Engineering leaders from Peterborough are chosen to help power region's growth

A senior business leader from Peterborough has been given a key role in the region's economic development.
Austen Adams, divisional managing director of Avingtrans, owner of Peter Brotherhood and Stainless Metalcraft.Austen Adams, divisional managing director of Avingtrans, owner of Peter Brotherhood and Stainless Metalcraft.
Austen Adams, divisional managing director of Avingtrans, owner of Peter Brotherhood and Stainless Metalcraft.

Austen Adams, divisional managing director at Avingtrans, which owns Peterborough's iconic engineering company Peter Brotherhood, and Chatteris success story Stainless Metalcraft, has been appointed to the newly created business board of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.

The nine strong board, which includes seven business leaders and two politicians, has been created to give private business a vital say in decisions about wealth and jobs creation across the county.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Adams said: "The region has great potential to go for growth and the local business community has an important role to play in this strategy.

"Creating jobs, attracting investment and championing an environment for businesses to thrive in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is something close to my heart so I am looking forward to the contribution I can make to the business board of Combined Authority.”

Mr Adams, who started his engineering career as an apprentice, manages a portfolio of 12 industrial businesses in the energy and medical sectors.

He has more than 30 years’ experience growing and managing profitable engineering businesses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He is also regarded as the driving force behind the investment in award-winning apprenticeships at the companies he manages and sees the investment in skills as a long term priority for business success.

Mr Adams holds a number of advisory board roles including the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. He also provides local advisory services to SMEs in the engineering sector.

He joins Mark Dorsett, who is the global HR services director and UK Country Director, for Caterpillar's Perkins Engines in Peterborough.

Mr Dorsett is responsible for leading the company’s business interests, government affairs and corporate social responsibilities agenda in the UK.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He has gained global experience through international assignments in Brussels, Belgium and at Caterpillar’s Global Headquarters in the USA.

The other board members are its chairman Professor Aamir Khalid, technology director for The Welding Institute, in Cambridge, Dr Tina Barsby, chief executive of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, in Cambridge, Douglass Cuff, senior director for development at BioMed Realty, Cambridge, William Haire,agriculture development manager of the East of England Agricultural Society, in Peterborough, and Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations, University of Cambridge.

The board also includes the Combined Authority Mayor James Palmer and and Cllr Charles Roberts, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council.

Related:

Related topics: