1933-2016
TRIBUTE
By Dr. Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
Image: The Guardian
I first met Tony Ridley in 2001 when I chaired my first Annual General Meeting of the Association of Project Managers (APM), as we were then called. Tony had a spectacular reputation as an engineer, effective committee man, academic and an innovator. On that occasion, I was almost overwhelmed by his insistence that APM needed to change. He had been closely involved with my predecessor in setting up The Change Project (TCP) which had stalled with the unexpected change of Chair a month or so before the AGM. He proved to be a staunch President, encouraging, questioning and a steadying hand on tiller when needed.
Tony had been closely involved in major engineering projects all his life but is probably best known for delivering complex public transport systems across the UK and internationally. He was the visionary figure behind the Tyne and Wear Metro, helping to transform urban mobility in North East England before working his magic managing director of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation. Thus it is hardly surprising that he was invited to become an Honorary Fellow of APM in 1997 and later President of APM from 2000-2003.
Tom Taylor, my successor as Chair of APM and later President, knew Tony and commented:
I got to know Tony Ridley as one of the vice Presidents who were previous Chairs and Presidents arising from the constitutional changes at APM in mid 2000s.
While he was in the later parts of his careers, he was alive and awake to what was happening and so was invaluable in his contributions. He did not have to say much but it was always worth listening to. This might appear to be about his collected experience but his wisdom, personality and drive clearly showed through from an early age.
When I became President of APM we went to lunch so I could pick up some tips and directions from a sage. He made me promise that if I felt his contributions were no longer appropriate that I should say so and he would resign his vice President position. I never found that necessary.
He was a good guy and good supporter with good humour.
Prof Tony Ridley was one of the most distinguished engineers of his generation with a career that spanned UK and all over the world; he had worked in the United States as a foundations design engineer, was a site engineer for the construction of Bradwell nuclear power station and a design engineer for the Knutsford Nuclear Power Group. Early in his career, he had been chief research officer for the highways and transport department of the Greater London Council. He was a director of Halcrow Fox, consulting engineers between 1992 and 2004, of the Major Projects Association between 1995 and 2009 and of the RAC Foundation from 1995 to 2010. He was also an advisor on transport to the United Nations.
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How to cite this work: Shepherd, M. S. (2026). A Tribute to Prof Tony Ridley CBE, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pmwj165-Jun2026-Shepherd-Tony-Ridley-tribute.pdf
About the Author
Dr. Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Dr. Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for the PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He retired from a 30 year career in the British Army in 1994. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 35 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. His consulting work has taken him to Japan, Taiwan, USA and Russia. Past Chair and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was, for seven years, a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. He served on British Standards Institute project management committee (2002 – 2026) including 5 years as Chair. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
