Our Innovative Team At The COVVI USA Office

Thomas Richards

Thomas studied a BSc in Medical Science (2014) followed by a PhD in neurophysiology (2018) at the University of Leeds. During his doctoral studies, he worked closely with Memorial University in St Johns, Canada, where he seconded in order to conduct experiments on a collaborative project. Thomas’s main focus of research has been the physiology of motor control pathways through the analysis of electromyography (EMG) signals, which are electrical signals recorded from the surface of the skin over a muscle, in order to decipher the underlying function of the central nervous system.

His research focuses on utilising these signals towards the goal of improving personalised therapies for conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy, as well as the control of prosthetic devices. He has worked with several different programming languages in order to apply a range of signal processing, statistical, and clustering techniques with which he has developed a number of analysis pipelines. From 2019-2021, he also worked at the Leeds Institute of Data Analytics (LIDA), studying prescription patterns of inhalers across the COVID-19 pandemic alongside the Alan Turing Institute as well as on the development of agent-based models to simulate crowd behaviour.

Wayne Leach

Wayne has worked in IT industry for the last 26 years, 10 of those years have been working with us as Group IT Manager, reporting into the CEO and managing the IT function across five group companies.

Working as part of the Group has provided Wayne with a number of exciting challenges in what is a fast-moving environment which operates a dynamic portfolio of businesses which include telecoms, Nursery, Hotel and Prosthetics, all of which are extremely varied. In turn the last 10 years has helped Wayne further develop and demonstrate his skillset across multiple platforms. Wayne has seen it as a real privilege to work with such a dedicated team of friendly people who all aspire drive growth and service our customers across the portfolio.

In his spare time, Wayne has spent the last 13 years being heavily involved in coaching junior football, achieving a Level 1 FA Coaching award. He spends a lot of his spare time following his two sons in their sporting activities. Wayne’s youngest son plays for the junior team he currently coaches, with his eldest achieving many accolades throughout his athletics career; and hopes to go on to compete for the Irish National Team in the future.

Steven Young

Steven has worked in the field of engineering for a considerable number of years, in one form or another, including experience in the prosthetics industry. Prior to joining us, he worked on building and assembling the BeBionic hand for several years, which was ideal as he now works as part of our assembly team!

In January 2022 joined COVVI after being captivated by the craftsmanship of the COVVI Hand on our website. He was especially impressed by the build quality of the hand and knew he wanted to be involved in its production. Now working in the Production Area of our head office, Steven works as a part of a team which builds the COVVI Hand for our users all around the world, and looks forward to the future and developments that may come.

Simon Pollard

Simon is an enthusiastic entrepreneur with a keen eye for great ideas, which lead him to form COVVI in 2017 alongside a team of industry veterans, all of which had big aspirations in advancing bionic technology. As CEO, Simon works on the front line of COVVI to drive the success of the business, by delivering a world-beating product that can reach a global audience through a strong distribution network. He strives to amplify the benefits of prosthetic technology to the upper-limb amputee community across the globe. By analysing usage data and incorporating AI into COVVI’s software offerings, we can continually improve the potential of our products and stay at the forefront of the prosthetics industry.

A Leeds-born and bred businessman, Simon has spent over two decades building a highly successful commercial portfolio. His mission to develop leading brands is driven by a tenacity to achieve and build upon previous successes – the companies he currently oversees cover a diverse range of industries, from hospitality, childcare, IT and telecoms. A proud moment for Simon came in 2015 when he was chosen by The Insider as a ‘one to watch’ in their annual ’42 Under 42′ list – a program that recognises Yorkshire’s most dynamic and inspirational entrepreneurs, celebrating their success in helping to grow the regional economy.

Rob Spares

Rob works alongside his mechanical engineers in figuring how components will fit together within a compact design. Coming from a science background, he is very much the meticulous inquisitor of the team and holds great value in precision and favours refining simplicity from initial complex and elaborate component plans. Joining the team at a similar time to his colleagues, Rob has benefited from COVVI starting from the ground-up as this has allowed him to implement processes that tests components at every stage of their development.

Rob started his career in more traditional heavy-engineering roles, but an interest in modelling and simulation led to further study and employment with AEA Technology where he developed fluid dynamics software. He was subsequently offered a research position at the University of Bradford, modelling the flow of polymers within the extrusion process. After completing his PhD, Rob conducted further research into material characterisation and optimisation which drew him away from simulation, and into a more hands-on engineering role. His continued interest in process imagining combined with commercial projects in developing medical devices, requiring novel injection moulding toolsets, steered him towards a design-based position. Now a Research Fellow, and with 20 years of industry experience, Rob moved away from academia and joined began working on prosthetics in 2014 where he can apply his background in materials, testing and design to a worthwhile product.

Rene Cardenas

Rene was previously employed by the U.S. Navy as a Sonar Technician before returning to school and earning his Associate’s Degree. After graduation, Rene went on to work with several companies that specialise in various pieces of medical devices and equipment. This interest eventually led him to join the US division of COVVI, a position that Rene is incredibly happy and proud to be involved with.

