Secondmind opens base in Detroit
Alongside the US strategic move, Secondmind has appointed Nick Appleyard as Country Manager, USA, and Vice President of Sales & Business Development for North America and Europe.
Appleyard is a recognised expert in advanced physics modelling and engineering who brings more than 30 years of domain knowledge and leadership experience to Secondmind in the areas of Model-Based design optimisation and exploration, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), digital thread enablement, digital twins, simulation-led design, and enterprise toolchain deployment.
In his new role, Appleyard will lead a multi-region team focused on scaling Secondmind software adoption across the commercial and passenger vehicle markets in North America and Europe. His deep technical foundation and commercial track record will bode well for aligning customer goals with Secondmind product value – unlocking new high-value use cases, informing product strategy and increasing customer impact.
Gary Brotman, Chief Executive Officer of Secondmind, says: “Establishing our presence in Detroit is a major milestone for Secondmind, and Nick is the ideal leader to help us strengthen our partnerships with global OEMs and Tier 1s, accelerate innovation, and unify our Western sales efforts under a single, focused strategy.
“Nick’s deep domain expertise and successful track record of scaling simulation and modeling technologies across global engineering enterprises will be instrumental in supporting our expanding US and European customer bases.”
Prior to joining Secondmind, Appleyeard served as Vice President at Siemens Digital Industries Software in the Americas Division, where he led Simulation and Test business operations and helped establish engineering simulation as a pillar of Siemens’ digital transformation strategy.
His earlier leadership roles at CD-adapco, Ricardo, General Dynamics, Ansys, and Exa Corporation further illustrate his breadth of experience and influence in shaping modern simulation workflow that Secondmind has begun to augment and transform in the automotive sector.
Based in Michigan, Appleyard also serves as Executive Director of the NAFEMS-ASSESS Initiative, a global thought-leadership community focused on advancing the future of engineering simulation.
His extensive knowledge of the automotive, aerospace, and defense sectors makes him a valuable addition to Secondmind and his appointment reflects the company’s continued investment in technical leadership, and customer-centric product growth as it further expands its global reach and impact.
Headquartered in Cambridge, England, with offices in Yokohama, Japan, and Detroit, Michigan, USA, Secondmind exists to help automotive engineers design better cars, faster.
The company’s cloud-native model-based engineering software, powered by Secondmind Active Learning, addresses the increasing complexity of vehicle design and development and reduces design simulation time and calibration overhead, enabling engineers to reimagine vehicle design and accelerate the transition to carbon-neutral mobility.
Secondmind is venture backed by Amadeus Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Cambridge Innovation Capital, and Mazda Motor Corporation.