Management Team

Dion Vaughan– Chief Executive Officer

Dion joined Metalysis in July 2013 to drive forward the scale-up and the commercialisation of tantalum and titanium production.

Dion is a metallurgist and has worked across the metals, mining and investment sectors for over 20 years, bringing his experience from industry and corporate finance. He joins Metalysis from Hatch Corporate Finance.  Previously, his career has included positions in Sheffield Forgemasters, Johnson Matthey and BP Research.  As a corporate financier he has also worked for JP Morgan Chase Manhattan and Robert Fleming where he worked on a wide variety of mergers & acquisitions, debt and equity capital raises, privatisations and strategic advisory assignments.

Dion was awarded a PhD in Material Science from Queen Mary University of London.

June Webb - Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer

June joined Metalysis in 2011 bringing her wealth of experience in providing confidential support services at Group Chief Executive level.  

Her extensive, practical hands on experience, has been gained across a variety of industry and market sectors including FMCG, energy sales and utilities.  June additionally spent 18 months as an Export Sales Manager in the automotive supplies industry gaining legal, logistical and operational experience. Along the journey she has also organised conferences and seminars for up to 300 delegates, managing complex projects, office moves and the day to day running of an office.

June gained her secretarial qualifications from Granville College in Sheffield.

Kartik Rao - Director of Business Development

Kartik joined the Technical team at Metalysis in 2008 to develop a titanium product using the FFC process as he has a background in metallurgy. He has played a leading role in driving the technical development towards powder products that are tailored for customers. In this role he managed research projects that were both metallurgy and electrochemistry focused.

Early in 2011, Kartik moved to the Commercial team to identify commercial opportunities for titanium, by working closely with industry partners. More recently, Kartik has taken up his new appointment looking at all business development opportunities.

Kartik achieved a doctorate in extractive metallurgy from Imperial College London

Christine Clegg - Director of Finance and Administration

Christine joined Metalysis in November 2010.

Christine's experience is mainly gained from manufacturing, including heavy industry. Her particular skills include cost control, cost reduction, margin analysis and improvements, change management and forward strategic planning.

In the last few years Christine has been responsible for enabling several companies to develop their potential by improving their finance departments by recruitment and training. Her experience includes installation of new systems and procedures to improve management information for decision making, and changing company culture to improve financial management. 

Christine has a degree in Business Studies and is a Fellow of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants.

Peter Dudley - Director of Engineering

Peter joined Metalysis in October 2008 as Process Development Manager and is responsible for the scale-up and development of production processes.

He has a strong technical background in developing high temperature electrochemical systems with Billiton Research. Subsequently Peter moved into plant design, commissioning and operational roles primarily in the TiO2 pigment industry. He has worked over the last 25 years for several international companies and has held roles ranging from technical management to project management positions.

Peter graduated from Imperial College, London with a BSc(Eng) in Metallurgy and a PhD in molten salt electrochemistry.

Ian Mellor - Director of Technology

Ian joined Metalysis in September 2004.  Prior to this Ian was a Project Manager at Morgan Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of the Morgan Crucible Company plc

Ian has a background in physical chemistry, he has over ten years industrial experience leading teams, developing new products and commercialising technologies, primarily in the alternative energy and metals industries.

Since joining Metalysis, Ian has developed and lead the Technology team to improve the chemistry and morphology of the products, primarily for tantalum and titanium. He has also provided support to the Engineering team for the scale-up of the process.

Ian gained his doctorate from the Nottingham Trent University.

Michael Stephenson - Director of Operations

Michael joined Metalysis in 2006 and has had a number of positions including successfully running technology projects, managing pilot cells, R & D programs and setting up production-ready facilities.  Michael spent several years as a researcher at Manchester University studying the electrochemistry of liquid-liquid interfaces.

For the past two years, Michael has been a key member of the Senior Management Team, providing a link between Technology and Engineering.  His team has provided scalable solutions based on cost-effectiveness, ranging from outsourcing of process steps as well as purchasing and commissioning of equipment for production of tantalum.

Michael completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge in 2002 where he specialised in electrochemistry.