Ploughshare members
James Kirby
CEO
James has a 25-year track record of commercial leadership in complex technology and science-based businesses, in both the private and public sectors.
He joined Ploughshare in July 2014 and is no stranger to technology or the defence sector, having worked for both QinetiQ and the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl’s) predecessor. With 14 years of combining business strategy and technology ventures, he has proven expertise in spin-outs and licensing, and bringing research through to commercial success.
Away from the office, James enjoys taking to the water in his boat.
Steve Callister
COO
Working closely with Ploughshare’s numerous licensees and spin-outs, Steve brings the benefits of his experience of other industries and technology transfer issues.
Steve’s early career was spent in management consultancy with Price Waterhouse, followed by various technical and general management roles with Thames Water. He then worked in business development roles for a number of small environmental companies, before leading a university spin-out business in the water sector. He has a first class BSc in Physics and a PhD in Polymer Physics from Bristol University.
Steve is often to be seen competing in road cycling events, or playing hockey for Winchester Warlocks.
Gordon Scott
VP Business Development
Working with new and existing licensees in support of the commercialisation of technology, Gordon brings a wealth of business experience to the process.
His commercial career began as business development director at InSync Technology, after which he worked for Brunel University. Prior to this he had a successful career leading product development teams in the broadcast industry. He holds an MBA from Henley.
Gordon is a competitive racketball player, but with a young family any spare time is a rare bonus.
Noel Botha
VP Commercialisation
Noel is an entrepreneurial business manager and innovation specialist, with a track record of success in realising commercial value from innovation.
Previously, Noel was a founding director of Orion Innovations, successfully guiding new businesses through start-up and early-stage development, helping to turn-around and grow established businesses through market diversification, new venture creation, and acquisition.
He has worked with government, academic and public sector research bodies, NGOs and innovation agencies to foster and accelerate innovation and growth.
Mark Gostock
VP Commercialisation
Mark brings extensive experience of early stage technology commercialisation, out-licensing and spin-out formation from his years within the university technology transfer sector, both with Oxford and UCL.
Previously, he directed product development of a portfolio of analytical instrument platform technologies and metrology solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, whilst at Farfield Group Ltd.
Academically, Mark complemented his Masters in Analytical Chemistry with a PhD in Biophysics at the University of Nottingham, where he developed his interest in triathlons and ultra-marathons.
Gerry Scott
Commercialisation Manager
Gerry is an experienced technology manager who has previously worked as Impact & Collaboration manager for an electronics and computer science research programme based across four UK universities.
Prior to that, he worked in business development and commercialisation for the Natural Environment Research Council.
The bulk of his career has been spent in industry with multinational semiconductor companies, in a range of roles including product design, project management and leadership of an integrated circuit design group.
Outside work he enjoys music and spends too much time on DIY.
Robin Williamson
Commercialisation Manager
Robin joined Ploughshare in October 2019 and brings experience of working in a variety of roles in the defence and security sector since 2001.
A scientist by background, he has worked in the public sector and more recently in the private sector. An experienced business development manager and account manager, he previously worked at BAE Systems and prior to that the Knowledge Transfer Network as Defence and Security lead. Robin has demonstrated experience of research and development exploitation throughout his career, and is well networked in the sector. His key skills are Innovation Management, Intellectual Property Valuation and Technical Project Delivery. Robin is an experienced sales professional with a MSc in Forensic Engineering and Science from Cranfield University, and a Chartered Chemist (CChem) since 2014.
Away from work, Robin is a keen golfer (plays off a handicap of 8) and Table Tennis England qualified table tennis coach. Can also be seen occasionally at Emirates stadium supporting the Arsenal, a family tradition/affliction.
Gavin Bowen
Commercialisation Manager
Gavin is a secondee from the Ministry of Defence’s research organisation, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
Gavin has enjoyed a varied career at Dstl and its predecessor DERA, wider UK Government, and QinetiQ. He has also spent several years living abroad working on collaborative research projects for the UK and US governments.
As a Chartered Engineer his area of specialism is electronics including software and firmware but he has also held roles in business change management giving him a broad overview of corporate operations and responsibilities.
Gavin enjoys walking in his spare time.
James Horne
Marketing Manager
James joined Ploughshare in 2017 and brings many years of defence and security related B2B marketing expertise with him.
Previously, James worked for Roke Manor Research as marketing manager where he also supported sister Chemring subsidiary Chemring EOD.
Academically, James holds a BEng in Avionic Systems from the University of Bristol and subsequently started his career as an engineer and gained Chartered Engineer status. While in a marketing role, he has since completed the Marketing Week Mini MBA in Marketing and the London School of Economics MBA Essentials courses.
Away from the office James has a keen interest in aviation (he used to hold a Private Pilots Licence) and enjoys camping and hillwalking.
Clare Gould
Operations Manager
Clare spent a large proportion of her working career in telecommunication before joining Ploughshare in 2010.
