Board of Directors

The Directors of the Company are:

• • N F Rogers
  • G S Marsh
  • P O James
  • J L Macmichael
  • M T Richards
  • P Magowan
  • S Smith

Nigel Rogers, (dob July 1961),
Non-Executive Chairman

Nigel joined the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director in July 2019, and became Non-Executive Chairman in November 2020.  He has more than twenty years’ experience in leading AIM-listed engineering companies, including as Group CEO of both Stadium Group plc (now part of TT Electronics plc) and 600 Group plc.

He is currently Executive Chairman at Transense Technologies plc and Chairman at Surgical Innovations Group plc.   His early career was as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in the U.K., Latin America and the Middle East.

Gary Marsh, (dob April 1966),
Chief Executive Officer

Gary Marsh joined the Company in 1986 having gained an HND in Business and Finance Studies. He has held various positions within the Group including that of Operations Director of Solid State Supplies prior to his appointment as its Managing Director in 1997.

In addition to this role, Gary Marsh was appointed Group Managing Director in 2002 following the acquisition of Steatite. In 2010 following the acquisition of Rugged Systems Ltd he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Group.

Peter James, (dob June 1979),
Group Finance Director

Peter James qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP in 2003. He was appointed to the Board of Solid State Plc in February 2017. Before joining Solid State PLC, Peter was Group Financial Controller at IQE plc where he was key member of the senior leadership team successfully completing two significant transactions, funded through an equity fund raising and a global refinancing.

Subsequently Peter was key member of the integration and standardisation team, aligning the enlarged Group with its customer markets serviced by manufacturing sites, delivering improved efficiency and material cost savings. As a Senior Manager with PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP Peter gained a wide range of experience in Audit and Financial Due Diligence teams working with and advising a broad range of companies in a variety of sectors, including multinational main market and AIM listed companies. In addition on a voluntary basis Peter is a non-executive Director for the British Water Ski and Wakeboard Federation Limited providing independent financial oversight as Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.

John Macmichael, (dob April 1961),
Director

Following graduation John Macmichael worked as a development engineer for GEC Telecommunications before moving into applications engineering and ultimately sales at the electronic component distributor Steatite Ltd. John’s career continued with worldwide responsibility for sales as International Sales Manager with Comlinear Corporation, a manufacturer of high speed analogue devices in the United States, before returning to the UK to establish the UK operation for Comlinear.

Following the purchase of Comlinear by National Semiconductor John joined Breckenridge Technologies as Managing Director to lead the sales and design-in activity on behalf of National Semiconductor and Fairchild Semiconductor. Latterly John moved back into distribution joining Solid State Supplies in March 2006 firstly as Business Development Manager before being promoted to Commercial Director.

In 2010 he was appointed Managing Director of Solid State Supplies Ltd. In addition, he was appointed Managing Director of Pacer Technologies following its acquisition in 2018.

Matthew Richards, (dob October 1963),
Director

Matthew Richards was appointed as Managing Director of Steatite Ltd in April 2016. Matthew comes to the Board with 30 years of experience in the defence electronics industry. He has a track record of success in both private and public companies, most recently as Senior Vice President and Managing Director at API Technologies Corp running operations in the UK, Canada and USA, specialising in RF and Security solutions with a focus on high reliability and harsh environment applications.

Prior to that, Matthew held business development and sales leadership roles with the L3 Corporation. He has extensive experience dealing with the Government customers at home and abroad having travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Matthew started his career installing and commissioning terrestrial and satellite antennas systems for broadcast and military users before moving into sales in the early 1980s.siness.

Pete Magowan, (dob August 1967),
Non-Executive Director

Pete joined the Board as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee in January 2021. He was appointed Senior Independent Director of the Group in February 2021.  Pete has over thirty years of experience in a combination of executive and non-executive roles within the technology industry and investment community.

Pete was previously an early employee and main board member of ARM Holdings plc, an Executive at Fidelity International Ltd and General Partner at Alta Berkeley Venture Partners. Pete´s early operational career was in sales and marketing at leading technology companies.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and a Diploma in Marketing from the University of Bristol Business School.

Sam Smith,
Non-Executive Director

Sam is an entrepreneur with over 25 years’ business and capital markets experience and has specialised in advising small and mid-cap growth companies. She was previously Chief Executive Officer of FinnCap Group which, under her leadership, has become one of the largest brokers for companies listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

She is currently a non-executive director of Sumer Group, a professional services firm supporting SMEs with accounting and other services, and of Griffin Markets Limited, an OTC wholesale European energy trading business.