A CHAIRMAN is retiring after more than four decades in the power industry.

Dr Malcolm Kennedy, 67, is stepping down as head of consulting engineers firm, PB Power, of Newcastle, at the end of this month.

He was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for 1999-2000. Dr Kennedy became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1985, a Companion of the British Institute of Management in 1992 and this year was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

He was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List in 1999, in recognition of his services to exports and developing markets.

A former Government advisor, he worked with the Department of Energy and the Scottish Office over the privatisation of electricity in the UK.

PB Power president Dan Mazany said: "It would be difficult to overestimate the contribution that Malcolm has made to the company and to the power industry during his distinguished career."

Dr Kennedy started as an apprentice with Parsons in the 1950s. He joined consultants Merz and McLellan in Newcastle in 1964, where he specialised in electricity transmission and distribution systems.

He was made a partner in the firm in 1981 and became senior partner in 1988. On incorporation in 1991, he became the first chairman and managing director of the limited company.

When US outfit Parsons Brinckerhoff bought the company in 1995, Dr Kennedy became executive chairman of Merz and McLellan, then chairman of PB Power, which includes another firm, Kennedy and Donkin.