Brendan Connor

Brendan is Chairman of Cenex (Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon & Fuel Cell Technologies) based at Loughborough University. Cenex was originally funded by DTI (now Business, Innovation & Skills) but is now an independent consultancy led by a consortium of UK automotive systems companies and representative bodies.

Previously Brendan was Chief Executive Officer at Cosworth Racing between 2011 and 2003 during which it provided engines to various teams in Formula 1, US Indy Racing League, CART and World Rally Championships. He was the recipient of MIA Business of the Year Award in 2003.

Brendan has held senior general management positions in TRW and Lucas and currently holds a number of Non-Executive Board appointments in both the public and private sectors. He is a Trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum and a number of other charities.

Mark Prisk

Born in Cornwall on 12 June 1962, and educated at Truro School and Reading University. A Chartered Surveyor by profession, and former self-employed businessman and company director, Mark was elected as the Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stortford in 2001 with over 44% of the vote.

In 2005, he increased his majority to over 13,000, or 50.5%. His parliamentary interests include small business and enterprise, urban planning and regeneration, as well as defence and foreign affairs.

Since 2002, Mark has served on the Conservative front bench as Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Paymaster General and then Home Affairs Whip.

In December 2005, he was made Shadow Spokesman for Business & Enterprise and this role was confirmed in July 2007 with a wider brief on Enterprise, Deregulation and Competition. In July 2007 he was also appointed Shadow Minister for his home county of Cornwall.

On being re-elected as the member for Hertford & Stortford in the 2010 General Election Mark Prisk MP was asked by the Prime Minister to join the Coalition Government. He has joined as a Minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. His ministerial portfolio focuses on key business sectors, promoting enterprise and cutting red tape. In June, the Prime Minister asked him to also take on the Trade and Investment Ministerial portfolio through until January 2011.

Iain Gray

Iain Gray joined the Technology Strategy Board as Chief Executive in 2007, following its establishment as an executive non-departmental public body.

Prior to joining the Technology Strategy Board, Iain was Managing Director and General Manager of Airbus UK, whose Bristol operation he joined when it was still part of British Aerospace.

Iain Gray completed his early education in Aberdeen, culminating in an Engineering Science honours degree at Aberdeen University. In addition, he gained a Masters of Philosophy at Southampton University in 1989 and has received Honorary Doctorates from Bath, Bristol and Aberdeen Universities in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Iain is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers; a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and in 2007 was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal. In 2011 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a Board Member of Engineering UK, a Governor of the University of the West of England, a Board Member of SEMTA and a Board Member of Energy Technologies Institute.

As Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, Iain is the operational head of the organisation as it assumes its leading role in driving the UK's technology and innovation strategy.

Iain is married to Rhona and has four children

Brendan Connor

Brendan is Chairman of Cenex (Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon & Fuel Cell Technologies) based at Loughborough University. Cenex was originally funded by DTI (now Business, Innovation & Skills) but is now an independent consultancy led by a consortium of UK automotive systems companies and representative bodies.

Previously Brendan was Chief Executive Officer at Cosworth Racing between 2011 and 2003 during which it provided engines to various teams in Formula 1, US Indy Racing League, CART and World Rally Championships. He was the recipient of MIA Business of the Year Award in 2003.

Brendan has held senior general management positions in TRW and Lucas and currently holds a number of Non-Executive Board appointments in both the public and private sectors. He is a Trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum and a number of other charities.

Graham Hoare

Graham Hoare is the Executive Director for Powertrain Engineering, Ford of Europe. This role, which commenced in January 2006, has integrated the core Powertrain disciplines of diesel and gasoline/ petrol engines, transmissions and Powertrain application engineering to provide a cohesive Powertrain engineering capability for Ford in Europe. In addition to these responsibilities Graham has leadership for the Dunton Technical Centre in Essex, UK, the largest automotive R&D facility in the UK. Graham is responsible for the next generation of gasoline and diesel products under development for Ford's global B, C, CD sized cars and European commercial vehicles in support of Ford's corporate sustainability commitments. His team of 2,700 staff are based in the UK, Germany & Turkey. He is a member of the Board of Ford of Britain.

In his previous role, Graham was the Director of Powertrain Research & Advanced Engineering for Ford Motor Company, based in Dearborn, Michigan. USA. He was in this role for 4 years, and his responsibilities included the Research, Advanced Development and Technology Planning associated with Gasoline, Diesel Engines, Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines, Transmission & Driveline Systems, Controls, Calibration and NVH for Ford vehicles and affiliate branded products globally. His teams were based in North America, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Prior to his US assignment, he was responsible for Powertrain Engineering in Land Rover, England, at that point a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. In this role he led the Powertrain activities for the new family of Land Rover products, LR3 & Range Rover Sport.

