A graduate of the University of Surrey, Peter joined Thomson-CSF (now Thales) in 1991 with responsibility for Radio Communications Sales & Marketing in the UK, before being appointed Director of Business Development at Thales’ UK Headquarters.
Subsequently, Peter moved to Group Headquarters in Paris with policy and growth responsibility for Privately Financed/Public-Private Partnership projects worldwide. He established Thales’ position in the UK’s £13Bn Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme and was a founding Director of the winning AirTanker consortium.
Since 2006, Peter has held general management roles of increasing responsibility in Avionics and Air Operations and was appointed to lead Thales’ Avionics, Training & Simulation Businesses in the UK in 2013.
From 2016 to 2019, Peter Hitchcock has general management responsibility for Thales’ Civil Avionics Business Segment, headquartered in France and supplying Aircraft OEMs worldwide with flight critical solutions from air data systems all the way to complete cockpit suites and integrated modular avionics for the latest generation of fly by wire commercial aircraft.
Peter is married with a teenage daughter. A former Army Officer in the UK Reserve Forces, his interests are now less energetic and include skiing, travel and looking after his 400 year old house.