Allan E Cook CBE DSc

Chairman, High Value Manufacturing Catapult & Non-Executive Chair, HS2 Ltd

Allan Cook was a non-Executive Director and Chairman of WS Atkins from September 2009 until 3rd July 2017 when Atkins was acquired by SNC-Lavalin. He was Chairman of Helios Towers plc until March 2018. He is a chartered engineer with more than 40 years’ international experience in the automotive, aerospace and defence industries. He was Chief Executive of Cobham PLC until the end of December 2009. Prior to that, he held senior roles at GEC- Marconi, BAE Systems and Hughes Aircraft. He was Deputy Chairman of Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Limited until 31st December 2015 and is a Member of the operating Executive Board of J.F. Lehman & Company based in New York.

Allan has been Chairman of High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd since December 2018 and was Industry coChair of the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) until that date. Since March 2018, Allan has also been Chairman of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC) and, until August 2016, was the lead non-Executive Member of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). He was Chairman of the UK Trade & Investment’s Advanced Engineering Sector Advisory Board until October 2013 and Chairman of FINMECCANICA UK Ltd and Chairman of Selex ES until the end of December 2014. Until 31st March 2017, he was also Chairman of SEMTA – the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies.

He is past President of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and past President of the Society of British Aerospace and Defence Companies (SBAC). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering where he has served as a Trustee and Vice President. He also chairs the Academy’s employer-focused Diversity Leadership Group.
Allan became a Fellow of the China 48 Group Club in December 2015 and he is also a member of the Chairman’s Forum with the World Economic Forum. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2008 and received an honorary Doctorate in Science from Cranfield University in 2016.