Speakers 2025

Amy Skelhon

Finance / Sustainability Manager

Harris RCS

Amy has been with Harris RCS for 11 years, where she started within the purchasing team looking after a varying team of subcontractors. Further into her career she was then given an opportunity to complete AAT studies. This allowed Amy to slowly evolve into taking over the accounts role within Harris and she continues to do so today. In the last couple of years, Amy has begun to analyse and report on the businesses carbon emissions and has implemented many positive carbon saving initiatives.

Arash Ghazanfari

Chief Technology Officer

Dell Technologies

A highly experienced technology executive, Arash is focused on driving sales, business growth and supporting Dell Technologies’ go-to-market strategy. He is currently serving as a Chief Technology Officer, supporting the UK leadership and sales team members with strategic client engagements, involving executive stakeholders and partners. Arash helps drive the overall go-to-market strategy across the full breadth of the Dell Technologies ecosystem and its extended strategic partnerships in the United Kingdom.

Charlie Cornish

EMEA Presales Director

Epicor

Charlie spent the first half of his career in industry, before moving into companies that deliver value for industry. His passion is showing organisations how they can transform the way they run their businesses using powerful software solutions to deliver real results. This has never been more true today as we see the introduction of powerful AI tools.

 

 

Dave Bright

Tata Steel UK

Dr. Deri Galvin

Head of Industrialisation

ORE Catapult

Fiona McGarry

Sector Engagement Manager

Enginuity

Fiona has worked in the Manufacturing and Engineering sector for nearly twenty years, previously managing the national school’s engagement programme at Jaguar Land Rover. Fiona then moved to Make UK for nearly seven years managing their engagement around Next Gen, focussing on raising the profile of the sector and attracting new talent. Fiona has recently joined Enginuity where she wants to have impact in supporting solutions for the skills challenges of the sector. Fiona is in the Class of 2023 in The Manufacturer Top 100.

Graham Hoare OBE

Chief Executive Officer

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Dr Graham Hoare has a distinguished engineering career and has made significant contributions to the global automotive sector for more than 27 years. He has held senior leadership and executive roles at Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW Group, operating in North America and Germany in addition to the UK, and most recently at the UK battery start-up, Britishvolt.

He holds six engineering patents and was awarded the IMechE James Clayton Prize in 2013 for his work on the Ford Ecoboost three-cylinder engine, which was the International Engine of the Year between 2012 and 2014 and continues to receive worldwide acclaim for design and performance.  Graham is an active fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and a recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the automotive industry.

As CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Centre, he brings his passion for innovation, transformation and change management, as well as his knowledge and automotive experiences.

Jonathan Mitchell

Deputy Director, Future Skills and Innovation

Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE)

Jonathan Mitchell joined the leadership of the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education (IfATE) on the day it was formed in 2017. Initially working directly with employers to develop skills products, Jonathan has also led work on communications, stakeholder engagement, portfolio management, strategic planning and policy development. In his current role he is delivering a project in partnership with Innovate UK, using artificial intelligence to detect emerging labour market change and translate this into skills system responses. In 2025, Jonathan will transfer to Skills England, where he will oversee the development and maintenance of skills training products for Advanced Manufacturing, Defence and Construction.

Katy Milne

Director – Future Mobility

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Katy has previously been Programme Director for the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative at the High Value Manufacturing, Head of Industrial Strategy for the Aerospace Technology Institute’s FlyZero programme and Chief Engineer at the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing for a £14mn programme for UK aerospace. She established the Metrology & Non-destructive Testing group at the Manufacturing Technology Centre following an engineering doctorate in ultrasonics at Rolls-Royce and Imperial College.

Liz Scoffins

Senior Research Engineer

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Liz leads the Sustainability Transformation Team at the MTC. In addition, Liz has been leading the MTC Sustainable Manufacturing and Circular Materials IMPACT programme in FY24-25.

The current focus of work centres on sustainable manufacturing, in particular alternative fuels, including hydrogen & batteries for electrification, decarbonisation within the Built Environment and early sustainability interventions for SMEs.

Recent projects include the investigation of diesel free construction sites and independent assessments of technology readiness and manufacturing readiness levels for technologies across a number of Innovate UK sponsored collaborative research and development projects.

Martina Colman

Martina Colman is an accomplished sustainability engineer with over 13 years of experience in climate mitigation, specialising in the implementation of advanced technologies for carbon accounting, and net zero strategies for different industries. She holds a BSc in Chemistry, an MSc in Chemical Engineering, and an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge. Martina has demonstrated expertise in supporting organisations in their pursuit of net zero strategies, with a focus on projects in Latin America, India, the United Kingdom, and China. Notably, Martina was recently honoured with techUK’s President Award for her contributions to sustainability in the Planet category.

