A former Naval and Air Force officer, Sam has many years of experience in the international aerospace market. With a background in high technology programmes and risk management, Sam has over 40 years of experience in aerospace from operations, through programme management, to general and strategic business roles. Most recently Sam was Managing Director of United Technologies Aerospace Systems in Malvern, UK. Sam is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Pommy is a former corporate finance partner at Deloitte and acted as Secretary and Advisor to the Review Board for government contracts. He has also been a non-executive director of Infrastructure India plc, the Port of London Authority, and British Waterways. He is currently a non-executive director of Chatham Historic Dockyard and Hyde Housing Association. He is Chairman of Venners and Master Ropemakers Ltd.
Tom holds degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Advanced Systems Engineering, holds a MBA, is a Chartered Engineer, and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Tom joined HAV in 2013 from BAE Systems, where his experience covered a range of senior engineering and programme leadership roles in the development and delivery of new products and services. Tom was the Head of Business Management for BAE Systems' Tornado Availability Support Service, was Assistant Chief Engineer in BAE Systems' unmanned aircraft development business, and prior to that led programmes developing new UAV mission system capabilities in BAE Systems Australia. He also worked on the Airbus A380 and Eurofighter Typhoon programmes.
Nick joined the team in 2001, leading the certification of the AT-10 airship. As Programme Director, Nick was central to HAV winning the US Army LEMV programme with the Airlander 10 in 2010. Nick then led the programme management of this challenging project through to and beyond the successful first flight in 2012. As Executive Director - Aircraft Delivery, Nick led the team responsible for all aspects of designing, producing, and delivering aircraft to customers, including integrating mission systems where HAV is responsible for their integration. Nick has worked in the aerospace industry since graduating from Southampton University in 1986. Starting in British Aerospace Future Projects, he has held managerial positions in Raytheon Aircraft, GKN Aerospace, and Raytheon Systems.
Hwfa began his role as CFO in February 2014, having been a Non-Executive Director of the business for two years previous. He undertook his formal accountancy training with PwC in London, specialising in the audit of small and mid-cap growth businesses across multiple sectors. He spent two years with KordaMentha, a top-four corporate recovery firm in Australia, before returning to run the northern business recovery team of Christie & Co, a specialist property advisory and business agency in the leisure, care, and licensed sectors. He is a Non-Executive Director of Christie Group Plc. Hwfa has a BA (Hons) in Economics and Politics from Bristol University, is a Chartered Accountant, and is Insolvency Practitioners Association of Australia (IPAA) qualified.
Mike has over 30 years' experience developing lighter-than-air technologies. Having graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Mike started his career with British Aerospace and during the following years became involved with structural design for the Hubble Space Telescope and SkyNet4, and fatigue analysis on the Tornado ADV and Harrier aircraft. Following a brief period on helicopter and rocket motor systems design, he joined Roger Munk's (the inventor and former Technical Director) team in 1988, where his talent and passion for LTA were quickly recognised. Under Roger's leadership, Mike took on the responsibilities of lead designer for multiple military and civil projects, later becoming a CAA and EASA Approved Signatory and Company Design Authority. Mike became chief engineer of HAV at its inception and Technical Director in 2010. He leads the technical development of all of HAV's products.
Oktawia joined Hybrid Air Vehicles in 2016 having gained HR experience across a variety of industries, including retail, financial services, pharmaceutical and clinical homecare services, and most recently the national standards body. Since joining Hybrid Air Vehicles, Oktawia has assumed the management responsibility for Human Resources, overseeing all people-related activities, including recruitment, training and development, performance, employee relations, reward and transactional HR. Oktawia is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, holds a Human Resources Management Diploma, BA and MEd in English and a teaching qualification.
George Land is Executive Director Sales at Hybrid Air Vehicles and is responsible for sales of the aircraft into commercial markets. George began his career as a commercial graduate trainee in British Aerospace in 1997. Subsequently he led the marketing of BAE’s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft bid and latterly spent seven years as Commercial Director in its commercial aircraft leasing business. George joined BBA Aviation as Commercial Director in its landing gear subsidiary APPH in 2010, during which time the business was turned around and sold to a Canadian corporation, following which his role was expanded to manage the company’s original equipment product line and development programmes. George is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in Management Sciences.
Joining HAV in 2019 Chris has a finance and management background that spans a breadth of industrial experience from low to high tech. Chris came to HAV after spending 17 years in aerospace engineering, building GKN’s external facing aerospace engineering business from 6 offices and 300 staff to 15 offices and 750 staff across the globe before managing its sale, and latterly as the Aerospace and Defence Global Industry Lead for Cyient, a major Indian engineering business. Chris qualified as an ACMA in 1984 and has held numerous senior finance roles including being FD in an AIM listed business and operational roles in businesses ranging from clothing manufacture, import and distribution, construction and housebuilding.
James is the Executive Director Programmes at Hybrid Air Vehicles. James joined the business in 2015 and led the Airlander prototype programme conducted in the UK. In his role he has overall responsibility for the successful delivery of programmes at Hybrid Air Vehicles and is also the Head of Supply Chain. James has 20 years of experience working within the aerospace industry in both engineering and project management. He has worked on civil and military aircraft projects from large structural modifications and repairs to aircraft interiors, avionics and mission system upgrades, fuel tanks and mechanical systems. James has a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering, is a chartered engineer and holds a number of project management qualifications.
