2H Mechanical

Ricky Houtris, an Englishman, grew up around a family business of plumbing and heating. Despite this, at the age of 16 Ricky took a 4-year apprenticeship in automotive repair, during which time he attained City & Guilds, TEC and BTEC diplomas. After 6 years in the trade he returned to the family business for a couple of years before deciding to further his education. Ricky took a Mechanical Engineering honors degree at the South Bank University in London, England where he achieved an upper second.

Once graduated, Ricky took a job as a Mechanical Engineering troubleshooter working in the Construction, Food and Nuclear power industries - to name a few. After a couple of years Ricky took a job as a Finite Element Analyst in an engineering services company that was later acquired and
renamed to MSX International. He worked at
MSX for eight years, across five countries.
Posts included a business start-up in Spain
and a department start-up in the US.

In Detroit Ricky built the largest independent CAE team outside of the OEMs, (Original Equipment Manufacturers), with sales in excess of $12M. At peak, the team was over 60 strong.

Ricky was then hired as Engineering VP at Wagon Engineering running a 200-plus engineering division with $25M annual sales. The changing customer requirements in the automotive sector reduced the value-add of managed engineering services and thus his position. Looking where best to apply his skills Ricky decided that moving to the Grand Valley and setting up a construction services business would be the right answer for him and his family.