Versarien has appointed James Stewart CBE as its non-executive chairman with immediate effect.

Mr Stewart is the managing partner of Menlo Partners, the investment and advisory company he founded in 2013 which has a particular focus on technology companies operating in the UK and China.

Neill Ricketts, chief executive of the Cheltenham-based advanced materials engineering group, said he was delighted to welcome Mr Stewart to the Versarien board.

He said: "He brings significant business and transaction experience to Versarien that will be particularly valuable as we progress our commercial partnerships and international expansion strategy.

"In particular James has considerable experience of doing business in Asia and a wide range of contacts that will assist Versarien.

"I look forward to working closely with him and the group being able to utilise his skills and experience as the commercial adoption of our graphene and other 2D materials accelerates."

Prior to founding Menlo, Mr Stewart spent 25 years in the private equity sector, latterly as partner of long-standing fund managers ECI Partners.

Before joining them in 1996, he spent time at Arthur Andersen & Co, NM Rothschild & Co and as an investment director at Rothschild Ventures.

Alongside Mr Ricketts and Mr Stewart, the Versarien board will comprise chief financial officer Christopher Leigh and non-executive directors Susan Bowen and Iain Gray.

Founded in 2010, Versarien creates innovative engineering solutions across a variety of industry sectors.

In March, it raised £6million from a deal with US-based Lanstead Capital Investors.