Clancy will take up office on 1 January, 2013 on the retirement of the present General Secretary, Paul Noon. Until that time he will be General Secretary designate, working with Prospect’s outgoing General Secretary, the union’s senior management team and the National Executive Committee to ensure a smooth transition.

Clancy has been a full-time union officer since 1989, first with the Engineers’ and Managers’ Association and then with Prospect following the merger of EMA with the IPMS union in 2001.

He became Deputy General Secretary of Prospect in 2005. At present, he takes policy responsibility for members employed in Prospect’s energy and defence sectors and is policy lead for health and safety and legal services.

Clancy has played a key role in bringing new membership areas into Prospect, including the Jersey and Guernsey Civil Service Associations; the Association of Licensed Aircraft Engineers; Connect, representing BT managers; and Aspect, the union for professionals working in education and children’s services.

He said: “It is a great honour to be elected the next general secretary of Prospect. I am conscious of the great traditions of the various predecessor unions that now make up Prospect and look forward to cementing the union’s reputation as the fastest growing union for professional engineers and other specialists across the public and private sectors.

“It is crucial that Prospect continues to develop its distinctive membership approach and maintains its position as an independent advocate for the employment and career interests of professionals across government and the wider UK economy,” said Clancy.

He is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development; a board member of the National Skills Academy for Power; and sits on the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He has a BA Hons in Law (Liverpool); an MA in Industrial Relations (Warwick) and an MBA (Cranfield).