AWE PLC Board Announced

AWE is delighted to announce the new AWE PLC Board which will be in place from 1 July 2021 when AWE becomes an arms’ length body owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The Board will be comprised of: Sir John Manzoni as Chair, Alison Atkinson as AWE Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Nicole Kett and Henry Lloyd as MOD appointed Non-Executive Directors and Steve Rottler, Gary Butler, Richard Keys, Dame Sue Ion, Andrew McNaughton, Claire Flint and Dick Elsy as Non-Executive Directors.  Peter Morton will continue in his role as Chief Financial Officer for three months while we are in the process of recruiting his replacement. The Board will be supported by Jonathan Smith as Company Secretary.

Sir John Manzoni said: “I am delighted that we have assembled a Board of such high calibre and expertise for AWE, whose mission is central to the UK defence policy.  The Board will provide valuable stewardship and advice to the executive and I am looking forward to working with them all.”

Sir John Manzoni – Chairman 

Sir John Manzoni will be the Chairman of the AWE Board, he is also the Chairman of the SSE Board and sits on the Diageo Board as a Non-Executive Director (NED). John Manzoni joined the Civil Service in 2014 as Chief Executive of Major Projects Authority (MPA) then appointed Chief Executive of the Civil Service from October 2014 and additionally as Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office from August 2015 to April 2020.

John was previously President and CEO of Canadian oil and gas company Talisman Energy Inc. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the private sector. In his 24 years at BP, he contributed to its global growth and held senior strategic and operational leadership roles at global, regional and local level. Between 2002 and 2007, he was Chief Executive, Refining and Marketing, spanning six different businesses across more than 100 countries and he was a member of the BP plc main board from 2003 to 2007.

Alison Atkinson – AWE CEO & MD (Executive Director)

Alison Atkinson is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of AWE plc. With over 25 years’ experience in engineering; establishing, leading and managing business organisations across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, defence, nuclear and maritime, in both the UK and overseas – Alison was voted the sixth most ‘Influential Female Engineer in the UK and Europe’ (FT) in 2019.

A graduate in Civil Engineering from Manchester University, Alison worked on a significant range of infrastructure developments and projects around the world, for both private and local government clients, before joining AWE in 2005. Between 2007 and 2009 she was the business lead for Capital Projects before moving to Site Operations and Production. From 2013 Alison led aspects of the Warhead Programme before heading up the UK’s complex, multi-billion-pound Capital Projects Programme with AWE.

Kier Group plc appointed Alison to its board of directors (as a non-executive director) in November 2020 and she is Chair of the Safety, Health and Environment Committee.

Gary Butler – Non-Executive Director

Gary is currently serving on the AWE ML Board and will continue his work with AWE as he moves to the plc Board.  Gary’s career at AWE spanned nearly 35 years before he retired in 2019. During the latter part of his career Gary held two executive director appointments. Firstly, in the role Assurance Director and secondly, as Executive Director Burghfield.

Gary’s previous leadership roles at AWE include Head of National Nuclear Security. In this role, Gary led a high performing team in delivering innovative science, engineering and technical solutions to central government on a broad range of topics, helping to ensure the UK maintains a credible capability to mitigate any potential threat posed by either Counter Terrorism or Counter Proliferation.

Following his retirement from AWE in 2019, Gary was appointed as a Non-Executive Director (NED) of AWE Management Limited. As well as performing overall main board responsibilities he was also a member of various subcommittees including ESH&Q, Audit and Programme as well as being chair of the Production Review committee.

Dick Elsy – Non-Executive Director

Dick Elsy was the Chief Executive of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, the largest advanced manufacturing research institute in Europe, until his retirement at the end of May 2021. He is a career veteran from the automotive industry, with the bulk of his time spent at Land Rover and then Jaguar, where he was Engineering Director. At Land Rover, where he started his career as one of the key project team members on the original Discovery programme, he became a member of the Board from where he led the creation, development, and manufacture of the Freelander. Prior to joining the HVM Catapult, Dick was the CEO of Torotrak plc the FTSE listed developer of traction drive technology.

Dick is on the council of the UKRI-STFC and is a NED and acting Chairman of AB Dynamics, an Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listed supplier of integrated test systems for the global automotive industry. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a holder of its Silver Medal. He was recognised for his contribution to manufacturing and technology in the UK with a CBE in 2018.

He is an honorary professor at Strathclyde University and holds an honorary doctorate from Cranfield University.

In 2020, Dick chaired the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium, a collection of significant industrial and engineering partners from across the UK which manufactured and delivered over 13,000 ventilators for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Claire Flint – Non-Executive Director

Claire Flint has a portfolio career as a Non-Executive Director (NED). She is currently Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Senior Independent Director at National Nuclear Laboratory. She is a NED and Chair of the Remuneration and Appointments Committee for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and will step down as Vice-Chair of Scope, the Disability Charity at the end of June 2021.

She was previously HR and Brand Director for Oxford Instruments plc, a leading nanotechnology tools provider. Claire served on the Oxford Instruments Management Board for more than 10 years during a period of significant organic and acquisitive growth. She previously worked for Diageo plc, Bass Brewing and the National Westminster Bank in a variety of HR positions. She has worked internationally in a number of her roles.

Claire has a BA in history from London University and has a post graduate diploma in labour studies.

