Managing Director, CSconnected
Howard has been involved in electronics manufacturing for over 35 years, starting as a process engineer at Lucas Electronics, working on thick-film hybrids and PCB assembly for automotive components. He subsequently pursued a successful career in international sales, product marketing and business development, primarily supplying production equipment for the electronics industry, culminating in 10 years living and working in Silicon Valley.
Howard subsequently worked as Vice President of Business development at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Finnish national applied research agency). His focus was on technology commercialization, supporting the creation of new spin-out companies, IPR licensing and contract research services. For the last three years of his tenure at VTT, he also ran the VTT MEMSfab subsidiary company and was responsible for operations at the Micronova semiconductor fab – the largest R&D fab in Northern Europe, which specialized in MEMS, photonics and nano-electronic fabrication. The fab, jointly shared with Aalto University, offered open access to multiple companies for small-scale production and development.
Returning to the UK in 2020, Howard worked as director of operations strategy at Rockley Photonics in Newport, building supply chain capabilities with multiple semiconductor foundry service providers. In 2024, he became a director of CS Connected with a brief of supporting growth within the South Wales Compound Semiconductor Cluster.
Howard qualified originally as a mechanical engineer but also has a degree in business administration (major in Marketing). He brings a rare combination of technical knowledge coupled with senior management expertise, gained internationally across both private and public sector organizations.