INVESTORS

An engineer by profession, Ian moved to Norfolk in 1988 working for the leading automotive engineering consultancy Lotus Engineering. In 1991, Ian moved to the Lotus Formula 1 Team and was soon promoted to Head of Research & Development. In this capacity, Ian led the development of the ground-breaking computer controlled Active Suspension system which the team raced in 1992 & 1993, with drivers such as Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert. Following this Ian set up Equipmake, initially as a vehicle from his own engineering consultancy.

In 2007, Ian identified the importance of the move to electrification, and upon the introduction of hybrid systems in Formula 1, he began the development of an electric hybrid system based around a novel electrically driven carbon fibre flywheel. Spinning at up to 45,000 RPM the flywheel was effectively a very high-speed and high performance electric motor. The base technology had been developed by the nuclear centrifuge company Urenco Group. As it became clear that this technology would have applications in the mainstream, as well as Formula One, Ian spun the project out and formed a new company Automotive Hybrid Power (“AHP”), together with 2 ex-Urenco Group employees. This company acquired the patents and know-how for the technology. AHP contracted Williams Grand Prix Engineering Ltd (“WF1”) initially as a customer, then WF1 became an investor and the Company was renamed Williams Hybrid Power (“WHP”), with Ian as its CEO. WHP successfully developed the technology, winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race 3 times with the Works Audi racing team and the technology was commercialised as an energy storage system for buses. Following successful bus trials, significant orders were placed for the technology and as a result of this success, Williams F1 who were by now the majority shareholder, decided to exit, selling the business to the largest engineering company in the UK, GKN Automotive. Ian then focused on the development of EV technology at Equipmake.

Clive has significant automotive and clean technology industry experience, having previously held senior executive roles including CFO, COO and CEO at engineering technology company Prodrive Holdings Ltd. He is currently a non-executive Chairman at a number of high growth, technology companies in the clean energy and new mobility sectors, including full stack autonomous software developer Oxbotica and Hydrogen fuel cell developer Bramble Energy. Clive is also Non-Executive Chairman of the Vehicle Certification Agency.

Steven is a fellow with the ACCA having qualified in 2008.  Prior to joining Equipmake, he spent six years working as the Financial Controller for Aquaterra Energy, an upstream oil and gas service group with an international footprint, where he was responsible for the day-to-day management of the finance function. This included responsibility for adherence with overseas tax and financial reporting legislation for overseas branches in Australia, Norway and Azerbaijan, foreign subsidiaries in Egypt and Malaysia and tax presences in a number of other countries.  He was integral to the due diligence process that led to a private-equity investment in 2017 and held the senior finance position during the change of ownership. Prior to this, he was the Head of Finance for Retail Operations at Anglian Home Improvements where he played a key role in numerous business improvement initiatives alongside the management of the Operations Finance team.

Dena has over 20 years’ experience as a corporate finance adviser at distinguished investment banks including Rothschild, Merrill Lynch and Commerzbank.  She has advised both corporate clients and public sector entities on a broad range of transactions from multi-billion-pound public transactions to private financing for growth companies.  Her experience, spanning M&A, privatisations, debt and equity capital markets and private fundraising has covered, inter alia, transport & logistics, aerospace & defence, infrastructure and real estate.

James started his professional career as a mechanical engineer in the automotive technology space at Active Technologies before branching into project design and management. Between 2012 to 2018, he took on more leadership positions across of a range of engineering systems, mainly an electrical bias project, delivering technical and challenging projects for client such as AP Moeller Maersk, Rolls Royce Holding PLC and BAE Systems PLC. Since joining in 2018 as a project manager James has seen the scope of his leadership role grow as the number of employees has increased from 12 to over 70. James is now serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the company, where he is focusing on delivering the plan to expand the business whilst managing day-to-day business operations.