In order of appearance 

Tuesday, May 20

Dr. Michael Barton, Chairman of ITEA

Michael Barton, Ph.D., was elected ITEA Chairman of the Board effective January 2025, is immediate past Vice Chairman, joined ITEA in 2001, and served as Chairman of the Publications Committee from 2006 – 2012. For the past 10 years he has worked for Parsons Corporation and is a Parsons Fellow. He supports the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in large-scale data analytics, high-performance computing, and outreach to the Department of Defense test and evaluation community. He has worked on Aberdeen Proving Ground since 2001, spending the first 10 years with the US Army Test and Evaluation Command. Dr. Barton’s entire career is in physics-based modeling and simulation. He spent 6 years as a consultant in the aerospace industry; 12 years as a contractor supporting the Air Force at the Arnold Engineering Developmental Complex in Tennessee and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Glenn Research Center in Ohio; and the first 4 years of his career with The Boeing Company in Seattle. He received Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. degrees in engineering science and mechanics from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and a Master of Engineering degree in aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington.

Cathy O’Carroll, MSc, BSc, MRAeS, Global Campaign Director – Integrated Test & Evaluation, QinetiQ
Program Chair for this Workshop 

Cathy O’Carroll was born in Surrey, UK and studied at Leeds University. Working for QinetiQ and its predecessors since 1985, Cathy’s technical career started in the air weapons domain within the Royal Aircraft Establishment undertaking research into the design of warheads to defeat hard target structures. On the formation of QinetiQ in 2001, Cathy became a Business Group manager with operational responsibility and in 2004 Business Development Manager for the Weapons Division.

From 2014, Cathy managed the 25 year, £5.6billion, Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) contract to deliver Test & Evaluation (T&E) and Training Support Services capability to the UK MOD. During this time Cathy led the securing of two amendments to the contract. The first for £1bn in December 2016 for Air Range Modernisation and Test Aircrew Training and the second for £1.3bn in April 2019 for a Reinvigorated LTPA through to 2028.

Since 2019 Cathy has acted as Global Campaign Director for Integrated Test & Evaluation, with responsibility for defining, shaping and delivering QinetiQ’s global strategy including designing and enabling digitally integrated environments for complex experimentation, T&E, training and tactical development.

Cathy is Secretary for the International T&E Association (ITEA) and certified by them as a Test & Evaluation Professional.

Andrew Cunningham, President of the ITEA Western Chapter, Program Technical Chair

Andy is the Capability Development lead for the Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA) between the UK MOD and QinetiQ for the delivery of Test and Evaluation services. His focus is on the future of Test & Evaluation and how the LTPA can evolve to meet the opportunities future technologies bring. His previous role was as the Executive Director- Innovation within the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC), where he led a number of cross government initiatives on innovative future technologies.

Educated at the University of Hertfordshire, a graduate in Aeronautical Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the current President of the European Chapter of ITEA.  Andrew spent his early career in the electrical industry in Product Design and Development, specialising in smart materials.

He has spent the past 25 years in the Defence Industry, principally in the area of military aircraft test and evaluation and has been involved in numerous military aircraft programmes including Typhoon, A400M, C130J, Lynx Wildcat, and Merlin MCSP.

Shimon Fhima, MBE, Director Strategic Programmes, Ministry of Defence UK

Shimon took up post as Director Strategic Programmes in the UK Ministry of Defence in March 2020. He is responsible for delivering a £1bn pa portfolio of programmes including Complex Weapons and Test & Evaluation, leading the MOD’s cooperation with international partners in military capabilities, defining the MOD’s approach to key sectors of the defence industry, and implementation of the 2017 National Shipbuilding Strategy.
He joined the MoD from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), where he was instrumental in delivering innovative policies and technologies to transform business areas into services that are world class, efficient and data driven. He is an experienced international negotiator, representing the UK in the EU and other international forums and is an accredited mediator. Most recently he led a portfolio of Major Government Projects covering internal transformation, EU Exit and external policy delivery.

Shimon has played a central part in shaping transformational strategies across government for the last ten years including Spending Review 2013. More recently he provided the strategic leadership and delivery of a cross-government programme (Future Borders) focused on a post-Brexit world of frictionless borders, driving the innovation and piloting key solutions.

