In addition to the life peerage awarded to Sir Eric Sharp of Cable & Wireless Plc and the knighthood conferred on UEI Plc chairman Peter Michael there are a number of high-tech notables in the 1989 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Gerry Whent, co-founder of Racal-Datacom Ltd which won the 1980 Queen’s Award for Exports, who is currently chief executive of Racal Telecommunications Plc has been awarded a CBE, as has the chairman of Penny and Giles International, Professor William Penny. Barney Gibbens, co-founder of CAP and non-executive chairman of the Sema Group, and involved in numerous training initiatives including the National Council of Vocational Qualifications and the Information Technology Industrial Lead Body is now an OBE. Keeping him company is Peter Venton, managing director of Plessey Radar Ltd, and Stephen Clark Finch, honoured for his services to the telecommunications industry. The newly created MBEs include Gerald Frankel, chairman of the British Office Technology Manufacturers Alliance; Andrew Kerr, operations manager of STC Transmissions (Northern Ireland) Ltd, chairman of the Engineering Industrial Training Board and the Northern Ireland Training Authority; and Robert Marshall, production manager of Edinburgh-based Ferranti International Defence Navigation Systems Department, which has been involved in a number of projects with the UK armed forces and NATO as well as Ariane, the European space initiative.
