David Shemmans, chief executive, Ricardo

1987 BEng, electrical and electronic engineering, University of Manchester

1998 Harvard Business School

1990-93 Marconi Instruments, senior engineer; also consultant engineer with the Technology Partnership

1993-99 Waverider, managing director

1999-present CEO at Ricardo

In some ways, the automotive engineering consultancy Ricardo could be seen as emblematic of the UK automotive sector, or even of UK engineering as a whole. It’s widely known and respected in the industry at home and abroad, is active in a large variety of areas, particularly at the higher-value end of the product range, but it’s little known by the general public, perhaps because its customers are industrial rather than consumer facing and its name doesn’t appear on any particular products.

David Shemmans, Ricardo’s long-serving chief executive, has had a ringside seat for the UK automotive sector’s changing fortunes for over a decade; one of the most eventful periods in
the sector’s long and chequered history, which has seen it rise from the doldrums, mainly with the help of overseas investment. The last year has been a good one for the company, he told The Engineer; it’s also been busy, marked by several acquisitions, which underline some of the new factors affecting industry.