Management & Governance

Geert Follens became President of Vacuum Solutions Division in January 2014 following the successful acquisition of Edwards into the Atlas Copco Group. He has a proven record in running dynamic businesses with different challenges and also played an instrumental role within Atlas Copco during the acquisition of Edwards.

Geert joined Atlas Copco in 1995 as purchasing manager in the Industrial Air division. His responsibilities were later extended to include production in the capacity of supply chain manager. In 2000 he became general manager of the customer centre Atlas Copco Compressors Ltd., UK.

In 2004 he was appointed division president for the Portable Energy division and in 2012 he became division president for the Industrial Air division. Currently, he is the President of the Vacuum Technique business area and is based in Edwards UK Head Office. Geert holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Power Generation from the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Gary joined Edwards in 1999 in the position of Group Controller. Prior to joining Edwards, he spent 9 years at APV plc working as an Internal Auditor, UK Financial Controller and finally as Group Chief Accountant.

In 2002, Gary relocated to Singapore to take up the position of Finance Director, Asia. In 2006, he moved to Korea, where he held a number of senior positions for Edwards and was also a director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea and a special Ambassador for Foreign Investment for Chungnam Province. 

In 2014, Gary returned to the UK to take up the position of VP for Finance. Gary has a bachelor of Business Studies from Trinity College Dublin, a Masters in Organisational Behaviour from University College Dublin and is member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Sue joined Edwards in 2000 and has held a number of global Human Resources roles including Global Human Resources Business Partner, Human Resources Partner Europe and Human Resources Partner Enabling and Semi.

Prior to joining Edwards, Sue held a number of generalist human resources roles at the Co-operative Society and for British Airports Authority at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.

Sue holds a degree in Home Economics and Food Science from the University of Wales and is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Ian joined Edwards as a graduate engineer in 1993. He has held a number of senior roles over the years, most recently as Director of Technology. 

Ian was appointed VP, Technology in February 2016, responsible for all Vacuum Solutions pump and abatement technology. Ian has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Warwick University.

Martin Tollner is a graduate of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, with an BSc in Eletro-mechanical engineering and MSc in Mechanical engineering. He started my career in vacuum at Edwards working within the semiconductor product development team. He spent a total of 12 years at Edwards working in various product development positions within the Semiconductor and Scientific business lines. Martin’s last role was NPI Manager for scientific pumps, based at Burgess Hill where he was responsible for new product development and technology development activities for ball bearing turbo-molecular pumps and scroll backing pumps used in the scientific industry. After Edwards Martin joined Leybold and was there for 6 years, first as Head of High Vacuum Development, and later as Vice President Head of Product Lines. In his last role he was responsible for the strategic business development of all vacuum products at Leybold. Initiating product development activities, technology innovation, business partnerships, product marketing and pricing strategies, as well as organisational changes to achieve the overall strategy. Since 1st January 2017 Martin re-joined Edwards as President of the High Vacuum Division.

Koen was appointed Vice President of Utility Vacuum within the newly formed Vacuum Solutions Division in 2014. 

Koen joined Atlas Copco’s Airpower division in 1997 and spent 10 years in a number of engineering and management roles before taking up the position of Business Line Manager at Atlas Copco Kompressoren und Drucklufttechnik GmbH in Germany where he had responsibility for growing the industrial compressor business. 

In 2010 Koen was appointed Vice President Marketing and Sales in the Industrial Air Division where he created and implemented a growth strategy by diversifying into vacuum and industrial gas markets. 

Koen has a Masters in Electro-Mechanical Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven and an MBA from University of Antwerp Management School.

Eckart Roettger, a German citizen, joined Atlas Copco Kompressoren in Germany in 1994 as a service plan administrator. After some years in different service roles he joined the Industrial Air division in Antwerp, Belgium, on a project to share service processes on a global basis. Upon his return he took Business Line Manager responsibility for Industrial Air.

In 2007 Eckart Roettger again relocated to Antwerp, now as Vice President Marketing Industrial Air. After three successful years he took up the General Manager role for Atlas Copco Compressor Technique Customer Center in Spain, four years after he was appointed as General Manager for Compressor Technique Customer Center in Germany.

As of January 1, 2017, Eckart Roettger is President for the Vacuum Technique Service division in the new Vacuum Technique business area.

Eckart Roettger is based in Cologne, Germany. His education includes a Master degree in Economics from FOM (Fachhochschule for Economics & Management) University in Essen, Germany.

Paul joined Edwards in 1998. His first role was as Operations Manager at the Clevedon Abatement Factory in the UK and then he took up subsequent roles as General Manager for Abatement Products, Abatement and Systems Business Manager and most recently as VP of Marketing for the Semiconductor Business Unit before taking-up his current position of President of the Semiconductor Service Division in January 2017.  Over this period Paul has worked with numerous fabs and foundries world-wide.

Troy Metcalf, a U.S citizen, has 19 years of experience from the global semiconductor industry. In 1999 he joined Edwards, later part of the Atlas Copco Group, and is currently General Manager for one of the large global key customer accounts in the Semiconductor division, based in the United States.

Troy has held a number of operational and strategic roles in the semiconductor business. He has been based across the United States and worked extensively in Asia over the last several years.

Before joining Edwards, Troy Metcalf had a 10-year career as an officer in the US Navy. Troy Metcalf will be based in the United Kingdom. His education includes two Bachelor's degrees in Physics and Mathematics, along with a Master's in Business.