Rene is pleased that the amazing work he’s able to do at COVVI truly helps to improve the lives of many people around the globe, and it makes him so happy to be involved in the field. As a native Texan, Rene is proud to be here and hopes to continue his passionate work for many years to come.

Paul Smithson

With the freedom to be creative and flexible at COVVI, along with his ‘make things work’ attitude Paul is a valuable asset to the electrical engineering team. He designs circuit boards and firmware alongside his colleagues, which brings to life the motor control of the fingers along with various background functions. Paul sees the team at COVVI being uniquely positioned to be highly responsive to patients, and personally endeavours to listen to user feedback and experience, constantly adapting and developing according to their needs.

Paul is an engineer with more than two decades of electronics-industry experience within the biomedical, instrumentation and surveillance sectors, he has designed electronic circuits and writing firmware for quadrupole mass spectrometers, thermal imaging cameras and infrastructure CCTV systems. He was also instrumental in designing the surveillance system used by Network Rail to monitor unmanned crossings. Paul, who considers himself to be creative with a strong practical approach to design, development and testing, first established a position within the prosthetics industry in 2014 to work on the Bebionic hand, and other assistive technology products.

Mohammed Fiaz

Mohammed Fiaz started working for COVVI in April 2019, working closely with the R&D and Production teams to aid with the building and testing of COVVI’s wide range of products.

Mohammed ensures the quality and functionality of our specialised, in-house products through a series of in-depth testing measures to ensure the COVVI Hand and its accessories perform to expected test specifications, which are set out by the R&D team. His ongoing work is vital to COVVI and ensuring of production pipeline continues to run smoothly.

Michael Emblem

Michael moved to Leeds from Surrey in 2014 to complete a degree in Mechatronics and Robotics, then he decided to settle there after graduating. He has a varied background in engineering, having worked in aerospace, robotics and automation. Michael has worked in many stages of the manufacturing process, from early design and prototyping to manufacturing governance. At COVVI he is excited to be turning his focus to quality and learning new aspects of engineering, as well as refining his existing skills and sharing his expertise.

His time at university allowed him to explore his love for robots, prosthetics and assistive devices, a passion he is delighted to be exploring at COVVI.

Louis Chappell

Louis is a software developer that joined COVVI in March 2022, and hit the ground running, developing the support web app and contributing to the COVVI Go App and COVVI Portal.

He has over five years of software development experience in a wide range of fields and takes pride in working on such a fantastic product suite. Louis is excited to help the users of the COVVI Hand and improve their experience by streamlining their interactions with the hand; allowing them to access the huge customisation potential of the device in the most intuitive manner possible.

Lauren Evans

Lauren has joined the team at a very exciting time. With 7 years of providing great customer service under her belt, 4 years of team leader experience and a bachelor’s in journalism; she is well equipped to make sure COVVI continues to provide total customer satisfaction at all times.

Lauren is extremely detail-oriented and enjoys making sure every box is ticked along the way.

John Wilkinson

John has joined COVVI with the task of bringing the COVVI hand to production in a calm and controlled fashion, drawing on his experience in high precision manufacturing in the Medical Device and Biotech industries. He has previously worked for York Instruments, leading a team on the pre-production build of a Neuro-imaging device based on a technique known as Magnetoencephalography (MEG) – mapping the magnetic signals generated by activity in the brain.

Prior to that, John worked for a company producing cutting edge Biotechnology that measured thermal stability of proteins for early stage drug research. It was in this role he learned most about production controls before a promotion to Production Manager. After the product was sold to a US company, John facilitated the transfer of the Production department and delivered training to production staff and service engineers alike – the product now sits in the Unchained Labs portfolio as the upgraded version ‘Uncle’.

He obtained a Batchelor’s Degree in Physics from the University of York in 2008 and acquired a Level 3 Diploma in Manufacturing and Production in 2017. John prides himself on high quality, efficient, reproducible Production and having worked in ISO 13485 accredited environments, you can be assured he won’t rest until the COVVI hand is perfect.

John Warrener

John is a UX designer with a passion for accessibility and creating fun journeys. He studied Computer Games Design at Teesside University before gaining experience in Government and pharmaceutical sectors. By working in different industries, it has allowed him to cultivate a diverse set of skills that help solve difficult challenges and create better experiences for users.

COVVI’s message aligns perfectly with John’s beliefs in creating an accessible world through design, and he knew that it was a project that he wanted to be part of.

James Hunt

James joined COVVI in October 2021, as the company’s Supply Chain Manager. Graduating in 2002 from studying Mathematics at the University of Exeter, James has been working in Supply Chain since he left, giving him 20 years of experience across varying sectors and with companies of varying sizes. He believes that structure and procedure are key to success, and so is keen on systematic approaches and processes.

James believes that COVVI can change people’s lives for the better, and is excited to be part of the team that can do that. Outside of work, James is a keen Formula 1 fan (given the name), and follows lower league football.

Gemma Smithson

Gemma is a recent graduate from Sheffield Hallam University and has a real passion for what she studied there. She picked up a lot of valuable skills, learning from operating different cameras and recorders to the complexity of different editing software. Having a passion for making films has been with her from a very young age and has never stopped pursuing it.

