Our Board

Nick’s research into fusion began in 2007 as part of his masters thesis, where he worked at the University of Oxford with Yiannis Ventikos. This work continued into a DPhil, where he performed hydrodynamic simulations of shock-driven cavity collapse. These simulations showed that cavity collapse leads to inertial confinement of the gas inside the cavity and revealed that extreme states of matter could be reached, possibly entering the regime for fusion. To explore the concept of energy generation via this process, Nick and Yiannis co-founded First Light Fusion Ltd in 2011.

Nick also spent three years tutoring at Lady Margaret Hall during his studies. After finishing his DPhil in 2012, Nick joined First Light Fusion as CEO and CTO, and continues to oversee the technical vision of the company.

With more than two decades of diverse industry experience and over 15 years supporting UK university spinouts in senior roles, David brings to First Light deep hands-on experience and an alternative perspective from his extensive career. Tech start-ups are a natural fit for his skills; his business insight and focus on pragmatic outcomes allow his teams to make hard things possible.

After early career roles in engineering, chemical, FMCG, and enterprise software businesses, David made the transition to the Oxford spinout scene when he joined T+ Medical in 2006. There he held senior financial and operational positions including Interim CEO. After several roles and a merger, he moved on by setting up Right Brain Finance, a consultancy offering financial direction and business support to a wide range of entrepreneurial tech businesses across South-East England. Despite considerable success (with VC backed clients in sectors that ranged from Sports Health Tech to Industrial Biotech), David found it frustrating to only “advise” but not be able to “do”. He therefore took the opportunity in 2015 to join the board and then to take the executive role of CFO at First Light Fusion, one of the businesses he had supported as a consultant.

David has been a CIMA MIP, and holds a BA in Geography and a MSc in Psychology.

Apart from being a veteran VC, Bart is a seasoned and passionate entrepreneur and is renowned for his relentless drive to internationalise companies and help them become successful beyond Europe by conquering the US or Asia. A Dutch native, he has been a General Partner at Wellington from 2000 to 2015 and played a significant role in building Wellington from a €50M fund in 1999 to a well established player in the European VC market with some €800M of assets under management.

Over the past 2 decades, Bart has invested in an impressive collection of deep IP Technology companies located in Europe and the US. Many have already made the successful leap to the US or are successfully opening up new foreign markets. Investments include Navteq (NASDAQ IPO in 2004: NVT; sold to Nokia in 2007), Meiosys (sold to IBM in 2005), Nawotec (sold to Carl Zeiss in 2005), Q-Layer (sold to Sun Microsystems in 2009), Cavendish Kinetics and GLO.

Bart spent the past 18 years as an investor in High Tech companies, and additionally as a serial entrepreneur himself co-founded by now 6 companies including Hexagem, a defect-free GaN substrate technology company and the MRI Centre, a highly successful chain of private medical diagnostic clinics. He also set up and acted as CEO for ePearle, a pan-European B2B eCommerce start-up.

Bart started his career as a process control system and project engineer with Shell in Norway and then worked at McKinsey, both in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Bart holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Twente University of Technology in the Netherlands and an MBA (with distinction) from INSEAD in France.

Andreas Lusch is an experienced global leader with deep domain expertise in the oil & gas and energy industry. He is the former President & CEO of GE Steam Power, a 4.5 billion USD global business covering the industry’s widest range of technologies for nuclear and coal applications as well as environmental control systems, from product development to turnkey power plant solutions.

Prior to joining GE, he was the senior vice president of Alstom Thermal Power’s Steam and Nuclear businesses, where he had global responsibility for Alstom’s steam and nuclear portfolios. In this role, he led the integration of Alstom Power products into power plants through engineering, procurement and construction services. Andreas started his career in 1987 in the engineering and construction division of the ThyssenKrupp Group where he held leadership roles in the oil, gas, petrochemical and coal industries.

From 2000 to 2005 Andreas was in the executive board of Lurgi AG, a technology and EPC company active in the field of oil & gas, petrochemicals and life sciences. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany.

Robert is the Head of Cleantech at IP Group plc, a £1bn venture capital firm that backs scientific breakthroughs with permanent capital from the public markets. Over the last decade IP Group has been the most active venture investor in climate technology startups in the UK, with over 40 investments to date and notable successes including Ceres Power, First Light Fusion and Oxbotica. Outside cleantech, Robert also led IP Group’s investment in Hinge Health, a $6bn pioneer in digital treatment for back and joint pain.

Prior to IP Group, he was Head of R&D at The Carbon Trust, where he led their Research Accelerator programme and R&D grant funding portfolio. He started his career as a scientist working in hydrogen and fuel cells before joining McKinsey to consult in the energy and materials sectors. He has a First Class degree and PhD in materials science from the University of Cambridge.

In addition to his work at IP Group, Robert serves as a Commissioner for the Energy Transitions Commission, a diverse, global group of leaders from industry, finance and public life who are working to accelerate the transition to zero-carbon energy, industry and transport. Robert was also a member of the UK Government Green Finance Taskforce and advises the UK government and other stakeholders on the development of a thriving green finance industry in the UK.

Yiannis Ventikos is the Kennedy Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at University College London. He has worked or studied in Greece, France, the USA and Switzerland. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Prof Ventikos established the Fluidics and Biocomplexity Group in 2003, that pursues research on transport phenomena and fluid mechanics, with a variety of applications, including energy, healthcare and manufacturing. He has published about 150 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, has contributed chapters in 10 books, and has presented close to 400 papers in international conferences and workshops. He has filed nine international patents to date. Apart from being a co-founder of First Light Fusion, he has been involved in a number of other tech transfer enterprises and consults internationally on topics of his expertise. He has served as a reviewer for more than 80 academic journals as well as for textbook and monograph publishers. He is on the editorial board of six academic journals, and on the scientific and/or organising committee of numerous international conferences and workshops.

A seasoned leader in the business world and military, Ryan translates leadership experience and knowledge from corporate sectors such as energy, electricity transmission, renewables and nuclear translating strategy into tactical employment.

Among a variety of leadership roles, he has led as Head of Electricity Construction (VP) for National Grid, leading a team of 250 National Grid employees and 4000 contractors delivering 148 major infrastructure projects around the UK.

He also led as an Offshore Installation Manager on Shell’s flagship oil and gas ‘rig’ in the North Sea – Shearwater, achieving cultural change and leading profitably during the slump in oil prices.

His bedrock has been a career in the Royal Navy Submarine Service. His leadership and teamwork have been tested during an operationally focused career operating as far afield as under the Arctic Ice Cap to the Indian Ocean. He has also worked for the Royal Netherlands Navy, US Navy and Counter Terrorism forces.

His notable military assignments were Captain of the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Turbulent and Commander of the world-renowned Submarine Command Course ‘Perisher’. He was responsible for teaching submarine captains to deal with the challenges of leadership, risk-taking and decision-making in the 21^st Century.

He has two Masters degrees and is part of the Windsor Leadership Programme Alumni. He is a published author.