IGEM achievement medals awarded

IGEM awards medals to mark the achievements of people who have made significant contributions to the gas industry. The Bronze, Silver and Gold medals are awarded to candidates who have shared their knowledge by presenting outstanding papers at meetings during the past year.

There is also a fourth award - The Birmingham Medal - which is presented in recognition of outstanding contribution that some individuals make to their professional engineering institution. It is the highest award IGEM makes. This year it was presented to Chris Bielby MBE.

A Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of IGEM, Chris has been a member for over 30 years. His contributions to the Institution are considerable and include: serving as an ordinary member of Council, acting as Chairman of the Industrial Affiliate Section, Chairing the Audit Committee, serving as President in 2005-2006 and acting as an ambassador for IGEM at every opportunity.
He has also spent 35 years tirelessly lobbying and canvassing support for gas safety issues, particularly around carbon monoxide.

The Gold Medal was awarded to Chris Clarke for his presentation "A renewable Cornwall - The Heat, Light & Power Simulator" which he made to two IGEM events in late 2016, including the Annual Conference.

A Chartered Engineer and experienced operations manager, Chris has more than 25 years  experience within the UK gas industry, including posts in design, construction and safety, prior to becoming Director of Asset Management, Safety and Environment at Wales & West Utilities. Chris has a BSc Honours degree in Natural Gas Engineering, is a Fellow of IGEM and a past President. 

The Silver Medal was given to Chris Train OBE for his Presentation "Safety, Sustainability and Resilience" presented at the London Southern and East section event last year. Chris became Chief Executive of Cadent, formerly National Grid Distribution Ltd, in October 2016. He is accountable for serving around 11 million customers across four gas distribution networks; operating the system and maintaining it safely.

With over 20 years' experience within the energy and utility sector, operating critical national infrastructure, he has held a number of engineering regulation and commercial positions.

Chris is a Fellow of the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers and was also awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list 2014 for services to the Gas and Electricity Industry as Chair of the Energy Emergency Executive Committee.

The Bronze Medal was awarded to Vic Tuffen for his paper entitled "Smart Metering the Current Position" presented at a North West Section Event in 2016. Vic is one of the foremost authorities on meter lifecycle management in the Industry. Few people have the breadth and depth of experience that he has amassed over 36 years in the Industry.

In 1993 he joined the Emergency and Meterwork Project which transferred responsibility for Emergency services and meterwork from the British Gas Regions to BG Transco. He established Tuffentech Services in 2008, providing consultancy and technical solutions to the Energy and Utility sector. Today he is a Fellow of IGEM and a past president of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) where he remains the chairman for the Utility Networks Division.