Victor Manuel Chavez (born 19 January 1963) is the Chief Executive of Thales UK, a main electronics and defence company in the UK. Thales UK employs around 7,500 people.
Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Chavez was educated at Barrow Grammar School for Boys, after which he gained a degree in physics from the University of York in 1984.[1] From the University of Surrey he gained an MSc in Satellite Engineering & Telecommunications in 1993.
He joined the company in 1999.He became Chief Executive of Thales UK (Thales Holdings UK) on 1 January 2011.[2] He had been Deputy Chief Executive for three years previously. Thales UK is involved in sonar, radar, and avionics. It makes most of the UK's aircraft simulators in Crawley in West Sussex. Thales Air Defence in Belfast makes helicopter-launched missiles. Thales has 67,000 employees in 56 countries.
He is a board member of techUK[3] (trade association) and EngineeringUK[4] (previously the Engineering and Technology Board). He is a co-chairman of the Information Economy Council.
He was appointed a CBE in the 2015 New Year Honours. He grew up in Barrow-in-Furness, and now lives in Hampshire. He married in September 1992 in Cumbria, and has two daughters, born June 1994 and May 1997.