Senior Leadership

Dr Peter Leek
Founder & CSO

Peter founded OQC in 2017 and is a pioneer in the field of quantum computing, particularly known for his contributions to superconducting quantum circuits. As CSO, he sets the company’s scientific vision, strategy and R&D to drive long term innovation. Since 2012, he has led his own research group at the University of Oxford, where OQC’s core IP was first developed. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Nikki Cooper
CLO

Nikki brings over 15 years of experience to the team including Chartered Financier, Chartered Company Secretary ACG and General Counsel. As CLO she supports the company through complex strategic decisions and processes, including investment raises. Nikki is an Associate Member ACG of the The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland and a licensed professional solicitor accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Robert Coutts
CFO

Robert Coutts is CFO at OQC, where he leads the company’s global financial strategy. A seasoned finance executive, Robert brings over a decade of experience in senior financial leadership positions across private and public companies, including notable biotech. Robert started his career at KPMG where he qualified as a chartered accountant and worked across both their Audit,Transactions and Restructuring teams. Following this, he also worked at the Wellcome Trust. His career spans successful private and public capital raises, including a NASDAQ IPO for Achilles Therapeutics, as well as supporting international scale-ups.

Robert holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Jack Boyer
Chairman of the Board

As Chairman, Jack brings a wealth of experience to OQC in scaling deep-tech and engineering companies and was recognised with an OBE in 2015 for his contributions to science and engineering. He  is currently also serving as Chair of Royce Hydrogen Accelerator, Bristol University and Non-Executive Director at Bela Holdings AG.  In his role as Chair, he works closely with OQC’s Board and leadership team to build on the company’s successes, and accelerate our impact on the global stage.

Sir Jeremy Fleming KCMG CB
Director

Sir Jeremy is Former Director of GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence and cybersecurity agency, a position he held from 2017 to 2023. During his tenure, he transformed the organisation into a globally recognised cyber institution, establishing the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and co-founding the National Cyber Force—significantly enhancing the UK’s sovereign cyber capabilities. His distinguished career began at MI5 in 1993, where he led critical operations, before going on to advise successive Prime Ministers and serving on the National Security Council and Joint Intelligence Committee.  Sir Jeremy has played a pivotal role in managing the UK’s response to major security incidents and strategic responses to geopolitical challenges, and brings his wealth of security and defence experience to OQC’s leadership team.

Colin Bell
Director

Colin Bell, former CEO of HSBC Bank plc and HSBC Europe, bringing deep experience in banking, compliance, and risk management to OQC. His prior roles with the UK Ministry of Defence and NATO further strengthen OQC’s strategic capabilities in national security, defence, and sovereign technology infrastructure. His position on OQC’s board reinforces our leadership in quantum computing for financial services, and highlights the sector’s growing demand for next-generation technologies.

Nigel Higgins
Director

Nigel brings more than four decades of experience in global finance. He has served as Group Chairman of Barclays since 2019, following a 36-year career at Rothschild & Co, where he held senior leadership roles including Co-Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman. He brings extensive board-level experience in the governance of major organisations; he has served as a Non-Executive Director of Tetra Laval, a position he has held since 2016; and Chair of Sadler’s Wells since 2017. A graduate of the University of Oxford, Nigel has many years of experience as an investment banker and strategic adviser, including to several European governments.

Nick Dixon-Clegg
Director

Nick leads the Independent Investments Team at OSE, working exclusively with established portfolio companies. Prior to OSE, Nick was an Investment Principal at Valiance, a MedTech-focused venture capital firm. He has also held roles as a private equity investor at Nordic Capital and as an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Tomoyuki Nii
Director

Tomoyuki Nii is Director at SBI Investment Co. Ltd, Japan’s premier VC fund, where he is in charge of all the fund’s overseas investments. He focuses on Fintech, AI, Blockchain, IoT, Robotics, Healthtech, Sharing economy. He has set up several Joint venture companies between SBI group and portfolio companies in the area of Fintech, Blockchain and Mobile applications.

George Mills
Director

George Mills leads direct deeptech investments at British Patient Capital, a UK sovereign VC fund and the most active growth stage investor in deeptech and life sciences in the UK. He has been investing in scale up companies since 2011 and has been a co-founder of three startups. He is a CFA charterholder and a Kauffman Foundation Global Scholar, and holds an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol.