John Widdrington  OBE

Following a successful and diverse career in BAE Systems (including the former independent Vickers, Alvis and RO Defence businesses) where I held a wide range of senior positions mainly in the areas of Strategic Business Improvement and Programme Management, I am now acting as an independent Strategic Business Improvement Consultant for MM Associates.

I also sit on the Board of NDI a highly regarded not-for-profit organisation with key links to Industry, MoD and Government agencies, which exists to represent the individual and collaborative business interests of member companies at global partner and SME levels.

Experience

Strategic Business Improvement Consultant (MM Associates Ltd) - anuary 2010 - Present

Formerly Head of Business Improvement for BAE Systems, Global Combat Systems I now work as a consultant for MM Associates in the field of Strategic Business Improvement also specialising in Business Continuity Management.

I also sit on the Board of NDI a well established not for profit organisation representing the business interests of A&D companies at global partner and SME clusters levels.

Head of Business Improvement (BAE Systems) - Jan 2005 - December 2009

In my ultimate role as Head of Business Improvement for the BAES Global Combat Systems business units, I was responsible for a number of key strategic company - wide business improvement programmes; more recently these included the design and implementation of intranet/web based business systems (Integrated Business Management System; Business Continuity Management System etc). I was also responsible to BAES for the creation and implementation of strategic papers including pan-national integration strategies as well as the collation and analysis of business wide KPIs. I also represented the business as a Director of NDI (formerly Northern Defence Industries), a position I retain to the present time as an independent consultant.

Previous positions held - Sep 1970 - December 2005

Previous positions held in BAE Systems Global Combat Systems formerly Vickers, Rolls Royce, Alvis and RO businesses include Programmes manager (responsible for multi project resource management within Engineering and R&D), Engineering Services Manager (responsible for introducing integrating business systems and processes across multiple sites), Business Manager, Quality Manager, Integrated Logistic Support Manager amongst a wide variety of other roles.  

Qualifications and Accreditations       

o OBE for services to the defence industry

o MBA (Newcastle University)

o C. Eng (MIET)

o Fellowship in Manufacturing Management (Cranfield University)

o Bachelor of Technology (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering (Bradford University)

o 3 'A' levels, 10 'O' Levels (Hookergate Grammar School, Co Durham)