EMEA Directors

Charles Lombard

Managing Director

Charles Lombard joined Apollo Fire Detectors as Managing Director with regional responsibility for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in August 2017.

With a career working in many European countries, Charles has led global businesses of increasing size and complexity based in Italy, Australia, Denmark and France. Charles was Vice President of a group of businesses in his last position with ITW.

Born and raised in France, Charles holds a degree from the Grenoble School of Business, and a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Birmingham. He is fluent in French, English and Italian.

Jennifer Rudder

Finance Director

Jennifer Rudder joined Apollo Fire Detectors as Finance Director in June 2018 with responsibility for the company’s global finance and IT teams.

Originally from Missouri, USA, Jennifer has held a number of international roles in finance, IT and HR. Most recently Jennifer worked at Loma Systems in the UK, a division of Illinois Tool Works (ITW), where she was responsible for global Finance and UK Inside Sales. Prior to relocating to the UK to join Loma Systems, Jennifer held various roles at the ABB Group, the multinational technology corporation, where she began as an accounts controller in the Missouri power transformer manufacturing arm and rose to a leading role in the global HQ in Zurich, Switzerland.

Wendy Osborne

Director of Talent & Culture

Wendy Osborne is the Director of Talent & Culture EMEA and joined Apollo Fire Detectors in April 2011.

Wendy graduated from Southampton Solent University with a degree and post-graduate diploma in Human Resource Management. She has 18 years' experience in HR since starting her professional career, firstly within the adult education sector, and later within the service and manufacturing sectors for Wärtsilä, a global leader in smart technologies and complete lifecycle solutions for marine and energy markets.

Karl Westhead

Technical Director

Karl Westhead joined Apollo Fire Detectors as Technical Director in April 2016.

Karl graduated from Durham and Loughborough Universities with degrees in Electronics and Automotive Engineering. He started his professional career, firstly at Ford and later with Visteon. Most recently, Karl was Engineering Director at Avire, also a Halma company.

Nicolas Duke

Operations Director

Nicolas joined Apollo Fire Detectors as Operations Director in August 2019 and is a multicultural business leader with extensive knowledge on Operations.

Nicolas graduated from the University of Bristol in Aerospace Engineering and initially joined GKN Driveline, a world leader in the manufacture of driveshafts and transmission products for which he worked for 8 years in various roles in the UK, Thailand and Brazil. He has since worked 14 years in Thailand and was lately General Manager for Air International Thermal Systems, a first-tier automotive thermal systems supplier.

Rachel Greasby

Marketing and Sales Director

Rachel joined Apollo Fire Detectors in January 2020 and is an engineer from the University of Coventry.

Rachel has worked all her career in the automotive aftermarket in various sales, marketing and business unit management roles, and was formerly the Strategic Marketing Director for ITW Additives in Europe. Rachel will be responsible for all Sales, Customer Service, Marketing & Product Management activities for Apollo EMEA