- Plexal CEO Andrew Roughan to stand down following eight years of service
- Saj Huq, Plexal CCO, will succeed Andrew to ensure business continuity and growth
Plexal, the innovation and growth company, today announces a change to its senior leadership team, with CEO Andrew Roughan choosing to stand down at the end of March after eight years of service.
Saj Huq, CCO at Plexal, will succeed Andrew to enter the role of CEO. He’ll harness his commercial expertise in the new position, having been instrumental in leading strategy, growth and partnerships across government, industry and emerging technology sectors.
14 years ago, Andrew became a key part of the London Olympics regeneration project, supporting conception and launch of Here East in the role of COO. In 2018, he joined Plexal to lead the transformation from workspace provider to innovation and growth company – at which time the business had just 16 people. Today, Plexal has more than 100 staff across the UK, with additional offices in Cheltenham – through acquisition of a majority shareholding in Hub8 – and Manchester.
Under Andrew’s leadership, Plexal has contributed £731m to UK GDP, including the generation of over 9,400 jobs – as reported by independent economic analysis firm Perspective Economics. This validates the value of long-term government investment in UK innovation and the power of private sector solutions.
Since joining the business in 2018, Saj has architected and led several of the UK’s most significant national innovation programmes, including LORCA – which supported 72 of the UK’s leading cyber startups to generate over £68m in revenue and secure more than £300m in investment. He also drove the NCSC Innovation Partnership, which delivered NCSC For Startups and established a globally recognised model for public-private collaboration in national security and technology development.
Prior to joining Plexal, Saj served as a Royal Air Force officer and pilot, later working as a management consultant at Deloitte and PwC, then going on to lead strategic transformation for a private-equity-backed financial institution.
Andrew will continue working together closely with Saj during the transition period, after which he’ll hold the position of Special Advisor to the board.
Andrew Roughan, CEO at Plexal, says: “As a leader, I’ve always been open with the team that their journey at Plexal is what they make it – somewhere they work for the long haul or a stepping stone they can proudly look back on in years to come. For me, I leave the CEO role to take my own advice as I enter the next chapter of my career.
“I’m incredibly proud of the business Plexal has become and know that its important work will continue under the leadership of Saj and a passionate team of talented individuals bubbling with ingenuity.”
Saj Huq, CCO at Plexal, adds: “I’m incredibly grateful to Andrew for his leadership over the years, particularly his vision, conviction and direction for what Plexal could become. Our achievements today are the result of years of hard work, care and belief from many people and saw us welcome 35 new colleagues in 2025 alone.
“As I enter the role of CEO, I feel privileged to build on the legacy of what Plexal has achieved already, leading a team of people working at the frontier of technology and who are driven to make a difference through meaningful collaboration, partnership and impact.
“We’re stepping into this next phase with optimism and momentum – continuing the journey of turning innovation into growth, resilience and societal progress for the UK.”
—
ABOUT PLEXAL
Plexal is the innovation and growth company helping to strengthen the UK’s technology capabilities through collaboration.
With teams in London, Manchester and Cheltenham, we work closely with government, industry, startups and academia to drive economic growth and reinforce national security.
Founded by Delancey in 2017, Plexal delivers four core services: creating workspaces for innovators, running innovation programmes and consultancy, building regional tech clusters and helping SMEs scale strategically.
By closing the gap between early-stage and established organisations – across the public and private sectors at home and abroad – we’ve impacted over 1,200 businesses, added £731m to the UK economy and helped create 9,400 jobs.
Headquartered at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Plexal partners with organisations including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the National Cyber Security Centre, Airbus, Amazon Web Services, Barclays Eagle Labs, Google Cloud, TfL, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Oxford.
For media enquiries please contact: zen.terrelonge@plexal.com
