NIAB - National Institute of Agricultural Botany
Plant Science Into Practice
Dr John Hutchins
Director of Operations
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 342262
Email: john.hutchins@niab.com
Since December 2009 I have been responsible for three main areas of leadership and management:
- Supporting the CEO in the delivery and implementation of NIAB’s strategic plan through the business planning cycle and the deployment/ development of NIAB’s physical infrastructure and operational activities. The latter includes a new “Operations Division” comprising facilities, farm estate, horticultural and regional field delivery teams.
- The business development and contract delivery activities of the Varieties and Seeds Division, that is responsible for the delivery of NIAB’s statutory/ regulatory services work programme. This includes all activities related to variety evaluation, registration, seed certification and seed testing. NIAB’s analytical laboratory testing services are also included here.
- On behalf of the NIAB Trust I take the lead responsibility for the coordination of their land/ property investment and capital development programme. This includes the strategic management of land and property assets, the replacement/ refurbishment of laboratory and glasshouse facilities, legal agreements; and management of the Trust’s investment properties.
The role also includes responsibility for quality management, continual improvement and risk management, as NIAB’s Director of Quality, leading the Quality Management Team. NIAB operates a quality management system compliant with the ISO 9001: 2008 standard.
My career path has seen me train as a scientist and subsequently develop expertise and competence across a number of disciplines within NIAB. The key theme running through my career has been project management and delivery. These skills have been developed over the years through a number of projects covering a wide and varied range of topics.
Previously I worked as NIAB’s Client Services Director (2007 to 2009) and Leader of Plant Varieties and Seeds (2005-2007). In both these roles, I was an integral part of the senior management team with key responsibilities in change management, service delivery, customer management, business and staff development.
In 2005, I obtained a post-graduate MBA qualification, from Henley Management College. As well as examining all areas of business management, the course included modules on Strategic Direction and Business Transformation, Customer Relationship Management and Managing the Project-based Organisation.
I worked as the Head of NIAB’s Business Development Unit between 2003-2005 with responsibility for NIAB’s marketing and private sector business development activities. Before this, I had responsibility for the management and delivery of NIAB’s aid-funded work for the international development agencies (eg World Bank, DFID, EU, ADB) and private sector consultancy organisations. This included implementing technical assistance projects overseas (eg Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan) and smaller consultancy or training contracts (in the UK or abroad).