IHEEM’s newly appointed CEO, Julian Amey, says his priorities include broadening the Institute’s membership, further raising its profile and influence, building on its sound relationships with other engineering institutions and trade bodies, and developing its role as a high quality education and information provider to healthcare estates management and engineering professionals.
HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
Julian Amey – who became IHEEM’s new CEO on 30 April – is a former Chief Executive of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, who previously served as executive director of BBC English at the BBC World Service. He has a particular interest in education and training, how membership organisations can raise membership numbers and identify new income streams, and in international business, educational, and cultural affairs. As CIBSE Chief Executive from 2001 to 2006, he led efforts to grow and develop the Institution’s UK and international membership and its events and publications programme, organised events such as the CIBSE Annual Dinner and President’s Dinner, and, via a ‘five-year plan’ that focused on areas including growing membership and subscriptions, CPD programmes, fund-raising, and increasing volunteer involvement, increased income from £8 million to £11 million during his time in office. He also led the Institution’s UK and international development, and formed alliances with engineering and other professional bodies to improve influence on Government and policy formation, especially in the areas of climate change, energy efficiency, and environmental matters.
Need for a strong voice
He says: “I am delighted to be joining IHEEM at a very interesting time for the UK healthcare sector. With significant uncertainty about how the NHS reforms will impact on the estate, there has never been a more important time for IHEEM to continue forging strong relationships with other professional engineering institutes and trade associations so that, wherever possible, such bodies can speak with one voice and effectively represent their members’ interests. “I very much hope that my previous ‘not- for-profit’ and educational publishing and broadcasting experience will enable me to drive forward the next stage of IHEEM’s development, and to widen public recognition of the Institute’s work, and the status of its members. I am particularly keen to broaden the Institute’s membership and appeal, and to attract younger members – a goal that I am convinced we can achieve by harnessing the broad spectrum of different channels, including the Internet and social media, now available.” Having set up a regionally-organised subscription-based ‘Patrons’ group scheme at CIBSE that raised funds for capital projects and bursaries for those unable to afford ‘the rising costs’ of further or higher education, Julian Amey says he is also keen to work with IHEEM’s Company Affiliates ‘to better serve industry and IHEEM members’.
Developing qualifications
Since June 2011, he has run his own, London-based education and media consultancy. In his two immediately preceding roles, as Chief Executive at both Trinity College London, an international arts examination awarding body, and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, he developed new qualifications and websites, and extended the two organisations’ UK, regional, and overseas activities, with the help of volunteer support. The holder of a BA (Hons) degree in Economics and Politics from Magdalene College, Cambridge, he began his career as an executive trainee with educational publisher, Pearson Longman, where he successfully built up the company’s business in both Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, subsequently becoming international sales and marketing director responsible for Europe, India, South East Asia, Japan, and China.
World Service role
He adds: “Between 1989 and 1994 I was executive director for BBC English at the BBC World Service, responsible for the financial performance and production of all radio and television programmes and publications. There I brought together a £3 million consortium to fund a 60-programme English language learning series which reached a 100 million audience, and 60 million people in China alone. I subsequently had spells with the DTI, developing business and educational partnerships between UK companies and universities and their counterparts in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and as director-general of Canning Town – a business and cultural institute with interests in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, which provides information services to governments, companies, and individuals. My remit included negotiating grants from the EU, FCO, and DTI, establishing a scholarship programme in support of partner universities in the UK to promote student and business exchanges with universities and companies in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, and growing individual membership.”
A passion for communications
A Governor of Bath Spa University, and a BBC-nominated Trustee for the educational Trust, ‘International House’, which promotes the use of English worldwide, Julian Amey is a fluent Spanish and Portuguese speaker, and a member of CIBSE and the English Speaking Union, and a Fellow of the RSA. He adds: “I have a particular passion for good communications, both via ‘traditional’ media, and through the new ‘social media’, and see Health Estate Journal as an excellent forum for sharing knowledge with members. “I view the IHEEM CEO role as an exciting opportunity to work closely with the Board of Trustees to embed the Institute’s core values, and to build on the organisation’s achievements to substantially increase its membership, income, effectiveness, and reputation, as well as its UK and international influence, over the next 10 years.”
