Jake is founder and Managing Director of Propulsion. He has over 22 years operating experience in the subsea, blue economy, energy and med tech sectors, with extensive board level experience in public, private and third sector companies and organisations.
Jake’s career began in the marine construction industry in the late 90’s with CTC Marine Projects, then the family business. Joining as a Systems Engineer, Jake followed a ten-year career path moving up through the company into commercial, project management and business development roles. In 2006, the business was acquired by Norwegian PLC, DeepOcean, under whom Jake worked for two years as Business Development Director.
In 2008, Jake left CTC to launch start-up business, Modus Subsea Services. As founding CEO, Jake built Modus to become one of the world’s leading subsea innovators, a first mover in hybrid autonomous vehicle services and an early adopter of AI control systems and machine learning. Modus remains a key player in the global blue economy and the green energy transition.
Notable board roles include a £0.9bn turnover NHS Foundation trust with around 9,000 staff. Jake was previously Chair of an investment fund steering board – established to drive innovation in SME’s and was co-founder and Chair of a social enterprise scheme set up to assist those who face significant barriers when trying to gain employment. Jake is currently a grant assessor for a European Regional Development Fund growth programme and is a member of the advisory group for the Industrial Digitalisation Technology Centre. Jake is a member of the Institute of Directors.
