Our work is overseen by a Governing Board of thirteen people, which sets overall objectives and direction. These appointments have been made in accordance with the requirements of the Code of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.
Phil Smith is chair of the Governing Board. He is also CEO of Cisco UK & Ireland - the worldwide leader in networking for the internet and is responsible for the company’s largest operation outside of North America. An advocate of technology and innovation to the region’s business and political leaders, Phil sits on a number of boards including; Young Enterprise and the Employers Forum for Disability/British Taskforce for Accessible Technology and is chair of e-Skills UK.
He has a thirty year track record within the ICT industry, advising leading global organisations in the private and public sector on how to innovate and drive transformation, productivity and sustainable growth.
Phil takes an active role in corporate social responsibility initiatives, which most recently includes completing a triathlon to raise money for Comic Relief projects which he has visited in Malawi. Phil has also been recognised with a ‘Mentor of the Year’ accolade for his personal commitment to supporting ‘UK Women of the Future’ and in particular in encouraging female participation in ICT in schools and business.
Dr John Brown, PhD MBA FRSE, has extensive experience in the life sciences sector. He is Chairman of BTG plc and CXR Biosciences Ltd. a non-executive Director of Vectura Group plc, and Axis_Shield plc, and was a Director of Cambridge Antibody Technology plc until its acquisition by AstraZeneca.
In the public sector he Chairs the Roslin Foundation and the Life Sciences Industry Advisory Board for the Scottish Government. He is an advisor to several private equity and venture capital funds, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Honorary Professor of the University of Edinburgh.
Until Dec 2003, John was Chief Executive of Acambis plc, a leading producer of vaccines to treat and prevent infectious disease. Dr Brown joined Acambis as Finance Director in 1995 and was appointed CEO in 1997.
Anne Glover is Chief Executive and Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, the European technology investor. Amadeus has £460m of funds under management and has backed over 60 companies covering computer hardware and software, mobile and fixed communications technologies, clean technologies and medical technologies. Ms Glover was Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) from 2004 to 2005, having been a member of the Council that runs the organisation since 1999, and was also a member of Sir David Walker's high level private equity working group in 2007. She is currently a non-executive director of the UK government's Technology Strategy Board and chaired the committee on government procurement from SMEs in 2008. She is also a member of the London Business School's Private Equity Institute Advisory Board, a member of the Women's Enterprise Task Force and serves on the board of Optos and Glysure.
Before founding Amadeus, Ms Glover was a business angel and Chief Operating Officer of Apax-backed company, Virtuality Group, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1993. Prior to this she worked with Bain & Co. in Boston for five years before returning to the UK to join Apax Partners & Co, investing in early stage companies.
Ms Glover began her career with Cummins Engine Company, the global leader in diesel engine design and production. She holds an MA in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Clare College, Cambridge and a Masters in Public and Private Management from Yale. In June 2006 she was awarded a CBE for services to business and in July 2008 elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Dr David Grant is Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University, a position he has held since 2001. He has a PhD in Engineering Science from the University of Durham and has spent much of his career in engineering and senior management roles in industry, including Technical Director of Dowty Group plc and Technical Director of GEC plc. Dr Grant has been a Council Member and Vice President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. In 1997 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was also made a CBE for his contribution to the UK's Foresight Programme. He is currently Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Jonathan Kestenbaum has, since December 2010, been Chairman and Chief Executive of Five Arrows Limited, the investment company controlled by Jacob Rothschild’s family interests. Before that he was Chief Executive of NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. With a background in private enterprise and public service he was previously Chief of Staff to the Chairman of Apax Partners Ltd and Chief Executive of The Office of the Chief Rabbi. He started his career by building and then selling one of London's largest international metals trading businesses. He is a Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and was until December 2010 a member of the Design Council. In January 2011, Jonathan was raised to the peerage as a working Labour peer: Baron Kestenbaum, of Foxcote in the county of Somerset.
Andrew Milligan is Head of Global Strategy at the fund manager Standard Life Investments, based in Scotland. He is a senior economist with experience of the public and private sectors, banking, stockbroking and fund management. His previous positions have included roles with H.M. Treasury, Lloyds Bank and Morley Fund Management. He is a Council member of the Society of Business Economists, including chairing its Investment Committee.
