Biographies

Jonathan Gibson is Associate Director and Head of Logistics at Crimson & Co.

Jon started in 3rd Party Logistics, and then moved into supply chain consultancy with PWC. As Customer Service Director at Carlsberg UK Jon led the transformation of the in-house logistics function into a 3rd party supplier to both other breweries and pub groups. Following this he joined Shell, where in both Lubricants and Fuels he held global roles supporting the operation to drive through on-going cost and service improvement.

Since joining Crimson & Co 5 years ago he has led involved in a number of strategic and operational improvement projects across multiple sectors including FMCG, Retail, Life Sciences and Humanitarian Aid

Professor Jan Godsell joined WMG in October 2013 from her prior position of Senior Lecturer at Cranfield University School of Management.

Professor Godsell's career has been split between both industry and academia. She joined the faculty of Cranfield in 2001, following the completion of her Executive MBA there. She also completed her PhD at Cranfield, researching the development of a customer responsive supply chain.
Prior to her return to academia, Professor Godsell developed a successful career within industry, beginning at ICI/Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. Following this, she worked up to senior management level at Dyson, in both Supply Chain and Operations Management functions. At Dyson, she undertook a number of operational and process improvement roles within R&D, customer logistics, purchasing and manufacturing.

Professor Godsell is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the IMechE. She is on the board and scientific committee of EurOMA (European Operations Management Association), the cabinet of the UK roundtable of CSCMP (Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals) and the manufacturing steering committee of the IMechE. She is on the editorial board of 3 journals, including the International Journal of Operations and Production Management, and she is an advocate for improving the uptake of STEM subjects by school children.

Archie MacPherson is CEO of the High Value Manufacturing (HVM) Catapult.

Archie brings over 25 years' experience in manufacturing with IBM, ICL, Lucas Industries and Mettis Group serving the Automotive, Aerospace, Defence, Energy & Rail sectors. Archie has held leadership roles in organisations covering family, public and private equity owned structures.

In 2009, Archie became a founding member of the Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde, supported by organisations including Scottish Enterprise, Rolls-Royce and Boeing. The AFRC was established to help companies adopt and develop high value technologies in the area of forming and forging of metals. In 2012, he became CEO of the AFRC and grew the centre from 32 staff to 136. Archie was Deputy Chair of the Metals Strategy Steering Group for the Metals Forum, culminating in the publication of the UK Industrial Strategy for Metals in October 2015.

Archie has held board positions with ALFED (the trade association for the Aluminium industry), MGTS, as well as positions on several sector-specific advisory committees. In addition, he worked with Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government in developing an Innovation Strategy to support the Manufacturing sector in Scotland - the First Minister announced the launch of the Manufacturing Action Plan in February 2016.

Archie is a Loughborough University graduate and has also studied at Harvard Business School. He is passionate about how to help companies improve their competitiveness by converting the art and science of innovation into bottom line results.

Archie joined WMG's HVM Catapult centre in February 2016. The WMG centre is focussed on collaborative research and development in the area of low carbon mobility. The centre has specialist expertise in Lightweight Materials, Energy Storage and Management solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles and is also leading the way on R&D in Intelligent and Connected Vehicles. The centre helps companies to improve their products, process and technologies by accelerating and de-risking the uptake of innovation.

Cerys Wyn Davies is a Partner at Pinsent Masons, who specialises in intellectual property, information technology and information law and has extensive experience advising major public companies, banks, universities and government bodies.

Most recently Cerys has advised for large scale companies such as Microsoft, for the IP issues in respect of the sale of the rare games software business. In addition to this she has also been advising on the technology licensing issues of the use of a multimedia package in London taxicabs and gave her knowledgeable recommendations on intellectual property ownership and licensing in relation to smartcards.