Management

Dr Alice Bunn OBE

President

Dr Alice Bunn OBE joined UKspace as President in September 2022. She is also CEO of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). Alice joined IMechE in July 2021, moving from her role as International Director at the UK Space Agency, where she was responsible for increasing the UK’s global influence in science, security and trade through space.

Alice sits on the World Economic Forum Future Council on space technology. She is a Fellow of both IMechE and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and sits on the board of trustees at the charity SwimTayka, and acts as an advisor to OrbitFab Ltd.

In June 2022, Alice was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to the UK space sector and to charity.

Doug Liddle

Chair

Doug Liddle is the Chair of UKspace, Director of Space at BAE Systems, and CEO of In-Space Missions, which he co-founded in 2015.

He has huge experience in the space sector, having worked for the Defence Research Agency (now QinetiQ) and Surrey Satellites, before establishing In-Space Missions in 2015 to develop new space-enabled services and offer expert consultancy to industry, academia and government. In 2021, BAE Systems acquired In-Space Missions.

Doug also chairs the UK’s Space Skills Advisory Panel which provides pan-sector leadership to address the space sector’s skills challenges.

Ben Stern

Vice-Chair

Ben is the Vice Chair of UKspace, having previously been the Chair of the Earth Observation Committee until September 2024. Ben is a Key Account Manager for Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, which has been a world leader in the field of small satellite space missions for commercial, institutional and defence customers for over 40 years. 

John Hanley

Treasurer

John is the Treasurer of UKspace, having previously been Chair from September 2022 until September 2024. He is a Senior Vice President at CGI UK, where he is part of the senior leadership team in CGI UK’s Space, Defence and Intelligence business unit which has been developing, delivering, operating and supporting the UK Space, Defence and Intelligence communities for over 40 years.

John holds an MSc.Eng in Geodesy and Geomatics from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He has spent the majority of his 25-year career growing the UK and European Space sector, specifically leading the strategic sales team responsible for developing and implementing CGI’s strategy for the burgeoning global navigation market. He now leads a business area which encompasses both upstream and downstream space customers, across multiple industry domains adjacent to the space sector, such as defence, security, aerospace and intelligent transport. He has a proven track record in delivering highly complex programmes and building strong strategic relationships across multiple senior stakeholders.

In addition to his UKspace role, John is also chair of the UK’s National Space Skills Advisory Panel responsible for championing and coordinating activities for the Space sector which will assure the skilled, diverse and innovative workforce that the sector will need to support the ambitious growth envisaged.

Colin Baldwin

Executive Director

Colin is UKspace’s Executive Director – a role that he took up in July 2024, having originally joined the organisation as Head of Policy in 2022.

Prior to joining UKspace, Colin was Head of Local Growth Strategy at the UK Space Agency where he was responsible for developing space clusters across the country, fostering university-business collaborations and supporting space start-ups and scale-ups.

Whilst at the UK Space Agency, Colin also co-led work to understand and mitigate the impacts of Covid on the space sector and led the UK Space Agency’s Interim Strategy Team – working across Government to support the establishment of the new National Space Council and initiate work on the National Space Strategy.

Earlier in his career, Colin was involved in establishing the International Space Innovation Centre and Satellite Applications Catapult. He is a strong advocate of technology transfer and knowledge exchange.

Stephanie Ayres

Head of Policy

Stephanie Ayres joined UKspace in July 2024 as Head of Policy, bringing a wealth of experience coordinating policy and procurement campaigns in the defence and aerospace sector.

Having completed her degree in International Relations and Security Studies at the University of Warwick, Stephanie spent several years working in the Western Australian State Government and the UK House of Commons, before moving to the private sector to work with large defence and aerospace organisations.

Prior to joining UKspace, she worked for the Aerospace Corporation, coordinating its UK public affairs and communications.

Gemma Wilson

Membership & Marketing Manager

Gemma has worked in the space sector for ten years, supporting companies of all sizes through her roles in the ESA Business Incubation Centre, Satellite Applications Catapult and most recently as Harwell Space Cluster Manager. In her role as UKspace Membership and Marketing Manager, Gemma will contribute to UKspace’s work growing the UK space industry and our members’ businesses, while developing new approaches to enhance support for all our members across the UK.​