Our Incredible COVVI Advocates

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.

Chris Greenwood

Chris Greenwood has over 25 years of experience in the technology sector, working in leadership roles in the Royal Navy, British Telecom and Sun Microsystems. Chris’ expertise in the field has led to him becoming an industry experience and is frequently requested as a keynote speaker, talking passionately about his interest in Data, AI and Robotics.

Chris has spent 14 years working at NetApp in director roles across their Western Europe divisions. His focus was on enhancing relationships with NetApp’s largest customers to deliver growth and momentum of NetApp’s Data and Cloud solutions. Before taking the helm in Western Europe, Chris was Managing Director for Netapp UK & Ireland. He spent much of his time leading a team of over 300 people and enabling customers to gain competitive advantage from their Data both on-premise and in the cloud. He has also led the Nordic Region for NetApp, living in Denmark, and successfully delivering multi-year growth through penetrating many net new strategic customers with the NetApp Intelligent Data proposition.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lynn Whitehead

Lynn is joining COVVI at an exciting time when we are further developing our presence in the US. She comes to us with an extensive and diverse background in providing Administrative and management support in industries ranging from banking, healthcare, construction and manufacturing. Lynn’s range of experience provides a wealth of knowledge in office procedures and facilities management.

Lynn will work closely with our UK team to ensure policies and procedures at our US office mimic what we have developed at our UK headquarters.

Rebecca Drummond

A recent graduate electronic engineer who graduated from the University of Leeds in 2020. Rebecca has been designing electronic devices for a hobby for over ten years and enjoyed it so much that she decided to go back into full time study to get the qualifications to become an electronic engineer.

Since graduating from university, Rebecca has designed electronics for smart TVs and motorsport vehicles, as well as some commercial devices.

Sam Mosley

Sam joined the team in February 2023 as Executive Assistant to the Group CEO, Simon Pollard. Sam has over 30 years’ of experience in providing high-level business support to CEOs, business owners and senior stakeholders within both the public and private sectors. Sam’s background is mainly within the legal and financial services sector, and she has two degrees in Law, one of which was obtained in the United Kingdom (in 1996) and the other, obtained in the United States of America (in 2002), by sitting and passing the US bar, in less than 19 months, resulting in gaining her second degree with honours.

Sam has worked for companies based in both the UK and the US and is very experienced within her field bringing invaluable knowledge, organisational skills, commitment and drive. Sam is extremely enthusiastic and proactive with a keen eye for detail and her mission is to provide as much support as possible to the CEO allowing him to continue to focus on developing the business further. Additionally, Sam has experience in health & safety, human resources, recruitment, risk management, governance and policy writing, together with bid/tender writing and management skills. In 2022, Sam was solely responsible for obtaining a health and safety accreditation for her prior employer, which was adjudicated to be in the top 3 percentile of accredited organisations. Sam was also awarded PA of the year in 1999, which was voted on by over 5000 of her peers across the UK.

Kameron Maxwell

Kameron graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 2019 with an undergraduate degree in Prosthetics & Orthotics, and subsequently completed a postgraduate degree, MSc, at the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics. As a HCPC registered Prosthetist, Kameron has gained valuable experience practising within NHS and private healthcare services in the United Kingdom, and more recently within the Republic of Ireland. In his career, Kameron has achieved considerable specialism and recognition in the area of upper limb prosthetics. As a leading clinical voice in this area, he has contributed to scientific journals, research projects, industry magazines and professional workshops. He has also provided clinical guidance to a number of Universities in this specialised area of prosthetic innovation.

Having contributed to the revised NHS multi-articulating hand policy (August 2022), Kameron is a strong advocate for the improved accessibility of advanced upper limb solutions. He currently supports a network of clinicians in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland with the provision of the world’s most advanced multi-articulating hand so that the upper limb community can benefit from enhanced functionality, independence and confidence with their prostheses.

Kate Smith

As the Finance Administrator for COVVI, Kate supports Simon, Donna and the rest of the team on all the administrative duties involved in running a busy prosthetics manufacturer. Kate acts as the first point of contact for any queries relating to finance, Funding and any administrative issues at COVVI.

Kate has worked within the business group for over five years and has supported COVVI since its inception in 2017, prior to which she worked in credit control and financial management within the education sector. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in ‘Leisure Studies’ from Leeds Metropolitan University and a Post Graduate Certificate in Management.

She lives at home with her husband and two children, which keep her busy with their various activities. In her spare time, Kate enjoys running and going to the gym to keep fit, tending to her garden, and going to concerts and the theatre.

Kristine Pidze

Kristine has joined COVVI with the task to ensure Quality Assurance and to support the Quality Manager in achieving future certifications for the business. Kristine has over five years of experience in various companies acroos the medical device industry, starting work in production before eventually progressing to Quality Assurance.

She has developed excellent interpersonal skills and she is keen to use the experience to continuously improve and ensure compliance with appliable standards and regulations within COVVI.

Javid J K

Javid has over a decade’s worth of prosperous and qualitative experience in the development of all classes of medical devices (implants and instruments) and the quality processes required to make them successful. He now wants to take that knowledge of working across various aspects of critical implants and instruments design and apply it to different departments within COVVI

Javid’s main focus at COVVI is to build up and lead a dedicated team focused on all aspects of quality, develop QMS procedures and forms and ensure a high standard of compliance across the business, as well as driving the ISO certification process for the COVVI Hand. Javid will also provide support on cost-effective assignments to deliver high-quality products, which in turn ensures higher customer satisfaction.

Alex Liu

Alex graduated with an integrated Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2023. While completing these studies, he completed research projects involving the testing of fall detection wearable devices and analysis of dynamic movement through a clothing-based sensor system, respectively. After meeting military veterans and observing the impact of prosthetists in clinics during studies both at university and school, he naturally progressed towards pursuing a career in this field, in order to help develop the future of prosthetics.

After discovering the company and seeing the impact and outreach that COVVI has and provides, Alex is excited to become a member of the team and is excited about the future of the prosthetics market as the company continues to evolve.

Bassim Al-hadi

Bassim is a driven individual who graduated from the University of Leeds with a Master of Engineering (MEng) degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has always been passionate about seeking out new challenges that encourage him to think outside the box and adapt to new environments. COVVI caught his attention as it presents an ideal platform for both professional growth and facing exciting challenges.

With his background as a ‘Continuous Improvement (Lean) Engineer and Manufacturing Technician’, Bassim is well-equipped with valuable lean tools and techniques. As he steps into the role of ‘Junior Quality Engineer’ at COVVI, he plans to apply these lean principles to enhance the work environment significantly. His primary focus will be on eliminating non-added value activities and implementing a “right first-time” approach, ensuring a streamlined and efficient workflow for the company’s success.

COVVI Advocates

Truly showing us that anything is possible.