Tim Rowntree MA CEng MIET FRAES
Senior Associate Fellow; Former Director, Engineering and Safety, DE&S, Ministry of Defence
Biography
Tim Rowntree retired from a long career in the Ministry of Defence in July 2020. In a range of roles, he built on his original technical expertise with extensive experience in project management, commercial factors, leadership and national and international politics.
His career was mostly in national and international Defence acquisition, including major programme delivery, safety management and support. In his last appointment he was the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Director of Engineering and Safety. This role covered all aspects of equipment safety, technology and future technical concepts across Air, Land, Maritime and Space. He was also the DE&S lead on innovation and technology, including Equipment Cyber Protection and the exploitation of new technologies into military service.
Between 2013 and 2017, Tim was the Director of OCCAR, Europe’s largest international programme management organisation. In this role he was responsible for the leadership and development of OCCAR to deliver collaborative European Defence equipment programmes. The OCCAR portfolio comprised 13 programmes in the air, land and sea domains, with an annual turnover of around 4 billion euros and a total programme value of around 60 billion euros. Tim also has international experience with UK/US programmes and the Eurofighter programme.
In 2007, Tim became the first Director General Air Support upon the creation of the DE&S. He then completed the 2008 Royal College of Defence Studies course and returned to the same appointment (later re-named Director Air Support) in October 2008. In this role he was responsible for the procurement, safety, airworthiness and through-life support of the UK’s military Air Transport, Air to Air Refuelling and ISTAR aircraft fleets, and additional cross-platform systems such as synthetic training and defensive aids.
Earlier roles included Lynx/Wildcat Project Team Leader, several jobs in the UK Tornado programme and in research and development at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.