Lawrence Davies MBE - Chairman

Lawrence Davies has had a 35-year career in the automotive industry.  He started at General Motors (GM) in the UK within purchasing and supply chain, after which he spent 4 years at Opel in Germany, and spells in France and the USA.  He became Director of GM (UK) Purchasing and Supply Chain in 2006.  

In 2013, Lawrence joined UK Trade & Investment's Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO), later becoming its CEO.  The AIO is now the Automotive Team in the Department for International Trade (DIT), and he was its Chief Advisor.

He was made a fellow of the Institute of Procurement & Supply in 2015.

Auto Express car magazine named Lawrence in their top 50 most influential Brits in the automotive industry for 4 years running.

He was awarded the MBE in the Queen's 2016 New Year's honours list for his services to the automotive industry.

In 2021, Lawrence was asked to become a fellow of the UK Government (BEIS) company mentoring programme which supports companies across various sectors, and in 2022 Lawrence was invited to join the Silverstone Technology Cluster Advisory Board.

He has that rare mix of business knowledge, having worked at senior levels in both the private and public sector.  He has recently stepped down from his day to day Government role but has been invited to remain on the UK Government's Automotive Council Supply Chain Committee.

Lawrence has strong contacts across all OEMs, Government funded bodies and the supply chain, with immense sector knowledge.  In his Government role, he was involved in the investment into future technologies, especially with regard to Electric/Hydrogen vehicles plus connected and autonomous.