Independent Member of the Board of Directors
Appointed 2008
Dr Begg (°1954) is Senior Vice President, SKF, Göteborg, Sweden. He joined SKF in 2007 to lead Group Technology Development and Quality. He is responsible for the central technical facilities and laboratories around the world and for Group quality.
Alan Begg spent 12 years in the early part of his career with BP, initially at their Research Centre, where he led the Advanced Engineering Materials Group, then as the Senior Executive of a new start business he set up (BP Metal Composites). He left BP in 1993 to be the Managing Director of T&N Technology, the central laboratories for the T&N Group (a £2Bn supplier to the automotive industry). In his 5 years with T&N Technology, he grew their sales revenue by 75%. In 1998 T&N were purchased by their US rival Federal-Mogul. Dr Begg moved to Federal-Mogul headquarters, just north of Detroit in the USA as Vice President of Technology for the combined companies.
In 2001 he returned to the UK to be Director of Technology for Morgan Crucible (a £1Bn Advanced Materials Group), and a member of their 6 man executive team. There he had responsibility for all technology across the company.
In 2004 he was appointed as Chief Executive of the newly formed Automotive Academy, a unique Government / Industry partnership aimed at making Japanese manufacturing practices widely available to the UK industry.
Outside his formal employment, Dr Begg has a wide-ranging list of professional achievements and activities.
Alan Begg has a First Class Honours degree and a PhD in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Cambridge University.