Congratulations to our 125th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Biography of John R Wood

125th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

            John Wood is the 125th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. John read engineering at Cambridge and spent the early part of his career in the Army in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.After field appointments in BAOR and the UK, he attended Staff College and then held a number of appointments in military vehicle procurement, test and development. He retired from the Army in 1987 as a Lieutenant Colonel to join RAC Motoring Services as Technical Director and Chief Engineer.

          From there, John joined MIRA Ltd in 1991 as Managing Director and Chief Executive. MIRA grew out of the Motor Industry Research Association and is an independent company providing design, test and

development services to the automotive and other industries worldwide and has offices in the US, China, Korea and India.

          He has also been the Chairman of the Design Engineering Group of SMMT and currently chairs the Industry Advisory Panel for the Technology Strategy Board's Low Carbon Vehicle IDP and the Technical Advisory Panel of the Motor Sports Association.He is a non-executive director of CERAM Ltd and a Board member of the National Composites Network. He was Chairman of Formula Student from its inception to 2009.

          John joined the Institution in 1973, becoming a Member in 1978 and a Fellow in 1987. He served as Chairman of our Automobile Division in 1993. In 1996 John was invited to fill a casual vacancy on the

Council, prior to being elected a Member of the Council in 1998, a Vice-President in 2001 and Deputy President in 2008.