John Abbott

CEO

John Abbott is the new CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult. He joined the Catapult from the Real Estate Registry in Saudi Arabia, where he was Chief Digital Officer. John was instrumental in the delivery of the Kingdom’s first ever registry of land ownership as part of a public-private partnership supported by the Public Investment Fund.

John was previously Director of Digital Data and Technology and a member of the Executive Board at HM Land Registry, where he led a successful £200m digital transformation programme and the organisation’s pioneering open innovation programme, Digital Street. Prior to this he was Head of Digital Products at Ordnance Survey where he was responsible for digitising and publishing the organisation’s geospatial data as well as the Innovations Lab and Geovation, a successful start-up incubator, which has supported more than 150 early-stage businesses which together have raised £130m. Earlier roles included Product Director at Mimecast, the UK tech company acquired by Permira for $5.8Bn. He has an MBA from Imperial College London and is married with three children.

Stephen Potts

Chief Finance and Operations Officer

Stephen joined the Catapult in October 2024. Prior to this, he held the role of Director of Finance and Corporate Services at the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO), where he served as Senior Responsible Owner for several major programmes, including a new Top Secret, environmentally sustainable building and the implementation of a new ERP system.

Before joining UKHO, Stephen was Head of Strategic Finance at Defra (£5bn) and the Environment Agency (£1.5bn), where he led the allocation of funding to critical flood protection and environmental improvement initiatives.

Stephen began his career at Accenture as a strategy consultant, advising corporates on growth and business transformation. During his time there, he established corporate venturing and incubation initiatives at Unilever and BAE Systems, facilitated agreement on outcomes and objectives for the London 2012 Olympics, and supported the setup of its programme management function. He also spent three years based in Beijing, where he led the strategy and growth of Accenture’s Chinese business.

Nafeesa Dajda

Chief of Missions

Dr Nafeesa Dajda is the Chief of Missions at the Satellite Applications Catapult. Until her recent appointment, she was the Director for National Capabilities, managing the Catapult’s Regional Growth, Innovation Services, Knowledge Exchange, and Skills initiatives. Her role involved forging collaborations across the UK between businesses, academia, and local stakeholders. She joined the Catapult in January 2014.

Before joining the Catapult, she worked for five years at BlackBerry, managing their Global University Relations programmes and education outreach activities. She also previously worked at EPSRC in a variety of university — and business-facing roles.

Richard Lowe

Chief Technology Officer

Richard is Chief Technology Officer for the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult (SAC). He joined SAC in 2022 as Technical Director and was appointed as CTO in 2024. His role has far-reaching responsibilities for applications including connectivity, geospatial technologies and user-centred design, alongside upstream areas including satellite missions and in-orbit servicing and manufacturing.

Richard previously worked for RheaTech (now Starion), at the UK Space Agency, leading engineering activities for the UK Space-Based PNT programme. He led innovation and technology governance at Telespazio UK, while also managing their Earth Observation group. During his earlier career, he worked at VEGA on Galileo, Europe’s navigation system after starting in the space sector at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Germany. His first space job was developing training simulators for the Mission Control teams of ESA’s Rosetta Comet Lander and Mars Express missions.

Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Mark Saxon

Chief of External Affairs

Mark is the Chief of External Affairs at the Satellite Applications Catapult. He studied for a PhD in genetics at the University of Warwick before moving into science journalism and then communications. He has worked in-house and in consultancy, for companies and clients including, NHS England, the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Lilly, Gallup and Coca-Cola.

Before joining the Catapult he worked for Genomics plc, a British SME pioneering genetic risk scores for common diseases, and was part of the team as the company grew from series B to series C funding. He has more than 20 years’ experience in UK and international campaigns, leading teams in corporate communications, government relations, public affairs and policy, and stakeholder engagement. He has won CIPR, PRCA and Sabre awards for crisis management and stakeholder engagement.