Our leadership and advisory team

Our team is led by experts across aviation, defense and artificial intelligence. We work with customers worldwide, from our offices in the UK and US.

Aerogility board

Martin Taylor

Chairman of the Board

Martin has 40 years’ experience in the defence and aviation industry in a variety of leadership roles, and was Managing Director, Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS), at BAE Systems (Air).

He started his career as an aerodynamicist at the British Aerospace Military Aircraft Division. Martin was previously Head of Project for the Harrier program before moving to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was the BAE Systems Programme Director on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Programme.

Gary Vickers MSc

Chief Executive Officer

Gary is CEO of Aerogility Limited, and CEO and President of Aerogility Inc.

As a founder, Gary defined the business strategy for the company and worked closely with the founding team and early customers to create the winning Aerogility proposition in the global aerospace and defense industry. He has over 40 years’ experience in a variety of roles including senior management, business development and program management.

Steven Henwood

Non-Executive Director

Stephen is a senior executive with extensive knowledge and experience across the aviation industry.

He was Chair of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) between 2014 and 2017. He is a chartered management accountant and his career has included senior financial and operational roles with Tate & Lyle Plc and BAE Systems. Since leaving BAE Systems he has undertaken a number of non-executive appointments, including Chair of the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).

Sidney Cordier

Non-Executive Director

Sid is a serial investor and experienced non-executive director in both public and private companies.

He worked in the information handling industry in the UK and the USA for over 40 years, and he was previously Group Managing Director at MR Data Management Plc.

Rodney Hornstein

Non-Executive Director

Rodney is a senior executive with many decades of experience in the IT industry.

He is a serial investor in innovative technology companies and held numerous non-executive positions. During his career, he was the Chair of Alphameric Plc, Marketing Director of ICL, and Chair and Managing Director of Gestetner International.

Caroline Stanfield

Non-Executive Director

Caroline Stanfield has been a healthcare professional for over 30 years. She has been an experienced investor in technology companies over the last 20 years.

Brian Wilson

Non-Executive Director and Company Secretary

Brian is the Aerogility Company Secretary and a highly experienced investor and non-executive director.

He is a chartered accountant and formerly the finance director of MR Data Management Plc, a quoted company in the information handling business.

Senior leadership team

Malcolm Bridgeford MA

Chief Operating Officer

Malcolm is one of the founders of Aerogility and has many years’ experience working in the aerospace and defense industry.

He is responsible for company operations and the successful delivery to Aerogility’s global customers. He has over 35 years’ experience in the software industry in a variety of managerial and technical roles in the UK, USA and Europe.

John Fussell PhD

Technical Director

John is a founding member of Aerogility and responsible for the overall technical management and development of the whole software product.

He has over 15 years’ experience in developing solutions for the aerospace and defense industry as a software architect and developer, and is an expert in Java J2EE and Microsoft .Net software technologies.

Steve Osborn MSc

Aerogility Architect

Steve is a founder and the architect of the Aerogility solution.

He is an expert in model-based AI and multi-agents systems, and is responsible for managing the design and development of the Aerogility aerospace & defense models and agent library. He has many years of experience working with aviation companies and over 30 years’ experience designing and implementing real world artificial intelligence and distributed object-oriented systems.

Nigel Yard

Head of Defence & OEM

Nigel has a highly successful track record working with leading consultancies and prime contractors in the aerospace & defense sector.

He specialized in helping his clients to identify, win and deliver complex programmes, and developed strategies and insights to improve service delivery performance. Nigel’s breadth of experience means that he has deep understanding of the complex decisions faced by defense companies, and how these decisions fundamentally shape their business for future decades.

Phil Cole

Head of Civil Aviation

Phil joined Aerogility in 2017 and is a highly experienced program manager.

He is responsible for the implementation of our solution for leading airline operators and the successful growth of our civil aviation business. He has over 15 years’ experience delivering IT software solutions in a number of industry sectors, including insurance, banking, legal and aviation.

Joe Wilkinson

Head of Service Delivery & IT

Joe is responsible for leading the successful delivery of our SaaS solution to Aerogility customers.

He is an AWS certified solutions architect and his remit includes the development and administration of Aerogility’s IT and certified security infrastructure. Prior to joining Aerogility, Joe spent eight years at an early-stage start-up, Borro Private Finance. Throughout his career, Joe has achieved several technology certifications such as CISSP, CISM, MCSE, MCSA, MCDST, MCP, CompTIA Security+ and BCS IT Service Management within ITIL.

Simon Miles PhD

Head of AI

Simon is responsible for leading the development of AI innovation at Aerogility. His role is focused on the development of multi-agent model architectures and enhancing our model-based AI capability.

Before joining Aerogility, Simon had a successful career in AI research and education. He spent 15 years as an academic at King’s College London, where he led teams and centres applying AI techniques in diverse domains, including urban transport, emergency medicine and global logistics.

Advisors

Kenneth Merchant (Major General ret.)

Special Advisor to Aerogility US Defense

Kenneth has more than 40 years’ experience working in US defense, including a distinguished 34 years of service in the United States Air Force.

Ken is the President of Life Cycle Solutions Inc and is Aerogility’s special advisor for US defence. Previously, Ken was a vice-president on F-35 and F-22 programmes at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. His vast experience includes the F-22 Raptor Enhancement, Development and Integration (REDI) programme.

Major General Merchant served as a director in the Air Force, with multiple experiences in global mobility programmes and logistics. His achievements include being awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal and two Legions of Merit, as well as the Bernard Schriever Award for Program Management Excellence for his work on the F-22 development programme.

Steve Worsnip

Special Advisor to Aerogility UK Defence

Steve has in-depth expertise in aerospace and defense thanks to more than 40 years’ experience in civil, military and unmanned air systems.

He brings a wealth of knowledge to Aerogility in designing and delivering high performing innovative support and services solutions. Steve draws on his many insights gained from his secondment to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and his senior leadership positions at BAE Systems. Previously, he has held non-executive director positions and was Chair of Sealand Support Services.

Professor Nick Jennings

Chief Scientific Advisor

Professor Jennings is Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University and has acted as a special advisor to Aerogility since the company was founded.

Nick is a chief scientific advisor to the UK government and was Chair in Artificial Intelligence in the departments of Computing, and Electrical & Electronic Engineering, at Imperial College, London. He is an internationally recognised authority in the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cybersecurity and agent-based computing. His research covers both the science and the engineering of intelligent systems.

Professor Michael Luck

Chief Scientific Advisor

Professor Luck is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at the University of Sussex, and has been a special advisor to Aerogility since the company was founded.

Mike is also Director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training on Safe and Trusted Artificial Intelligence. He leads the Agents & Intelligent Systems Group and is an internationally recognised authority in the areas of artificial intelligence, intelligent agent modelling and multi-agent systems. His research covers both the programming of agent systems and agent-oriented software engineering, as well as the importance of safe and trusted results and usage of AI systems.