John manages the Business & Industry team at EngineeringUK, a not for profit organisation which works in partnership with the engineering community to promote the vital role of engineers and engineering to society. John studied Aeronautical Engineering Science at the University of Salford before joining BAE Systems as a Graduate Engineer, working on programmes including Tornado, Typhoon and Airbus A320. John then joined Lucas Engineering & Systems, developing Knowledge-Based Systems and Product Introduction software; whilst being sponsored for a Masters in Business Management Systems at Warwick Business School and for a Diploma in Marketing. John joined CSC and took charge of the Marketing and Strategic Planning for the Manufacturing, Aerospace and Automotive sectors. He then joined Management Consultants A.T. Kearney and managed the Marketing functions at a European level for their Aerospace & Defence, Automotive and Operations Practices and managed a major marketing campaign at a global level for A.T. Kearney’s Global Excellence in Operations (GEO) programme, collaborating with the Financial Times and Fortune.
Alan Newby
Director Aerospace Technology and Future Programmes
Rolls-Royce Plc
Professor Andy Wright
Director Strategic Technology
BAE Systems Programmes and Support
Professor Andy Wright is the Director of Technology at BAE Systems. He has extensive experience in the development of strategy and delivery of large-scale domestic and international technology programmes. He has extensive experience in the use and development of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy and has fielded large scale systems. In his current role he is responsible for the Technology programme for the company in the UK reporting into the UK Board. He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton University in Computer Science. Member of the Royal Society College of Industrial Fellows and Fellow of the IET. BAE Systems develops technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions
Samantha Francis
Deputy Director- Research Base
EPSRC
Samantha is a Deputy Director - Research Base at EPSRC. Her role covers Engineering, ICT, Monitoring the Portfolio and Research Infrastructure.
Samantha joined EPSRC in 2007 after completing a Master’s Degree in Physics at the University of Bristol. Samantha has held a number of positions at EPSRC including; Cross-Disciplinary Interfaces Portfolio Manager, Head of Peer Review, Head of Balancing Capability and prior to this role, she was Head of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Theme for three years.
