Guidance

External referral panel members

Updated 17 June 2024

Gill Culshaw

Gill is a Commercial Director who has worked within the Defence, Aerospace and Transport Industries for 25 years.  She has been responsible for leading teams for bidding and delivering complex programmes involving national and international supply chains and customers.  She has particular experience in delivering multi partner collaborations, including the end user, for the entire project lifecycle.  Gill started her commercial career at DERA, transferred into QinetiQ and has worked for Thales, Boeing, Raytheon and TRL.  

She holds a LLB from Staffordshire University and a LPC and LLM in Commercial Law from the University of Law.

Ros Downs

Ros has recently retired from the Naval Defence Industry. She was involved in large scale and often complex procurements for at least 37 years and has been operating in the Programme Management arena in key senior positions for the last 25 years. This included secondments into the Ministry of Defence and a local Development Agency. During this time she has worked with organisations from other sectors and liaised with other Government Departments.

Ros has set up Project Management Systems (including Earned Value Management (EVM), Risk Management & Schedule Management) and has advised other large Naval Defence projects on the same such as the Aircraft Carrier Programme, the Dreadnought Programme. & key subcontractors.

Ros has a degree in Naval Architecture & Shipbuilding, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Frances Fernandes

Frances is a Managing Director and has extensive in-depth knowledge of major project development across a suite of infrastructure sectors.  For over a decade she was responsible for advising the government on whether to grant development consent for the UK’s most complicated national infrastructure projects such as Hinkley Point C New Nuclear Power Station.  Alongside this, Frances was co-founder of a successful start-up company, selling the company to US private equity in 2022.   

She is a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute, has a Masters in International Development from University College, London and a BSc from Dundee University.

David Johnston

David was a Non-executive Member of the SSRO from 2016 to 2023.

David has a track record of leadership roles in strategy, M&A, finance, change management and procurement at FTSE 250 executive team level. He has a deep sector knowledge of defence, aerospace and industrial services. Previous roles include:

• Director of the Engage Enrich Excel Academies Trust;
• Advisor to Tawazun Economic Council, Abu Dhabi;
• EVP Strategy and EVP Operations at Cobham plc;
• Finance Director, Industrial Fire Protection Division, Kidde plc; and
• earlier roles at Gemalto, Alphameric and Tate & Lyle.

David is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and holds an MBA from the University of Surrey.

Doug Whittaker

Doug is a chartered aerospace engineer who has worked in a variety of senior positions in the military (RAF) and in industry during a career spanning 40 years. He has been responsible for leading teams in developing, delivering and running complex through-life, in-service support programmes involving national and international partners in the air environment, as well as a number of major procurement programmes  Currently, a reservist he also runs his own small consulting company

He holds a BSc from The City University, a Masters in Defence Administration from Cranfield University and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.