SIMON SPROULE

Chief marketing officer, Aston Martin Lagonda

SIMON Sproule is chief marketing officer for Aston Martin but, in effect, he’s number two to the firm’s CEO Andy Palmer. He knew Palmer from their time at Nissan, and jumped ship after a whirlwind eight months at Tesla to join his old colleague in 2014. They have overseen a fine turnaround, with Aston reporting profits for the first time since 2010, the new Varekai SUV set to arrive in 2019, a mid-engined supercar on the way and a possible stock-market flotation. Not bad for four years’ work.