Prior to his Land Rover appointment, Graham was Chief Engineer for BMW Group, Transmission & Driveline Engineering, based in Munich, Germany. In this role he was responsible for leading the development of transmission systems for BMW, Range Rover, Mini & Rolls Royce branded vehicles.

His background in Powertrain Engineering spans 20 years, with primary qualifications in Mechanical Engineering and a master's degree in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick, UK. His early professional years included Gasoline/ Petrol Engine, Transmission & Driveline design & development, coupled with experience in Engine Manufacturing. He is a fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers & a fellow of the Institute of Engineering Designers.

Experience gained from life in three countries, and the associated business cultures has assisted Graham in comprehending the value of world class engineering and the importance of accelerating deployment of Powertrain innovation, particularly in the race for ever more CO2 friendly technologies. "The powertrain remains the heart of any great car & effective powertrain control creates its soul," says Hoare.

Graham is 45 years old with one child.

Bob Joyce

Bob Joyce is Group Engineering Director of Jaguar Land Rover and a member of the Executive Management Team. He has the responsibility of ensuring that Jaguar and Land Rover maintain the right focus on technology and innovation in its business.

An Engineering graduate of Leicester University, Bob's career began in the early 1980s with a series of roles in the UK (Ricardo Consulting Engineers) and the USA (Dresser Industries, Waukesha Engine Division); these focused on improving both petrol and diesel engine technology, and delivering new technology into production.

Through the first half of the 1990s he held positions as Chief Engineer of Rover's K-Series engine family, Director Gaydon Technology Centre, Director Rover Body & Pressings, and Body Engineering Director of the Rover Group. Then as Senior Vice President BMW front wheel drive platforms, he oversaw both MG Rover and the highly successful new Mini project, which he took through its development process.

He joined Ford Motor Company in 2001, and at Jaguar Land Rover he has overseen the development of the complete range of new vehicles including Range Rover, Discovery 4, Range Rover Sport, Freelander 2, Jaguar XK, XF, and the all new XJ.

An MBA from Warwick University and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, he is married with three children. His interests include rugby, shooting, golf, motorcycles and travel.

He is also Chairman of the Technology Group within the UK Auto Council.

Jerry Hardcastle

Jerry Hardcastle has worked in the automotive industry for 26 years in Austin Rover Group and Nissan Motors Limited.

As VP, Jerry is responsible for vehicle design and development at Nissan Technical Centre Europe.

NTCE is part of Nissan's integrated R&D network with centres in Japan, US and Europe.

The position requires Jerry to perform locally within the European business operation, and globally within the Research and Development function.

During his career in Nissan, Jerry has lived and worked in Japan on two occasions, allowing him to experience the working cultures of Nissan in Japan and Europe.

He is also Chairman of the Technology Group within the UK Auto Council.

John R Wood

John Wood read engineering at Cambridge and spent the early part of his career in the Army in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

In 1987 he joined RAC Motoring Services as Technical Director and Chief Engineer and from there, he went to MIRA Ltd in 1991 as Managing Director and Chief Executive. He retired from MIRA at the end of 2008 and currently carries out a number of roles including chairing the Industry Advisory Panel for the Low Carbon Vehicle IDP of the Technology Strategy Board

He has also been the Chairman of the Design Engineering Group of SMMT and Vice Chairman of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership. He was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2010 - 2011.

He is a non-executive director of CERAM Ltd, a Board member of the National Composites Network and also currently chairs the Technical Advisory Panel of the Motor Sports Association.

Tim O'Brien

Tim joined the Technology Strategy Board in September 2007. He was appointed to the position of Innovation Platform Leader Low Carbon Vehicles and has led this influential group for the last 4 years. Over this period the platform has developed and launched 9 LCV competitions, generating LCV R&D project activity approaching £250m in the UK automotive sector and its supply chain.

For the majority of his career Tim worked in the consumer electronics sector with large multi-national, blue-chip companies (Samsung, JCV, Pace, Thomson SA, Thorn EMI). Initially he worked on new product R&D, as a principal hardware engineer and later moved into Operations. He has held a number of senior operations roles at both General Manager and Director level, with responsibility for both domestic and overseas manufacturing activities (OEM and CEM), test and manufacturing engineering groups and world-wide after market service support networks.

