About
Paragraf

Simon has a diverse background in physics, engineering and materials science combined with many years’ experience in the fields of semiconductors, functional materials, solid state devices and capital equipment manufacture. This has perfectly equipped him to fully understand two-dimensional materials production. With expertise in materials deposition techniques, he has developed numerous new materials and structure generation processes whilst advancing the understanding of the science of materials growth.

As a global high-tech materials and engineering consultant, Simon has multidisciplinary skills in the development of equipment, deposition processes and surface science across a range of fields. The resulting technology advances have achieved new performance levels in existing semiconductor device structures and have facilitated the capability to produce novel materials and new devices.

Sir Colin has extensive experience in the commercialisation of scientific ideas and the creation of successful university spin-out companies. Low-cost, high-efficiency LEDs developed by his research group are now being manufactured in the UK. New alloys developed by the Rolls-Royce University Research Centre – which he founded and directed – are now flying in Rolls-Royce engines.

He is acknowledged worldwide as an expert in materials science and has received many international medals for his research. Sir Colin is Professor of Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge and Emeritus Professor of Materials Science at Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering and is repeatedly invited to speak at materials science conferences.

Charles has worked as the finance lead in various multi-site international businesses in listed corporate groups. He has extensive experience in manufacturing, with a career covering materials fabrication, metal refining and volume and speciality chemicals manufacturing. 

In previous positions, Charles was responsible for the financial leadership of businesses with multiple manufacturing and commercial sites covering Europe, US and Asia. As part of these roles, Charles has been significantly involved in strategy development and implementation, major capital projects, the development and review of business structures and processes and ensuring sound governance, compliance and risk management.

With over 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry, Tony has held numerous leadership positions within the compound semiconductor field, His background is focussed in electronic material processes, volume manufacturing and capital equipment development and production.

Previously as Managing Director within the semiconductor capital equipment field, Tony led the organisation responsible for the development and manufacture of complex material deposition systems. More recently as VP of Global Operations for a leading compound semiconductor material supplier, Tony established and led the global teams responsible for the successful growth and volume production of materials for a diverse range of device applications including 3D sensing, RF power devices, solar power generation and optoelectronic telecommunications.

John has led development of capital equipment in  the semiconductor and electronics industries for over two decades, spanning across wide-ranging technology areas from front end to packaging applications. In these positions, John has been responsible for bringing novel technologies and processes to the industry and supporting the introduction of products by top tier consumer electronics companies.

His experience of the business and technology acquisition process from a multinational corporate viewpoint  has led John to hold several non-executive positions in high technology companies within in the semiconductor and advanced imaging markets. .

John has also worked in the development of systems for particle accelerators and Synchrotron physics, after starting his career in consulting engineering.

Tom has a broad background in bringing to market new semiconduct0r products within a range of verticals and application areas. His commercial experience spans product line management, sales, and business development gained across multiple start-ups in applications such as AI computing, automotive, healthcare, wireless infrastructure, and IP networking. At multiple points in his career, Tom has led teams in winning dominant market share with new products against significant global competitors.

Tom has acquired a broad base of experience in a range of go-to-market strategies, technology and market ecosystems, and competitive scenarios in the last 30 years. This has uniquely equipped him to help the Paragraf team drive high-volume electronic device manufacturing, maximizing the return from the multitude of prospective markets that are demanding our technology and products.

Dan has a background in applied physics, with many years’ experience working in a diverse range of commercial roles in the fields of semiconductors and photonics.

Prior to joining Paragraf, Dan was in a leading role for a global photonics manufacturer, expanding into diverse markets in the fields of semiconductor process engineering, quantum computing and aerospace. Dan has a MPhys in Applied Physics from Sheffield Hallam University.

Natasha has over 25 years’ experience working in research and development, in both early-stage start-ups and R&D subsidiaries of large corporates in UK, Japan and Turkey. She joined Paragraf in February 2020 and leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers progressing scientific understanding of graphene to enable demonstration of ground-breaking proof of concept graphene-based devices.

Natasha received her PhD from University of Cambridge Engineering Department and holds a BEng degree in Physics and Electronic Engineering from University of Glasgow.

Following the completion of her master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Liverpool, Cathy pursued her keen interest in business and finance by training as a chartered accountant. During her time in practice Cathy progressed from being a junior trainee to managing a varied portfolio of businesses. This allowed Cathy to develop expertise in statutory reporting and taxation, financial control, governance, and budgeting. Cathy also developed a keen interest in people development, being heavily involved in recruitment, training, and mentoring.

Cathy’s role at Paragraf covers both Finance and HR. This allows Cathy to combine her love of technology, her strong understanding of all areas of business finance and her passion for people and organisational development.

With a career focused on HR management in both the public and private sectors and a wide range of industries, Helen has also spent time in commercial roles, leading sales and marketing activities, to develop a strong understanding of operations in growing companies.

With nearly 30 years’ experience, she is well practiced in working in a global environment and has particular experience in developing and implementing proactive HR processes to support a strong company culture and enable individuals and teams to flourish and thrive in a collaborative environment.

