Our Leaders

Meet our leadership team

Get to know the people who guide and inspire our teams to deliver world class innovation, expertise and experience across the full life cycle of mission critical and safety programmes.

Our leaders are specialists within their field with the experience of developing and leading high performing teams; drawn from a variety of backgrounds including industry and the armed forces, they bring a holistic and innovative approach to our work.

Tom Rasmussen

Co-Managing Director
Tom Rasmussen joined TP Group in 2021 bringing with him over 25 years’ senior management experience in the defence, infrastructure and built environment sectors worldwide.  Appointed as our Managing Director in 2023, Tom’s focus is to lead and grow TP Group at an exciting time as we support our customers in UK Defence with their increasing emphasis on Science and Technology and innovation in their complex projects. A qualified civil engineer, Tom has previously developed and led highly successful business development and sales departments for technical and engineering businesses domestically and internationally.

Gareth Vaughan

Co-Managing Director
Gareth was appointed Co-Managing Director of Science Group's Defence and Air businesses; TPG Services and Osprey CSL in late 2024. Formally Osprey CSL’s Delivery Director, Gareth's 20 years’ experience leading defence and aviation consultancies that offer distinctive technical services to civilian, government and defence organisations will be fundamental to the division's growth plans. Gareth is also responsible for Osprey Consulting Services, a Science Group company, which is a specialist aviation consultancy providing technical and engineering support to safety critical and highly regulated industry projects across both civil and military environments. The synergy of these roles allows Gareth to bring an innovative and seamless approach to the solutions offered by the Group.
TP Group’s Chief Technical Officer, Dominic Černis, has been awarded Fellowship status of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments in physics.

Dominic Černis

Chief Technical Officer
Dominic joined the Group in 2022 as the Head of Analysis and Operational Research and was later appointed Chief Technical Officer.  With extensive Defence experience spanning 23 years, Dominic, who is a Fellow of the IOP, has led, managed and overseen multi-domain work across many parts of the MOD including Dstl, DE&S, WOC, WECA, Defence Digital, DI, FLCs plus multiple Tier 1 Primes and SMEs. This has all been focused in the science, technology and innovation space covering a range of diverse topics from additive manufacturing to vulnerability modelling. Dominic’s main focus is the design and implementation of the Group’s technical strategy and the assured delivery of all technical work to the absolute highest standard.

Mark Bate

Operations Director
Mark is our Operations Director with a proven and accomplished record in delivering project and programme management services to clients in the public and private sector spanning over 25 years.  His experience includes the delivery of large-scale complex programmes in the UK and overseas; leadership of diverse teams of technical specialists; and business unit responsibility for the delivery of a substantial, high value portfolio of projects to the UK defence sector. Mark is responsible for project performance and governance, and leads our operational excellence strategy.
Mark Michel Finance Manager tpgroup

Mark Michel

Head of Finance
Mark is TP Group's Head of Finance and has over 15 years’ experience in a number of sectors. He is an ACA qualified accountant with a PhD in Physics. Mark’s career progressed from a number of years in external audit working for a range of professional service partnerships including EY. Mark has since gained global experience having spent a number of years working for an ASX listed property group in Sydney, Australia. The core focus of his role is to support the growth of TP Group by driving both revenue and profit through improving commercial performance and operational efficiency.
Rachel Knott Chief Security Officer tpgroup

Rachael Knott

Chief Information Security Officer
Rachael first joined the Defence sector in 2014 and through acquisition has been with TP Group for 9 years, achieving promotion to the role of Chief Information Security Officer. Rachael oversees the organisation’s information, cyber and technology security by developing, implementing and enforcing security policies to protect critical government data. Rachael’s key skills are centred around classified electronic communications, ITAR and cyber security, with a specific interest in personnel security and training. Rachael is CISM, CISS, ITAR and ISO27001 qualified.

Kris Lipscombe

Head of Commercial
As Head of Commercial for TP Group Kris has a wealth of experience gained over 20 years’ working within the Defence sector.  Kris’ role focuses on embedding effective governance within TP Group; ensuring company-wide understanding of the key elements of Contractual Agreements and embedding the principles of ISO 44001 within the organisation to support the establishment of long-standing relationships with our SMEs and customers.

Mike Tulip

Client Director - Science & Technology
Mike is TP Group’s Client director – Science & Technology – and has over 25 years' experience in defence together with a proven track record in winning and sustaining technical consultancy business. He Joined TP Group in 2017 and working closely with our sister company, Sagentia Innovation, he develops and delivers the Group’s Defence Science and Technology offering covering Dstl, wider UK MOD and defence industry. Mike started his career as a MOD scientist, has worked for BAE Systems and NATO, and has a breadth of expertise across all defence domains. He is an experienced business developer, bid manager, programme manager, team leader, capability developer and operational analyst.