Dr Andrew Puryear
Other key appointments
Ultra Group Executive Team member
Dr Andrew Puryear is responsible for the Ultra group’s technology strategy and global research and development to innovate emergent, disruptive, and convergent technologies for a safer tomorrow. Dr Puryear has a background in electrical and computer engineering as well as extensive technology leadership experience in aerospace and defence.
Dr Puryear is the Chairman of the newly formed US Department of Commerce Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee (ETTAC), where he advises the department on emergent technology with potential dual-use applications in their developmental stages both within the United States and abroad. He has served in the US Navy Reserves since 2012 as a warfare qualified Engineering Duty Officer and a founding member of a specialized detachment within the Navy Cyber Warfare Group focused on rapidly surfacing new capabilities in cyberspace.
Prior to joining Ultra Electronics, Dr Puryear was the Director of Cyber Strategy and Execution at the MITRE Corporation. Dr Puryear graduated first in his class from MIT with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with specialties in information theory, analytics, and cryptography. He holds an MS in electrical engineering from Stanford and a BS in electrical engineering, summa cum laude, from Texas A&M.
Areas of expertise:
Innovation management
Defence industry trends
Research and development
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
Wireless communications
Optical communications
Advanced RF
Tony White
Other key appointments
Ultra Fellow (2021)
Tony is an Ultra veteran of nearly 21 years, during which time he has led the creation of platform solutions for a number of Land programmes and co-authored international standards for vehicle, soldier and base architectures. He is considered Ultra’s foremost land systems expert, and is a familiar face across the UK MoD, US DoD, Australian MoD, Nato and all of our prime partners. In 2014 he launched a small R&D project that went on to become UltraLYNX, our industry-leading solider-worn system integration solution.
Areas of expertise:
- Edge wearable technology
- Open architectures
- Combat vehicles
- Power management
Joanne Roberts
Other key appointments
Ultra Fellow (2021)
Joanne Roberts is an expert in automatic target recognition and was an early figure in the use of neural networks, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques, having deployed one of the earliest examples of functional AI/ML on a production airborne platform. As Director of Capability Management for Ultra Sonar, she is responsible for the integration of intelligent processing across our sonar products.
Areas of expertise:
- Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
- Target recognition
- Intelligent processing
Lori Thompson
Lori Thompson is a strategy, marketing, and business development leader with extensive experience in strategic planning, technology and offering development, and innovation management and investment across the aerospace, defence, and communications sectors.
As Senior Vice President for Strategy, Business Development and Marketing for our Intelligence & Communications division, Lori is responsible for strategic planning and execution priorities and leading the business development and marketing functions to grow new business opportunities with defense and security organizations worldwide.
She also currently serves as a Board Member for the University of Colorado Alumni Association Advisory Board.
Areas of expertise:
- Strategy Development & Execution
- Business Development
- Market Intelligence
- Tactical Communications
- Command and Control Systems
- Cryptography
- Software development and business models
- Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
- Innovation and R&D management