UK5G - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founder
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Professor of Cyber Security, University of Leeds
As a consistent innovator and technologist with an extensive cyber security background, Professor Adam Beaumont is the Founder and Chair of trusted communications specialist, aql and CEO of Isle of Man based telecommunications company, BlueWave.
He is the co-founder of IXLeeds, the first, fully independent internet exchange outside London. He is also the founder of the Isle of Man's first and only internet exchange, ManxIX.
Also, an active angel investor, Adam founded not-for-profit investment platform, NorthInvest which propels co-investment in tech start-ups across the North of the UK. Northinvest and aql are also founding members of the Northern Powerhouse, a concept launched by former first and second minister, David Osborne and David Cameron, hosted at aql's historic HQ, which has been the springboard venue for many organisations and initiatives, from Fintech North, to Northern Power Women.
He started his tech career involved in building the first cyber teams for an agency of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) alongside projects in secure mobile communications. Adam was also the architect and designer of the first UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) process management platform. His work centres around his term "TrustTech" - creating integrity, provenance and transparency in communication, storage and control systems to ensure trust in data driven decisions.
Adam's passion for future technology and its positive impact on the economy and society was recognised by the Maserati 100 Award in 2019. He is also an ex-lecturer at the University of Leeds and supports its students through an awards scheme to promote the next generation scientists and technologists, The Beaumont Awards and offers scholarships for underprivileged students.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Strategy Director, Wireless Infrastructure Group
Alastair has spent over 20 years in the communications industry working in the mobile, public safety and fibre sectors. In his last role Alastair led the mobile operator business at Arqiva, helping customers to roll out their 3G and 4G networks.
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Head of Digital Economy and Creative Industries at KTN
Andy Curtis is Head of Digital Economy and Creative Industries at KTN. He has a professional background in the Creative, Media and Digital industries and his career has also encompassed many other technology and innovation led sectors, niches and business markets. He has worked with businesses, local and national governments and Universities in client cities and regions in the UK, Europe and North America to support business growth initiatives in innovative technology sectors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Commissioning and Contracts Manager of Adult Social Services, Liverpool City Council
- Contracts Manager of Adult Social Services at Liverpool City Council
- Member of Food Standards Agency 's ( FSA ) Advisory Committee
Ann Williams is Commissioning and Contracts Manager of Adult Social services at Liverpool City Council, where she finds innovative ways to deliver care against a decreasing budget and increasing needs.
Ann has played a lead role in securing the 5G testbed trial for Health and Social Care at Liverpool. As part of the EU's STOP&GO programme she focused on digitalising domiciliary care services and introducing IoT sensors to homes. She worked in local and regional Citizen Advice Bureau management for 19 years.
Ann is driven by a strong sense of social justice. Working with the most marginalised in society has heightened her awareness of societal inequalities and the current financial challenges to household and public budgets.
Ann is a member of Food Standards Agency's (FSA) Advisory Committee on Microbiological Safety of Food and of the Campylobacter Group, where she's working on a report into controlling campylobacter in food supplies. She is Vice Chair of Liverpool's Central Local Research Ethics Committee and a core member of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Public Health Advisory Group.
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Digital Marketing Manager
Job Titles:
- Head
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Network Strategy and Digital Transformation, Vodafone UK
Antonella Faniuolo is Head of Network Strategy and Digital Transformation in Vodafone UK.
Before Vodafone, Antonella was working for Ofcom, the UK telecom regulator, where she led several projects including 5G, Internet of Things, data strategy and reporting on the status of fixed and mobile infrastructures in the UK.
Prior to Ofcom, she held several strategic, technical and commercial roles for major network infrastructure vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia), where she was responsible for wireless market analysis and business strategy with a focus on deployment strategies for new technologies.
Antonella is the author of several patents in the field of wireless cellular technologies. She has a Laurea degree in Telecommunications Engineering (2002) from the University of Bologna, a Master's degree in Radiocommunications Engineering (2003) from Alma Graduate School in Bologna, and an MBA (2011) from Oxford Brookes University.
BAM Nuttall, along with BAM Construct UK and BAM PPP in the UK, is one of Royal BAM Group's ten operating companies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Consultant at EDZCOM
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Technology Officer, Halma
Halma plc, the FTSE 100 global group of life-saving technology companies, has appointed Catherine Michel as its first Chief Technology Officer.
