News story

Peter Mason to retire as CE from NMO

Peter Mason has announced his impending retirement as Chief Executive of the National Measurement Office (NMO).

photo of Peter Mason

Peter Mason has announced his impending retirement as Chief Executive of the National Measurement Office (NMO). Peter took on the role of CE in September 2007 of the then National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML), later renamed the National Measurement Office.

Commenting on his decision to stand down, Peter said: “After a career of over 40 years in the Department of Trade and Industry and its successor Departments, I believe this is the right time to change my work/life balance. The last seven years in Teddington have been the most fulfilling in my career and it is very satisfying to be able to hand over an Agency whose international standing both in the world of legal metrology and the wider field of technical regulation and enforcement is so strong. I have also been very pleased to contribute to the new arrangements for the ownership and operation of the National Physical Laboratory; having postponed my intended retirement to see that project through its critical stages, it is very encouraging to see how close we now are to implementing our ideas on a new style of partnership for the Laboratory.”

Richard Sanders, NMO’s Deputy Chief Executive, will take over as Acting Chief Executive and Accounting Officer with effect from 1 May. Peter’s responsibilities in the NPL Project Team will be gradually transferred to Mark Holmes, Deputy Director for Innovation Infrastructure and Impact at BIS, who is currently Joint Project Director for that work.

As NMO’s departmental sponsor, BIS has decided not to recruit a permanent Chief Executive until the future shape of the agency becomes clearer once the future ownership of NPL has been finalised. In the meantime we would like to assure customers and stakeholders that it is “business as usual” and there will be no changes in the current portfolio and delivery of our services including the normal pursuit of new business opportunities. If you have any questions about this then please feel free to contact Richard Sanders or Mark Holmes.

Peter is not, however, leaving the world of legal metrology altogether – he will continue to act as the UK’s representative on the International Committee of Legal Metrology (CIML) and complete his term as the Committee’s President, which runs to October 2017. In order to facilitate this, he will be returning to NMO at the beginning of June in the role of Director, International, on a part time basis. Commenting on this arrangement, Peter says: “I am really excited to have this opportunity to continue making a contribution to the worldwide legal metrology community, drawing on the strong reputation and expertise which the UK has in this field.”

Published 26 February 2014