Outside work Shimon volunteers as an emergency medical technician for a local ambulance organisation and sits as a trustee for an arts therapy charity. He received his MBE for services to government. He is married to Ilanah. They live in London with their four young children.

Will Blamey, Chief Executive UK Defence, QinetiQ

In April 2024, Will was appointed Chief Executive UK Defence with responsibility for QinetiQ’s Air, Maritime and Land domain business in the UK along with their enabling Science and Technology and the strategic partnerships with the UK MOD delivering engineering, experimentation, tests, trials, training and evaluation services that enable the acquisition and operational assurance of leading edge military capability. Our services and technology solutions are delivered by 3,500 people across over 20 sites spanning the breadth of the United Kingdom. Prior to this move, Will was the Managing Director Maritime and Land in QinetiQ responsible for all our activities across these domains, principally serving our customers in the Royal Navy, the British Army, DE&S, DSTL and defence industry primes.

Will joined QinetiQ in 2018 as the Managing Director for the Long Term Partnering Agreement (LTPA). In this role, and oversaw all activity across the MOD owned, QinetiQ operated ranges supporting Test, Trials Training and Evaluation (T3E) to the UK MOD and other UK International Customers. These activities cover a range of services from signature management of the UK’s deterrent to aircraft certification to weapon release to service.
Prior to joining QinetiQ, Will worked for BAE Systems as Managing Director, Submarines with overall responsibility for the design and build of all submarines for the UK Royal Navy. Prior to this, Will was the Dreadnought Programme Director. In this role, Will was fully accountable for delivery of the Dreadnought programme to schedule and cost and led the collaborative team charged with the overall delivery across the UK submarine enterprise partners (MOD, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Babcock). Before this, Will had three years in the USA working alongside General Dynamics Electric Boat and the US DOD from the outset of the UK/US Common Missile Compartment programme. Earlier in his career Will worked on the Astute class programme, primarily in Combat Systems, along with a variety of roles across the air and land domains.

Will graduated from the University of London in 1997 with a first class honours degree in Mathematics with his early career shaped through the graduate development programme and a short secondment to the MOD. He is an alumni of the Forward Institute.

Will is married to Kate and has three sons who keep him very busy outside of work and enjoys football, skiing, scuba diving and hill walking.

Dr. Raymond D. O’Toole, Jr. Acting Director, Operational Test and Evaluation, Office of the Secretary of Defense, US

Mr. Raymond D. O’Toole, Jr., was appointed Acting Director of DOT&E on January 10, 2025. During his time at DOT&E he has served two previous stints as Acting Deputy Director, from Jan 2021 to December 2021, and again from December 2023 until April 2024. He joined DOT&E on March 3, 2019, when he was appointed Deputy Director of Naval Warfare. On February 16, 2020, he was promoted to Principal Deputy Director, Operational Test and Evaluation.

Prior to becoming Principal Deputy Director, Dr. O’Toole was DOT&E’s Deputy Director for Naval Warfare. In this capacity, he oversaw the operational and live-fire testing of ships and submarines and their associated sensors, combat and communications systems, and weapons. Dr. O’Toole also was responsible for overseeing the adequacy of test infrastructure and resources to support operational and live-fire testing for all acquisition programs across the Defense Department.

Before joining DOT&E, he was the Deputy Group Director of Aircraft Carrier Design and Systems Engineering at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). Prior to that, Dr. O’Toole was the Director of Systems Engineering Division (Submarines and Undersea Systems), where he led a diverse team of engineers who supported all submarine program managers. His other NAVSEA assignments included ship design manager and Navy technical authority for USS VIRGINIA Class submarines during the design and new construction phases, and for amphibious ships, auxiliary ships, and command and control ships during in-service operations.

Dr. O’Toole’s other previous positions within the Defense Department include Deputy Program Executive Officer (Maritime and Rotary Wing) at U.S. Special Operations Acquisition Command. He also served on the staff of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (Ship Programs), and was Deputy Director of Regional Maintenance for COMPACFLT (N43).

