Engineer in control at PAC

One of New Zealand's leading entrepreneurs and exporters has been appointed chairman of the country's largest aircraft manufacturer, Pacific Aerospace Corporation (PAC). Neville Jordan, who also chairs Endeavour Capital, is assisting in day-to-day operations of the Hamilton-based aircraft maker and also managing European sales.

Jordan says PAC is now starting to see the results of major restructuring in mid September aimed at reducing costs and improving sales and production.

Jordan is a graduate engineer from Canterbury University. He initially worked in civil aviation and IBM, followed by several years in Europe as vice president for a multinational company. In 1975, he founded MAS Technology Ltd, pioneering in microwave telecommunications, and successfully floated it on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1997.

He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers NS and was awarded the United Kingdom IEE Kirby Medal for "outstanding eminence and distinction in advanced technology". He served six years on the board of the Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, and three years each on the boards of the Foundation of Research Science & Technology as well as the Prime Minister's Growth and Innovation Advisory Board.

In 1997 he received the Governor General's Supreme award for Exporting and was invested in 1999 as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. He was inducted into the New Zealand Hi Tech Hall of Fame in 2004.