Ken Turley

Industry Lead for the Ministry of Defence Office for Small Business Growth, focused on connecting defence SMEs with MOD opportunities. The role supports stronger industry engagement and increased MOD spend with small businesses.

INSPIRE MAT was formed in 2015 and currently consists of 4 academies from Lincolnshire in the East and Midlands, alongside a proposed children’s home. Many of our pupils and students have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are disadvantaged. Therefore, inclusion and equity are a driving force, within our trust, with our vision, for INSPIRE to be a learning community of excellence, including SEND.

As the UK subsidiary of a global defence prime, a company with 8,000+ employees and a £Multi-Bn turnover, RUK exists to provide UK sovereign advanced systems for Defence and Government. As CEO, with an in depth knowledge of the UK Defence, security and manufacturing sectors delivering a 10-year vision of pre-revenue to a £multi-million business. RUK takes a collaborative approach, using partnering strategies to help improve agility in the defence supply chain and is committed to delivering reliability and excellence in defence technology. RUK adapts solutions to the needs of Defence forces, harnessing technological ingenuity, bold approach to innovation and operational expertise to provide best-of-breed multi-domain solutions across Air, Land, Sea, Air & Missile Defence, and Space systems. As the CEO I am responsible for the growth from start-up of this new subsidiary of a global defence prime, with clear deliverables in the initial 3-5 years of the strategy. • Independent P&L responsibility to scale the business using strategic planning and business winning. • Building a sustainable high performing team that execute the strategic and tactical plans that are delivering stakeholder value and growth. • Delivering a complex, multinational manufacturing and services business providing outstanding performance and value creation. • Growing the business processes through ISO standards, collaboration and a social value strategy.

Ultra with 4,500+ employees and a £1.2Bn turnover is a specialist international electrical and electronics engineering manufacturing company. The Group operates mainly, but not solely, in Defence and other highly regulated markets and is focused on providing mission-specific, bespoke solutions and capability. As Strategic Growth Director and working with the UK & US Executive across the Group in multiple sites and geographies in the development and delivery of the UK, US and Rest of the World growth strategy in the defence market, including support to the continuous improvement strategy across manufacturing. Responsible for: • Understanding the UK and global defence market drivers and developing a market intelligence function. • Developing a strategy to understand and influence Government and MoD industrial and defence policy. • Supporting M&A activity focused on developing the UK acquisition strategy to increase the portfolio of products and services for growth. • Developing a standardised business development process and supporting the sales teams globally and develop an international sales & marketing strategy including implementing a new CRM tool. • Increasing the opportunity pipeline by £1Bn+ by identifying new business growth initiatives in new cross market opportunities and improving the win rate. • Identifying opportunities for technology transfer and cross geography sales of current Ultra products and services and supporting the continuous improvement strategy across manufacturing • Identifying key strategic wins and establishing key account management within the Group. • Leading by example and creating new leaders and supporting both CSR and Neurodiversity committees and activities and chairing a newly formed Veterans committee.

Tokk was founded by Ken Turley, a British Army veteran with more than 25 years of experience across government and defence. That background means we understand how these sectors operate and how to help others work within them successfully. We support small and medium-sized enterprises and growing technology businesses at every stage of their journey, from early development to scaling for sustained delivery. Our work combines strategic guidance with practical execution to help organisations position themselves for long-term success in the public sector. Tokk assists business owners and leadership teams in tackling the real-world challenges of growth. We help develop routes to market, manage procurement processes, align compliance and governance, and build the internal systems that support delivery at scale. Our services also extend to wider management areas such as funding strategies, budgeting and planning, HR frameworks, and operational capability. Every engagement is built around clarity and action. Whether you are refining your market approach, strengthening delivery capacity, or preparing for your first major contract, Tokk provides structured, experience-led support designed to help you move forward with confidence.

Providing independent oversight, constructive challenge and strategic advice to the executive team whilst sharing in the collective responsibility for the success of the business. Always open to a discussion to fill a unique role on a board or provide strategic advice with a particular focus on SME's and bringing technology to the Defence Sector.

Working with Charities and Trusts to deliver effective strategies and executable plans with a clear focus on stakeholders and fundraising and financial stability. Supporting great causes to achieve maximum impact.

Horsebridge Defence and Security as part of a £45m+ telecoms enterprise company delivers specialist communications solutions to the defence and security market. As employee number one in this start-up, tasked to brand and grow the company for acquisition over a 3-5 Year period. Responsible for all strategic planning, recruitment, growth and product development, having control over all operational aspects of the business with full P&L responsibility whilst reporting to the Group Chairman and Board. Delivered a successful and profitable Defence communications business structured for a £multi-million disposal to Viasat a US space technology company in 2018. Responsibilities: • Produced and delivered a 3–5-year entrepreneurial strategy to position the company for acquisition. • Branded the company for success and developed a positive company culture. • Developed a suite of communications and sensor products ‘Kestrel II’ to meet the needs of defence and security customers. • Designed and delivered a high-speed mobile broadband connection to a luxury automotive OEM delivering IoT vehicle sensor capability combined with Telematics and customer application layer services such as Skype and Netflix to the back of the vehicle. • Successfully collaborated with a number of SME’s and strategic prime contractor partners to produce an eco-system of partners that delivered the ‘Kestrel II’ product portfolio that delivered Falcon Early Entry Capability (FEEC) to UK Mod through BAE Systems. • Developed a services-oriented team of technical specialists, development engineers, and sales support teams that had a 100% retention and a 90% + engagement rate. • Delivered ongoing growth and profitability over the four years to acquisition. Leading the team, we successfully took revenue from a starting point of £10k per month to an exit position of £390k per month whilst improving gross margin to 45% and delivering a net performance to 18% EBITDA.