Senior Management

Dr David Price CBE took over as Chief Executive of Chemring Group PLC on 4 April 2005, and has overseen its promotion to the FTSE 250. Dr Price was educated at University College, London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering & Technology, and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology, Fellow of the Institute of Directors, and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute.  He was elected to the DMA Council in 2006, joined the SBAC council in 2007, the Defence Industries Council in 2008 and has recently been appointed Non-Executive Director of AZ Electronic Materials S.A. His career in Defence contracting spans over 25 years, initially in research and technical roles with EMI and Thorn-EMI. For the last ten years, David has taken on a number of managerial and strategic roles, firstly with Thomson CSF (as Chief Executive of Missile Electronics Ltd, then MD of Thomson UK Holdings Ltd) and more recently as MD of Naval Marine Business for Rolls Royce PLC, where he had responsibility for managing a global business with a turnover in excess of £450 million per annum.  David was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)  in the 2010 New Year Honours for his services to the defence industry.
Aged 56.

Paul Rayner joined the Group in 1994 and acted as Finance Director to several Group companies before being appointed to the Board in August 1999. In September 1999 he was appointed Group Finance Director responsible for Performance Management, Investor Relations, Tax, Treasury and Financial Reporting. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Before joining Chemring Paul held a number of senior positions with financial institutions including Senior Audit Manager with Deloitte & Touche.
Aged 50.

Dan McKenrick is the President of Chemring North America. Dan served as a Commissioned Officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers where he held a variety of assignments. He was a Top Graduate of the US Army Atomic Demolition Munitions School, and a Distinguished Graduate of the US Army Engineer Officer Advanced Course.

In 1990, he joined Griffith Micro Science, an international medical device sterilization firm, as a Plant Manager in New Jersey, and later of three plants in California. He was promoted to Director of National Accounts responsible for a team covering over 100 international and US customers.

In 1997, Dan joined Primex Technologies as a Director, responsible for the former Aerojet Ordnance Company in Downey, CA. This unit developed weapon and ammunition systems and produced medium caliber ammunition components. In 2000, Primex was acquired by General Dynamics and he was subsequently promoted to Vice President Ammunition Operations, responsible for medium and large caliber, and artillery components in Pennsylvania and California. Dan was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of General Dynamics’ Tactical Air Munitions business in 2003.

Dan graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, where he earned a B.S. in engineering. He received an M.B.A from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Rik Armitage joined Chemring Group PLC in January 2006 as Business Development Director, responsible for the co-ordination of our strategic planning, market analysis and product development as well as the search for new business opportunities, such as acquisitions. Rik is 44 years old, and holds a BA and MEng in Manufacturing Engineering from Cambridge University, and a MBA from Cranfield School of Management. He has spent a number of years as a consultant advising companies and venture capital investors on growth strategies and technology exploitation, and prior to that developing new businesses as a high tech VC investor, and as a project manager in the aerospace industry.

Mike Helme was initially appointed Managing Director of the Energetics Division of Chemring Group PLC on 2 January 2006 and subsequently Managing Director of Chemring Europe. During this time Chemring Group PLC has successfully grown to be part of the UK FTSE250. Mike was educated at Sheffield University and graduated with an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering. Mike has held a number of senior positions in a range of commercial and defence sector businesses including power generation, manufacturing, construction and professional engineering services both in the UK and overseas. He was previously Vice President of the Rolls-Royce Submarines business before joining Chemring.

Sarah Ellard was appointed as Group Legal Director on 7 October 2011. Sarah joined Chemring Group PLC in 1994, and was appointed as the Group Company Secretary in January 1998. Sarah is responsible for all legal and compliance matters, insurance, and employee benefits, and is a member of the M&A team. In addition to her role as Group Legal Director, Sarah fulfils the role of Company Secretary. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. Prior to joining the Group, Sarah trained and worked at Ernst & Young LLP.
Aged 41.

Richard Dellar joined Chemring Group PLC in March 2009 as Managing Director International. Richard is a manufacturing engineer by background and has Masters degrees in both business administration and manufacturing systems engineering. Richard joined Chemring from BAE Systems, North America, where he was responsible for managing a substantial aerospace business in the Middle East.

Terry Bridgewater joined Chemring in October 2008 from Smiths Group where he was Director of Environment, Health and Safety. Prior to Smiths, he worked for Goodrich as Director of Environment, Health and Safety Programmes based in Charlotte, North Carolina. His career started as a Mechanical Engineer with Lucas Aerospace and after various middle management positions, Terry spent several years leading major change projects including site relocations, IT system implementation, business process redesign and lean manufacturing. The last change programme was a complete overhaul of the health, safety and environment function for the organisation which turned into a passion that became a job.

Terry has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Practitioner.

Prior to joining Chemring in September 2011, Rupert was Managing Director of the Corporate and Financial Communications Consultancy, Cardew Group. He has advised international companies, both public and private, across the spectrum of communication including M&A, flotations, rights issues and crisis management. Prior to this he was an officer in the British Army, where he served in the cavalry. Rupert was an adviser to Chemring from 2001 and oversaw the development of the Group’s corporate profile and reputation during that time. His experience in advising FTSE 100 Companies has given him a detailed understanding of the challenges facing companies undergoing global expansion.

He is on the committee of the Corporate and Financial Group of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and is a Trustee of the Sherborne School Foundation.

Stephen Grinham joined Chemring in January 2012 from Thales, where he was VP Thales Training & Simulation, responsible for a £400m electronics business with operations in UK, France, Germany, USA and Australia. He was previously VP, Thales Avionics, where he had responsibility for operations in France, Singapore and USA. He had a number of previous roles with GEC-Marconi, including Operations Director of Flagship Training and Technical Director for In-Flight Systems and Combat Systems.