Board of Directors
Philip Aiken
Non-Executive Chairman
Philip Aiken has 40 years’ experience in industry and commerce, having been from 1997 to 2006 Group President Energy of BHP Billiton. Prior to that he held senior positions with BTR plc (1995 to 1997) and BOC Group (1970-1995). Other roles have included Senior Advisor for Macquarie Capital Europe, Chairman of the 2004 World Energy Congress and serving on the Boards of the Governor of Guangdong International Council, the World Energy Council and Monash Mt Eliza Business School. He is Chairman of Robert Walters plc, Senior Independent Director of Kazakhjmys plc and a Director of National Grid plc, Essar Energy plc and Miclyn Express Offshore.
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, 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.