Tim is married to Margaret, has 3 children and lives in North Yorkshire.

Mike Richardson

Mike Richardson is a Senior Engineering Manager with over 28 years experience in the automotive and aerospace industry.

His experience spans Research, Advanced Engineering and Product Development, with particular emphasis on managing the delivery of high technology features and functions from the R&D environment to mainstream engineering.

His technical interests include sustainability and hybrid vehicles, switch mode power conversion and power electronics, real time control systems, automotive radar, adaptive cruise control, vehicle dynamic and chassis control systems and intelligent transportation systems. He has authored or co-authored numerous papers and holds a number of key patents in these areas.

At the beginning of 2006 he moved to the position of Manager Advanced Hybrids for Jaguar Land Rover, from his former position as Head of Research.

His many achievements include receiving the Ford European Technical Achievement Award and a Research Achievement Award in 1999. In 2000 he was awarded the Henry Ford Technology Award for his work on adaptive cruise control.

Born in 1956, Richardson holds a Doctorate and degrees in Control Engineering and Electronic Engineering from Coventry University; is a Chartered Engineer; and a Fellow of the IMechE. He is married with three children.

Neil Ridley

The Transport KTN is headed up by Neil Ridley. Neil joined the Transport KTN in January 2011 from 17 years working at Arup. A mechanical engineer by background, Neil completed the Monitored Professional Development Scheme within the vehicle divisions at the Department of Transport after graduating, which gave him a good grounding in the workings of government legislation and the transport industry. Working at TRL later, project managing a 3-way project to improve safety legislation, he had his first experience with Arup, who were at that time responsible for the computer simulations of the project. For the last 7 years at Arup, Neil was responsible for global automotive activities, latterly concentrating on the challenges presented in developing sustainable transport solutions in light of growing energy requirements and increasingly restrictive carbon targets.

Celia Greaves

Celia Greaves is Chief Executive of Synnogy Ltd., which specialises in helping a range of organisations across Europe to enhance their strategic decision making around new and evolving energy technologies, particularly fuel cells and hydrogen. Synnogy's key activities are:

• The Technology Strategy Board's Energy Generation and Supply Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN): where Synnogy leads on fuel cell and hydrogen (www.ktn.innovateuk.org/web/energyktn)
• The UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association: where Synnogy is building on its successful experience of running its predecessor, Fuel Cells UK, to manage this new Association on behalf of members and lead campaigning activity to accelerate the commercialisation of fuel cells and hydrogen (www.ukhfca.co.uk).
• New Energy Forum: where Synnogy helps a range of blue-chip and leading public sector organisations to optimise their strategic thinking on new energy (www.synnogy.co.uk).

Celia's experience in the new energy sector extends over more than 14 years, and has included leading Missions to the US, Canada and Japan. She was previously a Director at the Centre for Exploitation of Science and Technology.

Robert Rose

Robert Rose is founding executive director of the Breakthrough Technologies Institute, an independent nonprofit advocate for technologies that carry environmental benefits to society. BTI's program, Fuel Cells 2000, launched in 1993, is internationally recognized.

Rose also founded the US Fuel Cell Council and is now Senior Advisor to its successor, the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.

Rose has served in senior U.S. government communications and policy positions and provided consulting and successful advocacy to a wide range of clients. He has appeared before Committees of Congress, has numerous other speaking and writing credits and is a frequent news source.

Dennis Hayter

Dennis is Vice President of Business Development at Intelligent Energy. Intelligent Energy is a global clean power systems company based in the UK, with a range of leading fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies. Using its proprietary fuel cell power system, the company provides clean, versatile and highly efficient means of power generation across a range of sectors.

Dennis is also Chair of the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (UK HFCA) which was launched in June 2010 as result of the merger of Fuel Cells UK and the UK Hydrogen Association. The UK HFCA acts on behalf of its members to accelerate the development and commercialisation of fuel cells and hydrogen energy in the UK.

Robert Evans

Robert Evans is Chief Executive Officer of Cenex, the UK's national Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies.

Cenex was established in 2005 as a government funded agency set up to assist the UK motor industry supply chain development in the area of low carbon vehicle technologies. Today Cenex manages programmes and projects for a range of public and private sector organisations. Prior to joining Cenex, Robert built up more than 15 years experience in developing markets for environmental and automotive technologies, including those for low carbon vehicles, vehicle emissions control technologies and fuel cells.

