Andrea Basso, newly appointed as UK managing director at international nuclear engineering firm Ansaldo Nuclear, July 2020, has restructured the firm’s senior team to support the business as it expands its capabilities and heightens its profile.
New appointments include Bill Jheinga, projects delivery director, Phil Stockdale, UK business development director and Steve Wright, operations director, who will join existing financial director, Dan Brockman, to form Basso’s overall senior support team.
Basso was raised and educated in Italy, before moving to the UK to gain a degree in Mechanical Engineering at University of Leeds and a MBA at University of Bradford, followed by enrolment onto the AEAT (Nuvia) graduate scheme, placing him firmly on the road to a career in the nuclear industry.
Having managed and led the majority of functions within Ansaldo Nuclear, Basso has played a significant role in shaping and developing the firm over the past ten years. This includes growing the engineering team from 50 to over 200, securing long-term contracts with multinational organisations, such as Rolls Royce, AWE, BAE Systems and Sellafield, reshaping and innovating Ansaldo Nuclear’s world class manufacturing facility and streamlining the firm’s project management team.
As managing director, first priority for Basso is to develop Ansaldo Nuclear’s existing, highly skilled workforce. This comprises nuclear specialist engineers, highly-skilled manufacturing and support staff, commercial and contract managers, quantity surveyors, along with the recruitment of experienced decommissioning and defence portfolio managers. New hires and restructure are designed to facilitate the delivery of projects, creating opportunities to introduce innovation and streamline processes, to allow Ansaldo Nuclear to grow as a business.
Phil Stockdale, the firm’s new UK business development director, who formerly held the role of sales director at SenseWaves, is set to combine a pragmatic style and rich industry experience in his role of building strategic partnerships and working with global customers in addressing complex challenges.
Stockdale explains his planned approach for the business: “I have a broad knowledge of issues and risks across commercial and industrial sectors, along with the ability to quickly assess a customer’s business challenges and competitive landscape. I am delighted to bring my experience, analytical and problem-solving skills to the business to help deliver exceptional solutions for all our customers.”
Electrical engineer, Stockdale, has over 30 years’ experience of providing services and solutions to corporate companies, the government and the critical infrastructure market. He provided the first systems to the nuclear industry in the 1980s, and has worked in the civil and nuclear engineering defence industries nationally and internationally.
Steve Wright, newly appointed operations director, who has worked in engineering and construction procurement for 36 years, has been given the challenge of maintaining the levels of productivity expected from a world class engineering and manufacturing organisation. With his impressive record in safety and competence throughout his career, that’s predominantly focussed on nuclear engineering, waste management and decommissioning, Wright is the ideal candidate to achieve the complex task of delivering consistent world-class, bespoke outputs.
Wright comments on his new role in the business: “The opportunity to work with so many skilled people who are all focused on safe delivery, leading the review and business improvement processes, whilst testing and implementing innovation ideas, allows us to continually improve on our delivery and quality promises to clients. It really is a great place to be.”
Bill Jheinga, project delivery director, who gained a first class degree in mechanical engineering, is a chartered engineer and member of the Association for Project Management. He has 25 years’ of senior experience in business, engineering, sales, operations and programme management across the nuclear, defence and energy sectors as well as other regulated industries. His remit is to strengthen and further build Ansaldo Nuclear’s best-in-class project management and delivery capability. In doing so, he will enable teams to confidently and effectively continue to deliver the company’s growing project portfolio to the high standards it’s known for – plus exceed the increasing expectations of demanding customers.
Jheinga adds: “Having managed and led a number of blue-chip businesses across the UK and Europe, I’m thrilled to be supporting Ansaldo Nuclear at its HQ based in my home city. The future is definitely bright, but we must continue to develop our operational and commercial prowess, building on our first class engineering heritage. My goal is for the company to be recognised as the premier UK brand in the provision of high-integrity nuclear products and services. I’ve a great sense of pride to be part of the Ansaldo Energia Group”
Completing the senior team, Dan Brockman, who has held the Financial Director role for 8 years, will continue to handle the investment that will keep Ansaldo Nuclear at the forefront of innovation and technology, whilst heavily investing in training and people to retain and attract the best in the market.
Basso comments: “I want to work with all our people to create a business that is both meaningful and inspiring. Where people come to do great work and take pride in their contributions to collaborative success. We want to encourage ideas, views and opinions and motivate people to be creative and participative. Our people are some of the best in the industry and we have the capability to achieve whatever we put our mind to.”
Steve Wright concludes “Ansaldo is a truly fantastic place to work as an engineer. We get the best of all worlds, from tendering, designing products for safe operations, through to working with our accomplished supply chain. Everyone within Ansaldo has an equally important role to play in our success. Being part of an international player in power generation. Ansaldo Energia, is simply tremendous. There is a real buzz around the business, our people are highly motivated, safety and quality conscious and take pride in their work”.
Upcoming projects for Ansaldo Nuclear include the support of Morgan Sindall to deliver RSP Residue Store Retreatment Plant for the PPP at Sellafield and the Clyde Commercial Framework. The firm has also been successful in delivering and winning further work at AWE Mensa, continues to support Sellafield on two contracts for category management, with special shielded doors and in-cell, high integrity cranes, and is about to embark on a new project with BET DT. The firm is also about to start on the design and build of its lead cooling facility for BEIS AMR as part of SMR’s UK program.
