Simon joined ADS in July 2018 heading up Business Development within our defence team and is based in our London office With a focus on the UK market he helps members and in particular SMEs access opportunities and insight that in turn creates more membership value and ROI Recent activity includes an  engaging with Team Tempest  briefing and a meet the primes event in the USA where 260 representatives from  Boeing   attended Simon brought a wealth of knowledge within the air domain to this role and has rapidly grown his experience and enthusiasm across the broader defence realm Primarily engaging with and supporting industry he leads on key ADS activity including UK supplier engagement events Fireside chats  with senior Front-Line Commands Regional defence briefings Maritime land and air annual industry update briefings Business development opportunities with a focus on the UK SME supply chain He also oversees a number of our defence committees and special interest groups including the  Defence SME Committee   Defence Mid-Tier Forum   Training and Simulation Industry Group   C6I   New Professionals Forum   Sustainable Procurement Working Group  and  High Powered Radio Frequency Forum In addition Simon works closely with the membership team supporting new members as they start their engagement with ADS ensuring they get maximum value out of their membership CONFERENCES AND EVENTS Simons career started in business and consumer events which led him into a career in healthcare building a conference division for a medical publisher He then headed up business development for the BMJ Group After 10 years in the health sector he joined the Royal Aeronautical Society as Head of Business Development before taking up the business development role at ADS Outside of work Simon has two loves in life his two sons and Chelsea FC His hopes are that his boys will have a career in aviation as they have sadly inherited their fathers football skills so playing for Chelsea is no longer an option