SMS Staff

Senior Management

Mark Vellacott, Managing Director (BSc, MSc, MBA, FRAeS, CEng)

 

Prior to joining Structural Monitoring Systems, Mr Vellacott was the Technical Director for the Asia Pacific Space Centre project. In this role Mr Vellacott was involved in the management of relationships with various federal government ministers and their departments to secure a space license, establish agreements, establish US / Australia free trade agreement concessions, strategic investment incentives, and environmental approvals associated with the major infrastructure project implementation for the worlds first commercial spaceport (project value of $600 million). Prior to this Mr Vellacott was the Head of Engineering Technology at BAE Systems Australia, responsible for the managing the company’s internal ($3 million per annum) and external (total program value $20 million) technology acquisition programs including operation of the Technology Board.

 

During his time with BAE Systems Australia, Mr Vellacott also represented BAE Systems as Chairman of the Board and President of the Electronic Industry Association, and on a number of technology based Advisory Boards.  Prior to joining BAE Systems Australia Mr Vellacott was a Head Office Executive with British Aerospace PLC in the United Kingdom. In this position Mr Vellacott was involved in strategic investment assessment and approval, merger & acquisition activities, and manufacturing strategy development for British Aerospace.  Mr Vellacott has had a total of 21 years of experience with British Aerospace and subsequently BAE SYSTEMS in the areas of Military Aircraft and Corporate Development. 

 

Mr Vellacott was elected as a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2001, and is a Chartered Engineer. Mr Vellacott holds a B.Sc in Aeronautical Engineering form Kingston University, an M.Sc in Systems Engineering from Surrey University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Henley Management College. 

 

Mr Vellacott will be driving the commercialisation activities in this project and will be contributing to the technical specifications in the sensor development program.

 

Mike Southern, Chief Operating Officer (BE)

Mr Southern has held a number of senior executive positions in technology oriented organisations. As General Manager of Orbital Engine Company Mr Southern effectively managed 200 people and an operating budget of $24 million to achieve the goals of the company. In this role at Orbital Mr Southern was responsible for the delivery of all operational services in support of the engineering research and development, and major customer projects. Orbital’s infrastructure included the largest automotive test facility in the southern hemisphere and world-class machine shop and technical development resources.

 

Mr Southern has also held the position of motorcycle systems Technical Director of a Siemens VDO – Orbital joint venture company Synerject in Italy. In this role Mr Southern was responsible for all phases of the development and production of motorcycle fuel injection systems. This activity included the in-house manufacturing and test of embedded control software and gasoline fuel pumps, as well as the prototype development, specification, sourcing and supply of system components from Europe, USA, Australia and China. Synerject was located at a Siemens VDO facility in Italy servicing the Italian and French motorcycle manufacturers.

The key achievement of this group under the direction of Mr Southern was the introduction of components to enable the first ever direct injection motorcycle.

 

Prior to joining SMS Mr southern was the Chief Operating Officer of a world leading computer vision company Seeing Machines. Mr Southern brings a wealth of customer, technology, licensing, product specification, development and implementation knowledge to SMS. Mr Southern has gained a Bachelor of Engineering and is a member of the IEEE.

 

Colin McDonald, Company Secretary/Chief Financal Officer, CA

Mr McDonald is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience in finance and accounting roles and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Western Australia. Mr McDonald has gained extensive corporate experience from senior executive positions, most recently as Company Secretary and Chief Financial Officer at the ASX listed Visiomed Group Limited. In this role Mr McDonald worked on the successful merger of the Visiomed Group with a German firm and was involved in frequent capital raising activities.

 

Prior to this Mr McDonald was involved (in a Financial Controller/Company Secretary capacity) in  taking a small mining company, Mount Edon Gold Mines Ltd, from an early stage company to a large producer employing 120 personnel. Mr McDonald’s major achievements in this role include involvement in creating successful feasibility studies, successful management of risk strategies and implementation of management reporting systems.

 

Mr McDonald has worked successfully on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity raisings, financial and management reporting and treasury management. His experience in the financial management of foreign subsidiaries will be of value to SMS to maintain the financial stability of the company. In addition Mr McDonald’s experience in managing cash flows, and involvement with planning and implementation of growth strategies of small to medium firms involved in rapid growth will be invaluable to SMS.

 

Andrew Chilcott, Vice President Sales & Marketing (BSc, MIMechE)

Mr Chilcott has recently joined SMS from Airbus where he held the position of Regional Sales Director. As Vice President – Sales & Marketing Andrew is responsible for the overall management of the sales and marketing activities of SMS, and in particular the management and coordination of the development of business in the commercial and military aircraft market, including the development of strategic business development plans, marketing plans and revenue forecasts and budgets.

 

Mr Chilcott brings his valuable experience to assist in the commercialisation of CVM systems from growing Airbus market presence in the Pacific and African regions involving the management of marketing activities as well as the building and execution of sales campaigns, and including the communication of economic benefits of the technologies applied to Airbus aircraft.

 

Prior to joining Airbus Mr Chilcott was the Rolls Royce Sales & Marketing Manager liaising between Rolls-Royce and Airbus marketing, sales and contractual teams. Mr Chilcott has a Material Science background and prior to developing his Sales & marketing career was the Rolls Royce Principal Engineer, Composites with the roll of designing and testing of various engine components in composite materials and the promotion and marketing of composite components to both military and commercial projects.

 

Alistair Lang, Head of Programs – Europe (MBE, BA, CEng, FRAeS, FIMechE)

Air Commodore Lang completed a full career in the Royal Air Force as an engineer officer.  He had seven practical appointments on front line units in the UK and overseas.  He held a series of staff appointments, mainly concerned with the airworthiness and fleet management of fast jet aircraft.  He attended RAF College Cranwell, the RAF Staff College Bracknell and the Royal College of Defence Studies.  He joined the SMS Group in October 2003.