Michael Harte

Mike Wilson

Chief Automation Officer

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Mike Wilson has over 40 years of experience in the application of automation to manufacturing across a broad range of industry sectors and is widely recognised as one of the leading authorities on the application of industrial robot systems in the UK.

Mike is Chief Automation Officer at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, leading the drive to increase the adoption of robotics and automation in the UK. He was awarded ‘The Manufacturer Top 100’ status as one of the top 100 people in UK manufacturing in 2018. He is also a Director of the Manufacturing Technologies Association, Council member and past Chairman of the British Automation and Robot Association and has previously been Chairman of the International Federation of Robotics. His book “Implementation of Robot Systems” was published in 2014.

Nandini Chakravorti

Associate Director – Digital Engineering

Manufacturing Technology Centre

With over 24 years’ experience, Nandini focuses on accelerating the adoption of innovative digital technologies within UK industry and supply chains. With her expertise spanning a diverse range of technologies such as AI, systems engineering, industrial connectivity and data sciences, Nandini’s work helps organisations use emerging technology to maximise their impact, improve efficiency and boost productivity. In the past Nandini has worked with organisations like Samsung, Motorola and Tata.

Professor Henrik Von Scheel

Best known as one of the most influential futurists of our century, that ignited the Digital and 4th Industrial Revolution global themes of today.

Professor of Strategy Management with 20 years dedicated to strategy research and futures studies. Currently, he is the Managing Director at the Institute of Strategic Intelligence, that provides the global trends report and content for the World Economic Forum.

He serves as an Advisory Council Member for the Artificial Intelligence Act and EU Climate Change Board, where he plays a pivotal role in shaping the Green Deal, FIT for 55, and CBAM (Scope 1-3).

His work is applied to over 24 national economies, influencing GDP growth, triggering two global themes, setting industry standards, and shaping the performance of 23% of the fastest-growing companies on the Fortune 500 list.

Named the 'leading authority on strategy' by the Financial Times who has evolved the mainstream thinking and management practices of today´s businesses. Acknowledged as 'the most influential management thinker of our times' by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.

As a sought-after speaker and advisor on the toughest and most important issues in business today.

Professor Jan Godsell

Dean, School of Business and Economics

Loughborough University

Jan Godsell is Dean of LB and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at Loughborough University. Her work focuses on the pursuit of more responsible consumption and production through the alignment of product, marketing and supply chain strategy with consumer needs. In particular Jan’s work focuses on the design of end-to-end supply chains to enable, responsibility, sustainability, resilience and productivity.

As a chartered engineer, Jan has more than three decades of combined industry experience in product development, innovation, supply chain strategy, and process improvement working for ICI, Astra Zeneca and Dyson. She has advised government and industry on supply chain strategy and its relationship to industrial and business strategy. Jan is a former member of the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) supply chain resilience advisory group. Jan is also a member of the advisory group for the Made Smarter Innovation (MSI) challenge and the UK National Manufacturing Forum. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Futures Council (GFC) for Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains.

Rob Shaw

Executive Director, Strategy and Performance

Innovate UK

Satchin Semage

Workforce Foresighting Coach

Workforce Foresighting Hub

Satchin is a workforce foresighting coach at the Workforce Foresighting Hub. His role involves guiding the cycle and supporting participants throughout the process. Before this role, Satchin specialised in Learning and Development with a focus on technology integration. He excels in leveraging data analytics to find meaningful solutions to the challenges our industry faces.

Sean Culey

Director of Supply Chain

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Sean Culey is the Director of Supply Chain at the MTC. He is also a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and the UK’s only SCOR Master Instructor.

He has over 25 years’ experience leading business transformations across multiple verticals and geographies, previously holding positions as a CEO, CMO and advisor to the UN on supply chain strategy.

Sean is also an award-winning speaker and author of over 30 business articles. His book ‘Transition Point: From Steam to the Singularity’ was shortlisted for Independent Book of the Year 2019.

Will Bridgman

Managing Director

Warren Services

Will is an experienced business leader who believes that strategic alliances are the cornerstone of a successful and sustainable business. He is the Chairman of Warren Services but has also held directorships and advisory roles with other businesses. He is passionate about developing new business products/services in order to enhance business portfolios and to ensure that Warren Services remains a leading edge, technical solutions provider.

After 25 years of being a well respected and successful engineering/manufacturing organisation, Will is keen to develop Warren Services further as a trusted partner and end to end technical solutions provider, focused on building productive, strategic relationships that deliver innovative solutions for clients and business partners alike.

Yunus Khalifa

Made Smarter