RMI Pressure Systems specialises in high-pressure and high-volume fluid pumping stations. The company has a manufacturing facility in the UK and operations in China, the US, India and Australia.
The appointment will see Poke continuing her previous role as the company’s global head of engineering.
Highlighting the sustainability contribution made by the company’s high-pressure reciprocating pumps, she said a focus of her new role will be demonstrating to markets the energy and water efficiency of RMI’s technology.
“We plan to work more closely with customers in mining, steel and other industries to implement their sustainability ambitions,” she added. “Many of these operations are still using dated centrifugal pump technology with efficiencies often below 70%; our specialised pumps achieve 95% efficiency, providing huge opportunity for energy savings, carbon footprint reduction and cost economy.”
This future facing pump technology also achieves significant water savings – for example, in descaling operations in steel plants – which is a growing sustainability issue in most regions of the world.
“Our customer markets have seen important advances in fields such monitoring and safety, to become more responsible corporate citizens,” she continued. “RMI can help customers to make similar sustainability improvements through their key equipment such as pumps.”
Joe Keenan, global managing director of RMI Pressure Systems, welcomed Poke into her new role – highlighting the importance of taking the company into markets it had not previously developed.
“Kathryn’s depth of engineering experience and knowledge of our technology equips her perfectly for this vital position,” said Keenan. “With her background in both product development and operations, she will allow us to bring considerable value to customers in her target regions.”
In addition to her responsibilities at RMI, Poke has also been an active promoter of broader industry in the UK through her involvement with the Association of British Mining Equipment Companies (ABMEC). As a council member of ABMEC, she was recently invited by King Charles III to a business reception at Buckingham Palace where he spoke about bolstering UK businesses through the Prince’s Trust.
She supports the growing focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in many schools, as this helps to raise interest of female students in pursuing opportunities in the engineering sector.
“I was often the only woman in my engineering classes, and generally received very little encouragement in my chosen field of study,” she continued. “It is encouraging to see more schoolgirls becoming interested in the variety of careers open to them in previously male-dominated occupations.”
Poke spent the early years of her career at Holden & Brooke, which was subsequently acquired by the Armstrong Group – where she worked in the engineering team before moving into product development. She became product manager there before joining group subsidiary RMI Pressure Systems. Her next move was into the director of engineering role, which encompassed both systems engineering as well as research and development.
She entered the working environment with a Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering, and soon after completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree at the University of Manchester.