After growing up in South East London, Ange studied Economics and German at Leeds University and then joined the RAF as a logistics officer in 1996. Her early years were operationally focused, undertaking tours in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, serving in movements, fuels and helicopter support roles. She gained a range of staff experience in Air Command and at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and commanded 44 Mobile Air Movements Squadron. She attended Advanced Command and Staff Course 12 and promoted to Wing Commander on completion in 2009 and was posted to an international engagement role in the MOD. From 2012-2014, she commanded the Airport of Embarkation Wing at RAF Brize Norton, during the redeployment from Afghanistan, and then completed her final tour in rank as the Military Assistant to Director General Joint Force Development. As a Group Captain, she was the logistics lead in Air Command for 3 years and then became the Air Commodities Team Leader within Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), prior to attending the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2020. She promoted to Air Commodore in 2021 and became Head of Futures and the Defence Operational Energy Authority within Defence Support. In April 2024 she became Head of the Commissioning and Managing Organisation in DE&S (overseeing the Logistics, Commodities and Services Transformation Programme). In June 2025 she was appointed as Principal Logistician, a secondary duty as the RAF’s senior serving logistics officer. In February 2026 Ange promoted to Air Vice-Marshal and assumed the position of Director Joint Support within the National Armaments Director Group. Ange loves a wide range of sports and can often be found running in the countryside. She is married to Simon, an RAF engineering officer, and they have 2 teenagers and a very bouncy Springer Spaniel.

George Booth is the Chief Procurement Officer for Lloyds Banking Group plc, bringing over 30 years of experience across global high-tech manufacturing and financial services. Throughout his career, he has held a range of senior roles spanning procurement, supply chain, and commercial leadership, building deep expertise in strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, divestments, and risk management. Reporting to the Group Executive Committee, George leads a team of around 300 colleagues across the UK. His team plays a vital role in delivering value, strengthening resilience, enabling the adoption of new technologies, and advancing sustainable sourcing across the Group. George is passionate about the role procurement can play in driving business performance and innovation, and is energised by working collaboratively with teams, partners, and suppliers to solve complex challenges and deliver meaningful outcomes.

Andrew joined Make UK as National Membership Director from the Cabinet Office in 2018. He was appointed Director-General of Make UK Defence the following year and has overseen 5 years of continuous growth for the business, with membership now approaching 600 companies. Make UK Defence focuses on the defence supply chain, strongly arguing for a greater role and higher percentage spend for SME and mid-tier companies in UK defence whilst helping the big Primes to improve their supply chain performance. Prior to 2018 Andrew enjoyed a 25 year career in the defence and security engineering and manufacturing businesses, including 10 years with Serco Group plc, 6 years with Smiths Detection and two spells with MOD Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul trading funds. He has bid managed around £1.0 Billion of opportunities in his career. 7 years as an independent consultant saw him working for a wide range of SMEs, mid-tiers and large Prime contractors, as well as the E3-D Sentry Team at RAF Waddington and Defence Equipment and Support in Bristol. Andrew was widowed in 2015 and has three children all currently studying at college and university.

John is Deputy Head of the new Office for Small Business Growth and also leads on wider industry outreach and communications activity for MOD. He is the department’s focal point for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise policy. He has worked for the Ministry of Defence in a wide range of roles, including some high-profile policy reviews. He has been involved in a variety of Strategic Supplier Management roles since 2012, managing relationships with some of the UK’s largest defence contractors.

Audrey took up her first role within the Company in 1988, working in the Commercial Department of Ferranti’s Product Support Group. She has held a number of commercial and programme roles across the Company’s Support, Navigation, EO and IRCM business areas. Audrey was Vice President of the Advanced Targeting (AT) business group addressing an exciting array of Electro-Optics and Laser products prior to taking up her current role. Audrey is currently responsible for holistic Contract Management for LEUK; from supporting customer campaigns, negotiations, resulting Customer contracts to the directing the strategy for the supporting Global Supply Chain. She has extensive experience in UK and US Aerospace and Defence contracting and was pivotal in developing our key relationships with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin customers in the US and has supported MoD in securing strategic capability within the UK supply chain.

Hannah Cowley is the Group Responsible Procurement Practitioner and Supply Chain Lead at QinetiQ, specialising in sustainable and ethical sourcing with a strong focus on ESG integration, and operating at the intersection of procurement, risk management, and sustainability to understand, manage,and act on supply chain risks.

Jayne Moorby MBE is Head of Marketing at Oxley Group, an advanced manufacturing company specialising in electronics. She is a highly accomplished marketing leader with 25 years’ experience in the defence and manufacturing sectors. Jayne was awarded an MBE for services to industry and holds an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Cumbria for her contribution to skills development. Passionate about strengthening the UK’s industrial and defence capabilities, Jayne serves on the advisory board for Make UK and the board of the North West Regional Defence and Security Cluster and is Co-Chair of the Defence PaSMEC (Primes and SME Community). She also champions skills and social mobility as Chair of Furness Education and Skills Partnership. She has been recognised by The Manufacturer as one of the UK’s Top 100 ‘Drivers of Cultural Change’.