In this newly created role, Catherine will have global responsibility for the group's data and IT strategy with a focus on enabling Halma companies to become more data-driven both operationally and in the solutions that they provide to customers. Catherine will report into Halma's CEO Andrew Williams and be a member of Halma's Executive Board. She will be based in Amersham, UK.
Prior to joining Halma, Catherine was Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Sigma Systems - the global leader in catalog-driven software solutions for communications, media and high-tech companies. Catherine had responsibility for Sigma System's product portfolio, technology strategy and product delivery.
Catherine has received several industry awards and recognitions, including being named one of the ‘50 Women to Watch' in the telecoms industry by GTB 2017; receiving the ‘Woman in Telecoms Award' at the World Communications Awards 2018; and most recently being awarded ‘CTO of the Year' by TM Forum 2018. Catherine also serves as Trustee for Skylarks (formerly Me Too & Co), and she was an Executive Committee Member of TM Forum and an Advisory Board Member at UK5G
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Engineering and Transformation Director - Cyber Information and Training, QinetiQ
- Engineering Director for the Cyber
Chris is the Engineering Director for the Cyber, Information and Training business within QinetiQ, which delivers mission assurance and digital resilience solutions across the Defence, Security and Critical National Infrastructure sectors. QinetiQ combines in-depth scientific and technical expertise with comprehensive sector understanding to deliver improved capability performance and security.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Key Account Director, Ericsson
- Key Account Manager for Ericsson
Claire is a Key Account Manager for Ericsson. She has worked across the media space, delivering strategic and high profile launches, as a founding member of one of the first cloud based production platforms, Aframe, as a digital specialist for the UK and European research funds, and as a Board Member of UK5G.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Innovation at BAM Nuttall
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Project Account Manager & Events
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Spectrum Policy and Analysis, Ofcom
Cristina is the Director of Spectrum policy and analysis, Spectrum Group at Ofcom and is also a NED of the Energy System Catapult. Cristina currently leads the work on 5G and other wireless broadband technologies, considering the increasing role of wireless in enabling digital transformation across a wide variety of industry sectors and with a focus on assessing the implications of growing demand on future spectrum policies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Products and Planning, EE
Having worked for 27 years across a range of industries, David has for the last 12 years focused on building products and services for mobile. Joining Orange in 2006, he has managed a number of product teams delivering products to business customers, with a particular focus on complex network based voice and data services. As Orange merged with T-Mobile and launched EE and the first UK 4G services, David delivered a range of services including converged voice solutions, in-building coverage solutions, M2M connectivity solutions, on-line account management services, network tools, and cloud based SaaS services.
Prior to joining Orange, David was a Director of Praxis Critical Systems, a Bath based software engineering consultancy, which was part of the Altran Technologies group of companies, delivering software engineering solutions to customers across a range of industries including aerospace, rail, medical and telecommunications.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Smart Internet Lab / Co - Director, Bristol Digital Futures Institute
Dimitra Simeonidou is a Full Professor at the University of Bristol, the Co-Director of the Bristol Digital Futures Institute, and the Director of the Smart Internet Lab. Her research is focusing in the fields of high performance networks, programmable networks, wireless-optical convergence, 5G/B5G and smart city infrastructures. She is increasingly working with Social Sciences on topics of digital transformation for society and businesses. Dimitra has been the Technical Architect and the CTO of the smart city project Bristol Is Open. She is currently leading the Bristol City/Region 5G urban pilots.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Scientific Advisor, Department for International Trade
Dr Mike Short CBE, after 30 years in telecommunications with Telefonica, joined the Department for International Trade (DIT) as the department's first chief scientific adviser in December 2017. Mike leads the science and engineering profession in the department and ensures its policy is informed by the best science, engineering and technical advice. He advises on the technical aspects of future trade deals as DIT looks to create new arrangements following Brexit, and works with the UK's research, development and academic communities to boost scientific and engineering exports.
Mike has over 40 years' experience in electronics and telecommunications and served as vice president of Telefonica, the parent company of the O2 mobile phone network, for 17 years to December 2016. In this post, he managed the launch of 2G (GSM) and 3G mobile technologies in the UK, and led research and development for Telefonica Europe. His career also includes the promotion of international technical standards in mobile technology, and he is also a former Chairman of the Global GSM Association, the UK Mobile Data Association, and president of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
He is currently a visiting professor at the universities of Surrey, Coventry, Leeds, Lancaster and Salford, where in recent years he has led the development on collaborations in areas such as smart cities, digital healthcare, cybersecurity and driverless vehicles. He was honoured with a CBE in 2012 for his services to the mobile industry.
