Victor Chavez, Chief Executive of Thales UK, awarded CBE in New Year's Honours 2015

Victor was appointed CEO of Thales UK in January 2011; prior to that he was Deputy Chief Executive for three years. Thales UK has a turnover of around £1.2bn and employs over 7,000 people across a range of sectors including defence, security, transport, aerospace and space.

Victor is also President of techUK, the trade association for the IT Sector, and co-chairs the Information Economy Council with Ed Vaizey MP, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy. Victor was recently named as one of the most influential people in UK IT by the annual UKtech50 list.

Victor is also a board member of EngineeringUK and a member of the Advisory Board for the University of Exeter's Strategy & Security Institute.

"I'm deeply honoured to be recognised in this way," said Victor. "It's a great surprise and I'm truly delighted. For me it reflects the high regard in which Thales UK is held by the UK government, not only in terms of the vital work that we undertake on their behalf but also for the high quality employment we create. I also believe it reflects Thales's strong engagement in a number of industry-government initiatives including the Defence Growth Partnership and the Cyber Growth Partnership, as well as trade associations such as techUK."

Victor joined Thomson-CSF in 1999 as the Business Development Director responsible for UK defence programmes, a role which expanded substantially with the acquisition of Racal in 2000. Prior to joining Thomson-CSF, he fulfilled a number of roles within EDS Defence Ltd, working closely with the UK MoD in a wide range of technical, management consultancy and major programme management roles.

Victor graduated in Physics from the University of York in 1984, followed in 1993 by an MSc in Satellite Engineering & Telecommunications at the University of Surrey.