Leadership
Warren Finegold
Chair
Warren joined the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director in March 2020 and succeeded Alan Aubrey as Chair in June 2020.
He was a member of the Vodafone Group Executive Committee for 10 years, serving principally as Group Strategy and Business Development Director. Previously, he was a Managing Director of UBS Investment Bank, where he held several senior positions, most recently as Head of the Technology Team in Europe. Warren has served on the boards of UBM plc and Avast plc as Senior Independent Director and as a Non-Executive Director of Inmarsat plc. He has an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from London Business School.
Julia King
Senior Independent Director
Julia joined the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director in June 2021 and was appointed as Senior Independent Director with effect from 18 May 2023.
Julia is an engineer with immense experience across industry, academia and government and a focus on climate change and the low carbon economy. She has held roles at Rolls-Royce, Cambridge University, Imperial College and as Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University. She is currently Chair of The Carbon Trust, a Non-Executive Director of Ørsted, and Chair of the Adaptation Committee of the Climate Change Committee.
Julia is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and was awarded a DBE for services to higher education and technology. She sits in the House of Lords as the Baroness Brown of Cambridge where she chairs the Science and Technology Select Committee.
Karen Bomba
Non-Executive Director
Karen joined the Board on 1 June 2023. She has 35 years of experience in the engineering industry, most recently at Smiths Group where she was latterly President of Smiths Interconnect until 2020.
Previously, Karen spent her career in various technical and managerial roles at Hitco Carbon Composites, Zoltek Companies and at Safran Groups SA where she worked for Messier-Bugatti, was Chair and Chief Executive of Labinal Groupe and President and CEO of Morpho Detection. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Ultra Electronics Holdings Ltd and of Wärtsilä Oyj Abp. Karen has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, and is a graduate of the Financing and Deploying Clean Energy course at the Yale School of the Environment.
Trine Borum Bojsen
Non-Executive Director
Trine joined the Board in March 2022 and is the Employee Engagement Director.
Trine is the senior vice-president of Europe Renewables at Equinor ASA. Previously, Trine was Chief Operating Officer of Copenhagen Offshore Partners, a leading provider of project development, construction management, and operational management services to offshore wind projects worldwide. Prior to that, Trine held senior management posts at Ørsted and also served on a number of boards and key committees within the company. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of MacArtney A/S Denmark. Trine has an M.Sc in Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark.
Caroline Brown
Non-Executive Director
Caroline joined the Board on 1 June 2023 and has over 20 years main board experience as a Non-Executive director.
She is currently Chair of Audit and Risk at FTSE250 IP Group plc, a Board member of FTSE small cap Luceco plc and a member of the global partnership council of Clifford Chance LLP. Caroline has delivered business strategy across EMEA, the Americas, India and the Far East in commercial leadership roles for FTSE100 groups, mid-cap companies and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Her early career was in corporate finance with BAML (New York), UBS and HSBC advising global corporations and governments. Caroline has a First in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Tudor Brown
Non-Executive Director
Tudor joined the Board in April 2021.
He is one of the founding members of ARM Holdings plc, where he was until 2012 on the board of directors and President of ARM Holdings plc. Tudor sits as an Independent Non-Executive Director and as Chair of the Compensation Committee on the boards of Lenovo Group, listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and on the board of Marvell Semiconductor, listed on Nasdaq. Tudor received an MA degree in Electrical Sciences from Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was awarded an MBE in 2013.
Uwe Glock
Non-Executive Director
Uwe joined Ceres in June 2020 following the relationship agreement signed with Bosch and is the Bosch-nominated Non-Executive Director.
He is a member of the Board of Management of Bosch Thermotechnik GmbH, the commercial and residential building equipment and systems division that encompasses Worcester Bosch in the UK. Uwe brings over 40 years of experience from across Bosch and holds a leading position in the wider German and European energy and building industry. He is currently President of the German Heating Association (BDH) and Vice President of the German Building Technology Association (VdZ). Uwe completed his Study of Business Administration at the Business Management Academy Stuttgart.
Aidan Hughes
Non-Executive Director
Aidan joined Ceres in February 2015 as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee.
He has over 25 years of senior finance experience in a variety of listed companies, including as Finance Director at the Sage Group Plc from 1993 to 2000 and as a director of Communisis Plc from 2001 to 2004. Between 2004 and 2018 he was Non-Executive Director of Dialog Semiconductors plc, where, during his tenure Aidan chaired its Audit Committee. He is also an investor and advisor to a number of private technology and media companies. Aidan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Nannan Sun
Non-Executive Director
Dr. Sun joined Ceres in September 2023 and is the Weichai nominated Non-Executive Director as part of the strategic collaboration agreement with Weichai.
