After completing an Honours degree in manufacturing engineering and management at the University of Liverpool, Tom undertook a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership to improve production planning and supply chain management at an aerospace SME, whilst researching best practice business models and technologies to support the development of smart aerospace supply chains. He worked in a consultancy capacity at Airbus UK for two years and Westland Helicopters for three years to develop leading-edge supply chain management portals.

Tom established his first manufacturing company as an aerospace supply chain management company in 2003 and acquired an aerospace surface treatment company in 2005, which he grew by 250% within 3 years and established the first independent aerospace treatments company in Poland to offer surface treatments to the emerging aerospace supply chain in Eastern Europe.

Tom was awarded UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and won the Chambers of Commerce UK Best New Business in 2007. In January 2010, Tom sold his manufacturing businesses to focus on cloud-based enterprise resource planning and collaborative supply chain systems for high value manufacturing sectors by forming Valuechain Technology Ltd (www.valuechain.com).

• Tom sits on the UK Government’s Digital Economy Advisory Panel chaired by Minister for Digital, and is well connected with Government networks, major UK technology businesses, Universities and the catapults.
• Tom sits on the UK Government’s Made Smarter Advisory Panel to accelerate UK digital manufacturing adoption in SMEs.
• Tom sits on steering board of Innovate UK’s Scale Up Programme
• Tom is a Board Member of the Northern Automotive Alliance.

Tom has secured over £6m innovation funding from UK Government and European Commission to innovate his research passions in Digital Productivity and Intelligent Collaborative Ecosystems.

Tom is married and a proud father of three children.