Our Team
Team Members
James Stephenson
Chief Executive Officer
With an extensive background in chemical manufacturing and processing, James’ career spans both sides of the Atlantic. He worked for Dow Corning (now Dow) for more than 16 years in the UK and United States, where he became global product manager for its electronics and advanced materials business.
He also led an internal start-up for the development of silicon nanoparticle-based inks for printed electronics. Since then, he was the general manager/managing director for Polyone Corporation (now Avient) and the vice president, Global Business Development, at Carlisle Fluid Technologies.
In 2020, he joined Promethean Particles as CEO. He holds an M. Eng in chemical engineering from Swansea University and an MBA from Manchester Business School.
Selina Ambrose
Product Market Manager
A current board member of the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA), Selina holds a PhD in chemical engineering, specialising in the continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis of functional nanomaterials.
With more than 10 years of experience in the nanotechnology field, Selina was promoted from her role as Technical Manager in 2022. She now leads the product management function at Promethean, acting as the critical interface between external customer and collaboration partner needs and the internal capabilties to deliver them.
Paul Kirkman
R&D Manager
Paul joined Promethean Particles as R&D Manager in 2022, leading Promethean’s R&D team and activities. Before Promethean, he worked for Lubrizol Limited, where he was a Senior Research Chemist and team lead for tribology and surface science. In this role, Paul led numerous long-term fundamental research projects, centred around surface and materials chemistry.
He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Warwick, where his thesis focused on the production, characterisation, and electrochemical modification of sp2 carbon materials. Paul also currently sits on the external advisory board for the Warwick Analytical Science Centre and Molecular Analytical Science CDT.
Chris Simmons
Business Development Manager
Chris joined Promethean Particles in 2021 to lead the company’s business development activities, with a particular focus on strategic relationship development in the carbon capture application space.
Chris has more than 16 years experience in the chemical manufacturing industry. He spent the first half of his career as a formulation chemist in the Marine & Protective Coatings industry at Akzo Nobel and the latter half as Business Development and Product Manager within Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Printing Inks and Construction.
He holds a BSc in Applied Chemisty from Northumbria University, and a BSc in Chemical Process Technology from the University of Leeds.
Owen Cartmell
Engineering Manager
Owen joined Promethean Particles in 2023 to lead the Engineering and Production functions and accelerate the delivery of our products to our customers.
Owen has over 10 years experience in the chemical industry, previously working in the FMCG and Fine & Specialty Chemical sectors for Reckitt Benckiser and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
He holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds, and a BSc in Chemistry also from the University of Leeds. He is an Associate Member of the IChemE, working towards Chartership.
Angela Avendano
Senior Process Engineer
Angela is a highly experienced Chemical Engineer with more than 10 years experience in varying industries. Having led process design and continuous improvement programs in the fire glass industry in the UK as well as modelling and optimisation in Oil and Gas, Angela joined Promethean to lead the engineering activities as we continue to progress our manufacturing scale.
Angela has an MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering from the Univeristy of Manchester, and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Leah Matsinha
Senior Technical Scientist
Leah joined Promethean’s R&D team as a Senior Technical Scientist in 2024. She is an experienced MOF synthetic chemist who has led projects in both academia and industry, with applications including catalysis, CO2 activation, and CO2 capture & sequestration. Before Promethean, she worked as part of the R&D team at Concrete4Change, and also held research and academic positions at the University of South Wales and the University of Johannesburg, respectively.
Leah holds a PhD in Chemistry from University of Cape Town. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society’s Future Leaders: African Independent Researcher (FLAIR) programme.
Scott Priest
Technical Scientist
Scott joined Promethean in 2022, following an EngD in Chemical Engineering that was sponsored by Promethean. Scott’s thesis was focused on the optimisation of the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for carbon capture and storage applications.
At Promethean, Scott is responsible for the identification and assessment of the potential translation of MOFs to continuous flow. He also assists in assessing the performance of our new MOF-specific reactor designs.
Rebecca Ryder
Technical Scientist
Rebecca joined Promethean’s R&D team in September 2022 as a Techncial Scientist, where she is focused on exploring the continuous flow synthesis of various nanomaterials. Rebecca also assumed the role of Health and Safety Coordinator, utilising her prior industrial experience.
Rebecca obtained a first-class BSc (Hons) in Chemistry with a year in industry from the University of Liverpool. Previously she worked as research scientist for Ineos-Inovyn in PVC Additives R&D.
