Meet our Judges

Gary has worked for nearly 40 years in the logistics industry, in both operational and commercial roles. His unparalleled experience has ranged from operating a fleet of petroleum vehicles nationwide to overseeing several general warehouse facilities across the county.

In 2000 Gary was invited to join Meachers Logistics to take responsibility for its growth through sales and marketing. His success led him, in 2010 to being asked to join the board, to include in his role overseeing the commercial and operations side of the business.

Helen Tveitan is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Carisbrooke Shipping Holdings Ltd, a
specialist owner / operator of mini bulk and project cargo ships controlling a fleet of 29 ships. From
2007 and prior to her CEO appointment, she served as non-executive director for the company.
Helen has worked in the shipping industry since 1992 and started her career in ship finance with DVB
Nedship Bank for whom she started the branch office in London in 1996. From 2001 onwards, she
has held several positions as Finance Director for shipping companies, most notably for Eastern Bulk
between 2010 and 2017.

Helen has served as non-executive director for Ardmore Shipping
Corporation, a tanker owner listed on NYSE, since 2018. She also serves as non executive director on
the board of Taylor Maritime Investments Limited which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Helen is an economist graduated from Rotterdam’s Erasmus University in 1992.

Brooke runs the Products & Training Services business within
Maritime Services. P&TS is a £250m per year portfolio business
delivering radars, underwater weapons, training, autonomous
systems and energy solutions to UK and international customers
with 1100 employees across 5 sites. Under her leadership, the
business has gone from a period of decline into profitable growth,
securing UK programmes and growing export orders too.
Brooke is a BAE Systems Programme Management Fellow, a
Business Coach for the Advanced Leaders Programme and for
2023 one of the two Executive Sponsors for the Emerging Leaders
Programme.
In 2022, Brooke was elected a Non Executive Director of the Solent
Local Enterprise Partnership and Chair of their Skill Advisory Panel,
fostering economic growth in the Solent region through collaboration
between public, private sectors and local government.
Brooke joined Maritime Services in July 2016 as Transformation Director, leading programmes to
simplify and streamline the organisation, culture, processes and systems of the business.
On joining BAE Systems in 2014 as Director Technical Services and Consulting, Brooke led the
restructuring of the BAES Advanced Technology Centres including the transition of the Great Baddow
Advanced Technology Centre into Applied Intelligence to establish the Applied Intelligence Laboratories
which she then ran.
Prior to that Brooke worked for Raytheon UK as Director Strategy, Government Relations and
Programme Management, leading the development of the Strategy for the UK business, managing
relationships with wider government and also ensuring the effective delivery and staffing of the UK
programmes. Brooke was also Raytheon UK’s Diversity Champion and their first Innovation Champion.
Brooke also held various other positions at Raytheon UK including Bid Director and then Programme
Director for the £750m e-Borders programme, Head of National Security and Training, setting up a new
P&L for the business and Head of Enterprise Process Improvement, leading the internal change and
process improvement programme.
Brooke has also worked at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills including as Private
Secretary to the Secretary of State. She has a PhD in Biophysics.
Brooke is a proud mother to two boys and also enjoys keeping fit, still finding the time to run and attend
Pilates classes.

Catherine is Head of Strategy in the Department for Transports’ Maritime Directorate. Her focus is
on the delivery of Maritime 2050 and the development of regional maritime clusters across the
UK. Catherine’s civil service career has spanned across a number of transport modes including
cycling, aviation and rail as well time working in housing and regeneration projects.

Helen is a Research Fellow at Warsash Maritime School, Solent University. Helen is interested in the sociology
of work and in particular the various ways in which work and employment are organised. Her research explores
the various ways in which the organisation of work and employment at sea impact on the occupational health,
safety and well-being of seafarers. She has published in a number of journals including Marine Policy and The
Economic and Labour Relations Review.
In addition to undertaking research Helen teaches on various seafaring ‘short courses’ including Human Element,
Leadership and Management and Shipboard Safety Officer. Prior to her academic career Helen was employed
as a seafarer and worked onboard deep-sea product/chemical tankers.

Henry is a leader in innovation and technology for the maritime sector. He heads a group of planners, engineers and technologists at the Catapult, providing impartial ‘innovation as a service’ for government, local authorities, academic and industry partners.

He has extensive experience in designing and developing innovative solutions to meet complex challenges, setting strategic direction and investment priorities, and launching strategic initiatives to drive future growth. Before joining the Catapult, Henry worked at BAE Systems leading some of the cutting-edge development in the maritime sector collaborating with MoD, Dstl, industry and academic.

Henry is also an Adjunct Professor at Southampton University, Chair of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub Strategic Advisory Network, Fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Chair for Future Mobility Challenge at Institution of Engineering and Technology Transport Policy Panel. Henry is passionate about catalysing step-change improvements in the way people live, work and travel through innovation and technology.

Ann is a Chartered Master Mariner and Chartered Marine Technologist
who grew up in the Solent region as part of a long-line of seafarers. This
contributed to her career choice in going to sea never being cast into
doubt. After a successful seagoing career worldwide, Ann spent seven
further years outside of the UK holding a number of management
positions globally for various maritime and oil and gas organisations. She
returned to the Solent region in 2020 to take up the position of Chief
Vessel Operator with Ocean Infinity in Southampton, until March this
year.
In addition to being the Managing Director of Trinity Maritime, Ann also
volunteers for the Solent-region based maritime charity Safer Waves in her spare time.

