Vitec plc
One of Vitec plc's Group brands is Clear-Com® which provide the technology for Outside Broadcast Trucks: apparently the most "advanced outside broadcast production trucks in the U.S., Americas, Asia and Europe"[1], and their website notes that: "Law enforcement groups have their own specialized version of the trucks". Clear-Com showcase "a variety of real-world applications" including:
- "Military, Aerospace and Government (MAG): How systems are used in target ranges, between military units, and at NASA testing and simulation environments. International customers include Boeing, Raytheon, the US Army, US Navy, police departments, mass transit authorities, and port authorities."[2]
Clear-Com provides the technology for live audio communication systems for broadcast, studio, public safety, military, government, air traffic control, business, and event professionals. This helps to facilitate war, media coverage of the war (and indeed the protest against it).
Bexel (a Vitec subsiduary) has also captured an increasing number of 'reality shows'; examples are Survivor, The Apprentice, The Osbournes, and most recently the latest series of American Idol and Brat Camp.
Another Vitec subsiduary, Drake Electronics Ltd in engaged in Defence Communications: Operations Centres, Air Defence Centres, Command Posts, Mobile/Tactical, Red/Black. Prime Contractors are: Alenia Marconi Systems, Raytheon, British Aerospace, IBM, Vickers and 'Others'. According to their presentation material they operate in Israel. They provide command & control for the Global Hawk Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) for the US' Department of Defense.[3]
Board of Directors
- Michael Harper Currently non-executive director of Ricardo plc consultancy [4] named after the inventor of tank engines, Umeco plc (aerospace & defence), BBA Group plc (an aviation company with US Air Force contracts to supply F-16 aircraft canopies) and Hamilton, Bermuda–Catlin Group Ltd. (international speciality property/casualty insurer and reinsurer — The Catlin Syndicate is the eighth largest syndicate at Lloyd’s based on 2005 premium capacity of £500 million). Formerly Chief Executive of Kidde plc (Aerospace and Defense)[5] and held senior roles with Vickers plc.
- Gareth Rhys Williams BSc, MBA: Chief Executive, Previously Regional Managing Director, Central Europe, of BPB plc (the international building systems group). Prior to this he held senior management positions with Rexam plc, responsible for their European film coating business and for NFI Electronics. Following initial training in IT at STC, he joined Lucas in a production management role before studying for his MBA at INSEAD. He is a chartered mechanical and electrical engineer. Previously with Rexam plc, the global consumer packaging group.
- Alastair Hewgill BSc, ACMA: Finance Director, Previously he held senior finance positions within GKN plc over a period of 11 years, including Finance Director of GKN Aerospace Division and Head of Corporate Finance for the group. Prior to that he was a management consultant with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, specialising in the industry and commerce sector. Clear-com, mentioned above.
- Sir David Bell MA: Currently Chairman of the Financial Times Group, a director of Pearson plc, non-executive Chairman of the Windmill Partnership, Chairman of Common Purpose Europe and Chairman of Crisis, a charity for the homeless.
- Simon Beresford-Wylie BA: Currently CEO of Networks at Nokia Siemens having joined in 1998 from Indian mobile operator Modi Telstra (Pte. Ltd.) where he was Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that he held various management positions within Telstra’s Corporate and Government Business Unit.
- Nigel Moore FCA: Formerly a London based partner of Ernst & Young. Currently Chairman of The TEG Group plc, a director of IntelligentComms Ltd, Ascent Resources plc, Hochschild Mining plc and Production Services Network Ltd and a Trustee of the Butten Trust named after PA Consulting Groups founder Ernest Butten.[6]
- Maria Richter BA, JD: Dual American and Panamanian, Currently a director of Pro Mujer International, a non-executive director of The Pantry Inc and National Grid plc and on the Private Equity Advisory Board of Republic Financial Corporation. Previously with Morgan Stanley for nine years, most recently as Managing Director of the Corporate Finance Retail Group. Prior to that she held senior positions with Salomon Brothers, Prudential Capital Corporation and Power Funding Associates.
- Will Wyatt CBE, BA: Currently Chairman of Human Capital Ltd, Chairman of the University of the Arts London and director of Racing UK Ltd, Racing UK Holdings Ltd and Racecourse Media Services Ltd. Formerly Chief Executive, BBC Broadcast. Other posts within the BBC included Managing Director of Network Television.
- Roland Peate FCIS, :Secretary
Notes
- ↑ Ref needed
- ↑ Ref needed
- ↑ For background on the Hawk see Rebecca Grant Eyes Wide Open Airforce Nagazine, November 2003, Vol. 86, No. 11. This notes that:
- Global Hawk also linked up with the B-1B and B-2 bombers, providing a “last-look” assessment on whether a bomber’s designated mean points of impact, or DMPIs, still contained Iraqi tanks and artillery. If not, the bomber could hold its bombs for use against unplanned pop-up targets. [...] Similar tactics worked with F-16CJ fighters. The fighters, flying suppression of enemy air defenses missions against the last remnants of Iraqi air defenses in the north, would carry mixed loads of weapons—Joint Direct Attack Munitions, Joint Standoff Weapons, Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispensers, and High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles. Global Hawk was sent through earlier to spot likely targets—a process that made the air war more efficient.
- ↑ Company accounts show spproval (despite massive shareholder resistance) of "EU political donations and expenditure by the Company" through not just Ricardo UK Ltd, but: Ricardo (2010) Consultants Ltd, Ricardo GmbH, Ricardo Deutschland GmbH, Ricardo Strategic Consulting GmbH, Ricardo Prague S.R.O., Ricardo SA. This shell game is comes into play because of section 347A of the Companies Act 1985. As a "consultancy" their accounts say they are authorised "to make donations to EU political organisations and to incur EU political expenditure" as defined by the Companies act. This limits "such donations and expenditure shall not exceed an aggregate of £25,000 (or its equivalent in any other currency) during any financial year of the Company." So together they can pay six times more.
- ↑ General Electric and Honeywell, the US industrial giants, and Siemens, their German rival, were seen as potential bidders for Kidde, according to the Times A 2004 takeover by United Technologies Corp, the US conglomerate, whose investments range from Otis lifts to Sikorsky helicopters, reunited Kidde with Chubb, which was bought by the US company for £622 million in 2003. Kidde and Chubb were spun out of Williams, the UK group, in 2001. On the companies history see: http://www.answers.com/topic/kidde-1
- ↑ According to a company history Personnel Administration (PA) was founded in 1943 by: Ernest E. Butten, Tom H. Kirkham and Dr David Seymour. Britain's war effort created a demand for munitions, which had to be produced by a relatively unskilled work force. Butten and co formed Personnel Administration Limited to provide advice to industry as to how to improve the productivity of their workers. PA was an offshoot of the pre-war Bedaux Company. Bedaux in turn was descended from the time and motion 'scientific management' theories of Frederick Winslow Taylor and Frank Gilbreth.
