Gary Sanford

Chair of Governors

I have been fortunate in my lifetime in that my career has given me access to those areas of life that I love and enjoy.  I have always enjoyed large engineering projects, exploring and creating new, innovative, and exciting ways to overcome engineering problems and had always wanted to “share my experiences” with young people along the way. I am passionate about travelling and learning about other cultures and ideas.  In 1970 I began an international career that allowed me to work in defence engineering, lead large offshore engineering projects for the oil and gas industry and then to take that knowledge and apply it to bring new innovative engineering solutions to the rail industry worldwide.   Along this road I have worked and lived in more than 12 different countries in the Far East, Middle East and Europe; I am now a citizen of two countries and have been actively mentoring young graduates in the engineering disciplines. And I was fortunate enough to head up the Innovation Department of the railways for over 8 years.

I have been fortunate to be able to view things from differing cultural perspectives.  However, in order to be successful, I have found that there are two important guides that always are present.  I try to follow these as best I can.  They are:

• Treat others as you wish to be treated, and
• Listen to understand, not to respond.

Now that I am retired, I wish to give back some of my time and experience to a community that has given me so much.