Dr. Sun is a senior engineer with a doctorate in engineering from Shandong University and is currently the Assistant President of Weichai Power and President of the Future Technology Institute of Weichai Power. Dr. Sun is responsible for product and technology research and development having joined Weichai Power in July 2015 and has served as the Vice President of the Scientific Research Institute, the President of the Science and Technology Research Institute, and the Vice President of the Future Technology Research Institute.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Phil was appointed Chief Executive of Ceres in 2013. Under his leadership Ceres has grown into one of the UK’s most valuable clean technology companies.
Phil has been instrumental in positioning Ceres as an asset-light licencing business; establishing partnerships with global engineering giants to meet the urgency for low carbon power systems and electrolysis for green hydrogen. Phil has worked in the fuel cell industry for 18 years, formerly at Intelligent Energy and ICI. He has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, an MBA from IESE Barcelona and is a Sainsbury Management Fellow.
Eric Lakin
Chief Financial Officer
Eric joined Ceres as Chief Financial Officer in January 2022, prior to which he was at FTSE 100 engineering group Smiths Group plc for 10 years, latterly as CFO of Smiths Interconnect.
Previously Eric held roles in operational and corporate finance, strategy and M&A through his career at Smiths and prior roles in private equity and finance. He has broad international experience including a secondment to the US and a board position in a joint venture in China. Eric is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a master’s in Engineering and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Phil Caldwell
Chief Executive Officer
Phil was appointed Chief Executive of Ceres in 2013. Under his leadership Ceres has grown into one of the UK’s most valuable clean technology companies.
Phil has been instrumental in positioning Ceres as an asset-light licencing business; establishing partnerships with global engineering giants to meet the urgency for low carbon power systems and electrolysis for green hydrogen. Phil has worked in the fuel cell industry for 18 years, formerly at Intelligent Energy and ICI. He has a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, an MBA from IESE Barcelona and is a Sainsbury Management Fellow.
Eric Lakin
Chief Financial Officer
Eric joined Ceres as Chief Financial Officer in January 2022, prior to which he was at FTSE 100 engineering group Smiths Group plc for 10 years, latterly as CFO of Smiths Interconnect.
Previously Eric held roles in operational and corporate finance, strategy and M&A through his career at Smiths and prior roles in private equity and finance. He has broad international experience including a secondment to the US and a board position in a joint venture in China. Eric is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a master’s in Engineering and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Tony Cochrane
Chief Commercial Officer
Tony joined Ceres in August 2015.
Previously, he was at Ballard Power Systems for 17 years, where he held leadership positions in manufacturing, product engineering, technology strategy and strategic marketing. Tony also held the position of Commercial Director for Dantherm Power A/S and Director of Product Line Management at Ballard, where he built the stationary power business globally. Tony is a registered professional engineer and CPA and holds a BScE in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University and an MBA from Cornell University.
Mark Garrett
Chief Operating Officer
Mark joined Ceres in August 2020.
Prior to this he was at Ricardo plc for 22 years, holding a variety of leadership positions including Chief Operating and Chief Strategy Officer roles. Mark has considerable experience in bringing new products to market, operational performance and IP based innovation in the transport and energy sectors. Mark is non-executive chair of SBD Automotive Limited, an automotive sector consultancy and is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Deborah Grimason
General Counsel and Company Secretary
Deborah joined Ceres in January 2022 and brings a wealth of experience gained across a wide range of industries encompassing management of all legal affairs, corporate governance and compliance.
Deborah spent the past eight years operating as General Counsel and Company Secretary at Travis Perkins plc and more recently at V.Group. Prior to these roles, she held senior legal and company secretarial positions at Lafarge, The BOC Group, Nokia and Royal Mail.
Caroline Hargrove
Chief Technology Officer
Caroline joined Ceres in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer following three years as a Non-Executive Director of the Company.
She was previously CTO of Babylon Health, and a founding member of McLaren Applied Technologies which was set up to exploit McLaren technology and expertise to new markets. She worked in a range of sectors from motorsport to health, elite sports, manufacturing and energy. She started her career as a lecturer in Engineering at Cambridge, followed by various roles in McLaren F1, mainly focused on the development of simulations and the first F1 simulator. Caroline is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, was Visiting Professor at Oxford from 2015 to 2018 and holds a PhD in Applied Mechanics. In 2020, she received a CBE for services to engineering.
Michelle Traynor
Chief People Officer
Michelle joined Ceres in 2019 and is responsible for all aspects of the people strategy to support the ongoing growth of the business.
With over 20 years’ experience gained across technology, manufacturing and professional services, her skillset encompasses all aspects of HR and expands beyond this into wider business operations. Prior to Ceres, she was Chief Operating Officer for ASB Law, having initially joined as Head of Human Resources and Development. Michelle is a chartered member of the CIPD and holds a master’s degree in Personnel Management.