Board of Directors
Nick Prest CBE
Non-Executive Chairman
Nick Prest joined the board of AVEVA in January 2006 and succeeded Richard King as Chairman in April 2006. Following a spell at the Ministry of Defence at the outset of his career Nick joined Alvis, the defence contractor in 1982, becoming Chief Executive in 1989 and Chairman and Chief Executive in 1996. Nick left Alvis following its acquisition by BAE Systems in 2004, by which time the Company had become a leading international business in military land systems. In addition to his position at Alvis, Nick had a prominent role in defence industry representation, serving as Chairman of the Defence Manufacturers' Association and Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Industries Council. In addition to being Chairman of AVEVA Nick is also Chairman of Cohort plc, a defence technical services business floated on AIM in March 2006.
Richard Longdon
Chief Executive
Richard Longdon received an engineering training in the defence industry then gained experience in the project management of high value engineering projects. He moved into sales and held a series of international sales and marketing positions. He joined AVEVA in 1984 and, shortly afterwards, was made marketing manager for the process products. In January 1992 he relocated to Frankfurt, where he was responsible for setting up and running the Group's German office. He returned to the UK as part of the management buyout team in 1994, taking responsibility for the Group's worldwide sales and marketing activities, before being appointed Managing Director in May 1999. He took over as Group Chief Executive in December 1999.
James Kidd
Chief Financial Officer / Executive Director
Appointed 1 January 2011, James is a Chartered Accountant and joined AVEVA in 2004. Prior to his appointment to the Board, James held several senior finance roles within the Group and was Head of Finance from 2006. He joined the Group at the time of the Tribon acquisition and played a significant part in the completion of this transaction and the subsequent integration of the acquired business. His responsibilities have included investor relations, the development of the Group’s overseas subsidiaries, standardisation of financial processes and procedures, as well as being heavily involved in the Group’s recent acquisitions. Prior to joining AVEVA James worked for both Arthur Andersen and Deloitte, serving clients in both transactional and audit engagements.
Jonathan Brooks
Non-Executive Director
Jonathan Brooks joined AVEVA in July 2007 and has a broad range of financial, commercial and international experience. He currently holds a number of Directorships with technology-based companies. He is a Chairman of Xyratex Limited, a Nasdaq-listed provider of enterprise class data storage sub-systems and network technology, and is a Non-Executive Director and chair of the audit committee of IP Group PLC, which commercialises intellectual property originating from leading UK universities. Between 1995 and 2002, he was Chief Financial Officer and a Director of ARM Holdings plc, where he was a key member of the team that developed ARM Holdings to be a leader in its sector.
Philip Dayer
Non-Executive Director
Philip Dayer qualified as a chartered accountant, pursued a corporate finance career in investment banking and specialised in advising UK listed companies. He was first appointed an Advisory Director of Barclays Merchant Bank Limited in 1983 and since then has held the position of Corporate Finance Director with a number of banks. He retired from Hoare Govett Limited in 2004. Philip was a financial consultant to OJSC Rosneft Oil Company, the Russian state-owned oil and gas company, on their flotation in 2006. Philip is a Non-Executive Director of Kazmunaigas Exploration Production JSC, The Parkmead Group plc, Hurricane Exploration plc, Navigators Underwriting Agency Limited, and is Chairman of IP PLUS PLC.
Hervé Couturier
Non-Executive Director
Hervé Couturier joined the AVEVA Board in April 2010. Since 2008 he has been Executive Vice President of SAP AG’s Technology Group. He also serves as a board member for SimCorp A/S, a public Danish software company, and has held management positions at a number of IT companies including Business Objects, the worldwide leader of business intelligence solutions, now part of SAP, S1 Corporation, a provider of software for financial and payment services, and XRT, a leading European treasury management software company, now part of the Sage Group PLC. Hervé holds both an engineering degree and a Master of Science degree from the École Centrale Paris in France. He began his career at IBM in 1982, where he held various engineering and business positions through until 1997.