At the Annual General meeting, held recently at headquarters in Sandy, Ray Rowsell FinstTA was installed as the Institute’s 16th President. At its inception in 1944, Sir Herbert Matthews was the first institute president and he was followed by other eminent people including The Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Donald MacCuish FInstTA and most recently, fondly remembered, Alan Whittington FinstTA.
At the Annual General meeting, held recently at headquarters in Sandy, Ray Rowsell FinstTA was installed as the Institute’s 16th President. At its inception in 1944, Sir Herbert Matthews was the first institute president and he was followed by other eminent people including The Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Donald MacCuish FInstTA and most recently, fondly remembered, Alan Whittington FinstTA.
Ray joined the institute in 1965 and took part in its first education programme that, after 3 year’s evening studies led to examinations, successful completion of which resulted in Associate Membership.
During his 60 year membership he has held many offices both at centre and national level and he was awarded a Fellowship in 2006
Ray started work as an accounts clerk at Brickwoods Brewery in Portsmouth. His interest in transport was soon recognised and he became the Load Planner for a fleet of 40 vehicles delivering to almost 1000 public houses across central southern England. During this time the company became part of the Whitbread Breweries Group and he worked his way up to Transport Manager, at another Brewery, Romsey, in 1978. A promotion to Warehouse and Administration Manager was followed by a spell as Regional Distribution Administration Manager covering 6 depots. In 1985 he was promoted to head office with responsibility for the national distribution computer systems. He took early retirement in 1999.
Since then he has continued to play an active role in Institute affairs serving time as National Treasurer, Trustee and, most recently, Deputy President.