The New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) has announced three appointments to its Board of Trustees.

Martin Hitchin, Rowena Innocent and Richard Lindsay-Davies became official board members on 1 July.

Commenting on the appointments, Chairman Dame Fiona Kendrick said: “The addition of these three industry leaders, all with strong engineering backgrounds, will be great support for delivering our vision for the world’s most distinctive and innovative engineering curriculum.

“Each will reinforce the role of employer leadership of this project, as well as contribute a range of individual commercial experiences. These appointments bring our Board to nine, giving us additional breadth and diversity as we move towards university status.”

Martin Hitchin is the CEO of REHAU, a leading systems and service provider for polymer-based solutions in construction, automotive and industry. Martin is currently a Council Member of the EuPC (professional representative body of plastics converters in Europe) and of the British Plastics Federation.

Martin said: “The whole project represents a unique opportunity for engineering teaching in the UK. As an employer of engineering graduates at REHAU we have always been painfully aware of how difficult it is to find the right candidate and how long the onboarding process takes.

“I believe that my engineering background, commercial experience and exposure to many different engineering fields and companies will help drive this project forward.”

Rowena Innocent has been vice-president of research and development (R&D) at Malvern Panalytical since January 2017. Malvern Panalytical is a leading provider of scientific instrumentation for materials analysis.

Rowena said: I’m delighted and excited to join the growing NMiTE family. Engineering is changing rapidly and we urgently need to develop engineers that can drive the high tech industry in the UK. The lack of gender balance in further education and subsequently industry is leaving a rich talent pool untapped.

“Having worked in engineering, leading product development teams for over 25 years, I am really looking forward to helping NMiTE rebalance and re-energise engineering in the UK. For my role, I offer a strong voice of the industry with insights into developing technology trends and, of course, as a woman in engineering I have first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities a career in engineering offers.”

Richard Lindsay-Davies is CEO of Digital TV Group, the organisation that defines the core requirements of every television sold in the UK market and has been central to the development and collaborative implementation of digital television in the UK for more than 25 years.

Richard said: “Engineering underpins every part of our society and economy, from our health through to our security and our entertainment, but the world is changing fast and we are facing a huge engineering skills gap.

“NMiTE’s innovative approach will help ensure that Britain retains its global position in this critical area, with engineering graduates that are not only ready for the world of work, but also representative of broader society.

“Its approach resonates strongly with my own experience, whilst training and throughout my career. Learning and personal confidence cannot be divorced from practical application and a first-hand understanding of industry.

“I am looking forward to supporting an institution dedicated to unlocking both engineering excellence and professional and personal competencies.”

NMiTE CEO Elena Rodriguez-Falcon said: “Our objective is to revolutionise engineering education by combining the most successful ways to learn from around the world into a new, bold and inspiring approach. Learning is centred around students solving practical engineering challenges, including their commercial aspects too, so it is great that our growing board increasingly reflects this.

“It is particularly rewarding that we have been able to increase this breadth by welcoming leaders from local, national and international businesses.”

The NMiTE Board already comprises Dame Fiona Kendrick, Professor Sir Eric Thomas, Jon Gorringe, Karen Usher, Ian Falconer, and Peter Scott.