MTC chief executive wins top award

Hickman received the Chair's Award for Excellence and Board Practice for the West Midlands at a virtual award ceremony presentation which linked the West and East Midlands for the first time.

He heads the Midlands Manufacturing Resilience Commission, has been chief executive of the MTC for more than 10 years. Previously he had more than 35 years experience in the automotive industry culminating in the position of head of engineering for Tata Motors in India. He also established the Tata Motors European Technical Centre Plc in the UK.

Brian Hall, chairman of the IoD in the West Midlands, said: "Congratulations go to all our winners who demonstrated outstanding success. We were delighted to showcase and celebrate their achievements during our virtual awards ceremony which was run across the whole of Midlands to achieve a wide audience and maximum exposure for all our finalists."

Hickman began his career as a senior engineer with the Rover Group before becoming engineering and group operations director at MIRA. He subsequently joined Ricardo Plc where he held a seat on the board and was managing director of Ricardo UK Ltd.

Born in Coseley in the West Midlands, he is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The MTC was founded by the University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, the University of Nottingham and TWI Ltd. The MTC’s industrial members include some of the UK’s major global manufacturers.

The MTC aims to provide a competitive environment to bridge the gap between university-based research and the development of innovative manufacturing solutions, in line with the Government’s manufacturing strategy. The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.