WIG Breakfast Briefing: Prospects for the UK's space industry

Sarah Tyrrell is currently Acting Director, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mobility at the Department for International Trade. She is responsible for leading the Department’s sector teams covering the automotive, aerospace and space sectors. Clean growth, innovation and future mobility is a core thread across all of these sectors. Sarah has worked in the Department for International Trade since its creation, having joined UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) as an Assistant Director in 2014. She has held a number of positions within DIT, including Deputy CEO for the UK-Africa Investment Summit in 2020, leading the Department’s Business Environment team, working within the Department’s Strategy team and as Transformation Director in DIT China. Sarah has also worked in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where she held roles focused on regulatory reform and labour market policy.

Sarah Macken is Vice President and Head of UK Business Development for Airbus’ defence and space division. In focusing on UK customers, she works to shape future programmes such as military satcom (Skynet) and European Space Agency missions such as Mars Rover, Solar Orbiter and space weather missions.
Prior to this role, Sarah was the Head of Public Affairs for the UK defence, space and helicopters businesses at Airbus. Before joining Airbus, Sarah ran an independent consultancy providing strategic advice, market entry strategies and business development services to hi-tech, advanced engineering and business services companies in aviation, electronic systems, defence and energy. She is a graduate of Imperial College and the University of East Anglia. She is a keen runner and cyclist.

Giacomo Gatto is an Associate Partner in McKinsey & Company’s London Office.

He works across the Aerospace and Defence Value Chains and especially focuses on the interface of Public Sector and Industry to enable successful partnerships and Sector development.

Before joining McKinsey, Giacomo was a researcher in the Space sector, where he worked on innovative technologies applied to human space exploration.