Current Committee Members
Chairman: | Derek Gilbert |
Vice Chairman: | Keith Meadowcroft |
Committee members: | Alex Middleton Owen Davies Paul Holland Paul Krivosic Richard Broden-Cowell Simon Boyde Steve Bruce Tim Morgan |
Secretary: | Fiona Pankhurst |
Alex Middleton
Alex Middleton leads electronic and electrical design and integration for RS Marine Group, which he joined in 2019.
RS Sailing developed the RS21 sailboat with an E-Propulsion 1kW drive. This prompted the concept of zero emissions sailing events and so the RS Pulse was conceived in 2019 as a sustainable and safe coaching boat.
The Pulse63 has been rapidly developed to offer multiple platforms including coaching, work/commercial boats, leisure and super yacht tenders.
Alex works with many of the UK’s leading suppliers, including:
- RAD Propulsion on the prototype design and development of their RAD40 drive and associated control systems
- Energy Solutions on the design of an industry-first PDU for marine EV applications
- Hyperdrive on the battery solution design, integration of NMEA and CAN bus interfacing to RAD propulsion control systems
- Fellten on the design of a 62 kWh fully-integrated marine battery and Bi-Charge solution.
Alex is currently leading the electrification for a suite of electrified, fully EV Cheetah catamarans which will offer sustainable ferry, work and leisure boats. He is also supporting the UK Government ZEVI (Zero Emissions Vehicle Initiative) program. RS Marine Group is the lead partner in the consortium delivering 13 ribs and seven catamarans for trials within the commercial sector over the next two years.
Alex studied Design and Technology, Mathematics, Physics and took an apprenticeship in marine electrical engineering to allow him to move straight into the workplace.
He was one of the first to graduate as a Marine Electrical Engineer from Bournemouth’s revised program and is certified in high voltage electrics, MIG and TIG welding, and also - thank goodness – holds a commercial powerboat license.
A keen sailor since he was four, he also enjoys climbing, wakeboarding and skiing..
Derek Gilbert
Currently working for Raymarine UK Ltd and consultant for Voltmaster Systems, I am also the current committee chairman of BMEEA.
I am a manager with broad organisational skills and delivery of projects on time with good interpersonal skills, strong customer focus and customer care values. Keen to focus on proactive customer support and customer loyalty through exceptional customer experience.
My role as Product Support Manager within Raymarine is responsible for all pre, during and post sales technical support across all global territories except the Americas and Australia/ NZ. The role is very varied and includes both in-house and in-field training, covering installation, application and specification of products, fault diagnosis to component level for service network as well as training for end users. Liaison with engineering for new product development
and support of ISO 2001 processes in house. It also includes distribution of support information through a variety of media including Website platforms for global network.
I have been working at Raymarine for 37 years, previously I worked for a company originally called Deep Sea Seals which was not part of Wartsila at the time. I was employed as a field service engineer, responsible for installing and servicing propellor shaft seals across a range of commercial shipping from coastal dredgers, ocean going tugs to container ships as well as both surface and underwater warships. Operating in European and Far East markets as well as USA. Responsible for all on-site machining and installation as well as commissioning of seals.
I originally started out as a cadet Mechanical engineering (Marine), then employed by Mobil Shipping Co as a junior engineer. Sailing on various tankers based in Singapore, Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.
Owen Davies
Owen has a wealth of experience in the marine industry starting as a Marine Engineer where he spent 5 years working at sea before coming shoreside to work in various engineering roles before taking up roles at Bournemouth & Poole College (Lecturer and Lead IQA), Warsash Maritime School (Lecturer) and starting British Maritime Training & Assessment as a founding Partner.
Owen holds a foundation degree in Marine Engineering, a Level 5 City and Guilds Diploma in Education and Training, L3 assessors award & L4 IQA qualification and EPA qualification as well as being an approved trainer by British Marine and NMEA.
Owen has been working alongside Richard Broden-Cowell and Brian McKeown for over 6 years in various roles and project working together within the marine department at Bournemouth and Poole College delivering Marine Engineering and Marine Electrical across level 2 and 3 Qualifications. He also collaborated with Brian McKeown in the introduction of the L3 & L2 Diploma in Maritime Studies, creating the pre-cadetship program at the Bournemouth & Poole college and bringing in new employer engagement to support the learner's progression into full cadetships.
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Owen then moved into his role as engineering lecture in cadet education at Warsash Maritime School. He is a phase one tutor and supports cadets from day one in achieving their aspirations. He conducts oral preparation sessions and assists in curriculum reviews and developments.
Owen has a passion for developing the highest standard of teaching and assessment and developing a space to explore ideas utilising digital technology. You will find Owen utilising interactive 3D models in his teaching practices and conducting both face to face training and online teaching via Teams.
Richard Broden-Cowell
Richard Broden-Cowell is a Marine Electrical and Electronics specialist, with a lifetime of experience within the marine industry.
Much of this was as Managing Director of Sure Power Marine, or working with companies such as Sunseeker International Ltd, Discovery Yachts, Spirit Yachts, Le-Purple Marine and Hamble Yacht Services, to name but a few, as well as spending nearly seven years at sea as an ETO on superyachts.
Richard is a qualified and certificated marine electrical specialist who also holds a degree in teaching and qualifications in assessing and end-point assessing. He has many years’ experience teaching the skills of boat electrics and electronics, as a college lecturer and also as a founder member of British Maritime Training & Assessment (BMTA), offering bespoke training to the marine electrical industry.
Richard is an approved and certificated lecturer for British Marine and the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA), to deliver the BMET, MEI and AMEI courses. Some of these courses are delivered from his own classroom at The Marine Technology Centre on Bournemouth and Poole College campus.
Simon Boyde
Head of Training and Compliance at ePropulsion, Simon qualified with a degree in Computing and began his career in the IT industry, before entering the marine industry some twenty years ago.
He is a Naval Architect with over fifty years of on-water boating experience. Simon has extensive technical knowledge of multiple marine products and systems, provided by lengthy experience of technical management with marine product engineering and distribution in Asia.
Simon has naval architecture, marine electrical, marine management and IT engineering qualifications.
On returning to the UK, he established a boat design company before joining ePropulsion as Head of Training and Compliance. Simon holds professional memberships of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects and British Computer Society. He is a qualified marine electrician, sits on the committee of British Marine Inland Boatbuilding, the BMEEA and the Boat Safety Scheme Advisory Committee.
He chairs the Inland Waterways International Low Impact Navigation Group, and is part of the EA National Waterways Advisory Group. He was the founding Chair of the Hong Kong Boating Industry Association.
Steve Bruce
Global OEM Sales Director of ePropulsion Technologies and Managing Director of ePropulsion UK, Steve began his professional career in the British military as a meteorologist.
Then followed a decade in international sales covering a variety of applications, from data cabling to transient overvoltage protection.
In 2005, he started in the leisure marine industry, focussed on international yacht sales, before founding The Special Boat Service Ltd. in 2009 which manufactures the FRIB, foldable RIB.
At ePropulsion, Steve's team concentrates on diverse OEM projects, supporting the global distributors and boat builder partners whilst supporting and developing the UK & Irish dealer network.