Nicole Ballantyne is a chartered Mechanical Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers with 3 decades of industry experience in the manufacturing sector, and in innovation support. In her current role, Nicole was taken on as employee 14 at MESTEC – a high growth, innovative Manufacturing Execution Software company – helping manufacturers embrace digital transformation through facilitating the provision of the right data, at the right place, at the right time, to make great management decisions. Just a year later, the company now employs more than 35 staff, and specifically managing customer success, and partnerships is the current challenge that Nicole is wrestling with. Nicole started her career as an engineering sponsored student with Metalbox – a 15yr stint that led to exciting manufacturing leadership roles throughout Europe, in World Class Manufacturing, and ERP Implementation Management. Subsequent varied management roles in an SME corrosions coatings manufacturer, and in the innovation support sector have seen Nicole develop and collaborate in technology & innovation strategies in a whole variety of companies in a plethora of sectors. She holds a M.Sc. from Cranfield, and a B.Eng.(hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College.