Sara Murray (M.A. Oxon) is a serial entrepreneur. She founded Ninah Consulting, which uses proprietary software to advise clients including GSK, Diageo, CGNU, Comet and Coca-Cola on marketing effectiveness. In 1999, Sara founded inspop.com. She built and sold the online company with over 250,000 customers to the Admiral Group, and renamed it Confused.com. Sara then founded and now runs buddi, a GPS personal tracker which locates people instantly. Sara was a non-executive Director of Schering Health Care and is a founding board member of Seedcamp - a start-up school for technology entrepreneurs. Sara was a finalist in the 2008 Blackberry Awards for Women in Technology and the Real Business First Woman Awards.
Professor Christopher Snowden FRS is Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Surrey. He is a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, chairing the Engineering Policy Committee and a Deputy-President of IET. He is a non-executive Director of Intense Ltd., an advisor to DMD Ltd and Filtronic plc, a Member of the Council of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Chairs the (industry) User Panel. He is a Board member of Universities UK, chairing their Employment, Business and Industry policy committee. Prior to his appointment at Surrey in 2005, he was Chief Executive Officer of Filtronic ICS, having joined Filtronic plc in 1998 and being promoted to Joint Chief Executive Officer in 1999.
His early experience was with Mullard Ltd and Racal MESL Ltd. He later worked as the Senior Staff Scientist in Corporate Research and Development at M/A-COM Inc. in the USA. He has been a consultant for several major international technology companies and has held a number of non-executive directorships. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IET, City and Guilds of London Institute and the IEEE.
In the New Year’s Honours List of 2012, Christopher was awarded a Knighthood in recognition for his services to Engineering and to Higher Education.
Stewart Davies is Managing Director at Romec Limited. He graduated in physics, going on to take a multi-disciplinary PhD , titled "the microstructure of bimetallic catalysts", both at the University of Cambridge. He joined ICI and worked in manufacturing and commercial roles in its Petrochemicals, Catalyst & Technology Licensing and Polyester Intermediates Divisions. His twenty years experience in general management and strategy includes Managing Director roles in Corus, Rugby Cement and Serco, where he became Strategy Director, Serco Integrated Services. He joined Romec in 2010.
As Business Commissioner at the Sustainable Development Commission since 2006, he has led the SDC's input to the Government's Business Taskforce on Sustainable Production & Consumption, Building Schools for the Future, the Government's Strategy for Sustainable Construction, the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation & Growth Team and Mobility 2020.
Iain Gray is Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board. Iain is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Chairman of the Business and Industry Panel of The Engineering and Technology Board (ETB), a Governor of the University of the West of England and a Board Member of SEMTA and the Energy Technologies Institute. Iain completed his early education in Aberdeen, culminating in an Engineering Science honours degree at Aberdeen University. He also holds a Masters of Philosophy from Southampton University and has Honorary Doctorates in Engineering and Science from Bath, Bristol and Aberdeen Universities.
Iain joined British Aerospace (now Airbus UK) in 1989 and over time held roles including Director of Strategy and External Affairs and Engineering Director, becoming Airbus UK's Managing Director and General Manager in January 2004. He joined the Technology Strategy Board as Chief Executive in November 2007.
Ian Shott is the Managing Director of Shott Consulting Limited where he provides strategic and transactional advice to CEOs and Chairmen of listed and unlisted companies. He was the founder and CEO of Excelsyn, a high growth Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing business, which he sold to US multinational AMRI in February 2010.
Ian has held senior executive positions in the International Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry for over twenty years. He was latterly President of RhodiaChirex's Manufacturing Division(F) having previously held executive board posts at Chirex(US), Lonza(CH), and Astra Zeneca(UK). He has been particularly involved in creating and/or transforming businesses by a combination of break out development, organic growth, internal re-engineering and external merger, acquisition and divestment. Whilst at Lonza he acquired Celltech Biologics, increased sales of the Exclusive Synthesis Division organically by $350million/annum and doubled group profitability. At Chirex he turned the business round increasing the share price from $11 to $36 before divestment to Rhodia for $550million in 2000. He created Excelsyn through acquisition in 2004 and went on to quadruple sales before exiting with an excellent return for all stakeholders.
Ian was appointed a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in July 2008 and sits on the Policy Committee. He is an Imperial College Chemical Engineering graduate and was the Technical Vice President and then President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers between 2004 and 2009. He chairs the Board of GAP Technologies Limited. At Newcastle University he is a visiting professor, a member of Council and chair of the Industrial Advisory Board for the schools of CEAM and Chemistry. He is a member of the Advisory Boards for Chemical Engineering at Imperial College and Engineering Sciences at Oxford University.
He agreed to chair the UK's Innovation Growth Team for Industrial Biotechnology in October 2007 subsequently joining the government's Ministerial Advisory Group for Manufacturing Strategy in early 2008. In late 2009 he launched the Leadership Forum for Industrial Biotechnology, which he chairs, with the support of the UK Government Minister of State for Business.
