Derek Sharples

Derek Sharples is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Avation Plc, a London stock exchange-listed company, headquartered in Singapore. He is also an investor and an Advisory Board Member to several Singapore start-ups and SMEs in composite manufacturing, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, unmanned drones and surface finishing.

Derek is the former Chief Executive Officer of Airbus Helicopters Southeast Asia. Prior to this, he was a senior executive at Airbus in Europe, where he held roles in technical support, logistics, project management, marketing, governance, and product development.

He was an airport consultant for the London-based transport consultancy Tecnecon, and he served as a maintenance test pilot in the Royal Navy. He has extensive business experience in the aerospace and aviation industries in Asia, Europe and North America.

Derek is member of the Enterprise Singapore Startup SG tech evaluation panel which, on behalf of the Singapore government, assesses deep tech start-up grant applications in Advanced Materials and Precision Engineering.

He is a volunteer member of the Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) Advisory Panel of Experts, and a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Derek is a Graduate Aerospace Engineer (1st Class Honours). He has a Master of Business Administration from the Cranfield School of Management in UK.

Hear more insights from Derek:

• Success Stories - Creating Growth while the Planes are Grounded