Kale Cooke
Laboratory Technician
Kale joined Promethean in February 2024 as a Laboratory Technician. Kale previously gained experience working in a lab at Endeavour Speciality Chemicals as a Production Chemist.
Kale graduated with a first-class MChem (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Leicester in 2022.
James Stephenson
Chief Executive Officer
With an extensive background in chemical manufacturing and processing, James’ career spans both sides of the Atlantic. He worked for Dow Corning (now Dow) for more than 16 years in the UK and United States, where he became global product manager for its electronics and advanced materials business.
He also led an internal start-up for the development of silicon nanoparticle-based inks for printed electronics. Since then, he was the general manager/managing director for Polyone Corporation (now Avient) and the vice president, Global Business Development, at Carlisle Fluid Technologies.
In 2020, he joined Promethean Particles as CEO. He holds an M. Eng in chemical engineering from Swansea University and an MBA from Manchester Business School.
Selina Ambrose
Product Market Manager
A current board member of the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA), Selina holds a PhD in chemical engineering, specialising in the continuous-flow hydrothermal synthesis of functional nanomaterials.
With more than 10 years of experience in the nanotechnology field, Selina was promoted from her role as Technical Manager in 2022. She now leads the product management function at Promethean, acting as the critical interface between external needs of customers and collaboration partners, and the internal capabilties to deliver them.
Paul Kirkman
R&D Manager
Paul joined Promethean Particles as R&D Manager in 2022, leading Promethean’s R&D team and activities. Before Promethean, he worked for Lubrizol Limited, where he was a Senior Research Chemist and team lead for tribology and surface science. In this role, Paul led numerous long-term fundamental research projects, centred around surface and materials chemistry.
He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Warwick, where his thesis focused on the production, characterisation, and electrochemical modification of sp2 carbon materials. Paul also currently sits on the external advisory board for the Warwick Analytical Science Centre and Molecular Analytical Science CDT.
Chris Simmons
Business Development Manager
Chris joined Promethean Particles in 2021 to lead the company’s business development activities, with a particular focus on strategic relationship development in the carbon capture application space.
Chris has more than 16 years experience in the chemical manufacturing industry. He spent the first half of his career as a formulation chemist in the Marine & Protective Coatings industry at Akzo Nobel and the latter half as Business Development and Product Manager within Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Printing Inks and Construction.
He holds a BSc in Applied Chemisty from Northumbria University, and a BSc in Chemical Process Technology from the University of Leeds.
Owen Cartmell
Engineering Manager
Owen joined Promethean Particles in 2023 to lead the Engineering and Production functions and accelerate the delivery of our products to our customers.
Owen has over 10 years experience in the chemical industry, previously working in the FMCG and Fine & Specialty Chemical sectors for Reckitt Benckiser and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
He holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds, and a BSc in Chemistry also from the University of Leeds. He is an Associate Member of the IChemE, working towards Chartership.
Angela Avendano
Senior Process Engineer
Angela is a highly experienced Chemical Engineer with more than 10 years experience in varying industries. Having led process design and continuous improvement programs in the fire glass industry in the UK as well as modelling and optimisation in Oil and Gas, Angela joined Promethean to lead the engineering activities as we continue to progress our manufacturing scale.
Angela has an MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering from the Univeristy of Manchester, and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Leah Matsinha
Senior Technical Scientist
Leah holds a PhD in Chemistry from University of Cape Town. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society’s Future Leaders: African Independent Researcher (FLAIR) programme.
Scott Priest
Technical Scientist
Scott joined Promethean in 2022, following an EngD in Chemical Engineering that was sponsored by Promethean. Scott’s thesis was focused on the optimisation of the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for carbon capture and storage applications.
At Promethean, Scott is responsible for the identification and assessment of the potential translation of MOFs to continuous flow. He also assists in assessing the performance of our new MOF-specific reactor designs.
Rebecca Ryder
Technical Scientist
Rebecca joined Promethean’s R&D team in September 2022 as a Techncial Scientist, where she is focused on exploring the continuous flow synthesis of various nanomaterials. Rebecca also assumed the role of Health and Safety Coordinator, utilising her prior industrial experience.
Rebecca obtained a first-class BSc (Hons) in Chemistry with a year in industry from the University of Liverpool. Previously she worked as research scientist for Ineos-Inovyn in PVC Additives R&D.
Kale Cooke
Laboratory Technician
Kale joined Promethean in February 2024 as a Laboratory Technician. Kale previously gained experience working in a lab at Endeavour Speciality Chemicals as a Production Chemist.
