Leadership

Fergus Noble is co-founder and CTO of Swift Navigation, where he spearheads futuristic planning and focuses on technology strategy and architecture. Prior to Swift, he obtained his BA and MSc degrees in Physics from the University of Cambridge, where he also worked on GPS for rocketry. Fergus moved from the UK to California to work for Joby Energy on GPS systems and Flight Software teams for high-altitude wind turbines until co-founding Swift Navigation in 2012.

Colin Beighley is one of the three co-founders of Swift Navigation. Colin has held a number of roles since Swift’s founding in 2012; his current focus is on creating an amazing engineering culture in his role as VP of Engineering Operations. Prior to co-founding Swift, Colin worked on GPS both at Joby Energy and in projects for his BS degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Timothy Harris, co-founder and CEO of Swift Navigation, is focused on building a world-class organization that will power the next generation of GPS-enabled autonomous vehicles and robots. A proven leader in the high-accuracy GPS industry, Tim leads teams that are excited to drive innovation and challenge each other to achieve visionary change. Prior to Swift, he worked in supply chain consulting for OR Soft Jaenicke GmbH in Halle, Germany, and in corporate finance for Emerge Digital Group, where he oversaw M&A and strategic partnerships for a digital media holding company. Tim holds a JD degree from Boston University and a BA degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Joel Gibson is Executive Vice President and General Manager of Automotive and heads Swift’s Detroit Michigan office. Joel is responsible for automotive strategy, enabling automated driving, precision navigation and other safety and ADAS applications. Previously, he served a long tenure with Magna Electronics, a company that provides innovative electronic systems to the automotive industry. Over the course of 15 years with the Magna, Joel fulfilled many roles in both Germany and Michigan and began a camera product line that grew to be the largest automotive camera Tier-1 supplier worldwide. He holds a BS in Systems Engineering from Oakland University.

Anthony Cole is Executive Vice President of Engineering at Swift. Anthony has been working with Precise Positioning Technologies since 2006 including GNSS rover and network correction algorithms, inertial sensors and sensor fusion. He joined Swift in 2016 as part of the estimation team and most recently working as a Director of Engineering before being promoted to his current role. Before Swift, Anthony worked for Leica Geosystems in their Corporate headquarters in Heerbrugg, Switzerland in their High Accuracy positioning group. Anthony holds a Ph.D. in GNSS Engineering from the University of New South Wales with a Graduate Diploma in Research Commercialization.

Brad Sherrard is Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Industrial Business Unit at Swift. Brad brings over two decades of experience to this role including his work with many top positioning chipset and module companies, IoT Solutions, GNSS, LiDAR and Cellular technologies—and Sales, Product Management, Business Development and Executive Roles at u-blox, Quanergy, Stratos-Inmarsat, Iridium and Magellan. Brad holds a BSEE from Irvine and a MBA from Pepperdine Business School.

Holger Ippach is Executive Vice President of Product at Swift. He is responsible for product strategy and roadmap and leads the product team, as well as partnerships and business development. Mr. Ippach brings over 20 years of product experience to Swift, including senior executive roles with Kudelski Group. As Senior Vice President IoT & Automotive, Holger launched the automotive business and built relationships with suppliers to market vehicle infotainment, driver assistance and autonomous driving technologies. Holger completed executive programs at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He earned his Master of Science degree in Physics and Business Administration from the University of Augsburg in Germany.

Greg Smith is Executive Vice President of Finance at Swift, responsible for all financial and operational functions at the company. He has more than 25 years of experience in multi-national public and private companies within the technology industry, including Rovi Corp (now Tivo), Mediabolic and Cloud Engines, a cloud storage company he co-founded in 2007. His passions include creating and executing business strategies, scaling G&A, operations and financial systems, raising capital, and building strong relationships between founders, boards and investors. He holds an MBA in General Management from Tuck School at Dartmouth and a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from University of Vermont.