Dr Simon Harwood

UK Strategy and Technology Director Leonardo

Simon has over 30 years’ experience in the defence and security industry having had experience in Government, industry and academia.

As the strategy and technology director for Leonardo in the UK Simon is responsible for the evolution of Leonardo in the digital age, directing the company strategy, research, development and innovation portfolio to execute the programme of work. Simon is also a non-executive director and advisor to numerous technology start-ups; he has also just finished an eight-year term as a District Councillor.

Simon was previously the director of defence and security at Cranfield University, a member of the University’s senior management team and managing director of a services spin-out company from the University. As part of this role Simon was the chairman and academic advisor to Security Minister, and hence Home Secretary through the Resilience, Intelligence and Security Community (RISC) group.

Prior to this Simon was the strategy and business development director for the international arm of Boeing’s Phantom Works, the advanced prototyping arm of the Boeing Company. Responsible for a portfolio of products and services Simon helped establish Boeing (defense, space and security) globally and develop a successful brand for Boeing outside of the USA.

Simon previously worked for Her Majesty’s Government. Serving initially as the Royal Navy’s Electronic Warfare Operations Analyst, this position led to Simon becoming one of the initial authors of the MoD’s concept of Network Enabled Capability (NEC), and the Ministry of Defence Architectural Framework (MODAF). Simon later worked for the Capability Manager (CM) for Information Superiority as the principal scientist for Command and Battle-space Management, which saw him responsible for the research and technology aspects of the CM’s programme. Following several years working for the British Embassy in Washington DC, Simon's last role in the Ministry of Defence was with Niteworks.