Our People
The people who work at Matter share in our vision and values and are driven by working together to solve the problem of eliminating microplastics from our natural environment in a way that is collaborative and fun.
We believe that our team's lived experiences, cultures, and ways of working add incredible value and unique perspectives that help us all become better colleagues and humans.
Leadership
Adam Root
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
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Matter was founded by Adam Root, a scuba diver and product engineer who was shocked at the colossal environmental damage being caused by microplastic pollution and what little was being done to tackle the issue.
With desire to create positive change, Adam put his engineering superpowers to good, identifying that existing microplastic filters consumed more plastic in their lifetime than the microplastics they captured.
Recognizing this was neither a scalable or sustainable solution to the global challenge and driven by the principles of “Cradle-to-Cradle design”, Adam left his job and set about developing a novel and environmentally sustainable microfiltration technology.
He won a £250 ‘Will It Work’ grant from the Prince’s Trust in 2017 and an Innovate UK Young Innovator award in 2018 and has since gone on to build an innovation company pioneering tech
Jess Middlemiss
Chief Technology Officer
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Jess leads the Engineering function of the business to develop cutting-edge, impactful technology as well as delivering high-quality solutions to clients and partners.
Jess also owns the Project Management, Quality and Health and Safety functions which all work to keep Matter and its products working safely, efficiently and effectively.
Jess was Head of Operations for The Dyson Institute.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic Jess realised that she missed having an Engineering focus, and wanted to work somewhere with a more social or environmental purpose to its products, so she joined Sartorius, a leading manufacturer biopharmaceutical and life-science equipment as Head of Plastics Technology. In this role Jess led a global team of Engineers responsible for the design and industrialisation of all the moulded plastic parts used on any of Sartorius' products.
Matter's vision and mission aligned really well to Jess' desire to do good for the environment and society through Engineering.
Nicole Kapel
Chief Operations Officer/ Chief Financial Officer
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Nicole is responsible for providing the framework to allow efficient and effective business operations and facilitates quick decision making. With a keen focus on infrastructure, personnel, sustainability, and finance, Nicole plays a pivotal role in shaping Matter's operational and financial landscape.
As a CIMA qualified accountant with an international array of education, Nicole has experience in various industries and is an expert in working as a change agent, helping organisations go through growth transfer and vertical and horizontal integration in multiple sectors.
Nicole is also a polyglot, and her magic skill is turning chaos into order.
For Nicole, working at Matter gives her the opportunity to be involved in redefining status quo, and educate everyone we cross paths with, not only in regards to micropollutants but in the way we go about business and how we treat each other.
Martin Allman
Chief Commercial Officer
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Martin joined Matter in September 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer to support the next stage of the company’s growth following the Series A investment round. Martin's focus is on delivering commercial success across Matter's target markets, securing the deals which will enable the company to scale and achieve significant impact in reducing microfibre pollution.
Martin came to Matter with 19 years’ experience in the cleantech sector. This included working as Chief Commercial Officer at Mixergy, a UK scale up focused on smart hot water technology on their journey from Series A to Series B investment. Prior to this, Martin was part of the management team of sonnen - the German market leader in lithium-based battery storage - during their scale up and subsequent acquisition by Shell in 2019.
Martin also spent 7 years as a Director of Westmill Solar Co-operative, the first community-owned solar farm in the UK. Before starting a career in cleantech, he spent 8 years as a commissioned officer in the British Army.
David Gray
General Counsel
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Following a 16 year career as a Royal Navy Warfare Officer (during which he qualified as a Mandarin Chinese linguist), David qualified and practised as a solicitor at Clyde & Co (in London and Hong Kong) for six years and then as an in-house solicitor at PCCW (Hong Kong and Asia Pacific); Reuters Group company (EMEA) and CSC/ DXC (global) for more than twenty years.
David is a highly experienced commercial technology and IP lawyer who has advised and led numerous small/ large and mega tech deals in over 40 jurisdictions in all industry sectors and in public sectors. Many of the deals involved the resolution of complex regulatory, data protection and competition law issues.
Sarah Abbott
Strategy Director
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Sarah joined Matter as Head of Commercial, managing the wonderful commercial team with responsibility across product strategy, marketing, sales, PR and policy. Much of her focus has been on driving business transformation activities to grow commercial maturity and drive revenue.
Sarah has recently transitioned into an exciting new role as Strategy Director, with a more specific focus on building out Matter's product and business strategy as we go through a critical phase of growth.
Prior to joining Matter, Sarah worked in strategy and commercial roles in innovation-led engineering and tech businesses, including Dyson, IBM, Rolls-Royce and Facebook. At Dyson, she led product and commercial strategy for Dyson’s game changing Hair Care technology range.
For Sarah, Matter offers the chance to be part of a team who has the magic combination of mission focus with a problem solving, engineering mindset. We aren't afraid to tackle big challenges and have some fun along the way.
Reuben Kettle Aiers
Head of Engineering
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Reuben is Head of Engineering, and responsible for building a talented engineering team, guiding Matter’s R&D programmes for both internal and customer projects, and managing our intellectual property portfolio.
Having completed his studies at Brunel University, Reuben learnt the ropes for how to develop innovative technology by working for Dyson and patented several inventions. Before joining Matter’s journey in 2019, Reuben was self-employed and worked for a variety of clients with projects that spanned designing, making and educating.
For Reuben, Matter is all about our mission and our people. He believes it’s energising to work on something you care about with a group of passionate and talented people, having fun whilst being challenged.
We are always on the lookout for kind, collaborative, and motivated individuals who want to support us in making environmental impact. If this sounds like you, click below to see our opportunities for joining the team!
