Mike Hawes became SMMT Chief Executive on 2 September 2013, having spent the majority of his career in the automotive industry.

Mike has more than 30 years’ experience in corporate and public affairs, initially in Government and then consultancy, before joining Toyota in the late 1990s.  He worked in both the UK and Europe for the company, managing both manufacturing and market issues before joining Bentley Motors in a global communications role.

Before joining the SMMT he managed both the Bentley role as well as corporate affairs support for Volkswagen AG, where he developed the broader European and global expertise needed for this challenging role.

His tenure at SMMT has seen him manage a succession of challenging issues affecting the industry, from Brexit to Covid, dieselgate to decarbonisation. He is also a Board Member of The Motor Ombudsman, Industry Forum and sits on the Department for Transport’s Motorist’s Forum. 

Mike Nakrani is the CEO of VEV, experts in designing and delivering scaled enterprise electric fleet solutions. VEV is 100% owned by Vitol, a world leader in energy. Mike is a seasoned entrepreneur & intrapreneur with 20+ years of experience in the mobility sector, Mike was previously Head of OEM & European SMART Mobility at a leading international car manufacturer and VP of Electrification, Hydrogen and Mobility at an Oil and Gas Major.

Miles has 40 years’ experience within the automotive, telematics and consumer electronics industry, previously working for Philips, Sony UK / Europe and Cobra Telematics. In 2007 Miles left RDM (now Aurrigo) to join its spin off telematics company Auto-Txt as Sales & Marketing Director. Miles re-joined Aurrigo in 2013 to grow the autonomous vehicle division and companies brand profile.

Aurrigo develops and manufactures a range of autonomous electric vehicles within the passenger and aviation baggage / cargo sectors.

Aurrigo became AIM listed on the London Stock exchange during 2022 as Aurrigo International PLC, UK headquartered in Coventry with offices in Singapore, Canada, USA and the Netherlands where he manages all PR, Sales & Marketing activities across the globe. 

With over 10 years of experience in both academia and industry, Mohammad specialises in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of diverse production systems. He is an experienced professional with a strong track record of Product Carbon Footprint, Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing for a broad spectrum of sectors and industries, including agriculture, E-transportation, chemical, renewable energy, construction, waste management, mining, food processing, and military. Mohammad has extensive experience with battery regulation, as well as the sustainability assessment and recycling of lithium-ion batteries. Additionally, his background in industrial ecology has honed his expertise in Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data collection, environmental auditing and environmental impact analysis. He excels in evaluating complex industrial systems and technologies, including emerging technologies, to identify and mitigate their environmental impacts.

Neus Castañé holds dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Electronic Engineering and Automation from Rovira i Virgili University. She began her professional journey in the Oil & Gas sector, designing instrumentation and control systems, before joining IDIADA in the electric automotive industry.

Throughout her five-year career at IDIADA, she dedicated her first two years to electric charging systems, where she conducted stability studies on PLC communication and compatibility between various EV and EVSE manufacturers, while also giving support in the development of a Multi-Charging Test System. For the past three years, she has focused on electromagnetic compatibility, having participated in the design and now leading research at the EMC Laboratory, specializing in testing and validation of high-power electronics components.

CEO & Co-founder, Paua Winner of the Special Recognition award 2024 at the Solar Media EVIES awards #31 on the Greenfleet 100 Former smart systems director SSE, & Head of EV, EDF Energy

Nick Fleming –Director of Transport and Mobility, BSI Nick has over 15 years’ experience in standardization working across emerging technologies and with the automotive and transport industry to develop both national and international standards that support adoption of new technologies, promote innovation, safety, security and consumer protection. Matteo Novati – Programme Lead for BSI’s CAM Standards Programme Matteo has over 10 years’ experience in consulting for the transport sector, is the Programme Lead for BSI’s CAM standards programme. The programme, supported by CCAV, is aimed at accelerating the safe deployment of Autonomous Mobility in the UK, developing standards and good practices to support the transition to commercial deployment alongside the AV Bill, and informing international standards.

With 20+ years experience in the low carbon energy and manufacturing sectors, Nigel has worked with Connected Energy over the past 7 years to commercialise a range of second life energy storage systems using electric car batteries. In the emerging energy storage sector, a key focus of Connected Energy is to provide customers with end to end expertise and support in developing projects. Nigel worked in the energy efficiency sector for 5 years as business development manager for Ista Energy Solutions, a global leader of energy management and low carbon consultancy. Prior to Ista Nigel led the Low Carbon Development Initiative for Renewables East, a government funded organisation created to de-risk low carbon energy infrastructure projects. Nigel has a masters degree in Project Management and spent his early career with Rolls-Royce for 8 years delivering large scale energy projects for land and power applications.

Paolo works in the DBT Automotive Unit, where he leads the team responsible for designing, planning, and implementing DRIVE35 — a multi-billion-pound capital and R&D programme launched as part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy. Building on the success of the ATF and APC programmes, this initiative aims to unlock investment in zero-emission vehicle manufacturing and support the R&D and commercial scale-up of innovative vehicle technologies. DRIVE35 will place the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles.

In addition to DRIVE35, Paolo’s team is leading on other key commitments in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, including developing the 2026 Automotive Technology Strategy, launching EV manufacturing clusters across the UK, and spearheading ambitious international technology partnerships. The team also leads the DBT’s Hydrogen Propulsion Manufacturing Taskforce — a joint government-industry initiative focused on establishing a bold industrial policy for UK-based hydrogen propulsion system manufacturing across all transport modes.

Previously, Paolo developed and led the implementation of innovation programmes at the Department for Transport (DfT), including the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions. In parallel, he oversaw the delivery of key commitments in the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan. Paolo also led policy development in low-carbon fuels and environmental regulation, including amendments to the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation Order and the development of cross-modal hydrogen transport policies.

