Board and management team

John Hughes
John O’Higgins
Clive Watson
Jim Webster
Roger Stephens
Anthony Reading MBE
John Warren
Peter Chambré

John Hughes

Chairman

John Hughes was appointed to the Board in 2007 and became Chairman in May 2008. He is chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee. John was previously executive vice-president and chief operating officer of defence, aerospace and electronic systems company Thales Group SA and is currently non-executive chairman of Intec Telecom Systems plc and Telecity Group plc, non-executive deputy chairman of Parity Group plc, and a non-executive director of Chloride Group plc and Nice Systems Ltd, a NASDAQ listed company.

John O’Higgins

Chief Executive

John O’Higgins joined Spectris in 2006. He is a member of the Nomination Committee. Prior to joining Spectris, John was with Honeywell, most recently as President of Automation and Control Solutions, Asia Pacific. He began his career with Daimler Benz in Stuttgart. John has engineering degrees from University College Dublin and Purdue University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Clive Watson

Group finance director

Clive Watson joined Spectris in 2006. He was previously at Borealis, a leading provider of plastics solutions, where he was Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice-president for business support. Prior to this, he was group finance director at Thorn Lighting Group and before that group finance director Europe with Black & Decker. Clive is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Chartered Institute of Tax and holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce & Accounting from the University of Birmingham. He is a non-executive director of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc.

Jim Webster

Business group director

Jim Webster, a metallurgy graduate, joined Spectris in 1993. He is responsible for the operational supervision of a number of the group’s trading companies. He was previously general manager of the European Wire and Cable Division of Raychem Corporation. He is a non-executive director of Raymarine plc.

Roger Stephens

Head of commercial & company secretary

Roger Stephens is an economics graduate and chartered company secretary. Prior to joining Spectris in 1997, he held commercial roles in the power and construction sectors, specialising in contract negotiation, claims resolution, IP exploitation and property development.

Anthony Reading MBE

Non-executive director

Anthony Reading was appointed to the Board in 2004. He is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Nomination Committee and is the Senior Independent Director. Tony was previously a director of Tomkins plc and chairman of Tomkins Corporation, USA, and a non-executive director of George Wimpey plc. He is a non-executive director of Laird plc, Taylor Wimpey plc and e2v technologies plc.

John Warren

Non-executive director

John Warren was appointed to the Board in 2006. He is chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee. From 2000 to 2005, John was group finance director at WH Smith PLC. Prior to that, he was with United Biscuits Plc for 19 years, latterly as group finance director. He has been a non-executive director of Rexam Plc and RAC plc and is currently a non-executive director of The Rank Group Plc, Bovis Homes Group PLC, BPP Holdings plc and Uniq plc.

Peter Chambré

Non-executive director

Peter Chambré was appointed to the Board in 2006. He is a member of the Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee. He is chairman of Axellia Pharmaceuticals, ApaTech and 7TM Pharma, all private companies, and a non-executive director of BTG plc. He is also an adviser to private equity company 3i. Peter was formerly chief executive officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc and prior to that was chief operating officer of Celera Genomics Group and chief executive of Bespak plc.