Meet the Judges

Iain is a four time Olympian, three time Olympic medallist and double Olympic champion. He is also a veteran of four America’s Cup challenges beginning in 2005 as a helmsman for the +39 Challenge, before joining Great Britain’s America’s Cup challenge, Team Origin.

After retiring from Olympic competition in 2012, he joined Artemis Racing as a tactician, and was appointed Team Manager in October 2013. Iain then went on to lead the team’s successful 35th America’s Cup campaign in Bermuda, reaching the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series final in 2017.

Passionate about protecting the oceans, the economics graduate founded Artemis Technologies in 2017, with a mission to see how America’s Cup technology could play a part in the decarbonization of the maritime industry.

He has overseen the company’s transition from a sailing services provider, to an applied technologies company focusing on green innovations for marine transportation.

An Honorary Officer of the Royal Naval Reserve, Sarah Kenny OBE is passionate about sustainment of the UK maritime engineering and science skills base. Her commitment to UK engineering extends to significant time with STEM and D&I projects in the maritime field, many years on the board of the Society of Maritime Industries, and her role on the UK Department for Transports ‘Expert Panel’ building the ‘Maritime 2050’ strategy. Sarah joined BMT as CEO in August 2017, having previously held the position of Managing Director for the Maritime Land and Weapons business at QinetiQ. Her career has had a distinctly maritime flavour throughout, having held a variety of technical and business roles, starting out with the DEFRA agency CEFAS, prior to joining the Maritime business within the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, which latterly became QinetiQ

Dan Vivian joined the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as the first Commercial Director of the UK Flag two and half years ago; establishing it as the standard bearer for Global Britain with a refreshed and attractive commercial offer.. He has a background experience in marketing, advertising, sustainability and digital start-ups.

Rachel Kitley is the Principal of Cowes Enterprise College, an Ormiston Academy, which is based on the Isle of Wight. The academy has undergone rapid improvement under Rachel’s leadership and it is now ranked as the best on the Island for the progress students make and has received widespread praise for the innovative approach to education being championed.

A standout achievement during Rachel’s time at Cowes has been her success in implementing and promoting Maritime Futures, a curriculum that the academy has developed in collaboration with the sector to help students develop skills and access opportunities in the maritime space.

Paul has an extensive 37-year history of senior management positions, both in the private and public sectors and within small business and multi-national corporations. Paul joined CMN in 2005, and since becoming CEO in July 2008, Paul has led the business through a period of growth and on-going sustainability, with CMN hugely respected for its significant achievements within Cornwall, nationally and across Europe. 

In 2015 Paul was awarded an MBE for services to the Maritime Industry and the community in Falmouth, Cornwall. 

Paul is Chairman and / or Director of a wide range of Partnership and Board positions across Cornwall, including being the longest serving private sector representative on the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership Employment and Skills Board. In 2020, Paul was appointed as a Director of Maritime UK, and in 2021, Paul became Chair of the Maritime UK Regional Cluster Council. 

Outside of CMN, Paul is a voluntary sector fund-raiser, having led local groups to raise more than £300,000 in the last 25 years, including a current role as Chair of RNLI South and West Cornwall Fundraising Events Groups. Paul likes fundraising challenges and in 2019 ran the London Marathon, in 2020 completed a 10-mile raft row and in 2021 cycled 215 miles from Bristol to St Austell. 

Dr Jo North is Associate Lecturer for business creativity and Innovation at the University of York and joined the Port as Technology and Transformation Director & 2050 Innovation Hub lead in 2019. Jo has leading-edge expertise in working with companies to optimise the creative potential of their people, products, services and brands and build an innovative, entrepreneurial capability into organisational culture. She brings a truly unique perspective to teams and innovation as she combines her academic excellence, research and facilitation skills with real world, commercial business experience in the transport sector and beyond.

Rod joined the newly formed National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) as Deputy Director in July 2021. He is a key member of the strategic leadership team driving the NSO and the delivery of the refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy working across Government and the entire shipbuilding enterprise.

From 2015 Rod held various Deputy Director roles in the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Maritime Directorate. He has also previously led EU negotiations on aviation security issues, worked for HS2 Ltd and led the DfT’s Business Planning process. Rod also had spells in private office and at the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

Captain Allan Youp has over 25 years’ experience in the maritime sector, focussing on skills, apprenticeships, innovation, and strategic development. He formed the Solent Maritime Enterprise Zone (MEZ) in 2019, a collaboration between the Royal Navy, industry, academia and government, to address maritime sector opportunities. The regional success of the MEZ informed the Royal Navy’s national, place-based approach to Maritime Enterprise Engagement, which he has led since early 2022.

Ben Murray joined Maritime UK from a political consultancy. Prior to this he worked for the Labour Party as a campaign manager and ran the Labour deputy leadership campaign of Angela Eagle MP. He studied Politics at the University of Warwick and East Asian studies at City University of Hong Kong. Ben is a director of a digital communications agency. He has responsibility for coordinating and leading the activity of Maritime UK, working with the National Council to implement its strategic plan including coordination and delivery of industry recommendations within Maritime 2050.

Henry currently responsible for a group of planners, engineers and technologies to provide impartial ‘innovation as a service for government, local authorities, academic and industry to catalyse step-change improvements in the way people live, work and travel. He has a wealth of experience from working in both industry and academia. He is a technologist, systems engineer, and programming director. He is experienced in leading teams to design and develop innovative solutions to meet complex challenges, setting strategic direction and investment priorities, and launching strategic initiatives to develop key technical discriminators to drive future growth.

Prior joining the Catapult, Henry was working at BAE Systems leading some of the cutting edge development in the Maritime sector collaborating with MoD, Dstl, industry and academic.

Henry is an Adjunct Professor, in the School of Electronics & Computer Science, at Southampton University. He is also Chair of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Hub Strategic Advisory Network, the focal point of the £33m UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Programme, Fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology, Chair for Future Mobility Challenge at Institution of Engineering and Technology Transport Policy Panel.

Chris is Chief Executive of Mersey Maritime, the sector champion for the maritime industry in the North West of England and which is now considered to be the best example of one of the best ‘Maritime Cluster Organisation’ in Europe (DG MARE, Brussels). He leads a professional team whose role is to support business growth, highlight the breadth and diversity of the sector and strengthen regional supply chains by building relationships across companies of all sizes – from ports and global shipping lines to engineering firms and innovative start-ups.

Under Chris’s leadership, Mersey Maritime is now a leading voice on the Board of Maritime UK, ensuring the North West maritime industry is heard at a national and international level. As Assistant Chair of Maritime UK, he has led the establishment of Maritime UK’s Regional Council for cluster organisations, so that other clusters can also be heard, fostering collaboration and driving growth for the United Kingdom.