Phil Durston, technical manager, Volkswagen
Having spent the best part of 20 years at Bentley, Phil Durston joined VW in 2017. An integrative vehicle engineer, his current focus is in ADAS and autonomous driving development in proving ground environments. He has broad brand and product experience across all product phases, ranging from volume sports derivatives via extraordinary grand tourers to bespoke vehicles. Phil’s other areas of expertise include target and weight management, prototype fleet management, durability testing and vehicle attributes leadership. He graduated from Brunel University, London, UK, in mechanical, systems and sustainability engineering, enhanced with a master’s in design, strategy and innovation.
Nils Katzorke, project manager, Mercedes-Benz
Nils Katzorke is responsible for the strategic development of the Mercedes-Benz proving ground in Immendingen, Germany. Prior to its opening, he was a project coordinator for the construction and ramp-up of the site. Nils has a master’s of business engineering and a doctor of business administration. His dissertation was on effective test infrastructure design for autonomous driving. He has published articles in diverse journals and conference proceedings, including the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Nils contributes as a reviewer and committee member for multiple scientific formats in the field of vehicle development.
Tom Overington, commercial vehicle compliance manager, Ford Motor Company
Based at the Dunton Technical Centre in Essex, UK, Tom is the manager of commercial vehicle compliance, responsible for Ford’s European fleet of CVs. Having worked at Ford for over 20 years, Tom has a wealth of knowledge in automotive, his specialism being vehicle safety.
Mohammad Behroozi, senior vehicle dynamicist, GM
Dr Mohammad Behroozi is currently a vehicle dynamicist at General Motors. In this role, he focuses on the intricate domain of ride and handling metric development, adopting a holistic approach that integrates subjective and objective assessments to refine the driving experience. An educator and collaborator, he instructs at tire mathematical modeling workshops and engages in research projects with universities. Dr Behroozi’s extensive contributions also extend to editorial, session chair, award committee, panelist and reviewer roles in tire and vehicle dynamics journals and conferences.
Graham Heeps, freelance journalist
Based in Calgary, Canada, Graham Heeps is a former editor of Automotive Testing Technology International and Tire Technology International. Now working freelance, his other outlets include Professional Motorsport World, Autocar, MSN, TractionLife.com and Canada Drives. He’s a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) and is a juror for the Tire Technology International Awards and Canadian Car of the Year.
Byron Bloch, independent automotive safety expert, USA
Byron Bloch is a court-qualified automotive safety expert who spent decades evaluating accident vehicles to assess collision and injury causation and help devise safer alternative designs. He has testified at congressional hearings, to NHTSA and in court cases on vehicle safety issues, and to advocate safer designs concerning various elements of the vehicle.
Gemma Hatton, freelance technical writer and former F1 tire engineer
Gemma Hatton is qualified engineer. Her experience includes roles as a data engineer for BTCC, a Formula 1 tire engineer for Pirelli, and a tire and strategy engineer for the Manor Racing F1 team. Gemma’s career in writing properly began when she was deputy editor of Racecar Engineering magazine. Now she is the CEO of a technical writing company, Fluencial. She also continues to write for a range of technical magazines within the automotive and motorsport industries.
Alex Lai, technical manager, Future Mobility Testing
The Transport for New South Wales Future Mobility Testing facility is a state government resource in Australia. Alex Lai was involved in setting up the center and continues to lead testing operations. He also coordinated the delivery of Australia’s first official Safety Assist Test program for ANCAP. Alex’s experience covers vehicle crashworthiness testing, occupant injury assessment, biomechanics of ATDs, real-world crash investigation, road safety and vehicle safety research and development, infrastructure and product testing, assurance and validation.
Sharad Matade, editor, Tyre Trends and Motoring Trends
Sharad Matade has been reporting on the rubber and tire industries for over a decade. Alongside his role as editor of Tyre Trends, he is also an executive editor of sister publication, Motoring Trends, as part of which he covers the international auto and ancillary industries. Over the years, he has covered all major players in the tire and auto industries on various topics. He also has experience reporting on the aviation and non-ferrous metal sectors.
Phil Morse, founder and manager, Energy Balance
Phil Morse is a long-term contributor to Automotive Testing Technology International. His experience includes roles at Ansible Motion, Camber Ridge and the Team USF1 racing outfit. Before founding Energy Balance, which specializes in business development and innovation primarily in the high-tech mobility sector, he founded and managed Morse Measurements, a K&C test service provider. Phil also spent eight years at Honda R&D Americas where he was senior suspension and handling engineer in charge of vehicle simulation activities and the development of vehicle test procedures for North American production car programs.
Marc Noordeloos, freelance journalist
Splitting his time between Michigan and the UK, Marc Noordeloos is former road test editor at Automobile magazine. Additionally, Marc has managed a racing and rally team in the past and continues to compete in both historic and modern racing. His other freelance outlets include Professional Motorsport World, Tire Technology International, Automobile magazine, Hagerty, Autocar, Evo, and Genroq. He’s also a juror for the Professional Motorsport World Awards and the Vehicle Dynamics International Awards.
Carl Perrin, CEO of the Institute for Clean Growth & Future Mobility at Coventry University
The Institute for Clean Growth & Future Mobility in the UK drives innovation in CAVs, cybersecurity and electric and hybrid powertrain solutions as well as advanced manufacturing and design. In his role as CEO of the organization, Carl Perrin has helped the university secure more than £25m (US$31.3) of funding for R&D projects, scaling up the C-ALPS facility in Coventry and training programs for the supply chain. He also continues to oversee the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering. Carl is a chartered engineer and prior to joining Coventry University, he was head of technology and R&D director at Rolls-Royce and Dana Glacier Vandervell, respectively.
Jahee Campbell-Brennan, director of Wavey Dynamics
Jahee Campbell-Brennan has a master’s in engineering. With an interest in various realms of automotive and motorsport, his career background includes roles at Ford and McLaren Auto. Aside from working as director at Wavey Dynamics, an automotive and motorsport engineering consultancy specializing in vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics and engineering design, he is also a technical contributor to Racecar Engineering magazine. Furthermore, Jahee is a juror on the Professional Motorsport World Awards.
Jada Smith, SVP, product strategy and delivery, Karma Automotive
Jada Smith is an engineering, program management and strategy executive with more than 15 years of experience specializing in software and system development in the automotive industry for companies including Aptiv and Delphi.
Nick Rogers, NED and executive director, Rogers Advisory
An engineer at heart, Nick Rogers has 40 years of global business and automotive experience, including seven years as Jaguar Land Rover’s board member and executive director of product engineering and research. He spent more than 20 years in substantial executive positions with Ford and BMW, as well as Jaguar Land Rover. Today, Nick is chairman and non-executive director for a range of mobility, energy and technology companies. During his tenure at JLR, he headed up the engineering of three generations of Range Rover, the all-new Land Rover Defender and the Jaguar I-Pace.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re interested in being on the judging panel.