Kale graduated with a first-class MChem (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Leicester in 2022.
Board of Directors
Alan Lamb
Chairman of the Board
Alan has broad experience with technology businesses, ranging from those in their early stages to large public companies. He led the management buyout of Computer Security International from Advent, which was acquired by Racal Electronics, where he was CEO of Racal IT Security.
Over the last decades, Alan has developed spin-out companies from UK universities as a mentor, chairman and non-executive director. In addition to Promethean Particles, he is also non-executive director at Smartnumbers, which uses machine-learning to identify fraudulent calls into banking and other call centres.
He holds a degree in engineering science and an MBA.
Ed Lester
Chief Scientific Officer
Ed is part of the Advanced Materials Research Group and the Lady Trent Professor of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Nottingham. He has a PhD in chemical engineering.
For more than 20 years, Ed has researched many topics, including power generation and fuel combustion. But one area of research — on continuous supercritical fluid reactors — led to the launch of Promethean Particles, where he is the technical director.
He also works on projects where his research interests overlap: chemicals and energy from biomass waste, through gasification, supercritical water oxidation, hydrothermal extraction or thermal upgrading.
Alan Lamb
Chairman of the Board
Alan has broad experience with technology businesses, ranging from those in their early stages to large public companies. He led the management buyout of Computer Security International from Advent, which was acquired by Racal Electronics, where he was CEO of Racal IT Security.
Over the last decades, Alan has developed spin-out companies from UK universities as a mentor, chairman and non-executive director.
In addition to Promethean Particles, he is also non-executive director at Smartnumbers, which uses machine-learning to identify fraudulent calls into banking and other call centres.
He holds a degree in engineering science and an MBA.
Ed Lester
Chief Scientific Officer
Ed is part of the Advanced Materials Research Group and the Lady Trent Professor of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Nottingham. He has a PhD in chemical engineering.
For more than 20 years, Ed has researched many topics, including power generation and fuel combustion. But one area of research — on continuous supercritical fluid reactors — led to the launch of Promethean Particles, where he is the technical director.
He also works on projects where his research interests overlap: chemicals and energy from biomass waste, through gasification, supercritical water oxidation, hydrothermal extraction or thermal upgrading.
Graham Shaw
Non-executive Director
Graham has worked for more than 20 years as both an executive and non-executive director in diverse industry sectors, including graphic arts, financial services, document security, web publishing, e-learning and renewable energy.
Graham currently heads up two technology companies — Oxonica Ltd. and Signum Technologies — alongside non-executive positions with the Foresight Group (a leading infrastructure and private equity investment partnership), with Mercia Power Response Holdings (reserve power generation) and with Promethean Particles.
James Stephenson
Chief Executive Officer
With an extensive background in chemical manufacturing and processing, James’ career spans both sides of the Atlantic. He worked for Dow Corning (now Dow) for more than 16 years in the UK and United States, where he became global product manager for its electronics and advanced materials business.
He also led an internal start-up for the development of silicon nanoparticle-based inks for printed electronics. Since then, he was the general manager/managing director for Polyone Corporation (now Avient) and the vice president, Global Business Development, at Carlisle Fluid Technologies.
In 2020, he joined Promethean Particles as CEO. He holds a master’s degree in chemical and engineering and an MBA.
Graham Shaw
Non-executive Director
Graham has worked for more than 20 years as both an executive and non-executive director in diverse industry sectors, including graphic arts, financial services, document security, web publishing, e-learning and renewable energy.
Graham currently heads up two technology companies — Oxonica Ltd. and Signum Technologies — alongside non-executive positions with the Foresight Group (a leading infrastructure and private equity investment partnership), with Mercia Power Response Holdings (reserve power generation) and with Promethean Particles.
James Stephenson
Chief Executive Officer
With an extensive background in chemical manufacturing and processing, James’ career spans both sides of the Atlantic. He worked for Dow Corning (now Dow) for more than 16 years in the UK and United States, where he became global product manager for its electronics and advanced materials business.
He also led an internal start-up for the development of silicon nanoparticle-based inks for printed electronics. Since then, he was the general manager/managing director for Polyone Corporation (now Avient) and the vice president, Global Business Development, at Carlisle Fluid Technologies.
In 2020, he joined Promethean Particles as CEO. He holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA.
What can our
team do for you?
Let’s find out.
What can our team do for you? Let’s find out.
Have a technical challenge? Connect with our team of experts to see what we can bring to your product application.
