Victor Manuel Chavez CBE (born 19 January 1963) is the Chief Executive of Thales UK, a main electronics and defence company in the UK. Thales UK employs around 7,500 people.
Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Chavez was educated at Barrow Grammar School for Boys, after which he gained a degree in physics from the University of York in 1984. [1] From the University of Surrey he gained an MSc in Satellite Engineering & Telecommunications in 1993.
He joined the company in 1999. He became Chief Executive of Thales UK (Thales Holdings UK) on 1 January 2011. [2] He had been Deputy Chief Executive for three years previously. Thales UK is involved in sonar, radar, and avionics. It makes most of the UK's aircraft simulators in Crawley in West Sussex. Thales Air Defence in Belfast makes helicopter-launched missiles. Thales has 67,000 employees in 56 countries.
He is a board member of techUK [3] (trade association) and EngineeringUK [4] (previously the Engineering and Technology Board). He is a co-chairman of the Information Economy Council.
He was appointed a CBE in the 2015 New Year Honours. [1] He grew up in Barrow-in-Furness, and now lives in Hampshire. He married in September 1992 in Cumbria, and has two daughters, born June 1994 and May 1997.
Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest defence contractor in the world based on 2020 revenues. The company is partially owned by the Italian government, which holds 30.2% of the company's shares and is its largest shareholder.
Julia Elizabeth King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, is a British engineer and a crossbench member of the House of Lords, where she chairs the Select Committee on Science and Technology. She is the incumbent chair of the Carbon Trust and the Henry Royce Institute, and was the vice-chancellor of Aston University from 2006 to 2016.
Sir Richard Lake Olver FREng was the chairman of BAE Systems, one of the world's largest defence contractors.
Edmund John Phillip Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley,, is a British businessman.
Michael John Turner CBE is the former chief executive officer (CEO) of the aerospace and defence company BAE Systems, former chairman of Babcock International and prior to the hostile takeover by Melrose was chairman of GKN plc.
Furness College is a college of further education in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. It provides a wide range of A levels, vocational education and skills training to over 16s, notably working with BAE Systems to train apprentices for their shipyard in Barrow. The college also offers courses for adults, and runs HNDs and other higher education programmes including foundation degrees, degrees and master's degrees, for which it achieved Teaching Excellence Framework silver status in June 2017. It is the only college in Barrow and the largest further education college in Cumbria. On 1 August 2016, Furness College merged with Barrow Sixth Form College.
Sir Peter Michael Williams, is a British physicist.
Sir Peter Leahy Bonfield is a business executive who has led a number of companies in the fields of electronics, computers and communications. Currently a director of several companies in the USA, Europe and the Far East, he was formerly chief executive of ICL and more recently of BT Group. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Marketing Society and the Royal Society of Arts. He is a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, Freeman of the City of London, Honorary Citizen of Dallas, Texas and Member of the Pilgrims of Great Britain.
Sir David Roberts McMurtry, is an Irish-British billionaire, the co-founder and executive chairman of Renishaw plc, the UK's largest supplier of metrology equipment. As of October 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$1.3 billion.
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Ralf Dieter Speth is a German automotive executive and a director of Indian company Tata Sons since 2016. From 2010 to 2020, he was the chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover. He has also had roles with BMW, Linde and Ford's Premier Automotive Group. Since 2022, Speth is the chairman of Indian Automaker TVS Motor Company.
Prof John Neil Loughhead is a British engineer and businessman. He is Industrial Professor of Clean Energy at University of Birmingham, Chair of the Redwheel-Turquoise ClimateTech Investment Committee, and Council member at the University of York. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was formerly Chief Scientific Adviser to Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and to Department of Energy & Climate Change. He was appointed OBE for services to Technology in 2011 and CB in 2018. In 2014, he was voted as one of the Top 500 Most Influential People in Britain by Debrett's and The Sunday Times.
Colin P. Smith CBE FRS FREng FRAeS FIMechE was director of engineering and technology at Rolls-Royce plc.
Melanie Georgina Lee CBE is an English pharmaceutical industry executive and CEO of LifeArc, succeeding Dave Tapolczay in November 2018.
Satish Kumar Kaura is an Indian technocrat, industrialist and the founder of Samtel Group, where he holds the post of the chairman. He is also the chairman and managing director of Samcor Glass Limited and the executive director of Samtel Colour Limited. An elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Kaura is the first recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2004, for his contributions to Indian industrial sector.
Dame Emma Natasha Walmsley is the chief executive officer (CEO) of GlaxoSmithKline. She succeeded Sir Andrew Witty, who retired in March 2017. Before GSK, she worked for L'Oréal for 17 years, and was a non-executive director of Diageo until September 2016. She grew up in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England.
Ramon Martin Chavez is an American investment banker and entrepreneur. He is vice chairman and partner of Sixth Street Partners. Previously, he served in a variety of senior roles at Goldman Sachs, including chief information officer (2014–2017), chief financial officer, and global co-head of the firm's Securities Division. Marty was also a partner and member of Goldman's management committee. He was the chief technology officer and co-founder of Quorum Software Systems and CEO and co-founder of Kiodex. He is chairman of the board of computational pharmaceutical company Recursion, Board Observer of biotech company Earli and longevity biopharma company Cambrian Biopharma, and board member of Alphabet Inc.
Penelope Clare Endersby is a British researcher and academic originally specialising in armour and explosives. She was appointed chief executive of the Met Office in December 2018. Prior to that, she led cyber and information systems at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
Sir Martin Peter Read, is a British businessman who has been Chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body since January 2015, and Chairman of Wincanton plc since 2018.