Strategic Sector Champion - Advance Engineering Materials

Yorkshire Forward

Richard Wright

Educated at Scarborough Boys Grammar School and Sheffield University where he obtained a degree in Zoology and a postgraduate diploma in Metallurgy Richard spent his first period of employment at AWE Aldermaston in the plutonium production facility manufacturing the fissile components for the first Trident submarine. Following this he moved to the aerospace and special materials division of Sheffield Forgemasters spending the last five years as Managing Director of the facility after it was bought by ATI Allvac, an  Allegheny Technologies Company, based in Charlotte USA. During that period the company was transformed into one of the more successful operations in Sheffield employing approx 300 people in 2006 and with sales of over £95m. ATI Allvac is a major supplier of specialty metals into the aerospace, power generation, oil and gas, medical and defence sectors. It has implemented a prolonged capital investment, product and employee development program throughout that period.

Richard left ATI Allvac in 2007. He was President of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce in 2008 and is currently strategic sector champion for the advanced engineering and materials cluster for the local RDA – Yorkshire Forward, “Flood Tsar” for the South Yorkshire region,  and CEO of Inertius – a technology company commercialising an inert anode for application in the high purity metals “winning” sector. Recently Richard was appointed Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humber Manufacturing Task group focused on the recovery and growth of the sector from the economic recession.

Richard is married with four children and after a long playing career now coaches junior rugby at club and county level.