Speakers

Paddy Lowe is one of the most successful engineers and technical directors in Formula 1 history, amassing no fewer than 158 Grand Prix wins and 12 World Championship titles during a stellar career with the Williams, McLaren and Mercedes teams. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost engineering and team leaders in the sport’s recent history.

John Poli is Director of Manufacturing Engineering and Operations at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) and is part of UKBIC’s Executive team. Before joining UKBIC in May 2022, John ran his own engineering consultancy, specialising in manufacturing engineering. Prior to that he was Jaguar Land Rover’s Power Train Manufacturing Engineering Director, responsible for global engine, electric drive and battery manufacturing. John had a 30-year career at JLR, eventually leading the team that created production systems and advanced technologies to enable manufacturing of JLR electric propulsion products.

UKBIC is a national battery manufacturing development facility, which provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production. The facility was opened by the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, the Prime Minister in July 2021.

David A. Homfray is Chief Technology Officer at Space Solar with the primary responsibility of designing and delivering the Space Solar technical programme, enabling SBSP products to be delivered at scale to meet Net Zero. David has spent nearly two decades in new energy systems, primarily in fusion as Head of Engineering Realisation and as an Engineer in Charge of JET. He is a Chartered Physicist, Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Ben is an expert in future skills development and workforce transformation associated with emerging technologies. He established the Electrification Skills Framework which is used as a blueprint for the development of skills initiatives to address emerging needs. His current focus is around creating the policy environment needed to enable a flexible and dynamic skills environment to match the rapid pace of change being seen in industry at present.

Heather Lewtas is the Head of Innovation at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) whose mission is to lead the delivery of sustainable fusion energy and maximise scientific and economic benefit. The Innovation Department enables UKAEA to effectively develop commercial opportunities arising across the fusion programme and help deliver the impact from these opportunities. Heather was previously the Strategic Operations Manager for STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) an ambitious programme to design and construct a prototype fusion energy plant, targeting operations around 2040 as well as the lead for multiple manufacturing programmes across UKAEA. Before joining UKAEA she worked in the defence and aerospace sector running technology programmes on materials and structures and in spacecraft instrumentation.

Marc Overton is Managing Director for Northern Europe of Dassault Systèmes, a company that is empowering organisations to sustainably invent, learn, produce, and trade in entirely new ways. Marc was previously a member of the executive team of EE/Orange in the UK, and has also held senior leadership positions at First Data, Cisco and Sierra Wireless and helped establish BT’s Division X, targeting specific industry solutions using 5G Private Networks and IoT. In addition to being an established international technology businesses executive, Marc has been a UK Army Reservist for 37 years. He is currently serving as the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) and as the Digital Non-Executive Director for Defence Equipment & Support, supporting all equipment and services for the UK Armed Forces.

Annelene Ikemann joined Ardagh Group in 2013 and was appointed Sustainability Director at Ardagh Glass Packaging – Europe, in 2021. Annelene is responsible for implementing the company’s sustainability strategy, working closely with the different European functions to deliver key sustainability projects. She also works with Ardagh’s customers on joint decarbonisation initiatives. Annelene holds a master’s degree in Public Policy & Human Development, specialising in Sustainable Development

John joined Dassault Systèmes in 2018 and led the successful transformation and sustainable growth of its Northern European operation as Managing Director. John has over 30 years’ experience of leading businesses, defining digital strategies and deploying major change programmes for clients enabled by world class technologies across many industries globally including Transport & Mobility, Aerospace & Defence, Oil & Gas, Industrial Equipment and New Energy sectors. In January 2024 John commenced a new role responsible for all Dassault Systèmes customer engagement models driving our global growth ambition and maximising our technology portfolio for our clients and partners.

Michelle has 38 years in the construction industry, starting at the grassroots level delivering superstore projects, and progressing on to lead many complex construction projects in regulated environments.

For the past 19 years, Michelle has been a director of construction and infrastructure businesses, driving excellence in health and safety performance as a priority. She has a track record of transforming construction businesses; enhancing productivity, embedding Lean thinking, driving digitalisation, and leading process re-engineering to unlock efficiencies whilst improving the safety and welfare of workers.

Michelle is currently PMO, Digital & Quality Director at HPC, with responsibility for digitising nuclear, designing and delivering the FOAK Nuclear Plant digital twin in Europe, while also leading and automating the Project Management Office function at HPC.