Lord Philip Hammond Innovo Group

Lord Philip Hammond

Chairman & Non-Exec. Board Director

Lord Philip Hammond is Chairman of the Board of Innovo.

Philip has had a distinguished career in British politics as a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2019. He held a range of senior cabinet posts, most recently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019. Prior to that, he served as Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014 and Transport Secretary from 2010 to 2011.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip focused on the long-term productivity challenges facing the UK economy and was a strong advocate for the Financial Services industry and the fast-growing Fintech sector. In particular, he championed the cause of SMEs and the need for greater access to long-term growth capital to allow successful British start-ups to scale up in the UK, rather than seeking capital overseas.

Before entering Parliament, Philip had a wide-ranging business career, spanning the house-building and property, healthcare equipment, and oil and gas sectors.

Philip studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University College, Oxford, and was made a life peer by HM Queen Elizabeth II in July 2020.

Mei Chen

Non-Exec. Board Director

Mei is an independent non-executive director on the board of Innovo.

Currently director and head of fashion and luxury at Alibaba Group, Mei joined the Chinese conglomerate in 2015 as an early employee in the globalisation team. During her time in this role, Mei led the company’s international expansion and defined the group's strategy in Europe.

More recently, Mei has been instrumental in the creation of Alibaba’s ecommerce luxury offering and ecosystem, partnering leading international luxury businesses and fashion houses.

Additionally, Mei leads international operations for Alibaba's annual flagship fashion and luxury events and conferences, including the Tmall Collection and Taobao maker festival, among others.

Prior to Alibaba Group, Mei was a long-time Googler, having worked in the sales and marketing teams at Google’s Europe HQ, as well as on the global sales excellence strategy and mobile monetisation teams at Google’s Global HQ in Mountain View, USA.

Mei’s entrepreneurial journey started more than 18 years ago in Spain where she founded several startups in areas as diverse as education, construction and online marketing. In her spare time, Mei advises founders and CXOs on a variety of topics including online marketing strategies, monetisation and international expansion.

Juergen Maier CBE

Non-Exec. Board Director

Juergen is a non-executive director on the board of Innovo, bringing with him 33 years’ experience at industrial manufacturing conglomerate, Siemens.

Juergen’s last role at Siemens was CEO of Siemens UK, having joined the company in 1989, spending a number of years in Germany as well as the UK.

Juergen is a prominent figure within the UK’s industrial and manufacturing community. He is currently Chairman of Digital Catapult, Vice-Chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and is the co-founder of vocL, a platform which seeks to empower business leaders.

He also works closely with the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University as a visiting Professor and is an advocate for the digitalization of the UK manufacturing sector and the green re-industrialization of northern England.

Juergen’s other appointments include being an honorary professor of Engineering at the University of Manchester, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the City & Guilds Institute.

Juergen has a BSc in Production Engineering from Nottingham Trent University.

Neil Martin

Non-Exec. Board Director

Neil Martin is a Non-Executive Director on the board of Innovo. Prior to this he was Chief Executive Officer, Europe, at Lendlease, a globally integrated real estate group.

Neil was with Lendlease for more than 25 years and has worked in both Europe and Australia. He originally trained as a site engineer with Bovis before completing a law qualification at Chester College of Law. Once qualified he joined the legal team at Lendlease rising to General Counsel for Europe before transferring to Sydney to take on the role of Group Head of Risk and Insurance. No longer a practicing lawyer, Neil held several leadership roles at Lendlease, including Managing Director of Construction for Europe, and Chief Operating Officer, Europe.

Abdulaziz Bin Shafar

Board Director

Abdulaziz Mohamed Bin Shafar is a board director of Innovo.

Currently CEO of ASGC Group, Abdulaziz began his career at ASGC in 1998 as a site engineer, working his way through the business until 2004 when he joined the Dubai International Financial Centre as a client representative and construction manager.

In 2006, he returned to ASGC as vice president and executive director of the company, taking over the reins as CEO in 2021 and spearheading the expansion of operations into Abu Dhabi and the development of the group’s real estate arm.

Abdulaziz oversaw ASGC's participation in Dubai Expo 2020 and the completion of some of the event’s most innovative and visually stunning pavilions including the Sustainability Pavilion, the Opportunity Pavilion and the World Majlis.

With 25 years’ experience in the construction industry both on the ground and in senior leadership roles, Abdulaziz brings strategic insight and deep knowledge of the sector to the Innovo board.

Abdulaziz has a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California and has completed the Senior Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre.

Tom Tildesley

Chief Financial Officer

Tom leads our Finance, Tax and Treasury functions, as well as playing a key role in capital and resource allocation as we execute our growth and diversification strategy.

Prior to joining Innovo, Tom held senior finance roles in Vistry Group Plc, Imperial Brands Plc and Maersk Oil, delivering both finance transformations and supporting significant business growth during his tenures.

As a one-time founder member of BP Alternative Energy, Tom is returning to his commercial roots with Innovo by helping to scale up a multi-faceted entrepreneurial business across multiple geographies.

Tom holds a BA(hons) in Philosophy from King’s College, London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Kate Teh

Company Secretary

Kate is Innovo Global’s General Counsel and an officer of the company.

As a senior member of Innovo’s executive team, she reports to the board and shareholders, and has overall responsibility for corporate governance, risk and compliance, and regulatory affairs.

With a background in property, construction, M&A, media, digital and data, and having lived and worked in Australia, China and Europe, Kate is a highly accomplished international multi-disciplinary lawyer.

Her experience includes establishing one of the earliest foreign law offices in Shanghai, advising the Russian government as it transitioned from communism to capitalism, advising SOCOG on the Sydney Olympics, acting on an intergovernmental collaboration on satellite technology (AsiaSat II) for mobile voice and data transmission, and tackling the commercial, operational and regulatory hurdles prevalent in the rapidly evolving digital and data markets across the UK and Europe.

Kate joined Innovo following 14 years at Telegraph Media Group where she was Group Legal Director and Data Protection Officer. During her tenure, she was pivotal to the transformation of the Telegraph’s traditional print business into a leading multimedia news and data driven business.

Kate holds a double major BA and Bachelor of Laws (BA/LLB) in Economics and Japanese from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and speaks Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and Hokkien.

Board of Directors