AIRTO is pleased to confirm new member appointment to its Board

AIRTO is pleased to confirm the appointment of HR Wallingford’s Dr Bruce Tomlinson as a member director to its Board with immediate effect.

Professor Richard Brook, President of AIRTO, said: “Bruce will bring a broad range of skills and expertise to AIRTO and I am delighted that he has agreed to join the team.”


Dr Bruce Tomlinson, Chief Executive Officer, HR Wallingford

Dr Bruce Tomlinson became Chief Executive Officer of HR Wallingford in 2014. He joined HR Wallingford from UK-based Fugro EMU, a marine survey and consultancy, where he was Managing Director. With more than 25 years’ experience in the maritime industry, inclusive of extensive contacts and project experience in the Oil & Gas industry, Bruce has brought high level strategic business experience to HR Wallingford, as well as a wealth of technical expertise in the international marine, environmental and energy sectors.

After having been privatised in the 1980s, HR Wallingford secured Scientific Research Association status (SRA). This means that at least 75% of its profits must be used for Research & Development-related activities. Given this SRA status, and HR Wallingford’s highly academic workforce, Dr Tomlinson (who is a civil engineer by training, but with a commercial background) has a vision for the company which includes ensuring that its Research & Development programme delivers the innovative tools and skills needed to solve its customers’ present and future global water-related challenges.

Find out more about our Board

Notes for editors
About AIRTO
AIRTO is the Association of Innovation, Research and Technology Organisations. Its
membership comprises approximately sixty of the principal organisations operating in the
UK’s Innovation, Research and Technology (IRT) sector. The IRT sector has a combined
turnover of £6.9Bn, employing over 57,000 scientific and technical staff (equivalent to the
academic staffing of the Russell Group of universities) and, for comparison, it is significantly larger than the network of Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany both in size and its scope of activities. The sector contributes £34Bn to UK GDP. AIRTO’s members work at the interface between academia and industry, for both private and public sector clients.

Members include independent Research and Technology Organisations, Catapult Centres, Public Sector Research Establishments, National Laboratories, some university Technology Transfer Offices and some privately held innovation companies.

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Jane Gate, Executive Director, AIRTO Ltd
email: jane.gate@airto.co.uk