First lady for IMechE

London — The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has appointed Ruth Spellman as its new chief executive — the first female to hold the position in the institute's 160-year history. She succeeds Sir Michael Moore, who is retiring.

Spellman, who takes up the CE role in the New Year, has been chief executive of Investors in People UK since 1998, and is a former director for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

With an MA Economics from Girton College, Cambridge, Spellman joined the National Coal Board and later moved to the National Economic Development Office (NEDO). In 1986 she joined Coopers and Lybrand working with a range of industrial companies, including many engineering-based organisations.

“I am so pleased to be in a position to play an important part in the promotion of engineering; the success of which I recognise as critical to the future success of UK plc,” she commented in a 7 Sept IMechE announcement.