Quentin Davies MP

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support

Quentin gained a First Class honours degree in History at Cambridge and was a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard.

Before entering politics, he was involved in the British Diplomatic Service and in investment banking, and later was Director and Head of European Corporate Finance for Morgan Grenfell. He has had several non-executive positions in the private sector including member of the Council of Lloyds of London (one of the world’s largest insurance groups) and non-executive director of Vinci (the world’s largest construction company and second largest concessions group).

Quentin was first elected to Parliament in 1987 and was appointed as Minister for Defence Equipment and Support on 5 October 2008.

He currently leads on the Defence Equipment Programme through life; Performance Management of DE&S, including the Major Projects Report; the National Defence Industries Council; Commercial Policy; the Atomic Weapons Establishment; defence exports, including international aspects of defence equipment and support; and the UK/France High Level Working Group. He is also due to work with Lord Drayson on Acquisition Reform.

David Bright

Managing Director, BMT Hi-Q Sigma Ltd

David is Managing Director of BMT Hi-Q Sigma Ltd. He has a wealth of experience in supporting clients to improve their programme governance, controls & assurance. David has applied governance, controls & assurance improvements across many sectors including defence, security services and civil nuclear decommissioning. He was responsible for developing and advising on the partnering and project control approaches, which were credited by the National Audit Office in laying the baseline for the ‘Gold Standard’ refit of HMS Illustrious at Rosyth. Additionally, David is an experienced project review facilitator and chairman, having conducted project reviews in a range of project control environments both nationally and internationally.

Prior to joining BMT in 2001, David had a successful and varied career in the Royal Navy including lecturing RN and US Navy officers in project management, engineering design and naval architecture.

Andrew J Cowdery

Senior Vice President, SELEX Galileo

Andrew is Senior Vice President, Support & Service Solutions at SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company. He has over 25 years’ experience working in the aerospace and defence industry and has held senior appointments in Legal, Procurement, Commercial, Sales & Marketing, Strategy & Planning and Business Development. After training as a barrister, Andrew began his career with GEC Marconi in 1980 as a legal advisor and has since held senior positions for leading brands including GEC Ferranti, Matra Marconi, Astrium and BAE System.

From 2008, he led the Marketing and Commercial function at SELEX Galileo, which has business operations in Italy, the UK and the USA with a turnover of €1.9bn. Andrew is also Chairman of EuroRadar, an industrial consortium set up to develop and supply CAPTOR radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Paul Davis BSc, DipM

Managing Director, Sigma
Weapons Operating Centre (DE&S/MBDA)

Paul is one of the original founders of Sigma, which was established in 1983 and works to promote best practice relationship management and partnering services across UK global organisations and government departments in the aerospace, defence, rail, IT and nuclear industries.

Paul’s previous role in the company was as a principal consultant on change programmes, in particular the aerospace and defence initiative called Supply Chain Relationships in Action (SCRIA). Having worked across many projects to train delegates in best practice relationship management, Paul’s team went on to facilitate changes between customers and suppliers in the way they work together to improve business and project performance on many of the MOD’s complex programmes.Today Paul’s work is centered on good practice partnering in the MOD and government service sectors for PFIs and PPPs such as Building Schools for the Future, outsourcing deals for IT, as well as Facilities Management.

RDR Christopher Mace CBE

Director Operations, Science Innovation Technology, MOD

Christopher joined the MOD in 1979 at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment.

He subsequently held a wide range of appointments in technical and procurement areas of defence. In 1994 he was appointed Director Finance and Secretariat for Weapons and CIS procurement programmes, and in 1996 joined the GEC Avery Board as an Executive Director on secondment. He returned in 1997 to implement resource accounting and budgeting throughout the MOD, and moved to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office in 1999, where he was responsible for all IND operations and was Chief Inspector of the Immigration Service.

In March 2003 he was appointed Director General Resources at the Defence Logistics Organisation Headquarters in Bath. From July 2006 to March 2007 he merged Defence Acquisition and Logistics to create the Defence Equipment and Support organisation, and became Chief of Staff for the Chief Defence Material in April 2007. He was appointed Director General Operations Science and Technology in October 2007.

