Tell us about your background

I was born and raised in Ayrshire, and I still live there with my partner and three sons. After graduating, I worked at Scott Moncrieff and gained my Chartered Accountancy qualification from ICAS. Working in practice and auditing was a great experience, however, I knew I wanted to work in an industry environment where I could add real value to a business.

Why did you choose Strathclyde?

During high school I wanted to be an Accountant so chose Strathclyde to study Accounting & Finance for its world-renowned Business School and locality which allowed me to stay at home.

Where are you now? 

My first interview was with BAE Systems, literally three miles from my home and I instantly knew this was a company that invested in their people giving them opportunities for career progression. In 2006 Spirit AeroSystems acquired that BAE site and I took the opportunity to move out of Finance and into Strategy, Business Development & Program Management roles which offered me so many experiences and opportunities to grow professionally and personally, expanding both my internal and external networks. Recently I was appointed to the role of Deputy Vice President for Spirit’s Airbus work packages which are located globally across six sites, with revenues of $1.5bn. I am responsible for driving program profitability and strategy, and managing customer relationships.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

I am hugely passionate about the growth of the Aerospace sector and the challenges and obstacles that it faces. I was given the opportunity early on in my career to participate in joint government and industrial bodies that were set up to lobby for funding in Research & Technology, Supply Chain development, and Skills and Infrastructure to ensure that the UK is best placed to capture the significant growth in the Aerospace industry. From a Spirit perspective, this funding helped secure an open access Aerospace Innovation Centre at the Prestwick site and supported the repatriation of work content from overseas by introducing new technology and automation, creating hundreds of new jobs at the site.

Alongside the growth story at Prestwick and having the opportunity to visit some of the most amazing countries as part of my job, one of the highlights of my career was being invited to The Queen's Tea Party at Buckingham Palace in recognition of my contribution to the development of the strategic growth of the Aerospace industry in the UK.

As a leader in the Aerospace industry, what are some exciting developments to look out for in the sector?

The Aerospace industry has suffered some major challenges over the past five years and the catastrophic impact on the travel industry from the pandemic and the resulting change in market conditions has made the production ramp-ups extremely challenging. Growth in the industry is phenomenal with order backlogs of more than eight years. This is an exciting time to work in partnership with our schools, colleges, and universities to ensure we have highly skilled workforces in our factories. We must support our supply chains, dual source as necessary, and invest in manufacturing and digital technologies to increase the productivity in our factories working in partnership with the Catapult centres throughout the UK.

All of this whilst ensuring that the supply chains in the UK are investing and developing the technologies to reach the ambitious net zero target by 2050!