Management

Chris Birdsong, Managing Director

Chris is managing director of the Management Consultants business unit and a member of the Group executive team. He worked for Bechtel for over 30 years, during which time he worked on major projects in heavy industry, transport and telecommunications. This included a period as managing director of Equinix, which provides telecommunication infrastructure in Europe and the USA

Dr Tom Abram, Advisor

Before joining Mantix, now part of Atkins, Tom Abram was Managing Director of the European Management Consulting business for EDS. Previous to this he spent 8 years with the Ministry of Defence before joining Scicon in 1984. He has a degree in electronics and electrical engineering and a PhD from Manchester University.

Nigel Stock, Director of Strategy

Nigel has a strong track record as an agent for change in environments where the management of people and technology are critical success factors. His consultancy work has covered mentoring SROs, programme leaders and project managers. He has provided thought leadership for business and cultural change, programme management strategy, and programme assurance activity. Often involved in advising leaders of programmes of major change at government departments, Nigel has recently focussed on the learning and development needs of key decision-makers and now works primarily in the field of bridging the gap between strategy and delivery of major change.

Nigel is also a highly experienced trainer and offers workshop design and facilitation as well as tailored learning opportunities.

Simon Bates, Key Account Director

Simon joined Atkins through the acquisition of Mantix, and specialises in Education & Welfare. Simon's prior career was in strategy consulting, as well as several years in line and project management in the IT and electronics industries. He has a wealth of experience of consulting to the corporate and public sectors, where his specialisms are feasibility studies, business cases, and change programme design.

David Butler, Key Account Director

David is a Key Account Director for a multi-million pound framework agreement for provision of IT Project Management and Business Analysis services to BAA.

David Butler is a Chartered Chemical Engineer. He holds a Bachelors degree and Doctorate in Chemical Engineering. His experience includes working as a Business Manager and Project Manager in a wide range of engineering, consultancy, IT and Telecommunication projects. He has a background in a range of industry sectors including national and local government, transport, oil & gas, support services and IT & Telecommunications.

He is result orientated and customer focussed, with a can do attitude and is well versed in the management of complex programmes of work, directing multi-disciplined teams and delivering successful results to demanding timescales.

Andrew Cooke, Key Account Director

Andrew is a Chartered Certified Accountant and has a Master of Business Administration from Cranfield University. Before joining Atkins Andrew had over fourteen years experience as a senior financial manager working in the steel, heavy engineering, business services industries and in FMCG.

Russell Cameron, Key Account Director

Russell is responsible for the succesful delivery of all technical projects. Russell has had a very interesting career as both a Consultant and a Senior Executive of businesses in the Manufacturing, Automotive, Telecom, Transport and Engineering industries.

Since joining our team he has developed Group Project Standards for a UK Bank, completed a strategic review of the decommissioning programme for British Nuclear Group and carried out a due-diligence investigation prior to the spin-out of a multi-national fencing company. He has recently managed the implementation of a number of pilots and production solutions based on Microsoft EPM for the Environment Agency, Napp Pharmaceuticals, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Manchester City Council and the Prison Service.

Geoff Kneen, Key Account Director

Geoff is an engineering graduate but has spent the 15 years leading businesses providing IS solutions into industry. Responsible for the development and delivery numerous business critical solutions in Aviation, Rail, Utilities and Manufacturing which has led to a rich knowledge in secure solutions and enterprise architecture, Geoff has also been the Atkins IS Director for the UK and Europe. Here Geoff was responsible for the strategy and delivery of IS services to 12,000 users with over 1500 software applications in the portfolio and an annual budget of £50million. Geoff tries to be a keen golfer but prefers to spend more time with his wife,  and two young daughters.

Philip Rowbourne, Key Account Director

Philip started work in the defence industry, working on major Satellite programmes, before joining Atkins fifteen years ago. He has over twenty years experience in project and programme environments and in consultancy, working with a variety of clients.

Graham Law, Director of Projects/Commercial

Graham is a Chartered Engineer and a Certified Management Consultant with an MBA. He is an Assessor for the British Quality Foundation (BQF/EFQM) Business Excellence Model (BEM) and has been an Excellence Awards assessor over the last three years. He is also an OGC Gateway Reviewer for major public sector projects.

Andrew Ruffles, Director of Consultancy

Andrew's previous role was as Director of our China business and prior to moving to Hong Kong he was Head of Business Management Division. He has worked on projects in five continents, is a Certified Management Consultant, has a Master of Business Administration degree and is a chartered civil engineer.

Jamie Sharp, Finance

Jamie is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a degree in Business Economics.  He has held several senior financial roles both within operational finance and internal audit. 

Jamie’s operational experience includes the full provision of financial information and support to business management including management information systems, budgets, forecasts, project control and strategic advice.  His work within Internal Audit included business controls audits, strategy audits and special projects including one off business performance reviews and projects for the Group FD. 

Jamie’s project experience has included European accounting and mobilising a large project and associated finance team across Europe, open book accounting on large complex infrastructure projects in both the public and private sectors. He has worked on a number of Joint venture projects and has been the Atkins finance representative within the various management teams.

In his spare time Jamie has his hands full with his two young sons but gets out on the golf course whenever possible.