Management

The Taylor Hobson Management Team

Craig Howarth - Managing Director

Craig Howarth B.Sc MBA
Managing Director

Craig Howarth was appointed Managing Director of Taylor Hobson in October 2008. Craig joins us from Hanovia Ltd, a subsidiary of Halma Plc, where he was Managing Director. Craig has extensive experience of implementing and delivering growth strategies for technology businesses. He has also held senior positions at Malvern Instruments and ABB Meters. Craig has a B.Sc in Physics from the University of Liverpool and an MBA from Henley.

Derek Chilton - Finance Director

Derek Chilton BCom ACMA
Finance Director

Derek Chilton was appointed Finance Director of Taylor Hobson in January 2006, after working at Taylor Hobson for nine years, initially as Consolidation Accountant then as Group Accountant and latterly as Financial Controller. Mr Chilton is responsible for Finance and Commercial Sales Administration. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of The Witwatersrand and is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Prior to joining Taylor Hobson, Mr Chilton worked at SAPA Ltd and Fisons plc (Pharmaceutical Division) in the UK and at Southern Life in South Africa.

Tim Garner-Operations Director

Tim Garner
Operations Director

Tim Garner was appointed Operations Director in 1999 and has over 25 years experience with Taylor Hobson Limited. He started his career as a mechanical design engineer before becoming a senior applications projects engineer. In 1995 he moved into Manufacturing as Assembly Manager. Since becoming Operations Director he has overseen the transformation of the department working in an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 environment. With year on year improvements in on time delivery, stock reduction, supply chain management and lead time reduction we have entered a new era of continuous improvement to keep Taylor Hobson at the forefront of precision Instrument Manufacture.

Jonathan M Orr - Sales Director

Jonathan M Orr
Sales Director

Jonathan Orr was appointed Sales Director in March 2007. Prior to his appointment Jonathan held a number of key commercial positions within General Electric's Sensor Division, including Key and Strategic accounts Director, Commercial operations leader and Marketing Manager. Jonathan is a Chartered Electrical engineer having gained a BEng in electrical & electronic engineering from Liverpool John Moores University and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing from Park Lane College Leeds.

Ian Lee Bennett - Business Development Director

Ian Lee-Bennett
Business Development Director

Ian Lee-Bennett was appointed Business Development Director in April 2007. Previously Ian served as Business Development Manager for the nanotechnology business sectors. As Business Development Director he is responsible for monitoring the key industry trends within the ultra precision metrology sector, expanding the company's product portfolio and planning and executing the global marketing strategy to increase brand awareness. Prior to joining Taylor Hobson Ian Lee-Bennett held senior management positions at Scantron Industrial Products and GDS Designs where he was responsible for product development of optical metrology systems and electronic test equipment.

Bob Bennett-Technical Director

Bob Bennett
Technical Director

Bob Bennett was appointed Technical Director of Taylor Hobson in November 2007. Bob started his career as a Development Engineer at Perkin Elmer Ltd. before joining Renishaw plc as Design Manager. He has a Physics degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and a PhD from Southampton. As Technical Director Bob is responsible for identifying and driving enabling technologies for present and future products and maintain Taylor Hobson��s reputation as a precision metrology innovator. Bob is responsible for Research, Product Development, Intellectual Property and external collaborations with academic and research organisations.

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