Robin became Chair of Maritime UK, the umbrella body for the maritime sector, in January 2023.
Robin joined the Port of London Authority (PLA) as Chief
Executive on 31 March 2014. The PLA is responsible for
promoting the safe and sustainable use of the tidal River
Thames, the UK’s biggest port and most diverse inland
waterway. His earlier career was in the UK civil service,
including spells as Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime
Minister and three Secretaries of State for Environment and
Transport. He led work on the UK Climate Change Act, which
became law in 2007 and as a Director in Defra set up the
Government’s Adapting to Climate Change programme and
oversaw the creation of the Canal & River Trust.
Robin is a non-executive director of the Thames Freeport, Red One Ltd, the UK Major Ports Group, the
Thames Skills Academy and the Thames Estuary Growth Board; he chairs Estuary Services Ltd, a wholly
owned PLA subsidiary company; and is a Younger Brother at Trinity House.

Having joined the Royal Navy in January 1990, John achieved an engineering degree at the RNEC
Manadon, followed by two Masters degrees, electrical engineering from University college London
and defence studies from Kings College London.
Entering the Fleet he served in various sea appointments deploying worldwide, included being the:
Deputy Marine Engineer Officer of HMS Northumberland, Marine Engineer Officer of HMS Iron
Duke, Senior Engineer to HMS Invincible and Commander Marine Engineer of HMS Illustrious.
After being promoted to Captain in 2016, John became the Team Leader of the Type 45 Strategic
Class Authority responsible for all aspects of Class engineering and support. John assumed command
of HMS Sultan and the role of Commandant of the Defence School of Marine Engineering in May
2019 where he delivered Marine and Air Engineering training for the Royal Navy within 22 Group
RAF.
In June 2022, Commodore Voyce assumed command of His Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth as
Naval Base Commander, home of 2/3rd of the Surface Fleet.
John lives in Hampshire and his main interests, outside of supporting his twin adult daughters and
partner Marie, are sailing his Westerly Pageant, the theatre, skiing, surfing, running, watching rugby
and cricket, and playing the trombone.

Sarah Fairweather is a Legal Director at Jaffa & Co, a specialist marine and aviation law firm. Sarah is a highly experienced and widely respected marine and aviation finance and transactional lawyer. She advises clients in the marine sector on superyacht and commercial marine sale and purchase transactions, marine financing and re-financing arrangements, as well as chartering, ownership and registration structuring. Her loyal client base includes asset finance lenders, investors and financial institutions as well as owners, operators and a prestigious international flag carrier.

Sarah has been recognized as a Next Generation Partner for Aviation, South East by Legal 500 (2020, 2021 and 2022) and is a Spears Top Recommended Aviation & Yachts Lawyer

Sarah lives and works in Hampshire, having spent a number of years in Hong Kong. When not working Sarah enjoys spending time with her husband and rugby loving sons, walking in the countryside and going to the gym.

Nikki Sayer is proud to head up the Customs Division of Casper Shipping and honoured to have been appointed as the 1st female Chair of the ICS, North East branch. She is the founder of the North East School of Shipping which was established in 2019 who educate, engage and enable young people to best understand the career opportunities that exist and ensure that they are job ready.

Appointed Commissioner for the Maritime Skills Commission which was established by the Dept for Transport to lead the sector’s work in ensuring the maritime sector has a pipeline of talented people to serve all parts of the sector covering shipping, ports, leisure marine, engineering, science and professional services.

Anthony Bennett served in the Royal Navy for 35 years, travelling as far south as the Antarctic and as
far north as the Arctic and all points between the Mediterranean and the Pacific Ocean. He also
served with the Royal Marines for US Desert Training and as the Flight Deck Officer for the
amphibious landing operations. His shore service included training roles at BRNC Dartmouth and the
Royal Naval Academy of Leadership and Management which including leading expeditions in Nepal
and Kenya. His HQ roles included leading on the Royal Navy drive to improve leadership and
implementation of a reinvigorated Divisional System (the RNs system for management of its
personnel. He also served in the UK NATO HQ and represented the UK at NATO meetings for UK
operational commitments. He was the lead Guard Officer for HM Queen Mother’s funeral and
served as the Royal Navy Field Gun Competition Chief Judge for several years. Since leaving the RN,
Anthony’s second career included Business Consulting and setting up Ecomar Propulsion Limited for
which he is the Chief Operating Officer. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and
Development and is a Master of Science in both Personnel and Development (Portsmouth) and Lean
Operations (Cardiff).

President and Director of British Marine and Maritime UK also Managing Director of Wave
International Ltd, Paul has many years of expertise ranging from boatbuilding, oilfield engineering to
developing, designing, manufacturing and distributing worldwide a range of filtration products to
remove overboard pollutants that make boating more sustainable.

Ross McNally, CEO and Executive Chair of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, has 40 years’ Board
level experience across business representation organisations and a range of service sectors. Providing
leadership of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce his focus is on strategy, development, stakeholder
engagement and ensuring the collective voice of Hampshire businesses shapes policy objectives.
Ross was formerly Chief Executive of the network of accredited Chambers of Commerce in the South
East of England. At CEO-level his career spans leisure and tourism, franchise development, national
business association and Higher Education. Ross is educated to post graduate level in business and
leadership management with skills in strategic business direction, positioning and transformation.
Ross is a non-executive Director of Enterprise M3 LEP.