Who's Who?                                             

Ray Davies - EAL Chairman

Ray Davies, Chairman of EAL since September 2006, whose career spans the steel and shipbuilding industries, has been closely involved with vocational training and sector skills bodies for many years.  As a director of Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd in the 1980's, he joined the board of the Marine Engineering Training Association (META) and became its chairman.  Ray worked on the merger between META and EnTrA and became Vice Chairman of the merged body, EMTA, in 1995.

With a degree in occupational psychology, Ray’s early career was spent in the steel industry where he held a variety of HR-related roles and became general manager of a foundry. Three years on the staff at Salford University followed, delivering a masters programme in operational management, before Ray returned to industry and joined Vickers in 1986. Appointed to the board with responsibility for human resources, quality assurance and public affairs, he oversaw the training of more than 1,000 engineering apprentices out of a workforce of 17,500 at the company’s sites in Barrow and Birkenhead. In 1998 Ray became Group HR Director at GEC Marconi Naval Systems.

Ann Watson - Managing Director

Ann Watson is currently managing director of EMTA Awards Ltd (EAL), the leading awarding body for engineering vocational qualifications. With a first class honours degree in business studies and a Chartered Institute of Marketing diploma, Ann has a strong marketing background.  Prior to her current appointment in 2005, she held key positions with EAL for seven years, including that of marketing manager and subsequently product manager, during which she worked closely with her predecessor, Elizabeth Bonfield.  Bringing new business opportunities and increasing the organisation’s strategic marketing and product focus are among her achievements in the role. Ann’s earlier career was spent in marketing and communications roles within engineering and training organisations, providing her with an excellent background for her present function. As managing director, Ann aims, through continuous improvement, to build on EAL’s strong performance and expanding portfolio to further increase the strength of its market position.  In 2007 EAL, celebrated Ann's success as managing director at the prestigious Institute of Directors (IoD) Yorkshire and Humber Director of the Year awards. Ann was nominated in the Young Director category.  She was one of three finalists and the only female nominee.