Meet Martin! He’s our new Corporate Development Director and has been with The Group since April 2022. With a wealth of local and international experience in the skills sector, Martin has worked alongside some of the industry’s key players, making him an invaluable asset to the 3t Energy Group team.
> What is your background or career history prior to joining 3t?
Apart from spending eight years as a Production Manager in Pharmaceuticals, I’ve spent most of my career in training, working in a variety of Learning and Development (L&D) positions at Siemens plc. My final role at Siemens was working as the Head of Vocational Learning for EMEA.
In October 2018, I joined City & Guilds to head up their technical training business as Managing Director. I lead the implementation of the Group’s strategy to diversify into technical training and doubled my division’s turnover. In April 2022, I left City & Guilds to join 3t Energy Group (3t) as Corporate Development Director.
> What attracted you to join 3t?
In my time at Siemens plc, AIS Survivex was one of my suppliers and I’d always admired the vision to create a global market leader for training in high hazard/high consequence industry sectors so when the opportunity to join arose, it was an easy decision for me to become part of the journey to transform training through technology.
> Can you give an insight into your working day?
My working week is quite varied – I support the executive team on a variety of topics and truly work across all business units.
In a typical day, I might be talking about Drilling Simulators developing a Geothermal drilling simulator product in the morning, then jump on a call to discuss SCORM compliance with colleagues at 3t Transform, work with our CEO on a strategic project and then spend the afternoon looking into how we best meet customer demand for new training products in AIS Survivex.
Our sector is moving very quickly to become carbon neutral and as a result there is a demand for new training products to close the skills gaps our customers have identified.
> What makes you passionate about your role?
High quality training is transformational, both for companies and for people, as it allows them to grow and opens doors to give individuals the chance to develop their careers.
I have always been passionate about unlocking people’s potential and seeing amazing opportunities, like the use of technology, accelerate this.
> You have quite an extensive career in the skills sector, what’s been your biggest learning curve?
The biggest learning curve was to keep an open mind – it took me a long time to get my head around the various funding and education systems across all the countries I have worked in – Germany, for example, has a very prescriptive vocational education system compared to England; the further away from Europe you go the more fluid it becomes.
I had the privilege to work in many countries to experience how training works there and I loved it, but it required keeping an open mind and being prepared to learn every single day.
> How would you say your experience contributes to the development of the business?
As 3t Energy Group continues to grow and expand, I’m looking forward to contributing to our strategic objectives by leveraging my 20 plus years’ experience, particularly in Technical & Vocational training, in the industry on both a national and international scale.
> What advice would you give to young people entering the industry?
Working in the training industry is both exciting and rewarding. In many traditional careers, people often work with the same equipment and processes day in and day out – at 3t, we are committed to staying ahead of the curve and developing training programmes that meet our customers’ exact skill requirements which means that you will always be at the forefront of innovation.
> What do you like to do outside of work?
I love skiing, going to see live Rock music and am a long suffering Toon supporter.