Directors

John’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, student sponsorship from Thorn Lighting in 1985 and his final year thesis “An Electronic Ballast for a Compact Fluorescent Lamp” laid the foundation for a career in lighting. After graduating in 1987 he started a full time job in sales at Thorn. Following that, experience in wholesaling and then electronics manufacturing at Arlen and Advanced Lighting gave him the tools to start his own business. Harvard Engineering, founded in 1993 had been a long term ambition for John. Building on his experience and spotting a gap in the market for compact electronics for 2D lamps, John started production of a design based on his University project in his kitchen. Soon after, a factory was established in Leeds, paving the way for the Harvard Engineering of today.

Michael started his lighting career in 1992 as an external sales engineer at Arlen EFA and following a secondment to the Group internal audit team was promoted to Commercial Manager. Michael joined Harvard at the very early stages of the company in 1995 and has been instrumental in the growth from small back office business to global leader in ballast control products. Having held various senior positions within the business, Operations Director, Commercial Director and now Sales and Marketing Director he offers a breadth of knowledge across a number of disciplines.

After completing his Accountancy training at Crompton Parkinson Lamp Works at Guiseley, Leeds, Martin moved to Ring Lighting and managed the sale of their Emergency Lighting Division to Emergi-lite Safety Systems Ltd. As Financial Controller he oversaw the growth over a 10 year period from £1m to £14m turnover, and included taking responsibility for Existalite and Emergi-lite when the companies were purchased by Thomas & Betts Ltd. Martin joined Harvard in July 2002 and was appointed to the board in 2004.