The Team

Richard is a business development focused entrepreneur having founded, funded and run successful media, digital and technology businesses – most notably Aura Sports (sold to BSkyB 2006) and everyLIFE Technologies (founded in 2014).

As a former environmental technologist and principal of Academatch, a business consultancy specialising in bridging the knowledge gap between research science and industry, Richard has hands on experience of the interconnect between academia and industry.

Simon has over 20 years’ experience in senior strategic and financial management roles covering various growth sectors. Since creating SRN Associates in 2004, he has worked extensively with high growth businesses in a variety of sectors. Prior to that, he spent over h4 years as CFO in growth companies in the technology sector.

Throughout his career he has been involved in Corporate Finance transactions ranging from acquisitions, sales, fundraising and corporate restructuring. Simon has worked with established names, such as SunGard, Great Plains, Microsoft Business Solutions and Halma PLC, as well as Venture Capital and Private Equity backed companies.

Simon is a Chartered Global Management Accountant and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

James has over twenty years’ experience of science and innovation within the field of nanotechnology and his expertise in proposing, winning and delivering, and supporting several key community initiatives and technical projects. This experience has been gained working for several key institutions such as the National Physical Laboratory, the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and the HVM Catapult. His community experience extends into graphene, energy harvesting, metamaterials, batteries, and technical normative standards through his work at the BSI. He also has extensive contacts within the European Union research community through his experience as the NMBP National Contact Point.

As Director of Programme Management he looks after the delivery aspects of the key technical platforms for the company. He has successfully won and delivered high profile projects in the UK, for both the civilian and military sectors. He also brings a wealth of experience in managing projects and dealing with the administration as well as supplying more informal innovation support where required.

After a wide-ranging career in the international oil and gas industry with the Shell Group (including a 3-year secondment to the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit as Mrs Thatcher’s adviser on energy and transport), and later a series of executive director board appointments in British Gas and its successor companies, Johnny Wybrew has had a diverse portfolio of interests: for 8 years as an NED on the board of the energy regulator, Ofgem; as Chairman of the Government-backed Sector Skills Council, Energy and Utility Skills (for which he was awarded an OBE); as Chairman of the British Energy Association, and also the Foundation for Management Education.

Stemming from a first-class Cambridge engineering degree and an enduring interest in the beneficial application of advancing technology, he has become increasingly engaged as active investor and board member in innovative start-up companies in the field of clean energy and related fields.

Jonathan has spent in excess of 30 years as a regulated professional in global wealth management and finance building businesses for the likes of Citibank and Deloitte and more recently as Managing Director of Rathbones in Jersey.

In between he has had extensive exposure to both fiduciary and hedge fund sectors, and for over h4-years has held directorship and board positions in several investment companies and funds. He has also held similar positions of responsibility and integrity in the charity sector as a School Governor, Chairman of a Governing Board and Chairman of an Educational Foundation.

Jonathan brings valuable experience and insight to the board, using both his career experience and investment sector knowledge to help support and nurture the company’s ongoing success.

Emma is a commercially focused Management Accountant with extensive experience in setting up and managing finance teams, mainly within the digital technology sector.

She has a long track record in working with dynamic, fast growing companies, setting up procedures and developing management reporting systems. Her previous role as a Regional Finance Manager, she successfully instigated the comprehensive restructure of the organisation.

Emma's expertise extends to HR, quality and operations management and strategic planning alongside her accountancy responsibilities.

Paul has been active in technology sales and business development around the world for 30 years within SME’s, start up’s and multinational organisations such as NCR, Ascom and Schlumberger.

Over the last ten years, Paul has been focused on market and business development strategy and execution, within industrial test and monitoring technologies and services for the Power Utility, IoT, Energy and Transport sectors. He has a strong track record of recognizing and developing potential market opportunities for new and innovative technologies and services.

Alan joined the University of Sussex as a Professor of Materials Physics in March 2016.

He has worked in the area of nanomaterials and nanotechnology for over 20 years and to-date has published over 160 publications and 12 patents in the area of nanostructured materials. His work has been cited over 12,000 times and his h-index is 50.

He holds visiting positions at the University of Malaya, the Kazakh National University (Almaty) and the University of Texas Dallas.

He leads a research team of 20 and his research has attracted several million pounds in funding to date.

Paul Sellin received his PhD in Nuclear Physics from University of Edinburgh (UK) in 1992 in the field of semiconductor nuclear detectors.

Paul’s current research interests at the University of Surrey include the development and characterisation of radiation detectors and detector materials for applications in nuclear physics, medical imaging, and security detection. His research group focuses on the characterisation and development of new detector materials, including plastic and organic scintillators for mixed field neutron/gamma detection, including digital instrumentation and SiPM readout for neutron/gamma sensitive scintillators.

Dr Izabela Jurewicz is our newly appointed Chief Scientific Officer and is also the Principal Investigator across all of AMD’s University of Surrey based work.

