Highly experienced and professional real estate developer and investor with a proven track record of property investment, development and senior executive experience in financial services in the UK.

Co-founder of The Cheeky Panda along with his partner Julie Chen. Cheeky Panda is a Fast Track 100 company, Ranked 13th in the UKs top 100 start-ups the 8th most recognisable sustainable brand in the UK. Chris is passionate about delivering change for good and has been a public speaker with regular features in press and radio helping share the journey and inspire others to become environmental entrepreneurs.  Passionate about building sustainable 21st century companies that have purpose over profit but are still commercially viable entities. He has been a mentor to several high growth businesses over the past 5 years.

Logan Naidu is an entrepreneur, investor and recruitment industry leader, and the founder of Kernel Global, a search excellence group.

He began his career at JPMorgan and PwC before at the age of 26, co‑founding The Cornell Partnership in 2005, later exiting via an MBO. In 2012, he founded Dartmouth Partners, pioneering the industry‑distinctive “Classroom to Boardroom” model for future leaders. After their first PE investment in 2018 from Literacy Capital and the acquisition of Pure Search in 2019, Kernel was formed. The Group went through a successful exit and subsequent secondary PE investment with Three Hills in 2023. Today the Group has three other brands – Catalyst Partners (HR), Luminate Partners (Energy, Commodities and Critical Infrastructure) and Yale Consulting.

Outside of work, Logan is a committed Christian, the father of three fast-growing children, husband to one ever-supportive wife, and a serious tennis and fitness nut.

Mia is a seasoned banking professional with expertise working on a wide range of institutional debt, private credit and large global restructuring transactions. With more than three decades at the forefront of Debt Capital Markets, she has shaped the standards, expectations, and evolution of the institutional debt landscape across the globe. 

Mia’s pioneering idea was to create an independent “white glove” loan agency and trustee business to help creditors get their money back on defaulted institutional debt.

Under Mia’s leadership, GLAS has grown into an institution with 450+ professionals across ten countries and fourteen offices. The firm has $750+ billion in assets under administration.

Mia has led the organisation through several defining milestones, including a partial buyout by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in 2022 and subsequent investment from Oakley Capital and La Caisse in 2025. 

Mia was recognised with the 2025 UNWWO Brand Leadership Award and won the 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year UK award. 

Mia has recently founded and launched a community for female entrepreneurs to find help and support with no agenda. “The Lonely Female Founder” and is currently recording the initial series for the podcast which will be launched later in the year.

James Jackson is the Co‑Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bumper, the Sheffield‑based fintech transforming how drivers afford car repairs. Since launching the company in 2013, James has led Bumper’s evolution from a buy‑now‑pay‑later solution into a full payment orchestration platform. Bumper is used by over 6,000 dealerships across the UK and Europe. 

With over 15 years’ experience in high‑growth tech businesses, James oversees Bumper’s strategic direction, product development and expansion across multiple markets. 
 
As a founder, James has raised a total of £95m in debt and equity, and most recently secured a Series B extension backed by Autotech Ventures, Suzuki Global Ventures, Porsche Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures and Shell Ventures. 
 
Prior to starting Bumper, James was the CEO of a VC-backed travel start-up and has previously held senior roles across marketing, product and operations in organisations including Betfair and Sky – experience that informs his vision for simplifying and modernising automotive payments.

A technology pioneer, scale-up architect and veteran C-Suite operator, Greg has built companies from inception to multi-billion-pound valuations, led IPOs on NASDAQ, Euronext and the London Stock Exchange, and executed multi-billion-pound trade sales.

Across a 40-year international career spanning the USA, Europe and the UK, Greg has raised more than £10bn in equity and debt, built businesses employing 2000+ people, and partnered with global leaders including Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk. Today he serves as Vice Chairman of CityFibre, the UK’s third-largest digital infrastructure business — a company he founded and scaled into a national platform reshaping Britain’s digital economy. 

Darina Garland is co-founder of Ooni, the company that invented the home pizza oven category and scaled from a bootstrapped Kickstarter project to a multimillion-pound global brand sold in over 50 countries. Today she focuses her work across purpose, brand, and community-her superpower is enabling teams and bringing people together across borders and disciplines.

Beyond Ooni, Darina is a serial founder. She has launched education businesses; Suklaa and Oppi, and has another venture quietly in development. 

Following a 20+ year career with blue chip enterprise businesses in retail, recruitment and technology, Hayley founded Distology, specialists in identifying, representing, distributing and implementing the latest disruptive technologies across the UK&I, Benelux and Germany.

