"Ray Smith enjoyed a career spanning 32 years in the Royal Air Force. Managing teams of up to 200, supporting fast-jet, large ISTAR and heritage aircraft, he served in Germany and the United States and led engineering detachments to Europe, North and South America and Saudi Arabia. Within Defence Equipment & Support and its forerunner organisations, he managed acquisition projects worth up to £300M and annual running cost budgets of up to £60M. Over 20 years, in a variety of MoD posts, he gained experience in change, risk and air safety management as well as holding senior technical posts. He retired as Project Engineer for the Nimrod R1 and MR2 and for the aircraft and engines of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. He is a graduate of the Joint Service Defence College, Greenwich, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of both the IET and the RAeS. He has held UK and US Private Pilot's Licences.After retirement from the RAF, Ray spent 6 years as a safety and aviation support consultant, working with MoD project teams, rising to the position of company Operations Director. Since 2020 he has worked, under an Associate Agreement, for QinetiQ, supporting the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.For the last 12 years. he has volunteered as an IET Professional Registration Adviser, Professional Review Interviewer and Fellow Assessor and regularly teaches interviewing. He was Chairman of the IET's Aerospace Technical Network from January 2019 until April 2021."