mo khan
Engineers at the top
• Engineering is one of the very best foundations for making it to the top.
• It is a myth that engineers do not 'make it' in business. 16% of Directors of FTSE 100 companies (both executive and non-executive) with a first degree had studied engineering. When those holding professional qualifications were considered, professionally qualified accountants outnumbered professionally qualified engineers 3:2 on all FTSE 100 Boards. However, within the manufacturing sector, 28% of directorships were held by engineers compared with only 20% by accountants.
• In the middle of 2000, 16 of the top executives - that is chief executives, managing directors or chairmen - of the FTSE 100 companies were engineers, compared to 17 who were accountants. In the next analysis, the composition of the FTSE 100 being as at December 2001, 15 of the top executives were engineers, 10 were scientists and 20 were accountants.
• With the exception of accountants, there are more engineers on the Boards of quoted UK companies than there are representatives from any other profession.
• Chartered Engineer CEOs outnumber accountant CEOs by three to one in UK manufacturing. Of the 43,000 or so Directors of manufacturing companies in this country, more than 10,000 are engineers.
• Of the 121 Institutions of Higher Education in the UK in June 2002, 52 had Vice-Chancellors or Principals with engineering/scientific qualifications. 17 of the 52 were actually professional engineers, representing 14% of the total - more than most other disciplines.
http://www.jobsite.co.uk...cgi?act=da&aid=1581 This research is somewhat elderly but I doubt much has changed. Scientists and engineers can rise to board level and the pay and privileges that are associated therewith. Many prefer full time employment in r&d because of the personal fulfilment.