Biography

Prof. Juergen Maier CBE, FRS, FREng, FIET, FCGI

Industrialist, inclusive business leader and political adviser

Juergen is is a leading figure in UK industry, helping to drive the country’s green energy transition, reindustrialisation and regional prosperity.

Most recently, he led Great British Energy through its start-up phase, helping establish the UK’s publicly owned energy company as a significant new national institution.

Prior to this, Juergen spent 33 years at Siemens, rising from production engineer to CEO of Siemens UK and Ireland.

Juergen is the co-founder of vocL, a movement for progressive leaders that helps business leaders develop a stronger voice in shaping a fairer economy.

He served on the Board of the Department for Business and Energy from 2014 to 2016, where he led the creation of the Made Smarter¹⁾ movement to accelerate digital technology adoption across UK manufacturing.

Juergen has also served on the Board of Innovation Greater Manchester, leading its reindustrialisation agenda with a focus on advanced manufacturing and materials. This work contributed to the creation of the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (SMMC). Today, this approach to public-private partnership and economic renewal is increasingly referred to as “Manchesterism”.

Juergen is openly gay and has spoken publicly about concealing his sexuality for much of his career, providing a lived example of authentic and inclusive leadership.

In the Autumn of 2023, Juergen was commissioned by the Labour Party to lead in independent review on improving the state of the UK’s Urban and Rail public transport. The review was published in August 2024²⁾

Juergen became a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2022 and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in September 2017. He has also received honorary doctorates from several UK Universities³⁾

He was awarded a CBE in the New Years honours list 2019.

1) You can read / download the Made Smarter review at: https://juergenmaier.co.uk/published-reviews/

2) You can read / download the Rail & Urban transport review at: https://juergenmaier.co.uk/published-reviews/

3) Juergen is an honorary Professor at Nottingham Trent University at the University of Manchester and at Manchester Metropolitan Univeristy has received honorary doctorates for his services to UK Science and Engineering from the Universities of Lincoln, Nottingham Trent, Salford Manchester, Cranfield, Sheffield, Hull, Lancaster, Manchester Metropolitan and Aberdeen. Juergen was also awarded a Fellowship of the City & Guilds Institute in 2020, in recognition of skills development support for technical apprenticeships and workplace upskilling for 4th Industrial Revolution technologies.