Management Team
CEO & Founder Andrew Monk:
Andrew has a proven track record of business development in high technology SMEs. As CEO of Innos Ltd he led the team that rebuilt the company after a devastating fire destroyed its Southampton semiconductor facility in 2005. The company's operations team relocated to Eindhoven and shipped its first product less than 30 days after the fire. Andrew then led the team to build a new facility and execute a successful exit in 2007. Since then Andrew has led the team at the Forensic Science Service commercialising a radical new DNA test that allows police to match suspects to crimes while they are still in custody. Andrew subsequently joined Transentia Ltd as a Senior Associate working with Universities and PSREs to generate revenue and reputation from their intellectual assets.
Chief Operations Officer Richard Williams:
Richard is an experienced entrepreneur and technologist, focused on the photonics and bio-tech industries. From 2003 to 2011 Richard was CEO of Stratophase - a spin-out from Southampton University. Richard was instrumental in setting up the company and led the company through funding rounds to significant revenues, and major commercial engagement. Between 1998 and 2003 Richard worked at the Optoelectronic Research Centre, Southampton University where he developed the technology subsequently licensed to Stratophase and was responsible for the multimillion pound Optical Fibre Fabrication Facility. Richard gained a degree in physics in 1991, then a PhD in 1995 both from Oxford University and continued at Oxford as a post-doctoral researcher until 1998.
CFO & Founder Robert Suttie:
Robert is a seasoned senior executive whose career spans strategic adviser, plc Director and, for the last decade, founder of successive start-ups. 9 years at McKinsey and 5 as Director at AXA’s UK Life business gave a foundation in strategy and executive management. Robert then joined Interactive Investor, a dotcom financial services’ provider, to head their consumer business. Following a successful exit in 2002 Robert co-founded Optimos, a boutique strategy consultancy, then focused on technology start-ups. Distribution Technology is now a UK market leader in financial planning software. At Informavores, as the business grew, Robert took a full time role as COO and FD before negotiating an exit to Salesforce.com in 2009.
Chairman of the Scientific Committee and Founder Professor Fetah Benabid:
Fetah is the inventor of the Photonic Microcell. He has been a pioneering figure in the development of hollow-core photonic crystal fibres and their incorporation into scientific and technological applications. His work has resulted in a number of theoretical and experimental breakthroughs with significant impact on optical science. This includes the discovery of a new type of optical guidance mechanism with research into its use in developing highly efficient multi-line laser sources and highly portable fibre devices for laser frequency metrology and optical processing. His work has generated world-wide impact as reflected by his publications in Nature, Nature Photonics, Science and Physical Review Letters. His publications are highly cited with a total of more than 1200 citations and h-index of 18 (Source ISI December 2010).
Founder David Richards:
David is a Director and Mentor to high technology ‘start-ups’ with over 30 years experience in IT, Communications, and Electronics who is currently specialising in University spin-outs. David held senior engineering positions at Marconi and Racal, and subsequently senior Silicon Valley executive roles at Daisy Systems and Sun Microsystems, then with Paul Allen’s Asymetrix. David has worked in the UK, Europe, US and the Pacific Rim. David is a well-known Mentor to the SETsquared business incubation partnership. He has been working with start-ups since the late 1980’s.