Shott appointed new IChemE President

26 May 2009

Ian Shott, CEO of pharmaceutical services company, Excelsyn, has been appointed the 68th President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.
Shott succeeds Richard Darton, Head of Engineering Science at Oxford University, as President and used his Presidential Address to discuss the concept of accelerated evolution and outline the key role biosciences will play in the future of chemical engineering.

Ian Shott with Past President, Richard Darton

“I pledge to build upon the contribution of my predecessors and use my best endeavours to take the Institution forward in these challenging but nonetheless very exciting times,” said Shott.

“Chemical engineers can lead the drive towards lower carbon dependency, driving dramatic waste minimisation and a diverse and sustainable knowledge based economy with a balanced portfolio of biological, chemical and physically based resources and technologies.

“This will require accelerated evolution. Accelerated evolution by this Institution, by our profession and the wider process community... We will play a key role in the shift towards bio-based production of energy, transport fuels and chemicals, a shift that will meet the needs of the 21st Century and future centuries in a sustainable manner.

“Accelerated evolution demands a bioscience revolution...Chemical engineers are now well placed to drive, deliver and indeed to enable the emergence of a sustainable industrial biotechnology (IB) agenda.
“Chemical engineers are indispensible to the success of any IB strategy, not least because we are capable of applying our knowledge and skill across the full range of disciplines, technologies and scales.

“Successful IB needs a coming together of chemical science, bioscience and chemical engineering. Some of us already have a foot in all of these camps, but our Institution, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, must embrace the challenge and seize the opportunities that the bioscience revolution presents.

“My vision for IChemE describes an Institution that is larger, both in terms of membership and influence. We are more diverse in terms of membership, technology, industrial application, business and in our geographical reach. We will focus resolutely on value delivery, and just like the multi-product facility that will supply future consumer needs, IChemE will also be flexible and capable of offering differentiated products and services to new communities of members responding to professional and commercial demands and capital flows,” Shott told an audience of IChemE guests and members.

Shott is founder, majority owner and CEO of Excelsyn, an integrated contract development and manufacturing services business focused exclusively on the global pharmaceutical supply chain.
He has held senior executive positions in the international pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries for over twenty years and has worked in the UK, France, Switzerland and the U.S.A.

He was latterly president of RhodiaChirex’s manufacturing division having previously held senior leadership posts at Lonza and Zeneca.

The meeting, which took place at IChemE’s London offices, also saw Desmond King, CEO of Australian oil refining and marketing company, Caltex, appointed IChemE’s new deputy President, David Shallcross, Head of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at Australia’s Melbourne University, succeeded Colin Grant, Dean of Engineering at Strathclyde University, Scotland, as the Institution’s Qualifications Vice President, and Martyn Poliakoff, Research Professor at Nottingham University, was elected to IChemE’s governing Council, succeeding Trish Melton, Managing Director of MIME Solutions.

IChemE Chief Executive, David Brown, says he looks forward to working with Shott, King, Shallcross and Poliakoff: “The next year will be a challenging time, but chemical and biochemical engineers, and the process industries that they serve, will be central to the economic recovery we anticipate.

Against that background it will be very timely to have IChemE led by a successful entrepreneur, especially one such as Ian who has a profound knowledge of our sector and the skills and technology it has to offer. We look forward to working with Ian over the coming twelve months.”