Santos Batista-Nunez wins Inspirational Leadership Award at Ricardo Leading Lights

Santos Batista-Nunez, Director of Logistics for Ricardo Defense, has won the Inspirational Leadership award in the 2023 Ricardo Leading Lights Awards.

The award recognises individuals across the Ricardo Group who excel in role modelling outstanding leadership and inspiring others. This perfectly describes Santos who truly is an inspirational role model who brings out the best in his team and motivates all in the delivery of solutions to our clients.  There is no assignment that Santos will not take on willingly and see it through to its successful completion.

Based at our technical centre in Sterling Heights, Michigan, in the US, as Director of Logistics, Santos is responsible for all Ricardo Defense acquisition logistics and field service support personnel. He was recently promoted to this role through his demonstrable ability working as a capability manager. His calm demeanour, and his ability to motivate, mentor, and lead employees stood out immediately during this initial assignment.  

Since joining Ricardo Defense two years ago, Santos has consistently pushed himself to gain new skills and accept more responsibility and has advanced from an individual contributor to a director.

Receiving his award from Chet Gryczan President of Ricardo Defense, Santos said: “I am thrilled to have received the Inspirational Leadership Award for 2023. While it's wonderful to be recognised individually, I must emphasise that this honour was only possible with the dedication of my highly motivated team. I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn from the team daily. Their innovative ideas, hard work, and client-focused approach make everything possible.”

The annual Ricardo Leading Lights programme recognised the outstanding achievements and contributions of individuals and teams across helping to solve some of the world’s most complex mobility, energy and environmental challenges. The awards reward and highlight Ricardo people who, in their daily work, have consistently gone over and above for clients, partners, colleagues or the global communities we have the privilege to serve. In 2023, eighty individuals and 12 teams from across Ricardo were shortlisted for the 15 award categories which combined: recognition for innovation, sustainability, digital excellence, inspirational leadership, technical leadership, inspiring women in engineering, and social value volunteering; ‘Best of the Best’ winners of CEO Monthly Awards supporting strategic growth objectives; and living the Ricardo values of: Create Together, Be Innovative, Aim High and Be Mindful.

Find out more about the work of Santos and the Ricardo Defense team