Hayley has carefully nurtured a unique company culture that encourages vibrancy and ambition and as a result, Distology has won various accolades, including being named in the E2E Tech 100 track 2024, in association with The Independent, as one of the 100 business tech leaders, CRN’s Security Distributor of the Year 2023, Distributor of the Year (Sub £250m) 2022 and Cloud Distributor of the Year in 2020. What’s more, Hayley was personally awarded the CRN Editor’s Choice Award for Industry Achievement for 2022 and was also named Role Model of the Year and Woman of the Year at the CRN Women in Channel Awards in 2021.

A leading voice of authority within the industry, Hayley sits on the CRN judging panel for their prestigious Channel Awards and is head judge for EY Entrepreneur of the Year. She was awarded Northern Power Women Outstanding Entrepreneur for 2024, Channel Futures’ recognised her as one of the Top 20 EMEA Channel Leaders for 2023 and she features on the CRN A list for channel. 

Education is very important to Hayley. She is regularly involved with the EY Foundation, an independent charity supporting young people from low-income backgrounds and, in 2024, she helped form Tech Channel Ambassadors (TCA). TCA aim to assist in addressing the strategic failure over decades, to attract and retain sufficient talent in the IT channel. They plan to do this by educating kids in schools, colleges and universities on the industry and the skill sets needed.

Asi Sharabi is the co-founder and CEO of Wonderbly Group, a house of personalised gift book brands. It started as a side project and became one of the most unusual and quietly revolutionary companies in publishing. Asi led Wonderbly through three funding rounds, a Private Equity exit (2021) and a strategic acquisition by Penguin Random House - the largest and most iconic publishing group in the world.

An ed-tech entrepreneur from Belgium, Gauthier Van Malderen is disrupting the traditional academic publishing industry. He is the Founder and CEO of Perlego, the world’s first digital, subscription-based service for textbooks. Inspired by popular online streaming services, Perlego offers a library of over 1.5 million e-textbooks, plus additional learning resources. The affordable alternative to traditional textbooks breaks down barriers to education for students and also supports the publishing industry’s digital transition.

A champion of entrepreneurial ventures beyond his own, Van Malderen continues to support the Belgian early-stage tech ecosystem through investment, knowledge sharing and mentorship as a Member of Syndicate One, a group of experienced start-up stakeholders. He was also the 2024 Belgian representative of European Young Leaders, a new generation of leaders recognised by Friends of Europe as an individual with the ability to inspire action and generate change.

He is viewed as a visionary Belgian entrepreneur who has transformed personal frustration around access to educational materials into Perlego - a thriving, globally-scaled edtech venture reshaping access to academic content.

With major investments, AI innovation, and a mission-driven mindset, he is leading the way toward a more accessible, sustainable future for education. Gauthier's first book, 'Start-Up Confessions,' was published by Profile Books in 2027.

John Gyngell is the founder of North Bar, co-founder of North Brewing Co, a board member at LeedsBID and founder of Hexagon Strategy.

Over the past three decades, John has built, scaled and led businesses through periods of growth, economic uncertainty and industry change. His experience spans strategy, governance, operational leadership, property, fundraising and multi-site business development.

Today, John works with founders and leadership teams on strategy, growth and governance, and is passionate about honest conversations around leadership, decision-making and entrepreneurship, believing that the greatest lessons rarely come from success alone, but from navigating uncertainty and making difficult decisions when there are no perfect answers.

Joe is Founder & CEO of Health Labs HQ, created to make health and performance hyper-personalised for maximum impact. Health Labs HQ delivers health screening across physical, psychological and cognitive domains and has a range of specialist speakers and training courses to support mental, physical, social and financial health and wellbeing. He is also a proud father of four and speaks openly about how fatherhood and relationships shape identity, discipline, and long-term leadership thinking.

A multi-awarded writer, Nicky is also a regular judge and President on local international creative awards juries and has been named one of Campaign’s Agency Leaders of the Year, as well as featuring in the publication’s top 20 Advertising Creatives list consistently over the last decade.

She was also the first creative woman to chair a UK marketing agency, two years later being promoted into the European Chair role.

Nicky has been named an Ad Age Woman of Europe and has featured in the Financial Times HERoes list 3 times.

Having finished a 3 year stint as CCO at MullenLowe Group UK, Nicky has launched - what she describes as -‘the antidote to the UK industry’s pitch pain’.

Elevator, the only creatively-led UK intermediary; which as its name suggests is superfast.

She’s also still judging, writing and speaking at wonderful events like this.