Job Titles:
- Head of Technology
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Lead Technologist - Future Networks, Digital Catapult
Dritan is Head of Technology - 5G at Digital Catapult. He is an experienced technologist and researcher in communication networks, distributed system design and data interoperability in IoT for over 20 years. Dritan joined Digital Catapult as a 5G Fellow from the University of Bristol. There he led a 15-strong research team, strategically combining fundamental research with strong industrial collaboration, making a wide range of contributions and practical implementations in networking, interoperability, smart energy, cities and digital health, including large projects like SPHERE and Bristol Is Open demonstrators. His interests are on national 5G testbeds coordination which best support startup and scaleup innovation and technical advances on new 5G network architectures, identity and user profile data management and IoT support. Dritan has published over 65 papers, holds three patents and has edited two international standards on interoperability. He has represented the UK in various international standardization bodies and served on/chaired international conferences and technical committees. He is seconded as a 5G Fellow to the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey, and was previously a Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Bristol. Dritan received his PhD from the University of Bristol and an Electronic Engineering MEng degree (with Excellence) from Polytechnic University of Tirana.
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Head of Marketing, Cambridge Wireless
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director, Bosch
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Standards and Industrial Affairs, Samsung Electronics
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Planning and Performance, DHI
Janette has over 20 years' experience in Design, Innovation, Economic Development and Programme Management.
She has focused the last ten years on Digital Health and Wellness leading various high-profile innovation projects in Scotland, including the Wellness and Health Innovation Project, and over the last 5 years, involvement with two major Innovate UK backed programmes:
Future city demonstrator (Glasgow) where she assisted the development of a City Observatory that harnessed the power of data for City challenges (some of which related to Health and Wellbeing)
The Scottish DALLAS programme which pioneered a Digital wellness platform and applications in ScotlandJanette has undertaken many international keynote presentations for this subject and has led numerous trade missions to Japan, USA, India and throughout Europe.
Janette has a thorough understanding of this sector and how service, technical and business innovation and readiness levels need to merge and connect to benefit stakeholders.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Principal Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Service
- Principal Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
John Naylon is a Principal Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Service (AWS), in the Telco Industrial Business Unit. The AWS Telco IBU is enabling communication services providers (CSPs) to cloudify their intrinsic operations, differentiate every stage of the customer journey, simplify their operations and to monetise 5G and beyond. John works with UK operators to maximise the business benefits they derive from cloud adoption.
Before joining AWS, John was the founder and CTO of CBNL, a pioneer of millimetre-wave FWA, and previously worked at Adaptive Broadband and AT&T Laboratories. John has a PhD in wireless networking from the University of Cambridge. Within UK5G, John co-chairs the Testbeds and Trials Working Group and is an Advisory Board member.
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Director, Strategic Development - KTN
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
In his role at Unity, Julian delivers large scale ecosystem partnerships, driving the world's transition to real-time 3D across all industries. a history of working within the technology sector, in particular within XR, VR and AR.
He previously led Business Development for the Media & Entertainment team at Unity within EMEA working with industry to best utilise real-time 3D and support the ongoing digital transformation with a range of technologies from 5G, Cloud, AI, and XR. His role supported the company's entry into Broadcast, Animation, Virtual Production and Location Based Entertainment.
Prior to Unity, Julian was Business Development Director for XR in Europe for the critically acclaimed VFX studio Digital Domain, starting the company's journey into Virtual Reality in 2014. Julian oversaw delivery of key projects for the company including 360 Live Coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and development of NBCUniversal's multilinear VR and AR experience Eleven Eleven. His work extended across 3D holographic projection, virtual production, volumetric capture, 360 filming, virtual reality, augmented reality, game engine technology and photo-realistic digital humans.
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Social Media Manager
Job Titles:
- Former Chairman
- Founder
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Founder, TMForum
Keith Willetts is the founder and former Chairman/ CEO of the TM Forum, the international consortium of over 800 communications and media companies around the world. He has advised many companies and works with service providers; software companies and consulting firms around the world where he is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on the on digital transformation of businesses and organizations. He is a member of the UK5G Advisory Board.
