Catapult appoints three new Non-Executive Directors

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As part of its continued development and growth, the Satellite Applications Catapult has appointed three new non-executive directors to its Board. The three appointments are Dr Vanessa Lawrence, Chad Anderson and Simon Acland.

Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB has held executive and non-executive roles within UK and international innovation and technology organisations for more than 25 years. From 2000-2014, Vanessa was the Director General and CEO of Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s National Mapping Authority, and from 2011-2015, she was the elected inaugural co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). She is now working internationally as an advisor and special contributor to a number of organisations, including as the Senior Strategic Global Advisor for Geospatial for the World Bank Group.

Chad Anderson is Managing Director of Space Angels Network, where he has facilitated millions of dollars of investment into commercial space ventures. He previously worked at JP Morgan Chase managing a $50 billion real estate portfolio. Chad holds an MBA from the University of Oxford.

Simon Acland has been an investor in young technology businesses for 30 years, and is now an active business angel investor. He chairs domestic energy storage company Powervault and music booking web platform Tigmus, and is an adviser to travel time search software company iGeolise, amongst various appointments.

Tim Sherwood, Chairman of the Satellite Applications Catapult, said: “The Catapult is a fast-growing company with our external income increasing by 80% this year. The addition of Vanessa, Chad and Simon is a very exciting step in the Catapult’s ongoing development, as each of them offers unique skills, knowledge and experience that will benefit our company’s growth.

“Simon and Chad bring experience of venture capital right the way through from seed capital for start-ups to significant fundraising that is necessary to help business scale. This start-up, spin-out and scale-up activity has become a key plank in the Catapult’s plans.

“Vanessa, from her time at the Ordnance Survey and work with the World Bank and UN, has a deep understanding of the geospatial market. This is a fast developing arena which presents huge opportunities to British businesses, both medium and small. Vanessa can help develop the Catapult’s approach to this market segment.”