Taylor Hobson Management Team

Craig Howarth BSc MBA
Managing Director & Division VP

Craig Howarth was appointed Managing Director of Taylor Hobson in October 2008. Craig joined us from Hanovia Ltd, a subsidiary of Halma plc, where he was Managing Director. Craig has extensive experience of implementing and delivering growth strategies for technology businesses. He has also held senior positions at Malvern Instruments and ABB Meters. Craig has a BSc in Physics from the University of Liverpool and an MBA from Henley.

Iain Baxter
Sales & Marketing Director

Iain Baxter was appointed Sales & Marketing Director of Taylor Hobson in March 2021. Iain started his career at Taylor Hobson, in R&D, graduating in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University. He went on to hold senior business development and general management roles with mid-cap groups and SME’s operating globally in capital equipment, aerospace, oil & gas, process, medical device and electronics manufacturing sectors. Iain has 25 years of commercial experience delivering sales growth, new market entry, product development and strategic partnering, particularly in APAC and the Americas. Prior to joining us, Iain was Commercial Sales Director for a UK precision engineering group, Pexion Ltd.

Dr. Bob Bennett
Technical Director

Bob Bennett was appointed Technical Director of Taylor Hobson in November 2007. Bob started his career as a Development Engineer at Perkin Elmer Ltd. before joining Renishaw plc as Design Manager. He has a Physics degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and a PhD from Southampton. As Technical Director Bob is responsible for identifying and driving enabling technologies for present and future products to maintain Taylor Hobson's reputation as a precision metrology innovator. Bob is responsible for research, product development, intellectual property and external collaborations with academic and research organisations.

Phil Stevenson BA (Hons) ACMA CGMA
Finance Director

Phil Stevenson was appointed Finance Director of Taylor Hobson in September 2022. He is responsible for the Finance and IT teams, driving the financial strategy and leadership of the business to meet its strategic objectives, along with maximising digitalisation opportunities. Phil joined Taylor Hobson in 2017 as Finance Business Partner, before spending two years as Financial Controller for AMETEK GB and Nordic. Prior to joining the business Phil held a variety of finance roles with Honeywell, including at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and London 2012 Olympic Park. Phil has an Accounting and Finance degree from De Montfort University and is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Tim Garner
Operations Director

Tim Garner was appointed Operations Director in 1999 and has over 25 years experience with Taylor Hobson Limited. He started his career as a mechanical design engineer before becoming a senior applications projects engineer. In 1995 he moved into Manufacturing as Assembly Manager. Since becoming Operations Director Tim has overseen the transformation of the department working in an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 environment. With year on year improvements in on time delivery, stock reduction, supply chain management and lead time reduction we have entered a new era of continuous improvement to keep Taylor Hobson at the forefront of precision Instrument Manufacture.

Dr. Jürgen Petter
Director of Optics Metrology

Jürgen Petter was appointed Director of Optics Metrology in November 2018. Jürgen joined Taylor Hobson as ‘Director - Luphos technology’ in 2014 when Luphos GmbH was acquired by Ametek and merged into Taylor Hobson. Before that Jürgen was co-founder and CEO of the Luphos GmbH, a small German spin-off company of Darmstadt University of Technology which he helped to build to become an international known new player in metrology solutions in the optics market. Jürgen holds a Diploma and a PhD in Physics from Darmstadt University of technology. In his current role he’s responsible for the product and market development of Taylor Hobson metrology systems for the optics market.