Katie Ducharme is the Vice President of Supply Chain Management at Ultra Maritime, joining the company in 2023. She brings more than 30 years of supply chain, program management, engineering, and leadership experience to her role, leading a team responsible for the subcontract management and procurement of all material, services, and support across the company. Under her leadership, the Supply Chain organization has become a strategic advantage for Ultra Maritime, successfully negotiating and executing supplier contracts to ensure customers receive high-quality parts on time. Previously, she served as the Business Segment Director for Surface Ship Warfare Systems at General Dynamics Mission Systems and held positions of increasing responsibility in supply chain, engineering, program management, and quality at General Dynamics, Raytheon, and CAES. Katie began her career as a Military Police Officer in the U.S. Army, achieving the rank of Captain. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Katie also serves on the Board of Directors for Soldier On, a private nonprofit dedicated to ending veteran homelessness.

Richelle Bodine is the Supply Chain Director for Boeing Defense United Kingdom (BDUK). In this role, she is responsible for BDUK's Supply Chain vision and strategy, corporate objectives and the implementation of agreed strategies through domestic and international suppliers. More specifically, Richelle is responsible for ensuring Supply Chain execution is consistent with BGS best practice across the three BDUK Business Units (Vertical Lift, Fixed Wing and Digital) supported by Governance and Indirect Procurement teams. As the Director, she drives the Supply Chain development to support the BDUK business objectives and strategies, covering end-to-end supply chain disciplines (Supply Chain Planning, Asset Management, Supplier Management and Procurement, and Warehouse and Distribution). Preceding this assignment, Richelle was the Senior Manager of the C-17 Globemaster Planning organization. In this role, she led Asset Management, Forecasting and Cost Account Management functions located in Long Beach, CA and Warner Robins, GA. Preceding this assignment, Richelle led and stood up the first BGS Forecasting and New Business Team across BGS Commercial and Government programs with teams located in California, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Washington and Pennsylvania. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing the Supply Chain integration for all BGS PBL new business proposals and spares forecasting services. Prior to BGS, Richelle served as a leader overseeing business capture and development where she helped shape supply chain strategies including concept of operations for C-17 USAF and FMS customers. Richelle has also held leadership roles supporting the Route Clearance Vehicle Modernization program for the US Army, Depot Heavy Maintenance Planning, Provisioning and Configuration Management within Boeing. Richelle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Integrated Supply Chain & Operations Management.

Emma Cox is Managing Director of Marlin Environmental Services, an established leading provider of specialist marine engineering, environmental and industrial cleaning, and waste management services - supporting the defence, maritime and commercial sectors.Emma is passionate about the important part SME's play in supporting the defence sector and has extensive experience of navigating procurement and compliance requirements whilst building strong, collaborative relationships with customers and supply chain partners. With extensive experience in business leadership, operational excellence and strategic growth, Emma has a strong track record of developing customer-focused solutions, securing major contracts and supporting sustainable business growth within highly regulated industries. 

Kieran Kelly is a technology entrepreneur and digital transformation leader with over two decades of experience across cybersecurity, distributed ledger technology, and enterprise solutions. He founded ubloquity to solve one of the defence and aerospace supply chain's most pressing challenges: the opacity, fragmentation, and compliance burden that slows even the most capable supply chains down. Under Kieran's leadership, ubloquity has built a platform enabling defence primes, Tier 1 manufacturers, and their supply chains to identify, authenticate, and move assets with full traceability, security clearance-grade compliance, and real-time visibility — from SME supplier to global prime. Kieran's career spans senior leadership at defence specialist - delivering secure communications for defence, government, and critical national infrastructure -and pioneering enterprise blockchain solutions. A TEDx speaker and JOSCAR-registered supplier, he regularly challenges industry audiences to reimagine how digital identity and connected data can build truly trusted defence supply chains.

Paul Huggett is the UK Managing Director at Hellios Information, who helps buying organisations in finance, defence, aerospace, and security simplify the collection and management of their supplier information to strengthen their supply chains. Paul has over 30 years of experience in supplier compliance, relationship management, operational risk, and organisational change. He leads UK operations and account management, driving the development and growth of the Financial Services and Defence communities. Prior to joining Hellios, Paul held senior roles at Nationwide Building Society, Bank of Ireland, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays Wealth, and Deutsche Bank. Earlier in his career, he worked in internal audit, led transformation and outsourcing programmes, and managed global technology deployments. Paul is committed to sharing knowledge, and regularly speaks at conferences and events, to share his perspective on Third-Party and Supply Chain Risk.