Ross Kennedy saves lives through engineering. He is the inventor of Exertherm, a thermal-monitoring sensor system using state-of-the-art sensor technology that is a world leader in its field. It is one man’s mission, propelled to success by his insatiable appetite for hard work, gruelling travel and passion over the past 25 years, galvanising his staff with his energy and belief. Exertherm monitors the temperature of vital electrical systems, looking for overheating that, if undetected, can lead to power outages and explosions. The consequences of such explosions include the destruction and replacement cost of equipment; business downtime that can run into weeks and cost £millions a day; devastating pollution from an oil platform explosion; and worst of all, personal injury or death. His brilliant product dramatically reduces the risk by identifying hotspots that can lead to disaster, replacing periodic safety inspections with continual monitoring that detects faults in advance. Exertherm is the leading global provider of continuous thermal monitoring sensors across mission-critical industries such as oil and gas, datacentres, healthcare, banking and utilities. It is essential to clients like Chevron, Microsoft, Barclays, Amazon and Ford. After taking his company to the heights of winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, Ross made a successful exit in 2024. His invention lives on.