Sir John Chisholm

Executive Chairman at Genomics England

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Executive Chair, Genomics England

After graduating from Cambridge in Mechanical Sciences, Sir John started his career as a graduate apprentice with General Motors before joining Scicon Ltd, the computing consultancy arm of BP, in 1969. There he specialised in the application of computer systems to physical processes and he rose to be a senior manager. In 1979 he founded the start-up CAP Scientific Ltd. The company grew rapidly under his aegis as managing director to become a core part of the CAP Group plc, a diversified computer software company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1995.

In 1991 Sir John, at the time the UK Managing Director of Sema Group plc, was asked by the UK Government to bring together the UK Defence Research Establishments to form one new organisation which was to become DERA. Sir John guided the organisation through its launch into the commercial world as QinetiQ, in July 2001.

Sir John became the Chairman of QinetiQ in 2005, after transforming the company in his time as its Chief Executive. He is widely credited with turning the organisation from a collection of research laboratories into a successful commercial business which floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 2006. Sir John retired from QinetiQ in February 2010.

Sir John was the Chairman of NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) from 2009 to 2016.

Sir John is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Institute of Physics, and is a past President and Trustee of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (formerly the Institution of Electrical Engineers). He holds honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees from the Universities of Bath, Southampton and Brunel. Sir John has been President of the Electrical Engineering Association and was a founder member of the UK Government's Technology Foresight programme.