Kellie Naughton Joins AEC’s Board of Directors

Airborne Environmental Consultants Ltd (AEC) proudly announces the appointment of Kellie Naughton as Technical Operations Director and newest member of the AEC Board, effective 1st August 2025. This exciting milestone reflects AEC’s long-standing commitment to championing career progression and investing in its people — the cornerstone of AEC’s business success.

Kellie’s AEC journey began 23 years ago when she joined as an asbestos analyst. Over two decades, she has evolved through a variety of key roles including surveyor, project manager, trainer, and senior training manager. Her career path highlights the opportunities that are open to everyone at AEC with dedication, talent, and the right environment to thrive.

This marks a great personal achievement for Kellie and is also a celebration of AEC’s culture that puts people first.  Kellie said:

“I am deeply committed to staff development, believing that the heart of the company lies in its people. My vision is to empower our colleagues through coaching and development, ensuring technical growth is always front and centre.”

Commitment to Excellence

Kellie’s expertise is globally recognised—she has delivered training in Dubai and the Philippines, and hosted international delegates from Vietnam, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Singapore, here in the UK.

Her ability to balance technical accuracy with people-first leadership has helped AEC’s training division flourish. Her efforts have contributed not only to business success but also to the retention and growth of a high-performing team.

Investing in People, Building the Future

Fellow board member and founding director, Mandy Reid said:

 “Kellie’s appointment to the AEC board is more than a promotion — it’s a clear signal of what’s possible at AEC, an employee-owned company with a people-centric culture.  We are proud to nurture careers like Kellie’s across all areas of the business, and we remain committed to providing clear pathways for colleagues to develop and achieve their goals”.

AEC is delighted to have been announced as the WINNER of ‘The Special Recognition Award’ at The Festival of Innovation, hosted by The Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI), which is an Innovate-UK funded programme.

Pictured: Mandy Reid AEC Director is presented the award by James Crawley, Senior Lecturer at MMU and Academic Lead at CDI

This award celebrates the impact and progress AEC has made with our digital innovation ambitions.  The event, held at The Royal Northern College of Music on Tuesday 8 April, was attended by business leaders from across the Northwest to celebrate all things digital tech!

AEC presented to the audience our work to integrate AI into our business, the challenges we have faced, and the great strides we have made with the support of CDI. This includes introducing AI, developing AI protocols, delivering AI training to our colleagues, creating amazing AI bots, and enlisting the help of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) students on a website SEO project.

It was our refusal to give up in the face of adversity, our tenacity in finding new ways of working, and applying practical applications of cutting-edge AI that earned us our special award.

Mandy Reid, of our board of directors, said: ‘AEC is embracing the emergence of artificial intelligence, and developing in-house AI solutions to enhance the client experience. We have put ourselves at the leading edge of AI innovation, some of our central aims being to give our much-valued clients even better quality, even better timeliness, and even better value for money.’

AEC is truly advancing today for a safer tomorrow.

It’s been a unique and challenging year for everyone and we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to our customers, staff and suppliers for the continued and valued support throughout 2020. 

From the AEC Team, we’d like to send our warmest wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the New Year.

Stay safe.

 * Video can also be watched here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4VMtbOsMtk