Robert holds Masters in Management Science from Imperial College London and a Masters in Corporate Affairs and Communication (Motor Industry) from Leeds Trinity and All Saints University.

Greg Archer

Greg Archer has been Managing Director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP www.lowcvp.org.uk ) since 2004. LowCVP is a public-private partnership of approaching 200 organisations working to accelerate the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels and generate opportunity for UK businesses through facilitating action by businesses, Government and the public. Greg is also a director of Cenex (www.cenex.co.uk ) which he helped to establish in 2005.

Neville Jackson

Neville Jackson is the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer for Ricardo plc, He is responsible for developing the future global vision of automotive and energy technology at Ricardo and for the strategy, planning and execution of research and development. A graduate of Imperial College, London, his career has included 29 years at Ricardo focused on research and technology demonstration programmes covering advanced combustion engines, hybrid systems and energy recovery technologies.

His is also Chairman of the UK Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, a member of the UK Automotive Council Technology Group, a member of the UK Energy Research Partnership and a member of the EPSRC's Strategic Advisory Network. He is also Vice Chairman of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC). He is a visiting Professor at the University of Brighton and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Philip Richards

Philip is manager of the Low Carbon Vehicle Public Procurement programme. He joined Cenex in 2009, and prior to that he worked for ten years in automotive product development, spending most of his time at Ford and Prodrive, as a powertrain engineer and then later as a programme manager. He has a degree in automotive engineering from Loughborough University, is a chartered mechanical engineer and has an MBA from Cranfield University. In addition to his time in the automotive sector, Philip has worked for a government funded think tank, developing skills and education policy.

Robin Haycock

Robin Haycock is Head of Transport at The Climate Group working on issues relating to the decarbonisation of road transport and is a consultant to the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) supporting the development of Codes of Practice and Standards on emerging transport issues. Previously he spent two and half years working with the UK government in various automotive and transport roles including support to the NAIGT initiative and finally specialising in the electrification of transport at OLEV. Robin has also worked on transport planning for Eco city developments and started his career within the auto industry.

Ruben van Doorn

Ruben van Doorn is responsible for TNT Express' climate change programme, Planet Me. In that capacity he is responsible for managing a broad range of projects aimed at improving TNT Express' CO2 footprint with 40% in 2020.

Before taking on his current position, Ruben worked at executive assistant to TNT's CEO and before that held managerial positions in various functions of TNT's mail division.

Before starting his career in TNT in 1999, Ruben studied International Business at the Haarlem Business School and General Management at Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands.

Darren O'Donnell

Darren is a career Transport Engineer, responsible for managing the commercial vehicle fleet throughout CCE's GB operation. Darren has trialed and evaluated numerous environmental interventions, most notably using biomethane to power heavy goods vehicles. This project has been fully supported by Cenex, and has included detailed emissions testing utilising expertise from Millbrook Proving Ground and Loughborough University. The success of this project has seen CCE commit to a major investment in biomethane gas vehicles

Dominic Sholfield

Dominic Scholfield is an experienced consultant in the field of sustainable transport. His work with Cenex has included the assessment of Leeds City Council’s trial of biomethane refuse collection vehicles, and is currently focused on analysing the data from an ongoing trial of 200 hybrid and electric vans. Past project roles have included developing guidance on the calculation of carbon emissions from freight transport, assessing the feasibility of a major government demonstration programme for biomethane vehicles, and the management of data collection in a trial of high performance electric vehicles. Dominic has also worked in the social enterprise sector, both as a consultant and as managing director of a company that provides sustainable transport solutions through partnerships with universities, local authorities and the prison service.

Dr Simon Bourne

Simon joined ITM in 2002 as a Technical Manager and has been one of the leading scientists involved in the development of ITM's suite of patented membrane materials.

Before joining ITM Simon was a project engineer with Sonatest Plc and a researcher with the Ministry of Defence.

Simon has a BSc Hons in Materials Science from UMIST and a PhD from Cranfield University.

Jane Patterson

Jane Patterson is a Senior Project Engineer in the Technology, Innovation and Strategy group at Ricardo UK Ltd. Since joining Ricardo in 1999, Jane has been responsible for the development of several new areas of expertise, including design of experiments, statistical modelling, biofuels, hydrogen and fuel cells. More recently, Jane has been responsible for the development of life cycle carbon analysis studies for the automotive industry, and their delivery to both commercial and government customers.