John is Vice-Chancellor and CEO of the Coventry University Group. John is a double graduate of the University and has a background in information technology and telecommunications. He previously worked for a number of private sector organisations including JHP Group, Jaguar Cars and BT - including a period as a sponsored Research Fellow based at Martlesham Research Labs, Ipswich. In 2015, John was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Fellowship of the British Computer Society for his services to the IT industry.

John has held high-profile roles at regional, national and European levels promoting innovation, technology and economic development. He is a non-executive Director of Health Education England (the primary funder of health related education in England), is a Council member of InnovateUK (part of the UK’s National Research Agency (UKRI)) and is a Board member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership. John is additionally an advisory board member of the UK’s National Growth Board which is responsible for the oversight of the UK’s European Structural Funds Programme.

Previously, he has also spent periods of time working overseas including roles in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany as well as being a long-term advisor to the European Commission. John is an Extraordinary Professor in the area of enterprise and entrepreneurship at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where in 2019 he additionally received an Honorary Doctorate for his services to UK Higher Education. In the same year he was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours with a CBE for his Services to Higher Education.

Richard joined Coventry in 2016 and is responsible for the research mission at the University. He started his career at Imperial College London where he spent nineteen years as a researcher and academic in the Department of Materials before joining the University of Warwick as the Professor of Engineering Materials in the Warwick Manufacturing Group.

He held a number of leadership roles at Warwick including Academic Director of Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Chief Technology Officer for the WMG High Value Manufacturing Catapult centre. During his time at Warwick he established research relationships with a number of major companies, including Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Steel, Cummins and Tata Motors and developed a number of research collaborations in India.

Richard has been involved in the UK Automotive Council for five years, first as a member of the Lightweight Structures Working Group and more recently as a member of the Manufacturing Technology Working Group. He is a member of the Advisory Board Member for the Knowledge Intensive Product Realisation (KIPR) project at Jönköping University, Sweden, and chairs the Strategic Advisory Board for the Designing Alloys for Resource Efficiency (DARE) EPSRC project based at Sheffield University.