History
The Society was formed in 2000 by the merger of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers (IRTE) and the Institution of Plant Engineers (IPlantE). The Society's third professional Sector, Bureau of Engineer Surveyors (BES) was formed in 2004.
A new governance structure for the SOE was implemented at the end of June 2005. The new structure consists of a trustee board of management, comprising a President, Immediate Past President, three Vice-Presidents (as Chairs of the professional sector councils), a Honorary Secretary, a Honorary Treasurer, a Chair of IRTE Services Ltd, a Chair of the Membership and Professional Standards Committee and, up to a maximum of, six elected members.
Board members are both directors of the SOE and trustees of the charity.
Under the Board, are three professional sectors, each with its own council (the IRTE, IPlantE and BES). Each council consists of a maximum of 12 members (of whom up to eight are elected and a maximum of six are co-opted) with specialist, sector-specific skills and experience. The councils have delegated responsibility for industry-specific membership matters and operational plans previously approved by the Board, such as membership promotion, recruitment, retention and services; journals and publications; technical services; government and industry relations; events and seminars; regional operations and continuous professional development.
Council members are neither directors of the SOE nor charity trustees but have an excellent opportunity to contribute positively to the future direction of their industry.
As of June 2007, Ian Ling is now President of the SOE, John Childs is the Immediate Past President and the three Vice Presidents are Chris Grime (IRTE), Steve Catte (IPlantE) and Peter Hills (BES).
The SOE received Associate Management magazine’s Membership Recruitment Award in June 2007 for its work in recruiting members from the Armed Forces. The award was sponsored by Computer Software Group (CSG) Ltd and was presented by CSG Director Simon Fowler.