Our Team

Meet our team

Our team is a dynamic blend of talented and passionate experts with a range of skills and knowledge within the technology, business and space sectors.

Chris Newlands

CEO & Founder

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Chris Newlands

CEO & Founder

Chris is one of Scotland’s most connected entrepreneurs in the travel and technology landscape. After serving in the Royal Navy, he carved out a career in Financial Services before launching Space Aye. Chris is a GlobalScot and Co-Chair of UKNI Open Geospatial Consortium.

Steven Mail

Non-Executive Director

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Steven Mail

Non-Executive Director

Steven is a non-executive director based in the United States and acts as an independent advisor to the Board. Steven had a successful 20 year investment banking and hedge fund career before leaving the banking world to found and manage two of Europe’s largest global macro hedge funds.

Gordon Bain

Technical Director

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Gordon Bain

Technical Director

Gordon is a qualified Agile Project Manager and Technical Program Director with a strong history delivering large scale corporate projects for both Public and Private sector organisations. Gordon’s background includes working for several Global Fortune 500 companies in addition to setting up a number of his successful projects. 

Angus McGuire

General Counsel

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Angus McGuire

General Counsel

Angus is a highly focused and experienced commercial lawyer who deals with the many complex requirements required to meet the legal regulations involved in running a public facing SME. Prior to joining the team, Angus spent his career in private practice where he had a particular interest in growing SME’s and early-stage investment.

Hayden Sutherland

Chief Innovation Officer

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Hayden Sutherland

Chief Innovation Officer

Hayden is a digital & technology leader with over 25 years of experience in managing, designing and delivering innovative & commercially successful enterprise technologies across the public and private sectors.

He is a trusted fractional CIO/CTO, principle architect and intergration & data specialist who runs his own Glasgow-based consultancy.

Hayden is also the Founder and Chair of the Open Transport Initiative, as well as a MaaS Scotland Steering Board member and part of the UK Digital Twin Hub Governance & Trust Working Group.

Anthony Burr

Communications Director

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Anthony Burr

Communications Director

Anthony is a Public Relations expert specialising in Publicity, Media and Story Brokering. He is a former newspaper and television journalist with The Sunday Times, Daily Express and Sky Sports, he is now a well-known PR expert with knowledge and experience at the front line of the British media.

Dr Crawford Tait

CTO

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Dr Crawford Tait

CTO

Crawford is a highly skilled and experienced IT professional. He is experienced in developing web-powered solutions. His previous roles include Head of R&D at Skyscanner, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our team which helps guide research and development. 

Adam McLean

QA & Operations Manager

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Adam McLean

QA & Operations Manager

Adam is all in the details, he brings an attention to detail and a breadth and depth of knowledge to the team. He has previously worked in testing teams at Barclays and is our resident satellite expert, working with our partners to ensure smooth delivery of satellite imagery and information. 

Lucy Lapham

Marketing & Brand Manager

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Lucy Lapham

Marketing & Brand Manager

Lucy is an experienced global marketing and brand manager, with a passion for branding and creative visuals. She started her journey in marketing with our product Talk Holiday in 2017, and since then has experienced a variety of industries, bringing well-rounded marketing knowledge to the team.

Andy White

Senior Back End Developer

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Andy White

Senior Back End Developer

Andy brings a wide range of technical business experience to the Space Aye team. He has worked on many projects in software engineering, from manufacturing and construction industries to defense, and a contractor to Scottish Parliament. Andy’s experience is key to developing a robust backend for our products; such as Spelfie.

Our advisory board

Alderman Professor Emma Edhem

Lord Mayor's Aldermanic Envoy for Space Technology & Innovation

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Alderman Professor Emma Edhem

Lord Mayor's Aldermanic Envoy for Space Technology & Innovation

Emma is an Alderman of the City of London Corporation, the Lord Mayor’s Aldermanic Envoy for Space Technology and Innovation, Professor in Practice at Durham University in the Space Research Centre and Economics Departments, Master of the Bench at Gray’s Inn for Distinguished Barristers, Geopolitical Barrister practicing from No 5 Chambers advising international governments, sits on the Board of the City of London Police Authority Board and Finance Committee overseeing and scrutinising City Cash and Fund, Chairman of an international chamber of commerce, Ambassador for the World Humanitarian Forum, Co-Chair of Women Peace and Security Summit, President Elect of City Livery Club and sits on various working groups and NGO’s on thought leadership and charities. She strengthens economic ties internationally with the UK and delivers speeches both nationally and globally on various topics of current significance.

Amanda Brock

CEO of OpenUK

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Amanda Brock

CEO of OpenUK

Amanda is the CEO of OpenUK, the organisation for the business of Open Technology – open source software, open hardware, open data, open innovation and open standards. Amanda is listed as the 37th Most Influential Woman in the UK Tech by Computer Weekly in 2023 and in Computing’s IT Leaders 100 2023. A former lawyer, Amanda has 30 years experience of the tech sector and offers valuable insights and knowledge for the Space Aye team.

