Wide-ranging career of a man of many talents

“I can’t really believe I am here, I am expecting someone to wake me up from a dream,” he says.

However, for many, the disbelief may centre more around just how he has managed to find time to fit in the dizzying number of jobs, board memberships, advisory roles and academic positions which cram his CV.

During his busy career, Graham has worked across myriad sectors, making his mark in the UK and beyond.

But it all began in Workington when he joined the steelworks as an apprentice in 1976.

"My parents didn't have a huge amount of money but they were very good people, providing a loving and safe family environment to grow up in. They understood that education was good for you and encouraged me and my older siblings to go to school and do our homework,” says Graham.

"My father passed the 11-plus but couldn't go to grammar school because his family needed income from him leaving school at 14. That stuck with me because later in life I realised what a sacrifice that was.”

Graham’s apprenticeship also came with the benefit of being able to study at night school, which he duly did in Workington and Whitehaven, gaining the qualifications to study mechanical engineering at Newcastle University.

“My father was a postman and my mum worked part time at Cockermouth hospital as a cook,” says Graham.

“I was the first person in our family to undertake education past 16. When I was 16 there were no options for youngsters like me to go to university without leaving the county – a scary prospect for those with no experience of university, no family experience of university and no money.”

Graham graduated in 1985 and returned to Cumbria to work for the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) at Sellafield, working on projects including the decommissioning of the Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor.

He also undertook secondments for the UK government to work with the Organisation for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) collaborating with international partners to reduce the costs of nuclear decommissioning.

Another secondment saw him working for the UK government in the USA, supporting decommissioning of a gas-cooled reactor near Denver.

"One thing that all that taught me was to try things, have a go, if you don't like it you can always do something else,” he says.

"I had very little confidence in myself and very little aspiration in my early years at school. It took me some time to gain confidence that I could be good at some things, in my case maths and physics.

“As I've gone along, I've realised that actually, everybody has huge talent hidden in them and it just takes a bit of encouragement to get out.”

During his time at the UKAEA he was also involved in the early stages of the regeneration projects Gen2 and Energus, in Lillyhall, as well as the formation of the West Lakes Science Park, in Moor Row.

"I was involved in planning to move things off the Sellafield site to create economic benefit in a wider circle around the county and then building on this so that some of those economic activities were opened up to a wider community,” says Graham.

His work also took him to UKAEA’s site at Winfrith, Dorset, and then Harwell, in Oxfordshire, and - when parts of the organisation were privatised in the mid-nineties - he took a leading role for spin out company AEA technology, studying with the Institute of Directors to become one the UK’s first chartered directors.

From 1998 to 2002 he was director for Forensic Alliance, which grew out of the UKAEA, and which worked with police forces to provide forensic services.

It was a role Graham took on with no background in forensics, but a good grounding in leadership.

"I think it's important to understand your role. In this case, my role was to work with the experienced scientists to create a successful environment to do highly regulated forensic science work. One in which the staff were safe and secure and thrived, where quality was championed and staff were rewarded well for good work,” he says.

"Nobody really does anything on their own. It is all about teamwork.

“What I learned early in my career is if you look after your team they can do great things, your job as a team leader is to enable them to do great things.

“It's a privilege to lead and you should always remember that. You should leave the ego at home in the morning when you go to work. Everything is achieved through people.”

Yet another venture followed in 2002 when he moved to Scotland to set up the Glengarnock Technology Centre for AEA Technology, making components and batteries for high performance applications from spacecraft to aircraft.

"The core technology for lithium ion batteries was invented in the UK, it was developed at Harwell and AEA Technology held the patent. We built some of the very best batteries and power systems, winning contracts across the world,” says Graham.

These are just a few examples of the businesses, which total around 30, that Graham has been involved in during his career.

Since 2008 he has been senior executive and special advisor to the principal (Professor Sir Jim McDonald) at the University of Strathclyde, helping drive projects to support industry including the Advanced Forming Research Centre and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, both in Glasgow.

“It’s a privilege to work at Strathclyde, the teams are so focused on supporting industry and such a pleasure to work with,” he says.

He is still heavily involved in ventures across the country and the world, in roles as diverse as supporting major UK businesses; advising international laboratories and closer to home he has been working with University of Cumbria to help build technical programmes with Strathclyde University, BAE Systems and Sellafield Ltd.

"I've been exceptionally privileged and lucky in my career and I've ended up with a very broad range of experience, which has allowed me to add a little back into different areas,” he says.

Graham is married to Fiona - his wife and partner for over 40 years - who he first met at school in Cockermouth.

“Fiona is the strength in our team,” he says.

“We love Cumbria and spend as much time as we can in the county.”

They have two children, Alex and Peter, who are both engineers and a rescue collie named Tarn, who Graham enjoys taking on fell walks whenever he gets the chance.

He has almost completed all 214 of the Wainwright fells, as well as the 282 3,000-foot Munros, in Scotland. Graham is also a keen photographer, particularly of Scottish and Cumbrian landscapes.

“I am not very good at taking pictures, but I enjoy trying,” he says.

Graham is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and last summer was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of Cumbria. He was also given the Freedom of the City of London and became a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers – a livery company of the City of London.

He has always been a massive supporter of education generally and of University of Cumbria in particular, which he says gives a new generation the opportunities which many did not have when he was growing up in the county.

“Youngsters in Cumbria were essentially denied these benefits prior to the pioneering work by people like Professor Julie Mennell and her predecessors,” he says.

“The University of Cumbria with its geographically distinctive distributed campus model has made a university education a real and accessible opportunity for all Cumbrians wherever they live in the county.”

He says it is an exciting time for the county in engineering and that as a result of the prospects of renewable projects, new nuclear near Sellafield and expansion at Barrow, there are many opportunities for supply chains to grow, creating a great opportunity for Cumbrian companies to export technology and techniques which they develop.

“Cumbria is very fortunate – it has great beauty to build on and multi decade engineering projects at places like Sellafield and Barrow,” he says.

As a self-confessed workaholic, Graham has no plans to put an end to his CV expansion.

"I love working and I will continue until I am of no use. As long as people keep saying, 'Can you help?' I guess I'll keep saying 'Yes.'”