George Gillespie
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
Dr George Gillespie is a global business guru. He’s transformed the fortunes of local automotive research company MIRA and has a passion for promoting business growth in the Midlands.
Dr George Gillespie, a proud native of Portadown, County Armagh, was always set for a good start academically, brought up as he was by a head-teacher father and teacher mother. But, he admits freely that sport was his real love as a child.
His prowess on the field, playing both rugby and football throughout his school years, was replaced for a need for speed on the water whilst studying for his first degree at Queen’s University in Belfast. An accomplished rower, George gained a Blue after representing his university at several Irish Championships and showing the English what a good rower looked like at Henley’s Royal Regatta.
His love of sport and competition was matched by a fascination for cars, motorbikes and all things mechanical. Under the inspiring Prof Gordon Blair at Queen's, a globally renowned expert in engine design, George has said he not only developed his knowledge and passion for engineering, but also learnt how to approach the challenges of life and “keep a perspective.”
After gaining his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Queen's, George started, what was later to become a stellar career, in the USA, where he worked on the development of low emission outboard marine engines.
Six years in the States were followed by a move to England, where time with companies including Ricardo, Schenck, HORIBA and MIRA put George on the path to his position of CEO at MIRA and success regionally, nationally and internationally.
Since becoming MIRA’s CEO, George has led the turnaround in the company’s fortunes, increasing turnover at MIRA Technology Park and leading the business’s continued success in the international market.
Happy to pay homage to his industry’s heroes, George has said he continues to be inspired by Prof Helmut List of AVL, the world’s largest privately owned company specialising in the design and development of internal combustion engines, powertrains and test systems and has always admired the charismatic, late Dr Masao Horiba, founder of a globally dominant business who also managed to strike the right balance of work and family life.
George’s continued commitment to building business development overseas led to his being honoured with an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list in 2014.
Closer to home though, George is determined to build on the redevelopment of the Midlands as an economic lynchpin. Restoring the region to its former position as a UK leader, particularly in the fields of advanced engineering and manufacturing, is something he works tirelessly for to this day.
Having served the region loyally for many years, previously as director of the Coventry & Warwickshire LEP and currently on the Board of the Leicestershire LEP, George has been involved with both the CBI East and West Midlands councils and still finds time to chair the Automotive Council Intelligent Connected Vehicle group and be a vice president and board member of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
People who work hard are known to play hard too and in this, George is no exception, though one of his hobbies could also be seen as some very exciting product testing!
Despite being found often on the race tracks at Caterham, George can also move at a more sedate pace when on his mountain bike or hill walking with family and friends. If he can combine these pastimes with his latest hobby he could even be joined in the hills by his very own flock of sheep, or alternatively attach a farm trailer to the race car!
We are delighted that George’s wife Lisa, and daughters Sara and Emma, are here with us to celebrate today and honour this man who has given so much to the advanced engineering industry, as well as to the economic growth and continued development of the West Midlands region.