Board

NEIL JOHNSON
Group Chair
STEPHEN BLAIR
Group Chief Executive Officer
NIGEL LINGWOOD
Senior Independent Director
LYNN BRUBAKER
Non-executive Director and Workforce Engagement NED
JOHN LINCOLN
Independent Non-executive Director
NEIL JOHNSON
Group Chair
NEIL JOHNSON
Appointed:

17 May 2023.

Board Committees:

Nominations (Chair), Remuneration

Experience:

Neil has considerable experience in international business development and a varied range of strategic corporate activity in multiple sectors and geographies. He has also held a number of senior Board roles, including Chairman of Unbound Group plc, Chairman of Synthomer plc, Motability Operations Group plc, e2v technologies plc and Centaur Media Plc. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of the RAC and chaired telematics company Cybit Holdings Plc through IPO and ultimate sale to a US private equity firm in 2010.

Current External Appointments:

Neil is currently Chairman of QinetiQ Plc, the FTSE250 leading science and engineering company, and is Deputy Chairman of the Business Growth Fund, an independent investment company supporting UK SMEs.

STEPHEN BLAIR
Group Chief Executive Officer
STEPHEN BLAIR
Appointed:

15 February 2024.

Experience:

Steve is a qualified electronic engineer with considerable experience in international business development – with particular focus on North American markets.  He held senior roles at Invensys Process Systems as President of IPS’s North American operations and as chief operating officer of Spectris plc’s instrumentation and industrial controls divisions.  Steve was CEO of e2v Plc, steering the group through a complex organisational transformation through to its acquisition by Teledyne Inc in 2017.  Steve was then CEO of The Ordnance Survey until retirement in 2021.  Steve has also held a non-executive director role at Oxford Instruments plc where he was the senior independent director and a member of the audit, nominations and remuneration committees prior to stepping down in September 2021.

Current External Appointments:

None

Previous roles:

Non-executive director 7 June 2023 – 14 February 2024

NIGEL LINGWOOD
Senior Independent Director
NIGEL LINGWOOD
Appointed:

1 November 2022.

Board Committees:

Audit (Chair), Nominations, and Remuneration

Experience:

Between 2001 and 2021, Nigel was group finance director and board director at Diploma PLC, the international group of businesses supplying specialised technical products and services. He brings extensive, relevant and recent financial and accounting expertise together with international public company experience.

Current External Appointments:

Nigel is a non-executive director and chair of the audit committee of Volution Group plc, a leading international designer and manufacturer of energy efficient indoor air quality solutions.

LYNN BRUBAKER
Non-executive Director and Workforce Engagement NED
LYNN BRUBAKER
Appointed:

1 July 2023.

Board Committees:

Remuneration, Audit and Nominations

Experience:

Lynn has spent her executive career in the aerospace industry, most latterly as Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Aerospace at Honeywell International. Prior to that she held senior roles at Honeywell and at McDonnell Douglas / Boeing. Lynn has also held non-executive roles at: QinetiQ Group plc, the UK listed leading science and engineering company focussed on mission-led innovation, Hexcel Corporation, the US listed high-end composites manufacturer supplying into the industrial, defence and aerospace sectors, and Nordam Group, one of the world’s largest independently owned aerospace companies.

Current External Appointments:

Lynn is a non-executive director of FARO Technologies Inc, the US-listed 3-D measurement, imaging and realisation solutions provider for engineering, design and manufacturing processes, where she is also a member of the Audit Committee and chairs the Nominating, Governance & Sustainability Committee.

JOHN LINCOLN
Independent Non-executive Director
JOHN LINCOLN
Appointed:

1 August 2024

Board Committees:

Audit, Nominations and Remuneration

Experience:

John has over 35 years’ experience in the optics, photonics and laser industry, developing products, business and policy impacting across society. John has run his business development consultancy, Harlin Ltd, since 2006 helping industry, universities, VCs and governments to identify growth opportunities and photonics impact at company, national and international level.  John holds an PhD, BSc and MBA and is recognized as a senior member of SPIE and cited in the first Photonics100 top industry influencers.

Current External Appointments:

John is Chief Executive of the UK Photonics Leadership Group, SPIE’s Europe Strategy Director, Founder of consultancy Harlin Ltd, an entrepreneur coach for the European Innovation Council and sits on multiple advisory boards, visualizing emerging innovation trends.