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, Strategic Marketing

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 Facilitation

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, Director of Account Development

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, Director of Business Development

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, Director of Consultancy †

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.

† Responsible for Commercial Management whilst Graham Law
is on secondment.

Graham Law, Director of Commercial Management *

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.

* Currently seconded to C+ as Director of Compliance.

Diane Stean, Account Director

Diane is an Account Director working closely with her customers to help them understand the value that Atkins can bring to their business. She is also responsible for driving the development and marketing of client propositions.

Her goal is to ensure that Atkins deliver on their promise to "make change work for you" by providing experienced people in programme, project and change management along with the application of best practice methods and supporting tools. 

Diane is an engineering graduate from Warwick University, who has 20 years experience of programme and project management and the application of PPPM solutions to deliver benefits. She has particular sector experience is within Utilities and Capital Industries, Central and Local Government.