Born in
Leeds,
England
in 1955, Leslie is married and currently lives in
Rugby, England.
He
was made a Fellow of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in 1987, and a Fellow of the Institution
of Electrical Engineers (now IET) in 1988. He is a Chartered
Engineer in the
UK
(C.Eng) and is also a European Engineer (Eur.Ing). He was made a
Fellow of the IEEE
in 2007 for his contribution to Vacuum Interrupter technology.
He
graduated from Lanchester Polytechnic,
Coventry
,
England
, in 1978 with BSc (Hons) in Combined Electrical and Mechanical
Engineering, and obtained his PhD from Cranfield University (UK) in 2002.
He was a Visiting Fellow of Cranfield
University for a number of years and is now a Visiting Professor at
Aston University, Department of Design. He is presently Secretary of
the Permanent International Scientific Committee of the International
Symposium for Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum (ISDEIV)
which is the premier international conference in vacuum switching
technology and is also Chairman of the Inner Circle -Vacuum of the Current
Zero Club, which is an international group of world leading Scientists
and Engineers with an interest in electrical switching phenomena. He is
also an individual member of CIGRE
and secretary of CIGRE WG A3-27.
His
employment experience includes an initial period of ten years at Vacuum
Interrupters Limited,
London
,
England
which he joined as a graduate apprentice in 1978 and where he performed
R&D, and designed and developed vacuum interrupters finally ending up
as Engineering Manager. This was followed by two years with
GEC
South Africa where he was responsible for designing and building a new
factory near
Johannesburg
to manufacture the vacuum interrupters he had designed. During the
next ten years as Technical Director with GEC Alsthom,
Rugby
he created and then led the ALSTOM World Centre of Excellence for Vacuum
Switching Technology, and in addition was heavily involved with the ALSTOM
vacuum interrupter plant in
Calcutta
,
India
. From 2001 to 2005 he was appointed Group Technology Director firstly for
ALSTOM T&D Medium Voltage Business and then for Areva T&D
Products, both positions were based in the group head office,
Paris
,
France. In September 2005 he left Areva in order to re-form Vacuum
Interrupters Limited (VIL) in
Rugby
,
England
, where he is presently Managing Director.
He
has spent most of his working life involved in the research, design,
development, and manufacture of vacuum interrupters and switches for high
voltage vacuum switchgear. He holds a number of patents, and is an
acknowledged expert internationally in this field. During his career
he has produced a large number of technical papers and presented numerous
lectures on the technology world-wide.
In
addition over the past ten years as a result of his PhD studies and his
role within Alstom/Areva, he has become a specialist in Technology
Strategy and the optimisation of R&D. As a result he has lectured on
this at
Cranfield
University
, published a number of papers, was Chairman of the Awards Committee for
R&D Management Magazine for 2002, and has also played a key role in
the development of technology strategy at Alstom/Areva T&D. As part of
this role he developed a new technique based on the
DELPHI
process to use the company’s holistic knowledge of technology and
markets as part of the strategy development and technology management
process.
For
a number of years he has also been active in standards development for HV
switchgear within IEC and ANSI and is currently involved with the writing
of the next generation of standards as a member of various maintenance
teams in IEC and the IEEE Switchgear
committee.
His
special fields of interest include: All aspects of vacuum interrupter
technology and manufacture, as well as switchgear design &
manufacture; Standards development; R&D Management & Technology
Strategy and in particular the optimisation of Industrial R&D.
He
received the Nelson Gold Medal from GEC in 1996 for “Outstanding
technical innovation”, and the J.J. Thomson Medal of the IEE in 2002 for
his “Distinguished contribution to electronic engineering”.
In 2011 he was awarded the IEC
1906 award for his "significant contribution to the development
of international standards for electrical switchgear".
Contact
details: E-mail falkingham@ieee.org or falkingham@vil.org.uk