Dr. O’Toole has more than 30 years of experience as a naval officer (active and reserve), retiring at the rank of captain. His significant tours included five as commanding officer. Dr. Raymond D. O’Toole, Jr. is a native of Long Island, NY, and a graduate of the State University of New York – Maritime College, where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering in marine engineering. He also holds a Master of Engineering in systems engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a Master of Science in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and a Doctorate in Engineering in the field of engineering management from The George Washington University where he taught as a professional lecturer of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering until April 2024.

Dr. O’Toole was awarded the U.S. Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive in FY2024. He also has received the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award twice and the Department of the Navy Meritorious and Superior Civilian awards.

Mikhail Andrievskiy, Head of Propulsion Engineering at Skyrora

Coming Soon

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Wednesday, May 21

Andy Caldwell, Head Research and Development, Test and Evaluation in MOD’s Strategic Programmes Directorate

Andy Caldwell took up the appointment of Head Research and Development, Test and Evaluation in MOD’s Strategic Programmes Directorate in September 2021. This post includes being the senior responsible owner for Test and Evaluation (T&E), including the Test, Trials, Training and Evaluation (T3E) run by QinetiQ on behalf of MOD and the T&E Transformation Programme run by MOD. On the R&D side of the role responsibilities include the deployment of MOD’s R&D database (project ORCHARD). In conjunction with Defence Science & Technology and Defence Innovation Directorate Andy co-leads the Department’s request for future R&D uplift funding to bolster existing MOD Head Office and Command budgets.

Prior to this role Andy was the Head of MOD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA). In 2020 Andy completed the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) and associated King’s College London MA in International Security and Strategy. Prior to RCDS Andy worked for the Government Chief Scientific Advisor as Deputy Director Science Policy and during the Covid-19 emergency Andy worked in Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat. Before these roles Andy spent three years as Head Scientific Advice, in MOD’s Defence Science and Technology directorate.

Andy has a background in materials engineering and operational analysis having started his career at British Steel. Andy moved to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) in 1997. Andy’s career has included secondments to the Pentagon 2007-2010 and a tour as Deputy Scientific Adviser to Task Force Helmand Afghanistan in 2011. Andy was Scientific Adviser to MOD’s Security, Policy and Operations directorate 2011-2013. In his early career Andy led Force Structure and Stability Operations analysis at Dstl, co-leading Dstl’s input into Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010.

Andy is a Fellow of the Operations Research Society and has an MSc in Peace Operations from George Mason University’s School of Public Policy. He was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense medal for exceptional public service in 2010.

Andy is married to Claire and they have two grown up children. Andy’s hobbies include playing board games, running and listening to the radio on Saturdays, hoping that the various football clubs that he and his family support stave off relegation for another year.

Gp Capt Marc Holland, Military Aviation Authority (MAA)

Group Captain Marc Holland is a test pilot in the Royal Air Force with a background in Tactical Air Transport Operations, flying instruction, flight testing, aviation safety, regulation and post-graduate teaching. Notable experience and qualifications are several Operational Tours in the Middle East, humanitarian relief Operations, Command of 99 and 206 Squadrons, graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff College and Class A Experimental Test Pilot. He now serves in the UK MoD Military Aviation Authority, overseeing specialist branches delivering safety software services, regulation publication and safety assurance of civilian flying contractors, display flying, human factors and flight test.

Steve Durcan, Mclaren F1 and GCAP CTT Lead

Coming Soon

Simon Skinner, Chair NATO Modelling and Simulation Working Group

Simon Skinner is the product policy leader for Thales Training and Simulation, which employs more 1600 people across the world. He graduated with an honours degrees in Electronic Engineering from the University of Southampton in 1986, is a chartered engineer and IET fellow. He has worked in the simulation industry for more than 30 years in both commercial and technical roles; this has included international interoperability standards development and advanced research topics in simulation and training within the UK as well as in FiveEyes and NATO communities. He was awarded a commendation for simulation research by the UK Ministry of Defence Chief Scientist in 2014 and is a frequent author and presenter at international simulation events. Appointed by the UK Ministry of Defence he represents UK simulation and training industry at the NATO modelling and simulation group, is part of the NMSG specialist group responsible for simulation standards, and is co-chair of the NATO research task group looking at interoperability and standardisation of Digital Twins for various applications – including Digital Test and Evaluation.