Paul has been the CEO of the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) since its launch in 2015. Today, with over 280 members the NEAA is the leading automotive cluster in the UK, providing members with an unparallel collaborative network where companies find benefit from leadership and co-ordination of activities of mutual benefit.

Paul was recognised as the Innovation Champion of the Year at the North East Innovation Awards thanks to my role in the development and leadership of several key innovation activities, including the £4.9m 5G CAL project and the £8.1m V-CAL project. The experience and capability of the consortia to develop these programmes came together to launch the National Innovation Centre for Connected and Autonomous Logistics (NICCAL).

In addition to being a member of the CAM Testbed UK board and leading the CAM Testbed Marketing Group Paul also represents the sector as a board member on the European Automotive Clusters Network, Automotive Council (AC) Skills Group, AC Supply Chain Group, the North East Combined Authority Economy (NECA) Business and Economy Advisory Board, the NECA Education, Inclusion and Skills Advisory Board, and Made Smarter NE Board. He is also the only UK based Cluster Benchmarking Expert for the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA).

Paul Newman is President, Co-Founder & CTO at Oxa, the universal autonomy software company. He creates and leads teams building the technology that will drive the next generation of autonomous vehicles.His pioneering approach to autonomy is being successfully harnessed for real-world application at Oxa – on roads in four continents, down mines, across warehouses and around airports. With a global reputation as a creator and innovator of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, Paul is also bp Professor of Information Engineering at the University of Oxford, and Founder of the Oxford Robotics Institute.

Paul Ruddick is the founder of D-Line, a Newcastle-based business with a global reputation for innovative cable management products.

After managing an electrical product consultancy, D-Line was launched in 2004 after Paul recognized the unmet demands for ‘design-led’ cable management solutions, for use ‘when time, safety and appearance matter’.

Now D-Line innovations are used every day around the world, as cumulative sales have exceeded £150m. Along the way, the business is proud at achievements being recognised by most prestigious Awards for Export and Innovation. In March 2024, D-Line joined Luceco PLC, working alongside Sync Energy to promote leading solutions for EV rollouts.

A core D-Line focus is to facilitate EV charging in terraced streets, by providing the most practical solutions to enable EV charger cables to cross footpaths…

D-Line’s EV cable duct has shallow design for in-pavement use, while market-leading Ultra (shallow) Cable Cover provides a ‘use-and-remove’ on-pavement option that requires no installation works. It follows that Ultra Cable Cover gives local authorities an easy and proven way for residents needing to locate EV cables across footpaths.

This is D-Line’s third attendance at Cenex EXPO, as the company appreciates the exciting opportunity to present its unique products to Cenex audiences.

Paul is a skills and workforce development specialist with over 20 years’ experience across a range of sectors, including automotive and engineering. He leads the Electrification Skills Network at Coventry University, funded by the Faraday Battery Challenge. The initiative connects industry, providers, and awarding bodies to develop a UK-wide framework for electrification skills, with a strong focus on short, flexible training solutions. Paul works to align provision with future workforce needs through collaboration, skills foresighting, and practical implementation. He supports national and international partners in making emerging skills accessible, relevant, and rapidly deployable to meet changing industry demands.

My name is Phil Naish and i am a Senior engineer at Idiada Uk for 3 years with 15 years total experience in the automotive industry. During this time i have worked on various projects from R&D to production for multiple different systems. In recent years i have been mainly working in the are of hydrogen fuel cell systems. Where i have been the lead engineer for developing a fuel cell control strategy that can be used on multiple different BoP designs and easily tailored to fit the needs of the customer. This involved working on many areas of the development cycle including requirements, modeling, testing and simulation for both SW and HW.

Dr Rachel Johnson is a Senior Behaviour Change Officer working in the Future Transport team at Transport for West Midlands. Rachel has supported the SCALE consortium, examining the customer response to automated shuttles. Prior to working for Transport for West Midlands, Rachel has worked in Community and Stakeholder Engagement for HS2, and in Economic Development at a local authority.

Rachel Smith has a long history with the UK’s green hydrogen sector, having spent 23 years at ITM Power, including 8 years as a board member. As one of the founding scientists, she played a central role in transforming the company from a research-led startup into a publicly listed leader in electrolyser technology. Her work helped lay the foundations for ITM’s global reputation in sustainable energy innovation.

Today, Rachel brings that same vision and depth of experience to her work as a founder of Big Sky People, where she coaches leaders to navigate complexity with courage, clarity, and purpose. Her approach blends strategic insight with psychological safety, empowering individuals and organisations to lead with authenticity and impact.

Raja leads the Government’s work on Batteries, Finance and Innovative Technologies (BFIT), where he is responsible for shaping battery policy, delivering the Battery Innovation Programme, and Made Smarter Innovation. He also leads policy to improve access to finance for manufacturing scale-ups, working closely with the British Business Bank to deliver the Capital Growth Programme. Raja is highly experienced in enterprise and growth policy, having previously led the Investment Environment team, working closely with No.10 to establish a concierge service for high-value investors.

He previously led the Strategy Unit in DWP, driving forward welfare reforms at the 2023 Autumn Statement. Prior to this, he led Fiscal and Legislation Strategy at BEIS, negotiating funding for several Energy and Innovation programmes at the 2021 Spending Review. During the pandemic, he led delivery of the Coronavirus Act. He has also held policy roles across government, including developing and delivering the Clean Heat Grant, a programme to increase deployment of low carbon heating, alongside roles in Regulation, Brexit and International Trade. Prior to government, he was a consultant in the private sector on property policy and regulation. He read International Relations at the University of St Andrews.