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Board of Directors and Officers

Sir David Brown, FREng CEng, Chairman

Sir David Brown was appointed to the Board of DRS as a non-Executive Director and Deputy Chairman in August 2008 and became Chairman in May 2009. He graduated in electrical engineering in 1972 and worked for Motorola from 1991 to 2008 first as Director of UK Operations and later as Chairman of Motorola Limited. He is currently senior independent Director of Ceres Power Holdings plc, a non-Executive Director of Domino Printing Sciences plc and a non-Executive Director of BSI. Sir David is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Quality Institute and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. He was President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, President of the Chartered Quality Institute, President of the Federation of the Electronics Industry and President of the Association for Science Education. He was knighted in 2001 for Services to British Industry.

Steve Gowers, Chief Executive Officer

Steve was appointed Chief Executive Officer in November 2012. His previous positions have included VP of Business Development at Numerix LLC and Corporate & Business Development Director for Misys plc as well as prior roles as Chief Technology Officer and Director of Development at Misys and at Oracle Corporation, including a period of time in the USA. He has also held senior positions in professional services roles. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Mark Tebbutt, ACMA, Finance Director

Mark Tebbutt qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1984. He gained a broad operational knowledge of financial management with Bass and Grand Met before joining Misys as the Financial Director for two of its subsidiaries. Thereafter, he held an operational role for six years in Stanley Works and joined DRS in 2001 as Head of Finance. Mark was appointed Finance Director in March 2002

Alison Reed, non-Executive Director

Alison Reed was appointed to the Board of DRS as non-Executive Director on 1st January 2011. Alison was appointed the Company's senior independent director on 25th May 2011. Previous experience includes 21 years with Marks and Spencer plc, ultimately as Chief Financial Officer; Chief Financial Officer of Standard Life plc with responsibility for the flotation and  non-Executive Director of HSBC Bank plc.  Alison is a non-Executive Director of British Airways Plc and The Movement of Non-Mobile Children (Whizz Kidz).

Dame Sandra Dawson OBE, non-Executive Director

Dame Sandra was appointed to the Board of DRS as a non-Executive Director in February 2012. She graduated from Keele University and has experience in academia, government and financial services. Dame Sandra is one of the Deputy Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge and KPMG Professor of Management Studies at Judge Business School, Cambridge. She was formerly Director of Judge Business School (1995-2006) and Master of Sidney Sussex College (1999-2009). She currently sits as a non-Executive Director on the boards of the Financial Services Authority and Oxfam, and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology and the UK India Round Table. Her previous appointments include non-Executive roles at Barclays plc, Barclays Bank plc and JP Morgan Fleming Claverhouse Investment Trust plc. In 2004 she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire for her contributions to higher education and management research, and in 2006 she was inducted into the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Hall of Fame.

John Linwood, non-Executive Director

John Linwood was appointed to the Board of DRS as a non-Executive Director in January
2012. He has 30 years of technology experience, including 15 years’ delivery of internet-based services to global audiences and has held senior positions at both Microsoft and Yahoo. John is currently Chief Technology Officer for the BBC where he is responsible for technology direction and delivery including all broadcast, distribution and IT-based technology. He currently sits on an advisory board for Brunel University.

Sally Hopwood, BSc, Company Secretary

After studying economics and history at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Sally retrained as a solicitor, qualifying in 1990. She joined Argos as Company Solicitor in 1992 and since leaving Argos in 1998, has held various corporate and commercial legal roles, working in both private practice and in-house in the banking and retailing sectors. She joined DRS in 2005 as Legal and Contracts Manager and was appointed Company Secretary of the UK subsidiary companies in 2006 and Company Secretary for the DRS Group in December 2007.