Meet the Committee!

Your local committee is made up of a diverse group of professional engineers working within a wide range of industries and academia, at levels ranging from Senior Engineering Directors through to students embarking on the start of their careers. In this section, we profile some of the members of the Eastern Area Committee to provide a little more detail about our team.

Brian Houston MEng AMIMechE – Chair

Brian is a Mechanical Engineer with a personal passion for all aspects of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, and a professional aptitude for design, development, manufacturing and research.

A first-generation scholar, Brian started of his professional career as a fabricator of commercial vehicle bodies, before setting out to undertake his Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hull. Following which he worked as a research associate, supporting research into the investigation of bed scouring around offshore wind turbines, and the use of acoustic resonators to dampen combustion instabilities in large-scale industrial gas turbines; and subsequently went on to manage and deliver a large portfolio of the applied engineering curriculum as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering.

He currently holds an Academic Lectureship in Knowledge Exchange within Aura - a multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder initiative of the University of Hull, which brings together UK expertise in engineering, physical, environmental and social sciences, to support industrial and academic excellence in low-carbon innovation.

Brian proactively supports knowledge exchange as a mechanism for inspiration, and the raising of aspirations; and enjoys sharing his personal enthusiasm for engineering through a wide range of volunteering activities.

Allan Hunt MEng CEng MIMechE - Immediate Past Chair (and current Yorkshire Region Chair)

Allan is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer whose passion lies in Innovation, Research and Development and in changing people's lives through engineering.

Allan is currently Director of Engineering for R&D at a FTSE100 medical company founded in East Yorkshire. His experience has been in inventing and developing cutting-edge technology, particularly in Medical Devices and bringing to mass production.

In addition to work and the IMechE committee, Allan is also a STEM Ambassador, Mentors for Princes Trust MOSAIC, Future Frontiers and the IMechE and is a car nut.

Harry Pill MEng AMIMechE - Vice Chair

Harry is a Manufacturing Improvement Engineer and engineering enthusiast with varied manufacturing and design experience.

He has a MEng in Mechanical Engineering (with industrial placement) graduate and currently works for the UK's leading Trade Kitchens supplier, having moved from Intern through Graduate Engineering to his current role.

Harry describes himself as "CEng aspirant" and he organised the 2022 Speak Out For Engineering Competition, when he was Chair of the Eastern Area Young Members Panel.

Ash Wray CEng MIMechE - Ordinary Committee Member

As a proud member of the East Yorkshire engineering community, Ash has a focus on renewables.

After several years managing multi-million pound construction projects and seeing the ways in which sustainability could be improved, Ash founded a Renewable Energy Design Consultancy in order to expand on that vision for a greener future through bespoke solutions.