David Pitchforth

Managing Director, Boeing UK Rotorcraft Support

David became Managing Director of Boeing UK Rotorcraft Support in January 2009. He is responsible for coordinating Boeing’s rotorcraft support activities and business development in the UK and is the single customer interface for the MOD in this area of Boeing’s UK business. This includes the UK portfolio of rotorcraft support activities for the Apache Integrated Operational Support programme and the Chinook Through Life Customer Support programme.

Prior to joining Boeing, David was Senior Vice President, UK Government Business Unit & Westland Helicopters Transformation Director for AgustaWestland. Along with the set-up and lead for all business with the MOD and other government agencies, he was responsible for AgustaWestland’s transformation activity associated with the Defence Industrial Strategy and Strategic Partnering between the company and the MOD. Until March 2005, David was Managing Director and Chairman of Jaguar Racing Formula 1 team, a role which he undertook at the request of Ford Motor Company. Before joining Ford, he was Managing Director and Chairman for the Auto Research Center, a Honda-Reynard joint-venture.

Professor Trevor Taylor

Head of the Centre for Defence Management and Leadership, Cranfield University

Trevor is the Head of the Centre for Defence Management and Leadership at Cranfield University. He has a wide interest in security related organisations in the public, private commercial and not-for-profit sectors.

In the last ten years, Trevor has been responsible for specific modules on Defence Acquisition, Comparative International Acquisition, and the Organisation of Defence Acquisition at Cranfield. He is also a regular contributor to courses on defence management in security, which the department operates in support of the UK’s Defence Diplomacy activities.  

He is presently exploring the implementation of the Defence Industrial Strategy and the Through Life Capability Management initiative. Between 2001 and 2007 he was an elected member of the Council of the Defence Manufacturers Association and is currently a member of the Acquisition Focus Group at the Royal United Services Institute.

Dr Andrew Tyler

BSc, MBA, MRICS, FIMarEST, CMarSci, RCNC

Chief Operating Officer, Defence Equipment & Support, MOD

Andrew graduated in Nautical Studies from the University of Plymouth and joined BMT in 1989. For over ten years he worked in maritime civil engineering and the offshore oil and gas industry. During this time he completed his PhD in marine pollution at the University of Plymouth followed by the Executive MBA programme at the London Business School.

In 2001 Andrew was appointed Managing Director of BMT Defence Services Ltd, the UK’s largest independent naval design and engineering consultancy, where he was closely involved in a number of defence projects including CVF and the submarine programme.

In 2005 he was appointed Chief Executive, BMT Defence with responsibility for the strategic development of BMT’s defence businesses, and Operations Director on the BMT Ltd Board. Andrew joined the MOD in May 2006 as Director Land and Maritime in the DPA, directing a wide portfolio of projects including CVF, Type 45, armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and munitions, and the Joint Combat Aircraft. In April 2007, on formation of DE&S, he became Director General Ships with responsibility for directing the procurement and support of all the Royal Navy’s surface assets. In April 2008 Andrew became Chief Operating Officer of the DE&S, with Main Board responsibility for the nine Operating Centre Directors charged with procurement of new equipment and in-service support – a £10bn per year business.

Rear Admiral (RETD) Rees G J Ward

CB, MA, MSc, FIET, CRAeS

Chief Executive Officer, A|D|S Group Ltd

On 1 October 2009, Rees took up the post of CEO of Aerospace, Defence and Security (A|D|S), a new trade association formed from the merger of the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers (APPSS), the Defence Manufacturers Association (DMA) and the Society of British Aerospace Companies. He is Vice Chair of the UK Security and Resilience Council (RISC) and member of its Executive Committee.

He joined the Navy in 1967 and served in a number of operational seagoing and shore-based appointments. His senior appointments as a Flag Officer included Assistant Chief of Defence Staff Operational Requirements (Sea Systems) and as a Capability Manager in charge of the naval and airlift programmes in the newly formed Equipment Capability Customer. These posts involved the leadership of some 100 staff delivering a £2bn per annum programme.

He subsequently was Chief Executive of the Defence Communication Services Agency for five years and briefly, DG Information Systems and Services in Defence Equipment & Support. As Chief Executive of an Agency spending £1.2bn per annum, he was responsible for a programme which delivered improved ICT services, saving £240m over four years. In this appointment he was also a Main Board member of the Defence Logistics Organisation, a £6bn per annum enterprise. Retiring from naval service in July 2007, he took up the post of Director General of the DMA and Director General of APPSS.