He was born in 1965 in Redditch,[1] Worcestershire, England, and graduated with a BSc (Hons) in management studies from the University of Aston, Birmingham.

[4] During his time as Jaguar Land Rover sales director, overall sales increased significantly fuelled by increased demand for the Land Rover product lines as sport utility vehicles gained popularity, and the business expanding into a number of global markets, most notably China.

[5] In 2014, Popham announced his intention to leave Jaguar Land Rover to become CEO of luxury boat manufacturer, Sunseeker.

By 2016, he had successfully developed and executed a turnaround plan which saw the business return to profitability, ahead of schedule following a number of challenging years.

He developed and implemented Lotus Cars’ Vision80 strategy which will see transformational change across the company including a complete transformation and unprecedented investment at Lotus’ headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk including wholesale upgrades across the site, a new sports car factory and hypercar assembly.