Ian was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2009 and an Honorary Doctorate by Nottingham University in 2010.
Robert Sorrell is BP’s Vice President for Public Partnerships. He is responsible for managing BP’s European interests in public private technology partnerships as well as acting as BP’s technology policy advisor.
Prior to this, in 2006 Robert was appointed as BP’s Vice President for Refining & Marketing Technology Strategy. In this role Robert was responsible for developing BP’s long term technology strategy across its global fuels, lubricants, refining and chemicals businesses. Robert also managed BP’s global hydrogen transport business with operational responsibility for a global network of refuelling sites.
Robert joined BP in 1987 from Durham University having earlier completed his PhD at Cambridge University. During his early career, he held a number of research, business and market development roles. In 2001 Robert became Marketing Director for Europe and Asia. In this role he was responsible for developing and implementing customer segmentation and pricing strategy for the chemicals businesses. In 2003 Robert took over as Technology Strategy Manager for Refining & Marketing. In 2005 Robert was appointed Technology Vice President for Business Marketing. He was responsible for co-ordinating technology activities across BP’s air, marine, industrial lubricants and bitumen businesses.
Robert oversees BP’s interests in the UK Energy Technology Institute and chairs the UK Technology Strategy Board’s Energy Generation and Supply Steering Group. He is on the Board of Breathing Buildings, a natural ventilation company, as a non-executive Director.
Colin Paynter is the Chief Executive Officer of Astrium Limited. Astrium is Europe’s leading space company with activities covering satellites, space transportation, and space services. Astrium UK both designs and manufactures complete civil and military systems covering telecommunications, Earth observation, science and navigation, and also provides downstream services using satellites infrastructures. Astrium UK, and its subsidiaries, employ over 3000 people and has a turnover around £1bn.
In addition to his UK duties, Colin has worldwide responsibility for Strategy & Business Development for Astrium covering Mergers and Acquisitions, Business Development and Strategy.
Colin studied engineering and mathematics at Loughborough University before his first position as a Control Systems Engineer with CAP Group, joining BAe SEMA and becoming Director of the Tactical Communications Systems Division. He then joined BAe Systems as Managing Director of Communications and Infrastructure Division. He was appointed as CEO of Astrium Ltd in 2002. He was appointed to the Board of Cassidian Ltd in 2007 and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in 2010.
Colin’s industrial career spans both the civil and military fields and he has successfully run large multi-company, multi-national programmes. His previous public appointments include Governing Board membership of two UK Research councils and he is now a board member of the Space Leadership Council and the Technology Strategy Board.
Colin lives in Hampshire, he is married with two children and personal interests include rugby, badminton and walking.
Mike Carr: Until November 2008 Mike was British Telecom’s (BT’s) Chief Science Officer, and responsible for the companies world-leading Research Labs and Commercial Exploitation business, including Patent Licensing and Corporate Venturing activities globally.
Mike joined BT as a Technician 1972. He has a first class honours degree in Communication Engineering and joined the Visual Communication Research Division at BT Labs in 1980. During his first 15 years with BT’s Labs his career focused on the research, development and practical design of real-time audio/visual and multimedia communications systems. He has several patents to his name in the field of video compression, and is the holder of two prestigious BT awards; the Martlesham Medal for R&D (1992) and the BT Gold medal (1994) for leading multimedia product developments. In 1998 he was elected President of the Digital Audio-Visual Council (DAVIC) a non-profit association based in Switzerland and representing over 200 companies in more than 25 countries, focused on developing specifications to maximize inter-operability of audiovisual systems.
In 1999 Mike established and headed BT’s Technology office and Corporate Venturing activity in California. He returned to the UK in 2001 to lead BT’s Research & Venturing business with labs in the UK, Malaysia, Middle East and China. He led BT’s “spin-out” activity which created 14 new start-up companies.
Mike is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from the University of Plymouth in September 2009. He is a Non Executive Director of Ordnance Survey and a VP and Trustee of the Institute on Engineering & Technology (IET).
Note: In accordance with the Nolan recommendations there is a requirement for appointees' political activity to be made public. The only member who declared such activity is Andrew Milligan, who is a member of the Liberal Democrat Party. Since his appointment to the Technology Strategy Board, Jonathan Kestenbaum has been appointed as a working peer: Baron Kestenbaum, of Foxcote in the county of Somerset, and has taken the Labour Whip. Board members are also required to make a declaration of their interests. A full set of these declarations can be downloaded here.