about SBAC > sbac council

The SBAC Council comprises representatives nominated by the member companies and representatives of the main boards and committees. The Council is the governing body of the Society. It sets the strategy, directs and determines the work and activities of SBAC.

Each year the Council elects the President, Vice-President and Treasurer. The Deputy President, who is the immediate past President, is an ex officio member of the Council. These four are the Officers who also form the Finance Committee and manage the work of the Society between Council meetings.

The current Council Officers are:

Alex Dorrian - SBAC President

CEO, Thales UK

Alex Dorrian is Chief Executive of Thales UK and responsible for Thales's operations in the USA, Australia and Canada. He reports to the Chairman and CEO of Thales, Denis Ranque. Alex joined Thales in early 1999, as Senior Vice President of Thales's global naval business until September 2002 when he took up his current post.

Before joining Thales, Alex was Deputy Group Managing Director Defence Systems for British Aerospace and previously the Managing Director of BAeSEMA Ltd, he was also a member of the Sema Group Plc Executive Committee and Managing Director of Yard Ltd, which he joined in 1970, becoming Managing Director in 1987.

Alex graduated from Strathclyde University in Scotland in 1970 with an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the following organisations: Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Engineering Technology, the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is a member of the National Defence Industries Council and was appointed President of the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) in 2008.

Alex was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 2002 New Years Honours list.

SBAC Deputy President - Allan Edward Cook
Chief Executive, Cobham plc
Appointed to the board in 2001, Allan Cook, aged 55, joined the group from BAE SYSTEMS where he was group managing director of programmes and managing director of Eurofighter. He was formerly group managing director of GEC-Marconi Avionics and chief executive of Hughes Aircraft ( Europe ). He is also a director of the Society of British Aerospace Companies Ltd and a member of the SMMT Industrial Forum and the Dti Aerospace Forum.

SBAC Vice President - Tony Wood

Chief Operating Officer, Rolls-Royce

Tony Wood joined Rolls-Royce in 2001 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer ? Civil Aerospace in February 2006.

His first role with the company was as Director of Operations ? Defence Aerospace, following a 17-year career with Dowty and Messier-Dowty. He was subsequently appointed Managing Director ? Defence Aerospace in January 2004. He first joined the Dowty Group in 1984 as a sponsored undergraduate and held a wide variety of engineering, production, purchasing and programme management roles before becoming Vice-President Manufacturing for Messier-Dowty Inc in Toronto, Canada in 1995. In 1998 he was appointed Vice-President Operations, also in Toronto

He is a board member of Industria de Turbo Propulsores SA, International Aero Engines AG, Vice President and Director of the Society of British Aerospace Companies and became a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in March 2004.

Tony was educated at Wilmslow Grammar School. He undertook an apprenticeship programme with Dowty, which led to an HND in Mechanical and Production Engineering and an Open University degree in Engineering. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France in 1997.

SBAC Treasurer - Norman Barber

A past SBAC President, Norman was appointed SBAC Treasurer in September 2005. His career has encompassed a variety of senior executive positions with BAE Systems and Smiths Industries. Since his retirement in 2001, Norman has been Treasurer of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe and he is also a non-executive Director with Marshall of Cambridge Aerospace Ltd. He is trustee of two educational trusts which encourage young people to join the aerospace industry: the Smallpeice Trust and the Arkwright Trust.