Our people

Executive Leadership Team

  • Carl Francis: CEO Carl D Francis: CEO

    Carl spent three years as CEO acquiring, running, and successfully exiting Adria Ltd, Ireland's largest textile business. He was previously Group Managing Director of The Caudwell Group, Europe's biggest privately owned mobile telecommunications support business with sales of £1.5bn. Prior to that, he was Chief Executive of Flexonics, the principal division of global precision engineering group Senior plc, and Divisional President at SIEBE plc – where for three years he ran the group's worldwide recovery division. He was also formerly Divisional Chairman and CFO of textile group Charnos plc, and CFO of the International Division of Robertson-Ceco Inc, a then Fortune 500 building products and construction business. A US Certified Public Accountant, Carl is a member of Mensa and has a BSc from the University of Cincinnati. He joined P2i as Group CEO in 2008 and also serves as Chairman of wholly-owned subsidiary P2i Inc.
  • Ady Moores: CFO Ady Moores: CFO

    Ady is responsible for P2i’s financial, legal and administrative functions. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996, Ady joined KPMG where he specialized in advising software and hardware companies. After spending time in the automotive industry, Ady spent three years as European Financial Controller for 3DO, a NASDAQ listed video games publishing company. In 2003, he was appointed Finance Director at Bright Things plc, an innovative interactive entertainment company, which he took from inception through IPO raising in excess of £11.5m. Most recently, Ady was Finance Director at 1E, a Sunday Times Tech Track 100 company specializing in PC power-management software with annual revenues of £15M and 120 employees. Ady joined P2i as Group CFO in 2008; he also serves as Treasurer and Director of wholly-owned subsidiary P2i Inc.
  • Dr Stephen Coulson: CTO Dr Stephen Coulson: CTO

    Stephen invented the P2i technology while carrying out his PhD at Durham University on ‘Liquid repellent surfaces'. He was consequently employed by the MoD to set up a plasma capability and further scale-up the patented technology for industrial applications. In 2001, Stephen moved into project managing the UK Nuclear Biological and Chemical clothing programme, but continued to exploit the plasma technology for a range of commercial applications. Stephen was the founding member of P2i when it was formed in February 2004 and has more than a decade's experience in advanced material sciences and plasma processing.
  • Eric Cohill: VP Sales Eric Cohill: President, P2i Inc

    Eric joined P2i in March 2009, bringing heavyweight sales experience from the medical devices and healthcare industries. He spent over 14 years in increasingly senior sales positions with US Surgical, now Covidien AG, latterly as Business Director of the Auto Suture Division. Other positions include VP Sales with Viking Systems, a publicly-traded company that designs, develops and manufactures high performance laparoscopic vision systems, where he built a US national sales force and launched three dimensional laparoscopic surgical systems to the US hospital market, and sales Director for Laserscope, a leading provider of medical laser systems for surgical and aesthetic applications. Most recently, Eric was President of CytoCore, a Chicago-based clinical diagnostic and screening company specializing in early cancer screening. Eric has a BA in marketing from Kutztown University. In addition to his Presidency of P2i Inc, Eric also manages the Group’s sales activities worldwide.
  • Simon Kellard: Operations Director Simon Kellard: Group Operations Director

    Simon's career spans across research, engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and customer support for the medical and pharmaceutical, industrial analytical and performance motorsport markets. Simon was previously Group Development Manager at Oxford Instruments and most recently Operations Director at Stack Ltd, an Oxfordshire-based engineering company. Simon holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering with postgraduate studies in Design and Technology from Brunel University. He joined P2i in 2008.
  • Dr Nick Rimmer: Applications Director Dr Nick Rimmer: Applications Director

    Joining P2i in 2009 as Technical Commercialization Manager, Nick has recently been promoted to Applications Director. In this new role, Nick is responsible for providing optimized technical solutions for customer-specific applications. He leads our sector-based technical teams. Nick has over 16 years experience working in the semiconductor industry, specifically with equipment suppliers and semiconductor fabrication companies including Aviza Technology and Siemens Microelectronics. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1989 with a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences, specializing in Materials Science, and continued study at Cambridge to complete a PhD studying the microscopic structure of semiconductor devices. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in management from the University of Bath.

    Non-Executive and Advisory Board

  • Andy McLeod: Chairman Andy McLeod: Chairman

    Andy began his career in engineering with Plessey, joining ICL in 1985 where he held various posts including VP Marketing in the US and General Manager of several business units. Andy founded internet services company Aligrafix Ltd in 1995, which he merged with Integra SA of France in 1999, going on to be CEO of the pan-European group and leading its sale to Genuity Inc, a Verizon subsidiary. Today, Andy is CEO of Alivero Ltd and founding partner of New Business Factory LLP. He is also non-executive chairman of Claresys Ltd. Andy holds an MA in Physics from Oxford University and an MBA from the London Business School.
  • Stephen Brooke Stephen Brooke

    Stephen Brooke is co-founder and Managing Partner of Swarraton Partners. Stephen has spent his career in venture capital, working with companies across numerous industries in the UK, US and South Africa. Prior to founding Swarraton, he worked at IP Group plc, where he was Director of Business Development and on the company's main board, and Columbia University Science and Technology Ventures in New York.
  • Dr Steve Callister Dr Steve Callister

    Steve joined Ploughshare in 2007 as Technology Transfer Manager for the Physical Sciences and was recently promoted to Chief Operations Officer. Steve's early career was spent in management consultancy with Price Waterhouse followed by various technical and general management roles within Thames Water's process engineering businesses.  He then worked for a number of small environmental companies in a business development capacity before eventually leading a university spin-out business in the water sector as Managing Director.  Steve has a first class BSc in Physics and a PhD in Polymer Physics from Bristol University.
  • Andrew Hegarty Andrew Hegarty

    Andrew began his career as a corporate financier in 1994 with HSBC Investment Bank, involved in numerous public market transactions including IPOs, capital raisings, and M&A. He left in 1999 to join Hanson Capital, a privately-owned investment and advisory firm, based in London and Los Angeles, which Specialized in early-stage situations and principal investing. In 2001, he joined Touchstone Securities, an independent advisory boutique, based in London, which provided high-level corporate finance advice to large corporates, private families and institutions. He then became a principal with P&P Partners, a private family office engaged in direct investment. In 2006, Andrew was appointed a Director of Synergis Technologies, the UK arm of venture investment firm Porton Capital.
  • Mark Muth Mark Muth

    Mark has 20 years of experience in banking and private equity, most recently as a Managing Director of GE Equity, the private equity arm of the General Electric Company of America. He began his career in the US with Bank of Boston where he became a director of the bank's venture capital arm. He then joined a leading Austrian bank where he created an acquisition finance business, initially in the UK and then in Central Europe. Mark has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MA from Oxford University. Mark joined Unilever Ventures in September 2002.
  • Simon Oliver Simon Oliver

    Simon has extensive experience as a successful industrialist across a wide range of businesses. He founded his own foods business in 1976 and in 1984 formed Mendip Foods Limited. As Chairman he grew it into a £135 million turnover company before its acquisition by Dairy Crest in 1995. Appointed a Non-Executive Director at Diary Crest in 1997 he became Chairman in 2000. In addition, he chaired The Cheese Company (formally Express Foods) MBO in 1992, which was successfully sold in 1995. Chairman of Private Investor Capital Limited, Simon is also a life-long investor in theatre and recently joined the Board of the Ambassador Theatre Group. A trustee of two charities, he farms 670 acres of cereals in Cornwall.