A lot of her experience comes from school studies or home experiments, now with the help of COVVI, she can really stretch her limits and put to good use all the information she has collected thus far.

Emily Wilson

Emily graduated with a 1st Class Honours degree in International Business Management and speaks fluent Spanish with academic exchanges in both Spain and Mexico. After graduating, she decided to return to Mexico City in order to take up the opportunity of working as a Senior Buyer for Mexico’s leading department store chain with over 125 stores nationwide. The role allowed her to work with people from many different countries and develop organisational and interpersonal skills at a senior level.

After returning to the UK, Emily is extremely excited to be part of the COVVI team working with distributors across Europe to deliver our world-class hand to as many people as possible.

Donna Wilson

Donna has worked alongside Simon for over five years working across various businesses. In 2021 Donna accepted a group role, based predominantly at COVVI. Working alongside all departments, Donna uses her Chartered Management Accounting skills to ensure the smooth financial operations of the company whilst developing future strategy and growth plans.

Having started her career doing an AAT Apprenticeship Donna has experience working at all levels of a finance team bringing invaluable knowledge with regards to financial processes. Furthermore, Donna has worked across multiple industries throughout her career, both in the UK and Australia, working alongside internal and external stakeholders to ensure commercial success.

An advocate for equality, inclusivity and diversity, Donna is a positive and determined member of the COVVI team always looking to develop both personally and professionally.

David McCrickard

David is one of our electrical whizzes at COVVI and so spends a lot of his time designing circuit boards, coding firmware (microprocessor-level software), and developing electrical accessories that enables COVVI products to be compatible with smartphones, tablets and their corresponding software. He has been instrumental in developing top-tier electrical components that improves upon the limited functionality of prosthetic predecessors and applying updatable, multi-purpose technology that invests in our product’s future.

David is an experienced engineer with over ten years’ experience, having graduated in 2003 from studying Electronic Engineering at the University of Bradford. He has worked with companies of various sizes on a variety of unique products, from iPod accessories, image scalers, tensile testers, electronic looms, vibration white finger monitoring equipment, and most recently upper-limb prosthetics for the medical sector.

David believes completing the full life-cycle of development has been both challenging and rewarding, having not envisioned working with the healthcare industry on such ground-breaking products – looking back on his career he feels privileged to have experienced working with such technological variety, and is certain the best is yet to come as COVVI now looks to the future.

Claire Prendergast

Claire is joining COVVI at an exciting time. She comes with an extensive background in providing excellent Customer Service and is about to hit the ground running to ensure we continue to provide an exceptional Customer Experience to all.

Claire thrives on procedures and will ensure that everything will continue to run like clockwork.

As an Army Veteran, she is driven by her exceptional work ethic and her commitment to always providing the best service possible.

Christine Gales

Christine has come to COVVI for a new challenge in helping create and build our most innovative products.

Christine brings a wealth of shop floor experience and knowledge of the industry, having spent the last 28 years in the artificial limb industry. She initially trained as an electronics technician acquiring various qualifications in this field. She then progressed to other roles, from programming personalised aids for the disabled to specialist footwear prosthetics. For the last 10 years Christine has worked solely on the bionic hands. She really is ‘hands on’, building the hands from scratch with quality precision.

She has remained in this industry because she ‘believes’…especially in products that have the ability to change peoples lives!

Carmen Tinning

Carmen graduated in 2022 with a 1st Class Honours degree in an Integrated Masters in Biomedical Engineering. Her choice of degree was inspired by an interest in prosthetics and a desire to pursue a career in the field.

Throughout her degree, she completed a range of research projects looking at two-handed haptic devices used in virtual reality, EEG-powered brain-computer interfaces and research assistant roles designing 3D printed haptic devices for schools. Carmen is extremely excited to join and the COVVI team and start her career at such a pioneering company.

Awais Hussain

Awais joined the COVVI team in June 2019, as a Software Engineer, working closely alongside the Electrical Engineers to develop the COVVI Go App and web portal. Prioritising user experience has always been at the forefront of his work, ensuring that the app and web portal maximise functionality at the same time as providing significant benefit to our users and clinicians alike. Being able to adapt to the fast-paced environment at COVVI has been a key factor in his success.

His passion for programming over the years led him to pursue a BSc in Computer Science as well as an MSc in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Leeds. During his studies, Awais built up a portfolio of personal projects and professional experience through contract work in his free time. Having developed a strong skill set in a range of development areas allowed Awais to confidently take on the challenge of working solely on large software projects.

Alfred Betts

Deciding to make a career change in 2022, Alfred followed his passion for technology and attended an intense full-stack software development boot camp in Leeds. After a year of concentrated study, building on his own self-driven studies and bringing his skills up to a professional standard, Alfred is excited to join the growing software development team at COVVI and begin his career in an inspiring environment,

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Technology, Alfred is keen to apply his creative mind to any problem that arises and hopes to build quality digital technology to match the standard of COVVI’s flagship hand.

Our Innovative Team: USA