Honorary professorship for captain of industry
03 Mar 2014 The University of Manchester has appointed a leading industrialist as honorary professor to teach the next generation of engineers and further develop commercial research collaborations. Juergen Maier, Managing Director of Siemens UK and Ireland Industry Sector and a member of the Siemens UK Executive Management Board, will take up the five-year post within the University's Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The appointment builds on the existing strategic partnership between the University and the multinational engineering and electronics conglomerate. The company's university partnering programme represents a major part of Siemens' commitment to the UK skills agenda, and collaboration ranges from joint research programmes to the development of new qualifications with industrial placements to meet future demands. Professor Maier joined Siemens in 1986 after obtaining a BSc in production engineering from Nottingham Trent University on a Siemens-sponsored graduate programme. He has since held several senior roles with the company in Germany and the UK, including Director of Industrial Controls, two Divisional Managing Director roles and Manufacturing Director of the award-winning Drives Factory in Congleton, Cheshire. Siemens UK and Ireland Industry Sector, which he now heads, is a leading global supplier of industrial plant and software, manufacturing automation and drive technologies to industrial customers, which in the UK represents a business volume of about £500 million and employs 2,000 people.
