TWI has announced that Christoph Wiesner has became the new
Chief Executive on 1 July. He succeeds Bob John who, for the
past six years, has presided over the expansion of TWI both in the UK
and overseas.

Christoph joined TWI in 1991 after obtaining his materials engineering
degree in Germany and his doctorate at the Swiss Institute of
Technology. He worked for twelve years in TWI's Structural Integrity
Group, first as Senior Project Leader and later in Section and Group
management roles, before being appointed TWI Research & Technology
Director in 2003. Much of his early research and consulting work has
been in the application and development of structural assessment and
test methods. More recently, his focus has been on people, business and
innovation management as a key member of TWI's Executive Board team.

He oversaw the growth in TWI's Technology Programme value through
publicly funded programmes, both from the UK and the EU and took a
leading role in the TWI's externally accredited management systems.

Experiences and networking activities include contributions to, and
chairmanship of, BSI and CEN standardisation committees and the UK
Technical Advisory Group on the Structural Integrity of High Integrity
Plant (TAGSI); membership of the Board of Directors and chairmanship of
the Technical Management Board of the International Institute of Welding
(IIW); membership of four journal editorial boards in the area of
welding & joining and structural integrity; as well as contributions to
international technical advisory boards.

Christoph is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), a
recipient of The Welding Insitute's Lidstone Medal in 1999, and a Fellow
of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and The Welding
Institute.

Responding to the announcement of his appointment, Christoph commented
that he is very much looking forward to the new role as well as the
challenges it holds: "I feel honoured to have been selected and will do
my utmost to lead TWI into a promising future in order to serve the
members, customers and staff of this great organisation."