Heather Lewtas is the Chief Development Officer at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) the UK's national fusion laboratory whose mission is to lead the delivery of sustainable fusion energy and maximise scientific and economic impact. She was previously the Head of Innovation leading a team to enable UKAEA to effectively develop commercial opportunities arising across all aspects of the fusion programme and help deliver that impact. Heather was previously on the executive team of STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) as well as the lead for multiple technical programmes across UKAEA. Before joining UKAEA she worked in the defence and aerospace sector running technology programmes on materials and structures and in spacecraft instrument having received her PhD in Physics from the University of Oxford.