John Griffiths
VP Nissan Europe

John Griffiths joined Nissan in 1990 as Senior Controller in the Production Control Department. John Fulfilled a number of roloes in production control at Senior controller and manager level prior to spening time at Nissan's European headquarters as Manager of Logistics Strategy. John was made Production manager in 1996, resposnible for body assembly on the Sunderland site. He was appointed General manager, Production Control in October 1998 and promoted to Director in 1999. In 2003 he was appointed Vice President, Supply Chain Management with Nissan Europe.

Bill Eagen
Purchasing Director

Bill Eagen became Director of Purchasing Delphi Europe in 1999. He joined General Motors in 1963 where he held various Purchasing assignments at Chevrolet. In 1985, he was appointed Director of Purchasing, General Motors of Canada and in 1988 he was named Director of Supplier Management, General Motors Truck & Bus. He joined Delphi in 1994 as Metallic Commodity Director.

Guy Morris
Senior Manager, Powertrain Systems

Guy Morris is Senior Manager responsibility for Powertrain Systems within Visteon Europe.A graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Nottingham University, Guy’s 28 year Automotive career has involved Powertrain development with Rolls-Royce and Ford Motor Company in the UK and Germany. In 1997 Guy joined Visteon to lead the European development of innovative Powertrain products. 

Hugh Blaxill
Chief Engineer, R&D

Hugh Blaxill (33) gained a BSc and MPhil in low friction diesel engines at Bath University. Following 4 years at a UK-based engineering technology provider, Hugh has worked at Cosworth Technology for 6 years, and now heads a team of 24 working on prototype and production engines, research projects and high performance petrol engine development.He is married with two children, lives near Banbury, and sails competitively in his spare time.

Tony Young
Process Leader Craftsmanship

Tony has over 16 years experience in product, transport and automotive engineering and design. Worked on interiors of Ford ka, Puma and Mondeo and spent time at Ford/Otosan in Istanbul before joining JCI in 2000. Currently leading JCI’s Craftsmanship Perceived Quality process in Europe. This is a powerful team-based activity which both defines and measures vehicle perceived quality, and which is reinforcing a “culture of craftsmanship” at JCI.

Luke Barker, Director

Luke Barker graduated from Loughborough in 1986, joining Jaguar cars as a Powertrain development engineer. He also held senior engineering and project management posts at Cosworth Engineering before joining with there colleagues in 1999 to found Integral Powertrain Limited. Luke has particular interest in advanced design methods and in CO2 emissions.

Jonathan Boyce
Vice – President Automotive Professional Services

Jonathan Boyce is the VP of Automotive Professional Services for PTC taking care of business consulting and implementation services for PTC’s global automotive accounts. During his career in engineering IT over the last 25 years, Jonathan has specialised in the Automotive sector, particularly in disciplines related to body styling and engineering applications, acting as a consultant to many of the worlds vehicle OEM’s and suppliers.

Gary Doy, Design Director

Gary Doy is Joint Managing Director of Design Q Limited. Formerly a senior designer with Jaguar cars on the XK8 and S-type saloon, Gary went on to found Design Q, a premium transportation design consultancy, with Howard Guy in 1997. He has since been responsible for developing Q’s client base with highlights including the Jensen CV8, Princess Yachts V65, Aston Martin QV8 and the recently released Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Suite.

Carl Wacker
VP Marketing & Sales

Carl has been in the automotive industry since 1988 when he started working for General Motors and moved on to head Schrader Electronics' Sales & Marketing operations in 1997.  He comes from an Electrical Engineering background and has a Masters in International Finance.

Roy Grelland
Product Manager, TPMS

Roy Grelland works for SensoNor as a Product Manager for TPMS sensors. Roy started working for SensoNor in January 1994, in the Development department, and has been working on developing TPMS sensors since 1995. Lately Roy has been working in the Marketing department, and now holds the product responsibility for the TPMS business within SensoNor.

Peter Riendeau
VP of Marketing

Peter Riendeau has worked in the Semiconductor and Sensor industry since 1985. His experiences include Engineering and Marketing for sensors at the IC and module level. He joined Melexis in 1997. Prior to joining Melexis he worked for Cherry Electrical Products, Concord Sensors and Sprague Semiconductor. Mr. Riendeau holds an ASEE degree from the New Hampshire Technical Institute.

Andrew Little
Marketing Director

Ten years with EMI Music culminated in the role of International Marketing Director for EMI Classics with responsibility for marketing major names such as Nigel Kennedy, Maria Callas and Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio. After music came telecoms at Motorola Two-Way radio followed by Marketing Director at QAS Systems in 1997. He joined Navigation Technologies in 1999 as Marketing Director Europe and now leads the company’s global consumer and retail business. Andrew still has a passion for music – and England rugby.

David Gorshkov
VP Operations

Dave Gorshkov is VP Operations for AXEON having joined the company in 2001.  He has spent over 25 years in the Electronics and Wireless industry and has spent the past 16 years in various senior commercial, business development and ‘hands on’ international high technology sales management roles. Dave is also a committee member for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) OBD TOPTEC.

New Speakers & Panelists

• Christian Burrer, Marketing Director, Infineon

• Danny Campbell, Craftsmanship Manager, Industrial Design, Intier Automotive Interiors

• Simon Carter, Business Relations Manager for Asioan-based companies in the UK,
  DTI, Automotive Unit

• Nick Ford, Product Director, Steering Systems, TRW

• Pete James, Chief Engineer, Electronics, Prodrive

• Philippe Klein, Director of Industrial Performance Division, Renault

• Professor John MacIntyre, Chair of Automotive Business Development, University of Sunderland

• Pat O'Leary, Software Engineer, ALPS Automotive

• Robin Paling, TECD Systems Engineering Manager, Motorola

• Mark Phillips, Director, Product Planning, Steering Systems, Jaguar