Novosound, the award-winning novel thin-film ultrasound technology company, has appointed Dr Derek Mathieson, former Chief Marketing and Technology Officer for global energy technology business Baker Hughes, as its new chairman.
Previously, Dr Mathieson, who is currently based in Houston, Texas, has held a number of high-profile positions at Baker Hughes. These include Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer; Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer; President, Western Hemisphere Operations; and President, Products and Technology.
In his most recent role, as Chief Marketing and Technology Officer, he was responsible for leading the commercial growth strategy for the company, including the development of multi-generational integrated technology plans for Baker Hughes’ extensive products and technology portfolio, managing corporate communications and leading future business incubation efforts.
Dr Mathieson earned a Ph.D. in micro electro-mechanical systems and a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in engineering from that institution. He is a chartered engineer with the United Kingdom Engineering Council, a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Prior to joining Baker Hughes he served as Chief Executive Officer for WellDynamics Incorporated which was acquired by Haliburton in 2008. His career also includes roles at Shell Exploration & Production and Wood Group both based in the United Kingdom.
Founding Director and CTO at novosound, Dr Dave Hughes said:
“Derek brings vast experience of international businesses to Novosound. With the global ultrasonic market now valued at $45billion, and growing, we strongly believe there is a huge opportunity to grow at scale and to take a big part of that market. Attracting such an influential and internationally respected industry leader as Derek is extremely exciting for us and is a strong reflection on the work we have delivered to date and demonstrates our future ambitions and plans.”
Derek Mathieson said:
“Industries like oil & gas, aerospace, nuclear, industrial and infrastructure crave innovation that brings improvements to process, efficiency and safety. Ultrasonic Sensors are at the heart of that. Dave Hughes and his highly skilled team at novosound have rapidly developed ground-breaking Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technology with truly global market opportunities and I’m looking forward to working with them to achieve their ambitious goals.”
In just two years, novosound has rapidly revolutionised ultrasound technology, which has remained largely unchanged for 40 years, by replacing conventional sensor materials with a flexible piezoelectric thin-film material. The company has created the world’s first truly flexible NDT ultrasound tool that simplifies complex inspections in Aerospace and Energy, and a fit and forget sensor that can measure corrosion up to 400°C continuously in Oil and Gas.
In December 2019, Novosound raising £3.3 million from a Series A funding round to develop new products for the NDT market, applied to oil & gas, aerospace, nuclear, industrial and infrastructure, and to build the commercialisation team to enter international markets such as North America and Asia.
The Series A funding round was led by Foresight Williams, alongside existing shareholders including Par Equity, Kelvin Capital, Gabriel Investments, the University of the West of Scotland, and the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.
Established in 2018 by Dave Hughes, CTO, and Richard Cooper, CEO, Novosound is based just outside Glasgow, Scotland and now employs a team of 27. It was the first spin-out company from the University of the West of Scotland, raising £1.5 million at its seed investment round in April 2018. The business also secured a £1m grant from Scottish Enterprise in July 2019 as part of a £2M project to rapidly scale up the company’s R&D activity and recruit additional, highly skilled staff.