His retirement follows a hugely successful career in the heating and hot water industry, which began in the late 1960s and has included such highs as being President of the Institute of Plumbing (IoP) in the early 1980s, receiving the prestigious ‘Champions Award’ from the British Renewable Energy Association and accepting a CBE from the Queen.
Richard Soper has retired as ceo of Worcester, Bosch Group.
His retirement follows a hugely successful career in the heating and hot water industry, which began in the late 1960s and has included such highs as being President of the Institute of Plumbing (IoP) in the early 1980s, receiving the prestigious ‘Champions Award’ from the British Renewable Energy Association and accepting a CBE from the Queen.
At the start of his professional life, Richard joined West Midlands Gas in the late 1960s and completed his apprenticeship there as a gas fitter. He then joined Delglo Appliances as a salesman. In this role, he was lucky enough to spend time working on the development of one of the first ever combination boilers in the UK, which was launched in the early 1970s.
Cecil Duckworth of Worcester Engineering purchased Delglo Appliances in 1977 and Richard stayed there as national sales and marketing manager until 1984 when he moved to Pegler as marketing director.
In 1993, Richard returned to Worcester Heat Systems Ltd as sales and marketing director before becoming managing director of Bosch Thermotechnology Ltd, which incorporates both the Worcester and Bosch Commercial and Industrial brands, in 2001. Having spent 10 years as managing director, he handed the baton to Worcester’s current managing director, Carl Arntzen, when he became ceo in 2011.
Since then, Richard also managed the Bosch Thermotechnology Wall Boiler business unit throughout the world. In 2012, he became regional president TT for Robert Bosch LLC’s North American Division while still retaining his ceo position at Worcester, which led him to relocate to Boston, Massachusetts with wife Sandy.