Stephen Stokes

• Working philosophy – If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well
• Most memorable experience – Riding the Shanghai Maglev train capable of 400kmh after a successful business trip
• Hobbies and interest – Coaching a youth football team and playing golf
• Favourite film – Doctor No

Born and brought up in Ely, Stephen first became involved in engineering as a child. His stepfather ran an engineering company, so there were plenty of opportunities to earn a bit of extra cash during the school holidays. Stephen began his professional engineering career at 16 subsequent to being offered an apprenticeship role with Fastec Engineering.

His role at Fastec Engineering initially involved undertaking a number of routine tasks, such as milling, board-tuning and automating the control of plug-board circuits. He remained here for 11 years before moving on to work for other local engineering companies, including Haas and Takasawa’s where he stayed until 2004.

As well as being employed on a long-term contract with Haas, Stephen also took some time out from engineering to broaden his business experience. He tried his hand at various roles, including fleet services, sales insurance and loading/unloading US military aircraft at a USFA base in Mildenhall, Suffolk.

He applied for the position of Senior Services Engineer at Innomech after being recommended by a former colleague, who believed he was perfectly suited to the role and that he would enjoy the opportunities it presented. He joined the team in 2004 and has never looked back.

When Innomech spun off its manufacturing and maintenance division in 5 years ago, Stephen joined the Nexus IE team and was promoted to Engineering Services Manager. He is still heavily involved in engineering, although he now spends the majority of his time overseas, working onsite for clients in Europe, China, India and the USA, completing new installation projects, running onsite training courses and overseeing support and maintenance-related projects.

In his spare time, Stephen helps manage a U13 local football team, which Nexus IE recently sponsored after they won the local Youth league. The team has since been promoted to the next league in the Eastern Junior Alliance (EJA). His youngest son is a keen footballer and plays for the team.

His eldest son, on the other hand, is showing a strong interest in pursuing a career in engineering and has recently completed a work experience project at Nexus IE.

Stephen also likes to play golf with his work colleague, David Keel.