Last checked at 11 Feb 2021 08:30
BAE Systems announces non-executive director appointments
The Board of BAE Systems plc is pleased to announce the appointments of Dame Carolyn Fairbairn and Dr Ewan Kirk as non-executive directors, with effect from 1 March and 1 June 2021, respectively.
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn
Dame Carolyn was until the end of 2020 Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry. She brings her vast leadership experience and business acumen to the Board having held various senior leadership roles within financial services, media and government.
She was previously a non-executive director of Lloyds Banking Group, The Vitec Group plc and Capita plc. She is also a former non-executive director of the Competition and Markets Authority, the Financial Services Authority and until 2016, a Trustee of Marie Curie. Dame Carolyn also worked in government as a member of the Number 10 Policy Unit during the 1990s, following which she became a partner at McKinsey specialising in digital and media, and held senior executive roles at the BBC and ITV.
She holds a BA in Economics from Cambridge University, an MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from INSEAD. She is an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and of Nuffield College, Oxford.
Dr Ewan Kirk
Dr Ewan Kirk has led multiple ventures to commercialise, apply and leverage technology and mathematics research in both business and philanthropy. He brings to the Board extensive experience in rapidly identifying and leveraging emergent scientific research, especially in data science and quantities analysis, to drive commercial results and identify new lines of business.
In 2006, he founded Cantab Capital Partners, a science-driven investment management firm, which is one of the top-performing quantitative investment companies in the UK. Ewan grew the business from a team of two with £30 million assets under management (AUM) to 60 people with over £4.5 billion AUM, before the business was acquired by GAM Investments in 2016. Prior to founding Cantab, Ewan was Partner and Head of Quantitative Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs.He is Chair of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Chairman of DeepTech Labs, a UK-based venture capital fund that invests in deep technology businesses, and Co-Chair of the Turner Kirk Trust. He holds a PhD in General Relativity from the University of Southampton, a MASt in Mathematics from Queen's College, Cambridge and a BSc in Natural Philosophy and Astronomy from the University of Glasgow.
Sir Roger Carr, Chairman of BAE Systems plc, said: "I am delighted to welcome Dame Carolyn Fairbairn and Dr Ewan Kirk to the BAE Systems Board. Carolyn brings extensive business leadership and commercial experience across multiple sectors and Ewan adds a deep insight and knowledge of emergent digital technologies that have been the basis for a successful business career.
As highly respected leaders, I am confident that their wealth of experience and diverse array of complementary skills will provide further diversity of thought, whilst strengthening Board discussions, challenge and invaluable insight. I am very much looking forward to working with them both and welcome the contribution they will bring to both the skills and chemistry of the Board."
There is no further information required to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13.