Dr. Jurewicz received a PhD in Physics in 2009 from the University of Surrey. Following four years work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, in 2013 she was awarded a prestigious and highly competitive EPSRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. As a lecturer at the University of Surrey since 2016, Izabela leads the Interdisciplinary Research on Interface Structures (IRIS) Group in the Department of Physics. Izabela has recently been awarded a business hosted UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) for her work on photonic crystal sensors and has joined AMD as Chief Scientific Officer to help drive the company’s aspirations to become a leading developer of materials based solutions.

Izabela has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers, and her work is highlighted in overh40 international press releases. She is currently engaged in interdisciplinary research across materials and life science disciplines, focusing on controlled self-assembly of nanomaterials, woven wearable smart textiles, transparent electrodes for touch screen applications and synthetic scaffolds for tissue engineering. She will now lead, within the framework of an FLF, a multidisciplinary team that will advance the development of colour-changing polymeric photonic crystals and metamaterials and develop a portfolio of industry relevant novel products and deliver a wide variety of innovations that address real-world problems.

Iain King CBE FRSA is a British writer and former government official. He was appointed a CBE in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to governance in Libya, Afghanistan and Kosovo. He is a former Fellow of Cambridge University. Iain has held senior political roles in Kosovo’s UN Administration, and within the UK’s Civil Service, including for the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Defence. From 2016-19 he served as Defence Counsellor at the British Embassy in Washington DC. He is now a Fellow at the Washington DC Think Tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Security (CSIS), and has authored five books on topics ranging from military history, to foreign affairs, and moral philosophy.

Anthony is a creative and passionate senior executive who specialises in strategy, technology commercialisation, and leadership. He has a track record of success in formulating and executing business strategies around market development, partnership & collaboration, IPR, licencing and technology. He has held numerous leadership roles in technology, automotive, health, capital markets and university sectors and has led the formation, growth and exit of several start-ups including corporate ventures and university spin-outs, most recently managing a successful exit to US tech giant, Qualcomm.

Anthony is also a Non-Exec Director of a number of high growth SMEs in Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Built Environment, Retail and Healthcare. Roles include CBO of Elephants Child, Chief Strategy Officer at Isansys Lifecare and various senior positions at Qualcomm; University of Auckland; LIFFE; Euronext; ABN AMRO; BNP Paribas; and Chesterton.

Anthony received his MSc and PhD from the University of Otago (NZ) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He holds an MBA from Cranfield.

Tom has always had a major interest in technology and its real-world commercial applications. After qualifying as a commercial airline pilot in his early twenties he has since had various business development and sales roles around the world.

Primarily focused on working with fast growing SME’s, Tom has developed market opportunities for new and innovative technologies and services while expanding client bases across various industries from aviation and defence to FMCG, fashion and retail.

From 19h4 to 2018 Alastair was a partner of Mourant Ozannes, one of the largest offshore law firms with offices based in a number of jurisdictions worldwide. His professional practice encompassed a broad range of commercial, banking, finance, investment funds and corporate work, with a specialisation in debt and equity capital markets. He has extensive experience of corporate governance issues, including capital raising and company secretarial matters as well as solvent and insolvent reorganisations. In addition to his client facing practice, Alastair spent a number of years in various senior management positions at Mourant Ozannes, with a particular focus on HR related issues including recruitment. Alastair holds a law degree from the University of Exeter and is a Solicitor of the Royal Court of Jersey (non practising).

Tim was previously an Application Specialist at the Graphene Engineering & Innovation Centre based at The University of Manchester, where he worked to deliver projects over a range of applications including integrated sensors, printed antenna and EMI Shielding with additional experience in formulation and production of conductive graphene inks. Tim has spent over ten years in engineering and development including working with Tata Steel as part of the PV accelerator research team developing 2nd and 3rd generation solar cells for use in building integrated applications. Having originally graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in Renewable Energy engineering, Tim’s PhD, developing perovskite solar cells, is from the University of Swansea.

Solomon Melides is an experimental physical chemist with particular expertise in rheology, texture and interfacial sciences. He has a background in food science/ chemistry and experience in product formulation.

Solomon is based at the University of Surrey where he is involved in AMD’s collaboration with Essentra Packaging developing the company’s Time Temperature Indicator application for use in the pharmaceutical industry.

Having originally graduated with a BSc in Food Sciences and a Masters in Biosciences from the University of Nottingham, Solomon has worked extensively in ingredient functionality for the food consultancy company Campden BRI. Solomon holds a PhD in Chemical and Process Engineering.

Leigh has joined AMD from Farnborough International after overseeing the operational delivery of 3 International Airshows as Aerospace Operations Manager. Her role also extended to the delivery of various launch events within the automotive industry, including the future of flying cars!

She has previously supported Board Members at Stonegate Pub Company as a Personal Assistant, at a time of formation until growth into the largest Pub Company in the UK.

Her organisational skills and project management experience combined with natural enthusiasm and tenacity brings a wealth of experience in her role as Executive Assistant at AMD.