Introducing MemberWise Ambassador (Governance), Simon Edwards (Director of External Engagement and Governance), The Institution of Engineering and Technology (The IET)

Simon’s organisation represents nearly 160,000 members globally and employs over 600 staff. His team includes professionals working in governance, legal and compliance, policy, fundraising and volunteer support.

He has worked within the Membership and Association Sector for nearly 20 years in organisations including The Royal College of Surgeons and The Royal Society.

Simon’s current role is focused on the corporate affairs of the Institution. This includes ensuring the organisation operates to the best standards of governance, delivers the best possible benefits to the membership, as well as acting as a thought leader in engineering and technology both in the UK and globally.

We asked Simon how he ‘fell into membership’ and what key challenges/goals he faces at The IET:

“During my time at university I had been actively involved with a couple of professional membership bodies in the science and technology arena. An opportunity came to develop a new community within one of those organisations and since then I have never left the sector. I very much enjoy the ethos and delivering public benefit.

The challenge is to increase engagement in our governance, as well as making governance as open and transparent as possible to our membership and the wider public.”

Simon has long been an advocate of the network, has spoken at a number of network conferences/webinars. He has been an advocate of the network from very early on and he recently invited MemberWise to deliver a Board Session focused on better engaging/onboarding younger members.

“The network has an immense reach, depth of knowledge and the ability to find solutions from colleagues from sectors that you don’t reach in the day job. Governance underpins all our roles and I hope to use the network to make this more accessible and understandable.”

We asked Simon to tell us something we would never have guessed. He responded

“I nearly played badminton for the county team!”

The MemberWise Team welcomes Simon on board as MemberWise Ambassador (Governance) and we look forward to deliver related best practice in this important area.