Jim Teasdale
Terry Weston has been confirmed as Chief Executive of Maritime and Engineering College North West (MECNW) following the retirement of his predecessor, Jim Teasdale, at the end of September.
Jim Teasdale was a founder director and chief executive of Birkenhead-based Maritime and Engineering College North West (MECNW), a charitable foundation set up under his leadership in 1998 to provide apprenticeship training in vocational skills with a particular focus on engineering and marine engineering. Under his direction, the college merged with industry representative body Mersey Maritime – also led by Mr Teasdale – in 2007, bringing together the complementary strengths of each organisation under the newly-formed Mersey Maritime Group umbrella. He steps down leaving both companies in a healthy position.
His successor, Terry Weston, who hails from Liverpool and was previously Skills Director at MECNW, began his own career as an engineering apprentice. He progressed through the automotive industry from apprentice motor vehicle engineer to hold senior management positions in the engine research industry around the UK. Terry’s passion for engineering, and for helping young aspirational engineers to make similar career journeys, is what now inspires him to take the college forward into a new era under his leadership.
Speaking about Jim’s leadership and the future, Terry said “I have worked for and alongside Jim Teasdale since 2007 when Jim returned to the college to form Mersey Maritime Group. His reputation in the business community as a statesman in the maritime and engineering education sector is well deserved. Under his leadership and personal mentorship, encouraging me, as the senior engineer, to drive the college forward, we have positioned the business to be class leading locally and in the national Group Training Association (GTA) network in which we operate and benchmark.
“As a business committed to quality, we started on a journey in 1998 with a commitment to work for the industry and in doing so, create and sustain real career opportunities for local people, ” said Mr Weston. “Jim’s contribution to the college’s work doesn’t end here. He will remain a director on the Board of MECNW to champion education issues and continue to support me in my new role as CEO. For my part, I am tasked by the excellent college Board to continue our existing strategy of ‘growth through excellence’.”
MECNW specialises in technical apprenticeships and engineering, safety and management skills solutions for industry, and counts leading employers such as world famous shipyard Cammell Laird, the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, Peel Ports and the NHS among its clients. It also provides training for over 80 small to medium sized businesses locally.
MECNW
Building on its excellent reputation, MECNW aims to create opportunities for local employees with its programme of advanced apprenticeships. These apprenticeships provide skilled jobs for local people and skilled workers for local firms which enable them to remain competitive and pursue growth. MECNW aims to drive up the number of apprenticeships with the engineering, engineering construction and related sectors by continuously improving its engagement of employers, local authority, schools and partners. www.mecnw.co.uk
More about Jim Teasdale, Former Chief Executive, Mersey Maritime Group
Jim Teasdale has stepped down as CEO of Mersey Maritime Group, having spent a lifetime at the education/ business interface with the goal of helping people develop and gain skilled employment.
Having begun his career as a teacher in his native North East, followed by a Research Fellowship at University College Cardiff, Jim went on to gain a Master’s degree in management and progressed into a series of senior roles within education. In 2004, Jim was appointed as CEO of industry representative body Mersey Maritime and engineered its successful merger with Maritime and Engineering College North West (MECNW) in 2007 to form Mersey Maritime Group. The expanded Group has a combined turnover of £3.5m and deals with a wide range of maritime and engineering sector companies, private and public sector partners, as well as policy makers at all levels locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Jim was instrumental in helping to develop and launch a Mersey Ports Growth Strategy in 2006, which was subsequently referenced in the development of the Mersey Ports Masterplan and helped form the basis of the Superport Liverpool project, the private sector-led group that aims to drive forward the Superport Action Plan and bring over £270 million investment into the maritime sector by 2025. As a panel member of the Superport Committee, Jim also researched and authored the Liverpool City Region Skills for Growth Agreement.
Jim is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI), a Member of the Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) and a lifelong member of City & Guilds. He was previously a member of the Liverpool City Region Employment and Skills Board, sat on the steering committee for Sea Vision, the national careers organisation for the maritime sector, and is still an Apprentice Ambassador for the North West. Jim is happily married to Julie, with 2 grown-up children.
