Libertine FPE Limited has announced the appointment of renowned engineer and technologist, Dr Toby King, as chairman.

The appointment affirms the company’s dedication to accelerating the widespread adoption of free piston engines in distributed power and transport markets as a cost effective and environmentally efficient solution to global energy demands.

Toby has spent his career building and leading high technology businesses, primarily in healthcare and energy sectors in the UK and in Silicon Valley in the US and most recently acted as CEO at Bowman Power, the world’s leading exhaust energy recovery company for large stationary engines.

Sam Cockerill, founder and chief executive at Libertine, said: “The appointment of Dr Toby King is a real coup for our business and brings a strong level of insight into the markets we will operate in and the challenges and opportunities that our sector faces.

“His broad knowledge of building businesses, experience of engineering solutions and passion for furthering technological advancement is exactly what we were looking to bring to the board of directors at Libertine.”

Toby King has an illustrious career which included the signing of global development, licensing and sales deals for Bowman Power with Aggreko, Cummins and Wartsila, among others.

Prior to this, he was chief operating officer and then chief executive at Insensys, which developed and sold optical sensing systems for composite structure, notable wind turbines, and which was sold to Moog in 2009.

Toby said: “Libertine is a rapidly developing company with a level of technological achievement and innovation which is set to make a significant impression on the world of energy generation, particularly where global demands for power require more environmentally safe solutions.

“Our business development trajectory is set at a high level and I am very excited to be joining the board as we set out parameters to make our Linear Power System technologies available for use in a wide range of power generation, heating, cooling and transport applications worldwide.

“The notion of centralised power generation systems is rapidly becoming outdated and Libertine is set to be a key reformer of that notion through the development of systems for clean, affordable power which can be delivered where it is needed.”

An engineer by training, and passionate about STEM and education, Toby is Deputy Chairman of EngineeringUK, a national charity that helps improve the profile of Engineering and enables young people to experience what an engineering career has to offer.

He is also Chair of Trustees of the Winchester Science Centre, one of the largest Science Centres in the UK, an advisor to Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, currently helping them form a new spin-out business based on a wireless, implantable, blood pressure monitor.

Toby holds a BA, MA and PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.