Karen Holland

After Graduating from the University of Birmingham with BSc Hons physics Karen spent several years working for Plessey as a Principal Development Engineer developing fibre optic transceiver technology for military and commercial application.

Then during a career break with her family, she took up astronomy, initially as an amateur, and later became involved with the Observational Astronomy group at Leicester University where she conducted research culminating in the Royal Astronomical Society publication of her controversial paper announcing the first ever discovery of colliding open star clusters In parallel with this activity, Karen was a founder member of XCAM, an enterprise manufacturing digital cameras for science experiments and space applications

Following this position, Karen then applied for and was the first woman ever to win a Royal Society Industry Fellowship in the field of Astronomy and Particle Physics, to conduct research in the Theoretical Astrophysics group at Leicester University, where she continued her research, until XCAM grew to a size where she left to take over as CEO, to focus on growing the business full-time.

In the 20 years since Karen took over XCAM, it has grown from a 1-person business operating out of a spare room at home, to a business which operates from a 6000 square foot factory in Northampton, complete with ISO 6 class cleanrooms where cameras are made and subsequently launched into space or installed in world-class science facilities.

Karen has been a Director of the Northants Engineering Training Partnership, a member of the Industry Advisory board for Manchester Physics and Astronomy Department, a Member of the SEMLEP Growth Hub Board, and a member of the High-Performance Technologies Steering Group for Northants Enterprise Partnership