She was appointed the Operations Manager in December 2014 and is responsible for the day to day running of the office and management of the Operations team, overseeing all operational aspects of the business including IT, HR and Finance.
Andrea Linscer
Finance Manager
Andrea joined Ploughshare in June 2009 and manages the financial interactions for Ploughshare, she has 20 years of experience in accounts and is a part-qualified accounting technician.
Previous jobs include working for Berkeley Homes, Williams Motorsport as well as experience in a defence background having served in the WRAF.
Maureen Levey
Senior Operations Administrator
Maureen has many years of experience in pensions, payroll and HR. She is adept at helping others to understand their pay and benefits and making sometimes complex information much easier to digest.
Maureen is the Senior Operations Administrator, responsible for the office administration and HR function for Ploughshare.
Currently studying for a CIPD Intermediate Diploma in HR Management. She enjoys running and socialising.
Board members
Simon Devonshire OBE
Chairman
Simon is the current Chair of the Board.
He previously ran O2 Business, the business division of the mobile-network, and co-founded Wayra Europe, the business accelerator belonging to Telefonica. He is also a serial entrepreneur and is involved in several successful digital start-up companies.
In addition, Simon has previously worked for the government in his role as Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and is currently the EiR at the National Physical Laboratory.
Simon was awarded an OBE in 2016 for services to enterprise, enterprise promotion and humanitarian issues.
Dr Andrew Mackintosh
Non-Executive Director
Andrew has over 30 years of commercial and general management experience in publicly and privately owned high-technology businesses. His most recent executive role was as the founding chief executive of the Royal Society Enterprise Fund, a unique early-stage technology investment fund set up by the Royal Society and supported by philanthropy. Prior to that he was CEO of Oxford Instruments plc for nine years.
Andrew is chairman of Sphere Fluidics Ltd, a biotechnology tools company aiming to transform the search for new drugs and medicines. He is also chairman of Oxford Quantum Circuits Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, which is developing a quantum computer. He is currently the external lead on a Treasury-based project developing implementation plans to improve the commercialisation of government knowledge assets.
Andrew has a PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of Hughes Hall, Cambridge. He has held non-executive director roles with several companies and served on national and regional committees concerned with technical innovation and competitiveness. He speaks fluent French and conversational Japanese.
David English
Non-Executive Director
David is the Finance Director at Dstl and previously was at the Ministry of Defence where he was the Head of Business Strategy & Governance, for the Department’s corporate finance team.
During this time, he led on the MOD’s asset sales programme and managed the Department’s relationship with its Trading Funds, including Dstl. Before this he had a wide range of roles across Defence, including responsibility for approvals and performance management in Defence Equipment & Support, financial planning and scrutiny within MOD Centre, and was a Private Secretary to the Defence Secretary leading on equipment and personnel matters.
In 2005 he completed a Masters in Business Administration at Imperial College London. David originally joined the Ministry of Defence in 1996 having completed a BEng in Avionic Systems at Bristol University and some hands-on engineering with GEC Marconi.
Mike Carr OBE
Non-Executive Director
Mike Carr was previously the Chief Scientific Officer for British Telecom (BT) and joined the Ploughshare Innovations board on 1 May 2016 as a non-executive director.
Mike brings experience from an extensive and esteemed international career in telecommunications, related research and associated innovation having developed BT’s licensing and venturing business.
Since leaving BT Mike has served on a range of boards including the EPSRC, Innovate UK and Ordnance Survey Ltd. He was elected President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for the year from October 2018. Mike is currently a member Enterprise Board of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Director of ERA Foundation, a non-profit organisation which supports engineering skills development. He was awarded an OBE for services to innovation in 2017.
Dr Cerys Rees OBE
Non-Executive Director
Cerys is the Dstl Fellow for Chemical and Biological Analysis and Attribution with responsibility for the delivery of Dstl’s research and operational capability in this area to meet the requirements of Defence and Security stakeholders in the UK.
After first working at Porton Down as a sandwich student in the early 1990s, she returned to Dstl in 1999 following the completion of a PhD, to undertake research in microbial hazard assessment and the development of novel medical countermeasures before moving on to develop the CB analysis capability. Cerys is a Dstl CBR Senior Scientific Advisor (SSA), trained to provide CB tactical and strategic level advice to UK police and military in support of operations; to date she has supported prosecutions with expert witness testimony under both the Chemical and Biological Weapons Acts in the UK.
Professor Andy Bell
Non-Executive Director
Andy is the Chief Technical Officer for Dstl with responsibility for the direction and development of organisational strategy and non-nuclear Science & Technology capabilities to support the UK’s defence, security and resilience.
He is both a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the Institute of Physics, and is a Council Member of the former. He holds a visiting chair at the University of Southampton Chemistry Department, is a Fellow of the University, and chairs the Chemistry Advisory Board. He also sits on the Board of the Jill Dando Institute and is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL.