From apprentice to boardroom – the inspirational journey of two top bosses at Lockheed Martin UK

When Paul Livingston started work as an engineering apprentice more than 30 years ago, he never thought that one day he’d be sitting at the head of the boardroom table.

But today he is vice president and group managing director of Lockheed Martin UK’s Rotary and Mission Systems business based in Havant – and in April he will become chief executive of the whole company in this country, in charge of around 1,800 people.

Reflecting on how his career began, Paul says: ‘I didn’t start out thinking I’m going to be a chief executive, I really didn’t. I just always tried to do the job really well and look forward to that next aspirational step.’

In National Apprenticeship Week his story is an inspirational one, showing that the sky is the limit for those who start off as apprentices.

He says: ‘I think I’m living proof that you can do anything.’

Since joining Lockheed Martin, a global security and aerospace company and a key strategic partner for the UK’s national defence and its supply chain, Paul has held a number of positions before taking on his present role in 2017.

Paul, 52, says: ‘As the business enters the next phase of its development, I’m excited by the opportunities ahead as we develop our presence in new areas such as UK space, directed energy, cyber security and 5G technologies that will support 21st century defence and security operations.’

As a teenager, Paul knew he didn’t want to do A-Levels. Instead he was interested in becoming an apprentice at civil and military simulation company Singer-Link Miles, based in Sussex where he grew up.

He recalls: ‘I didn’t see myself as particularly academic, so I went for an apprenticeship. There were a lot of applications and I got through to the final six for five places. But I wasn’t successful.’

Instead he went to college to take a BTEC National Diploma, covering a similar programme to the one he would have followed at Singer-Link Miles.

Paul explains: ‘Coming towards the end of that I was starting to consider going to university and at that point someone from Singer-Link Miles rang up and offered me a road back into their apprenticeship scheme.’

He was put on a two-year engineering apprenticeship, training and getting paid, and calls it ‘the best of both worlds’.

After completing his apprenticeship, the young engineer spent some time working in the Netherlands and a year in California. Singer-Link Miles then merged with another company and it was through a new role in this business that he first linked up with Lockheed Martin.

Paul says: ‘I spent six months in Orlando, Florida at Lockheed Martin training headquarters in 1997/98. That was really a six-month job interview. They said if they could find the right opportunity would I consider a move. And the right thing eventually came up.’

In 2001, Lockheed Martin wanted him to head up the UK Military Flying Training Systems bid, the first private finance initiative for the Ministry of Defence – a bid which the team won six years later.

He went on to work in the aerospace arm of the UK business and then on projects abroad in the Netherlands, Korea and Brazil.

Returning to the UK, he rose to become vice president and group managing director for Integrated Systems in the UK, leading a team of 700 people and 16 sites from a base at Gunwharf in Portsmouth.

Now he is readying himself for the challenge of leading Lockheed Martin UK as CEO. So what has his career taught him so far?

‘It’s about being willing to take on new challenges and things that are a bit different.’

He says travelling with work and seeing how different countries operate has made him value diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

‘It’s about diverse backgrounds and diversity of thought. The more complex your problem set is, the more diverse thoughts you want in the room when you’re wrestling with that problem.’

He adds: ‘We do not have enough women in defence or engineering. Five years after completing a degree, 60 per cent aren’t in STEM-related fields. That’s a lot of talent that’s being lost.’

Paul is also keen to dispel any misconception that apprenticeships are all about hard hats and spanners. He says Lockheed Martin offers the chance to work on a diverse range of projects.

‘Lockheed Martin is the single largest aerospace company on the planet. The amazing thing is the diversity of what we do, from the very edges of space to the depths of the ocean, to moving around in cyberspace. You have a chance to be a part of making a difference in the world.’

When Paul becomes chief executive, stepping into his shoes as group managing director of Lockheed Martin UK’s Rotary and Mission Systems will be Emlyn Taylor – another former apprentice.

Emlyn, currently Programme Delivery Director, usually works from Havant, but since March last year his office has been in a camper van in his garden.

Before joining Lockheed Martin UK, Emlyn held various senior technical roles with BAE Systems, IBM Global Systems, Marconi Underwater Systems, Westinghouse Signals and Siemens Plessey Defence.

He started his career at 16 as an apprentice at Plessey Defence Systems and later graduated from Bournemouth University. Emlyn, 50, says: ‘In my last two years at school I got into writing games and computer programmes.

‘I started a YTS course to get me skilled up in IT and was soon given an assignment at Plessey to make sure software was stored safely. That was the beginning of my journey.’

He did a 13-week programming course, but the company also gave him experience in different areas such as testing and system engineering.

By 25 he was a team leader. Then he set up his own company and wrote software for the underground rail systems in London and Madrid. He also worked with Marconi Torpedo Systems on testing software.

In 2001 he began working for Lockheed Martin UK. The company had just won a contract with the Royal Mail to automate the reading of addresses on envelopes using artificial intelligence.

Emlyn says: ‘I still have the very first envelope where we managed to make that happen. The system we have developed for the Royal Mail has handled 11 billion items a year for the past 20 years.’

He was chief architect of the system, which is now used in 39 mail centres across the country.

He says of the importance of apprenticeships: ‘I’ve always been a big champion of apprentices. I have a deep belief that diversity brings success and apprentices are one part of that.

‘I’m very passionate about telling people you can make your own luck. I was fortunate that I had an inspirational school teacher who saw something in me – and then that the companies I’ve worked in have been willing to invest in me and give me opportunities.’

As part of a media partnership, this year www.portsmouth.co.uk will be featuring a series of articles about Lockheed Martin UK and the people who work there.