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Profile

Oliver Towers is an Independent Consultant and Advisor to Vendigital, a Siemens owned consultancy that specialises in addressing Operational and Cost challenges through the use of technology and data.

Oliver has over 30 years of Aerospace and Defence (A&D) industry experience having started his career in the sector as a Principal Engineer with Rolls-Royce. He held a variety of management roles with Rolls-Royce covering Manufacturing Technology and Procurement before moving to Brussels as Rolls-Royce’s EU Relations Executive, where he initiated and chaired the European A&D industry’s first Environment Committee. He then moved to the USA with Rolls-Royce, heading up their US-based MRO activities working both with in-house and third party MRO providers during the rapid growth of the regional jet market. On returning to the UK Oliver joined Smiths Aerospace to head up their Strategic Planning activity. Post GE’s acquisition of Smiths Aerospace Oliver was to become President of Dowty Propellers where he was to oversee the major expansion of their support services for Military and Commercial customers. After successfully recovering from a devastating fire at Dowty Propellers in 2015, Oliver’s responsibilities increased to include the Hamble Aerostructures business, with significant composite structures being delivered for the Airbus A350. A long term Director of GE Aviation’s Systems businesses in the UK, Oliver left in 2020 to pursue a new career as an Independent Consultant.

Oliver is a keen follower of Aerospace and Defence market trends, and in particular enjoys seeing how technology developments can help drive improvements in performance and quality and address the existential challenges posed by global warming.

Sessions

• Big benefits: Investing in digital