- John Hughes, Chairman
- John O’Higgins, Chief Executive
- Clive Watson, Group finance director
- Jim Webster, Business group director
- Roger Stephens, Head of commercial & company secretary
- Anthony Reading, Non-executive director
- John Warren, Non-executive director
- Peter Chambré, Non-executive director
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. John was previously executive vice-president and chief operating officer of defence, aerospace and electronic systems company Thales Group and is currently non-executive chairman of Intec Telecom Systems plc and Telecity Group plc, non-executive deputy chairman of Parity Group plc, a non-executive director of Barco NV, a company quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange, and a non-executive director of Nice Systems Limited, an Israeli-headquartered business listed on NASDAQ.
John O’Higgins
Chief Executive
John O’Higgins joined Spectris in 2006. He is a member of the Nomination Committee. John was previously with Honeywell, most recently as President of Automation and Control Solutions, Asia Pacific. Prior to this he was based in Brussels and Germany in a series of management roles in the automation and controls division of the company. Before joining Honeywell, he worked 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 holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce & Accounting from the University of Birmingham.
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. Anthony 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 The Laird Group 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 7TM Pharma, a private Danish biopharmaceutical company, a non-executive director of BTG plc, and an advisor to private equity and venture capital 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.