Maggie Titmuss

Director, Advisor & Consultant

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Maggie Titmuss

Director, Advisor & Consultant

Maggie is an extremely experienced, respected Chair, leader and Board Advisor. She is the current Chair of the National Cyber Resilience Advisory Board for the Scottish Government, holds a number of Non-Executive and Advisory Board positions.

She carries a unique blend of senior private sector career leadership blended with highest level of international law enforcement leadership and management within national law enforcement. She spent over 5 years in the Finance Sector latterly as the Director of Intelligence & Incident response at Lloyds Banking Group. Maggie brings investment, security and GTM advice to Space Aye.

Caroline Barnett

Strategic advisor and consultant: Defence, Law Enforcement and Intelligence

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Caroline Barnett

Strategic advisor and consultant: Defence, Law Enforcement and Intelligence

Caroline is a leader in data, technology and strategy for public benefit. With extensive public sector experience across Home Office, MOD and FCDO, Caroline is well-versed in building compliant, ethical data and technology capabilities in highly regulated sectors using sensitive data to ensure continued public safety and security. Now working for a private data analytics and AI company, Caroline is providing consultancy advice and thought-leadership to help industry collaboratively solve some of the thorniest issues facing global societies.

Andrew Turner

Former Deputy Commander Royal Air Force & Strategic Advisor

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Andrew Turner

Former Deputy Commander Royal Air Force & Strategic Advisor

Andrew is a strategic leader in Defence and Security and an investor/advisor in an array of deep tech start-up businesses. With four decades of service in the Royal Air Force Andrew was its Deputy Chief, a Director General of Global military operations, the Chancellor of the Defence University, Director of UK military planning and a battlefield helicopter pilot surviving 19 combat operations. Andrew is providing strategic, security and investment advice to Space Aye and quantum computing, space launch, fossil-free fuel, hydrogen storage, e-commerce, e-logistics and business jet businesses.

Nawaz Haq

Experienced Director

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Nawaz Haq

Experienced Director

Nawaz is an experienced director, focusing on projects that have an impact on climate crisis initiatives. He has experience in areas such as shipping and transport.

Dave Keighley

Managing Director, Defence & Security at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd

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Dave Keighley

Managing Director, Defence & Security at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd

Dave brings 25 years of unparalleled Defence space expertise to the Space Aye team. During his 34-year military career, he commanded 2 RAF stations, pioneered the creation of the UK Space Operations Centre, informed cross-Government space policies, and was a trusted space advisor to senior decision-makers (including Ministers). He has operated and instructed on 3 strategic space systems (including the US Space-Based Infrared System) and has been a key influencer on international space security issues. He also led the information management and business continuity enterprise for NATO’s Allied Command Operations and has served on UK, NATO, EU and UN missions across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the South Atlantic. This rich mix of experience makes Dave well-placed to advise on both space operations and how Earth observation data can inform critical decision-making across multiple sectors. Dave was recently appointed Managing Director, Defence & Security at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd. Goonhilly is a world-renowned satellite and space communications company with ground stations in the UK and USA.

Eric Orme

Director of World Wide Live Events Product & Engineering – Amazon Prime Video

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Eric Orme

Director of World Wide Live Events Product & Engineering – Amazon Prime Video

Eric is an establish product and technology leader in the media industry. Currently leading world wide live events for Amazon Prime Video, Eric has worked in a variety of technology companies and start-ups over the past 19 years.

 

“Spelfie is able to preserve those hard to capture moments in a completely new and unique way that wasn’t possible until now.”

Carl Allen

Former IBM Executive

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Carl Allen

Former IBM Executive

Carl is leveraging his broad CEO and C-suite executive experience to help ambitious organisations like Space Aye reach desired enterprise value. He was an Executive at IBM and deliberately moved on in March 2021 to give back to industry to help professionalise, transform and scale businesses to achieve their goals.

Joe Little

Former Technology Principal & CTO, Digital Technology Innovation – British Petroleum

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Joe Little

Former Technology Principal & CTO, Digital Technology Innovation – British Petroleum

Joe’s experience in leading BP’s Digital Innovation Organisation, helps him identify potentially highly disruptive technologies, solving business problems with real, innovative, digital solutions. Key-note speaker, author and former chair of the London Technology Fund.

Graham Norton-Standen

Advisor

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Graham Norton-Standen

Advisor

Graham is a highly respected captain of industry. Former CEO of Gartner International, Graham has served as Chairman, senior board member or advisor to a variety of organisations globally which include British Telecom (BT), Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Bank, Hewlett Packard, Reuters, Tata Group and Unisys, to name a few.