About Chess

Graham Beall

Chess Group CEO

 

• Started Chess in 1991, developing the company from one person to 160 people, with a turnover in excess of 22 million pounds.
• Graham’s role as Group CEO, Alongside his knowledge and expertise, has enabled Chess to develop high precision servo products and solutions for the aerospace, defence and security industries.
• Chief Design Engineer at Radamec Defence Systems before establishing Chess.
• Background in Mechanical Engineering, servicing his apprenticeship at Phillips.

 

Andrew Ward

Financial Director

 

• Joined Chess in 2009, to run all the financial aspects of the business. Responsible for the efforts, results, and success of an organisations finance department. Provides financial advice and support to help senior executives make key decisions.
• Worked extensively with UK Engineering Group Eurotherm, part of Invensys Pie.

 

Michael Green

Naval Systems Director

 

• Dr Michael Green has been working in Plymouth in the defence sector since 1990. A Systems Engineer by trade, he has worked in Video Trackers, Ground Based Air Defence, Airborne Targeting, Surface military systems as well as 4 years in
  high-integrity systems for Automotive use.
• Latterly he has been leading the Naval Systems teams at first GE Intelligent Platforms and now Chess Dynamics, growing the Chess Naval Systems team from 5 to 25 people over the last 6 years based in Plymouth Science Park.

 

Doug Knifton

Operations Director

 

• Joined Chess in 2020.
• Responsible for the leadership of the Operations function including CLS, Export Compliance, Production, Security & HSE, Test Engineering, Production Control and Supply Chain.
• 27 years of experience within operations with the last 10 years of career in Senior Management roles within companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Elkta, Turbo Power Systems and Powerlase

 

David Tuddenham

Managing Director

 

• Joined Chess in 2011 as Operations Director, to help deliver operational excellence to support the rapid growth of the business. Promoted to Deputy Managing Director in 2014 before becoming Managing Director in 2016.
• Background in Manufacturing Engineering & Management
• Worked at Honeywell Life Safety, and has experience in the Oil & Gas industry through Teledyne.
• During this time with Teledyne, Dave helped build the business with delivering increased revenues during a challenging economic background.

 

David Eldridge

Sales & Marketing Director

 

• Joined Chess in 2015 as Technical Manager for Land and Security products, was appointed Sales Director in 2017 where he is responsible for Naval, Land and Security systems.
• David obtained his electronics qualifications with GEC-Marconi. On secondment as a flight trials engineer supporting the introduction into service of the Tornado aircraft then later as a systems design engineer. David progressed into a sales role, first with the Rank organisation and then to Brimar, where he managed the transition from high-performance Cathode Ray Tube manufacture into rugged Flat Panel Monitors.

 

Mark Carter

Programme Director

 

• Mark has over 20 years of project delivery experience, with senior roles at Textron Systems and Rockwell Collins, providing oversight for complex, system development and delivery contracts.
• Specialising in Electronic Warfare and Electro-Optical/RF Systems, with experience in world-wide Military and Government acquisition and project management frameworks, Mark is responsible for overall Project Management and Programme Delivery at Chess.

 

Steve Holloway

Engineering Director

 

• 30 years' experience in defence industry with focus on Electronic Warfare and Electro-Optical Systems. This includes 14 years at Textron Systems Electronic Systems UK lead technology roadmap and engineering team as Chief Technologist.
• Steve brings a huge amount of knowledge and experience to Chess and provides leadership of the engineering team at our Horsham office.