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Mike Turner, CBE BAE Systems Chief Executive Michael John Turner was born in 1948 and was educated at Didsbury Technical High School (Manchester). Joining what was then Hawker Siddeley Aviation at Manchester in 1966 as an Undergraduate Commercial Apprentice, in parallel with studies at Manchester Polytechnic, he gained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree with Honours in 1970 whereupon he became a Contracts Officer. Following completion of his degree he continued to study and in 1973 he became an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ACIS). In 1973 Mr Turner won the British Institute of Management (BIM) "Young Managers of the Year" competition. In 1978 he became Contracts Manager (Military) of what had by then become the Manchester Division of the British Aerospace Aircraft Group. Moving into the broader area of management in February 1980 as Administration Manager, he was appointed Executive Director - Administration in April 1981 and Divisional Administration Director in 1982. Also during this period he led the Advanced Turboprop (ATP) Project team until the Project's formal launch in March 1984. In 1984 Mr Turner was appointed Divisional Director and General Manager, Kingston and thereby took charge of the Kingston and Dunsfold sites that were together responsible for the Harrier V/STOL military combat aircraft and the Hawk jet trainer families. Following the formation of British Aerospace's Military Aircraft Division at the beginning of 1986, Mr Turner was appointed to the Divisional Management Committee as Director and General Manager, Weybridge, Kingston and Dunsfold. Mr Turner was then appointed Director Marketing and Product Support of the Military Aircraft Division in September 1987 and then became Executive Vice President Defence Marketing for British Aerospace plc in January 1988, and headed a new Defence Marketing Organisation to pursue business opportunities for the products of the Military Aircraft and Dynamics (Guided Weapons business) Companies. In October 1991 Mr Turner was elected a Fellow of The Royal Aeronautical Society. In January 1992 Mr Turner was appointed to the position of Chairman and Managing Director, British Aerospace Regional Aircraft Limited, which embraces the Avro International Aerospace regional jet business and also Chairman of Jetstream Aircraft, the turboprop aircraft business. In January 1994 Mr Turner was appointed Chairman of Commercial Aerospace, which added BAe Airbus to his portfolio, and with effect from 1 January 1994 he became a member of the Main Board of British Aerospace plc. In June 1995 he was appointed Vice-President of the SBAC (Society of British Aerospace Companies) and was President from June 1996 until June 1997. From 1996 to 2005 Mr Turner was a Non-Executive Director of Babcock International Group plc. He was appointed a Non-Executive Director of P&O in December 2005 and stepped down from the Board in March 2006 following the acquisition by Dubai DP World. In April 1996, in addition to his commercial aircraft responsibilities, Mr Turner took responsibility for all BAe's defence export business when the sales and marketing Managing Director’s were made responsible to him. He was appointed to the Airbus Supervisory Board in 1998 and, following the transformation of Airbus into AIC, is now a member of the Shareholders Committee. He was awarded a CBE for services to the Aerospace Industry in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 1999. When British Aerospace plc and Marconi Electronic Systems merged in 1999 to create BAE SYSTEMS, Mr Turner became Chief Operating Officer and in March 2002, Chief Executive. He was President of the ASD (AeroSpace & Defence Industries Association of Europe) from October 2003 – 2004. He was a member of the Government’s National Modern Apprenticeship Task Force in 2004 and is currently Joint Chairman of the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team (AeIGT). Married, with four children, Mr Turner's personal interests include golf, cricket, rugby and, above all, Manchester United.