Dame Sue Ion – Non-Executive Director

Dame Sue Ion is currently Hon President of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and is a member of the UK Nuclear Regulator’s Independent Advisory Panel. Dame Sue spent over three decades in the nuclear sector before moving to a more advisory role on energy matters generally. She was Chairman of the UK Government’s Nuclear Innovation Research Advisory Board which operated from January 2014 – March 2016. Dame Sue was BNFL’s Chief Technology Officer from 1992 – 2006 and since then has served on a number of advisory committees associated with the UK’s energy requirements.

She holds honorary and visiting professorships at the University of Manchester and Imperial College London respectively and currently serves as a member of Board of Governors of the University of Central Lancashire. Dame Sue is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, where she chairs or serves on a number of standing committees.

Nicole Kett – MOD appointed NED

Nicole is a career UK Civil Servant. She has spent the majority of her career in the areas of social policy development and implementation and strategic finance; with a decade long career within HM Treasury. Nicole has experience of working closely with Ministers and has also spent time managing commercial contracts with Government suppliers.

Since 2016 Nicole has worked within the Ministry of Defence (MOD), helping to shape the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO) and standing up of the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA). She has been appointed to the AWE Board by the MOD as a Non-Executive Director.

Richard Keys – Non-Executive Director

Richard Keys is a chartered accountant and retired as a senior partner of the UK firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) in June 2010. Over his 37 years with PwC he held a number of senior management positions, most recently that of Global Chief Accountant, leading a team of partners and professionals across more than 30 countries. His roles have included responsibility for many top clients of the Firm on both a national and global basis where he worked closely with and advised boards, senior management and audit committees. He spent a period on secondment to the UK Government, had a significant involvement in the UK privatisation programme and in the first IPO of a major Chinese Airline.

Since 2010 he has enjoyed a portfolio of Board roles ranging across, banking, air transport, utilities, central government and education.

Richard is a NED, Chair of the Governance Committee and member of the Audit and Risk Committees of Merrill Lynch International; a NED, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and member of the Nominations and Transformation Review Committees of NATS Holdings Limited; Non-Executive Chair and Director of Glaziers Hall Limited; and Non-Executive Member and Chair of the Group Audit and Risk Committee of the Department for Transport.

Henry Lloyd – MOD appointed NED

Henry Lloyd joined the Shareholder Executive (now UK Government Investments) in June 2015 after 25 years in European corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He previously worked in the UK investment banking teams at JPMorgan, CSFB and BZW where he started as a graduate trainee. Before joining government, he worked as the European head of a small international corporate finance advisory firm based in New York.

Since joining UKGI, Henry has worked on the governance arrangements for Urenco, represented Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the board of The Insolvency Service and advised the MoD on the establishment of the Submarine Delivery Agency.  He now heads-up a Joint Unit between the Ministry of Defence and UK Government Investments. He is the shareholder appointed Non-Executive Director of Defence Equipment and Support.

Andrew McNaughton – Non-Executive Director

From June 2016 Andrew served as Chief Operating Officer of the Systra Group, a French headquartered company with 7000 employees, globally, specialising in transport engineering and consultancy services. Andrew was previously Director of Engineering and Construction for Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay Plc.

Andrew has over 35 years’ experience of delivering major infrastructure in the UK and overseas. As both a project manager and an executive officer he has been responsible for the delivery of many of the country’s major infrastructure projects over that time.

Prior to his appointment at Tidal Lagoon, Andrew was the Chief Executive Officer of Balfour Beatty plc. He held a range of executive positions in his 17 years at Balfour Beatty, including Chief Operating Officer and latterly Chief Executive Officer. From graduation he initially spent 12 years with the Kier Group.

Andrew is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Civil engineers. He has served as a Vice President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was previously named Civil Engineering Manager of the Year by the Institution.

Peter Morton – Chief Financial Officer (Executive Director)

Peter joined AWE plc in October 2010 as Finance Director. As well as being a member of the AWE plc executive team, Peter’s primary accountability is to lead all aspects of AWE plc’s Financial, Commercial and Business Management (Project Controls) activities. Since joining AWE, Peter’s vision has been to create a strong, capable and diverse team of business professionals – supporting the business in delivering strong performance – continually focusing on value for money solutions.  In recent years he has been involved in most of the key business improvement activities.

Prior to joining AWE, Peter held several senior executive roles, including Finance and Commercial Director for Merseyrail, where he helped lead significant performance improvement.  Prior to this, Peter worked for Serco and Rexam plc.

Peter is a CIMA qualified accountant and has a first class honours degree in Business Studies. He also holds a diploma in Company Direction.

Steve Rottler – Non-Executive Director

J. Stephen (Steve) Rottler is currently serving on the AWE ML Board and will continue his work with AWE as he moves to the plc Board. Steve is Senior Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations at the Battelle Memorial Institute, representing Battelle in the management and operation of national laboratories for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration.

Steve was Deputy Laboratories Director and Executive Vice President for National Security Programs at Sandia National Laboratories prior to his retirement in April 2017. In this role, he led the Laboratories’ Nuclear Weapons

Program and was responsible for Sandia’s Counterintelligence Program. He held other executive roles during his 32-year career at Sandia, including Vice President of Sandia’s California Laboratory. In this role, he managed Sandia’s site in Livermore, California and led Sandia’s energy and climate business unit.

Steve is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is a recipient of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Silver Medal for Distinguished Service, Department of the Air Force Award for Exemplary Civilian Service, and Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.