Railway Engineering. It also gave him the opportunity to gain experience in a wide range of railway systems and build a network of great colleagues across the U.K. On graduating, he worked for ScotRail within the technical office at Haymarket depot. He then moved to Springburn depot in the role of Engineering Manager, and later became the General Manager of the business. After Springburn, he joined Interfleet Technology, as a Principal Consultant in their new Scottish team, and later became the Operational Development Director for the Rail Consulting business in the North. During this time, he was especially proud of the young engineers and graduates that he encouraged in their career paths both within Interfleet and the wider rail engineering network within Scotland.
On the IMechE front, Iain has been an active member of the Scottish Centre for the last nine years and was Chair for four of these years. During his period as Chair, and with the help and support of a fantastic committee, the centre has developed a more diverse and inclusive committee and range of participants in our events, although there are lots more still to do. One of the highlights of Iain’s time as Scottish Chair was the UK Chair’s visit to Scotland, where the Scottish Centre hosted an event for the younger engineers to meet each other, followed by “Lunch with the Chair.” This event was highly successful in improving our engagement with our future Rail Professionals, something which Iain is passionate about developing further.