His achievements have been internationally recognized and has been voted 4 times in the Top 100 most influential people in the communications industry; awarded the GTB lifetime achievement award; the TM Forum lifetime achievement award; honoured twice in the Communications Week "Top 25" awards for industry visionaries; awarded the British Computer Society's Gold Medal for innovation and the BT Gold Medal for innovation. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a Fellow of the Chartered institute of Management and author of influential books "The Lean Communications Provider" and "Unzipping the Digital World".
Job Titles:
- Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Officer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chairman, NED and Advisor
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Digital Transformation Officer, ATS Global
Martin Kelman is the chief digital transformation officer for ATS Global and leads the Atlas innovation group developing and maturing the latest digital technologies.
Martin has worked in the manufacturing sector for over 30 years, designing and delivering solutions in both process and discrete industries. He is an indentured apprentice in the nuclear industry with UKAEA, has worked offshore in the oil industry, and for the last 15 years with the UK aerospace industry. His knowledge covers everything from the control domain through to SaaS business models based on cloud and mobile technologies.
Alongside his day job, Martin gained an Open University honours degree and is an active member of the Institute of Technology and Engineering. Heading up Atlas, Martin helps ATS Global customers achieve their innovation dreams.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Mobile Strategy, BT Sport
- Member of UK5G Advisory Board
Matt is also a member of UK5G Advisory Board representing Sport and the the Creative Industries. UK5G is the national innovation network dedicated to the promotion of research, collaboration and the commercial application of 5G in the UK
Job Titles:
- Digital Engagement Manager ( DCMS )
Job Titles:
- Fellow
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Professor of Communication Systems, Dean University of Glasgow UESTC
Muhammad Ali Imran - Fellow IET, Senior Member IEEE, Senior Fellow HEA UK - is Dean University of Glasgow UESTC and a Professor of Wireless Communication Systems with research interests in self organised networks, wireless networked control systems and the wireless sensor systems. He heads the Communications, Sensing and Imaging (CSI) research group at University of Glasgow and is Director of Centre for Educational Development and Innovation.
He is an Affiliate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, USA; Adjunct Research Professor at Ajman University, UAE and a visiting Professor at 5G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey, UK. He is also the Principal Investigator for Scotland 5G Centre's Urban Testbed in Glasgow.
He has over 20 years of combined academic and industry experience with several leading roles in multi-million pounds funded projects. He has filed 15 patents; has authored/co-authored over 400 journal and conference publications; has authored 2 books, edited 8 books and authored more than 30 book chapters; has successfully supervised over 40 postgraduate students at Doctoral level. He has been a consultant to international projects and local companies in the area of self-organised networks.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Executive Sunderland City Council
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Technology Strategy Director, Cambridge Consultants
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- CEO, Scotland 5G Centre
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Business Officer, Connected Places Catapult
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Strategic Marketing Director, Ericsson
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Senior Advisor
- Head of the 5GTT Collaboration Team
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Knowledge Transfer Manager, KTN
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Director of Smart Places, Digital Infrastructure and Telecommunications, Jacobs
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Advisory Board Chair, Advisor & Investor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- CTO, Real Wireless
Job Titles:
- Delivery Partner
- Knowledge Transfer Manager, KTN
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Technology Strategy at U - Blox and Director of CW
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Principal Strategy and Innovation Manager, Network Rail
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chief Technology Officer, TM Forum
George is an experienced telecoms professional and business manager with over 32 years experience in the IT sector in all aspects of software engineering. His specialist skills cover the areas of architecture and business transformation, in particular: architecture operating models, digital transformation, service-oriented architecture and APIs.
Having joined the TM Forum in 2018 as VP of Architecture and APIs, George became CTO of the TM Forum in 2020. Through industry collaboration, George is the leading the creation of architectural transformation patterns, Open APIs, AI enabled operational models, self-healing autonomous network services and industry standard data models that show digital service providers how to transform their IT and network estate to help them deliver digital efficiency internally and digitally enable them externally to prepare them for the digital revolution that is happening across all industries today.
Prior to joining the TM Forum George was the Chief Systems Architect for BT. George led architectural transformations within BT for over 15 years. He was one of the original authors and creators of BT's Service Oriented Architecture, built upon TM Forum standards, which has persisted, and evolved, and has enabled the transformation of BT from a telephone company to the digital service provider that it is today. Whilst at BT George was an active contributor to the TM Forum, having received an outstanding contributor award in 2016 and was appointed a TM Forum Distinguished Fellow in 2018.