Mike joined Paragraf in 2019 after a 35-year career in the materials, metals, and electronics industries working for both large multinational companies and small start-ups. In his previous role, Mike worked as a consultant, helping several SMEs build their own Electronic Quality Management Systems (EQMS’s) leading to ISO 9001 certifications.

At Paragraf Mike is responsible for the management and development of the EQMS and maintaining the company’s ISO 9001 certification. In 2022, he will be working to guide the business towards ISO 13485 (Biomedical Devices) and IATF 16949 (Automotive) certifications. Mike has degrees from Imperial College and Cambridge, and Warwick Universities. He is also a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM).

Jim has broad experience in IT, having worked in the USA, Europe and the UK in IT leadership roles including Support, Infrastructure and Software Development within the consumer goods and building products industries. His experience has been developed in environments of rapid growth and have involved multi-site scale-up and support of M&A activities.

Jim is passionate about increasing business value with IT and he enjoys the mix of his hands-on role with strategic management. He has a fascination on how things work and interact and is enjoying learning about the science at work in Paragraf and the material of graphene.

Callum has a background in overseeing and developing nanofabrication infrastructure required for adventurous research into the science and technology of graphene, carbon allotropes, layered crystals and hybrid nanomaterials. This was obtained at Cambridge University, where he managed facilities as well as H&S at the Cambridge Graphene Centre, where in addition, he was a research associate and supervisor at Clare College.

Prior to this, Callum was a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences within Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where he also obtained his PhD and integrated master’s in physics with nanoscience.

Leila brings strong product experience from companies such as AstraZeneca and Oxford Nanopore, and will lead the development of product management processes and practices at Paragraf. She will get directly involved with driving product definition in the Biosensor business and work with the team to bring product management and NPI processes across the business fronts. Leila holds a PHD in Neurodegenerative Diseases and a BA in Natural Sciences.

Anne has worked in the development, management and licensing of Intellectual Property in the semiconductor and mobile communications industry for more than 20 years and has experience of working both in start-ups and in large corporations. Prior to working at Paragraf, Anne was Patent Manager for a multinational semiconductor company, overseeing a very large patent portfolio in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and digital imaging technology and then became Senior IP Director for a biometric sensor company, where her role involved negotiating IP licences to bank card and financial service providers.

Anne is responsible for the definition and implementation of Paragraf’s IP strategy and processes to maximise the value of the company’s fast-growing portfolio of patents, trade secrets and trademarks. She also oversees IP matters related to Paragraf’s collaborations with external partners and customers.

Roberto brings 20 years of global experience in the semiconductor industry. He held several technical and commercial leadership roles at Arm (mobile computing microprocessors) and Graphcore (artificial intelligence accelerators). His experience spans engineering, product management, marketing, business development, strategic partnerships and ecosystems development.

Roberto has a strong track record in taking new technologies to market, developing product-market fit and delivering adoption at scale. He holds an honours degree in Computer Science and is completing an Executive MBA at London Business School.

Julie’s background in R&D operations is built on twenty years’ experience in the Agribusiness sector with an early focus on cell biology and the development of large-scale laboratory production of plant breeding material. Growing into multisite and territory operations management, Julie has held responsibilities in health and safety, standardisation and sharing of best practice across global teams, budget management and capital planning.

Julie joined Paragraf in its first year of operation and has been responsible for the development of the Somersham facility to accommodate the amazing team and the incredible growth of our in-house capabilities.

Andy has worked for the semiconductor industry for over 25 years at various tiers within the supply structure. He has held several operations management positions within this field and has a background in volume manufacturing and capital equipment development and production.

Previously as Manufacturing Engineering Manager within the semiconductor equipment manufacturing field, Andy was responsible was the configuration and manufacturing of scientific equipment. More recently as the Programme Manager within an international wafer fabrication company, Andy was responsible for the introduction and qualification of a new 8” wafer Pilot Line for automotive grade power MOSFETs.

Ben brings over 15 years of legal experience to the Paragraf management team. After training at local law firm, Ben joined their Commercial & Technology team, working with a broad range of clients, from local software start-ups to Fortune 500 megaliths, as well as Professor Stephen Hawking.

Ben joins us from Arm, where he spent nearly 10 years supporting the non-sales side of the business, before establishing the legal function for the Internet Services Group and where he brought together device management, data analytics and telecoms acquisitions.

Steve has led marketing in proprietary and open-source software, hardware, media, and semiconductor IP organisations since the early days of desktop publishing. While the first half of this time was spent in Taiwan promoting to the world imaging software and hardware and high-tech media, the latter half has been in the UK developing influencer marketing in semiconductor IP, open-source software and automotive engineering communities.

With a diverse technology career spanning over 25years in semiconductor manufacturing and R&D. This included Lithographic teams in the UK and US, across 200 and 300mm substrates and leading Lean activities.

Further to this, Gary was developing new materials on Glass and Flexible substrates and additionally managed software development projects using AGiLE Methodologies. Gary has a PhD in Laser Physics from the University of Hull.