Helen Cannon is the Founder and CEO of ISON Group, one of Europe’s fastest-growing travel management businesses.

She founded ISON in 2013 after experiencing how traditional corporate structures excluded talented professionals seeking flexibility. Determined not to compromise her ambition or family life, she built a different model, one based on autonomy, trust and measurable performance. That conviction turned a start-up into a global growth story. Between 2020 and 2024, one of the most volatile periods in the travel industry’s history, Helen led ISON through 550% growth. By 2025, revenue reached £67.5 million and the team grew to over 120 people across five international regions, all without external investment. The business has achieved consecutive rankings in The Sunday Times 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies and the Financial Times FT1000.

Today, more than two-thirds of ISON’s workforce are women and nearly half are over 45. Helen hires for expertise and mindset rather than geography or presenteeism, building a high-performing, diverse team delivering corporate travel, events, concierge and sustainable travel programmes worldwide.

Under her leadership, ISON Green was launched to embed sustainability into travel decision-making through data and responsible partnerships, reflecting her belief that commercial success and responsible leadership go hand in hand.

Helen’s work has been recognised nationally and internationally, including finalist positions in the 2025 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year and the Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards. ISON was ranked #208 in the Financial Times FT1000: Europe’s Fastest-Growing Companies 2026 and named Company of the Year at the Platinum Media Group Dynamic Awards 2026.

Guided by the purpose “Change the Workplace for Good”, Helen is building not just a high-growth business, but a blueprint for modern, resilient, purpose-led leadership.

Jonathan Milner is the co-founder and CEO of Aire Global, the technology-native brand management business reshaping the design-to-shelf journey. Driven by a lifelong fascination with packaging, global brands, design, and high-end tech, Jonathan combines a sharp macro strategy with an unyielding focus on micro detail.

His vision has helped steer the development of Aire Intelligent Technologies, pioneering proprietary systems such as ClAIRE™ to deliver absolute accuracy and speed for consumer goods companies. Built on a foundation of northern grit and straight-talking values, Jonathan is dedicated to stripping away the chaos of the traditional design-to-shelf models. By deploying advanced tech and highly optimised, automated workflows, he helps ensure global businesses achieve the ultimate competitive advantage through Clarity, Consistency, and Confidence at Speed.

Tim Darling is a co-founder and President, Laudio Insights. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare technology, he has been on the founding and leadership teams of two successful exits. Tim has a passion for using data and analytics to serve the challenges facing healthcare organizations. He is the author of an award-winning healthcare leadership book. He spent seven years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and has a master's degree in business and bachelor's in mathematics and computer science.

Alana Macfarlane Kempner is the founder and CEO of The Gut Stuff. After taking part in medical research at King’s College London in 2015, she co-founded the company with her twin sister to democratise gut health. The Gut Stuff delivers evidence led education alongside affordable, accessible products and services. Over eight years, it has grown into a multifaceted business spanning high fibre bars and drinks, a gut health app, corporate wellbeing programmes, a Channel 4 series, now a global TV show, Know Your Sh!t, and the podcast Chattin Sh*t. The Gut Stuff was acquired by Hero Group in April 2026.

Alana is known for straight talking on gut health and business, with zero tolerance for wellness nonsense. She speaks candidly about the realities of building and scaling a founder-led company, shaped by a non-linear journey from a Scottish working-class upbringing to DJ to wellness entrepreneur, alongside health innovation, consumer trust, and building mission-led, credible brands in crowded categories.

Poonam Kaur is an award-winning corporate financier, qualified accountant, and business consultant. With over 25 years of experience in the accounting and corporate finance industry, Poonam has worked with organisations across many industries, including worldwide organisations, supporting them with succession planning (specifically mergers and acquisitions) or on their board via an appointment or through director-level training.

Dave Wright is a straight-talking Australian and Founder of Myzone - a wearable technology and social platform that rewards effort for physical activity and enjoyed by millions of people around the globe. He is a serial entrepreneur with multiple businesses in the health and fitness sector specifically helping people to be more and stay more physically active. Married for over 29 years with children aged 15, 17, 19 and 21. 

Mary Bonsor was the founder of Flex Legal, a legal tech platform connecting in house teams and law firms to interim paralegals and lawyers. She started the business in 2016 and successfully sold the business to Mishcon de Reya in December 2023. Prior to this, Mary was a property litigation lawyer at a top city firm. During Flex's growth journey in 2023, Mary was chosen by E2E Female100 as the fastest female founded business in the UK and she won Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Women in Law Awards. Mary is passionate about access to the profession and created a social mobility scheme at Flex Legal, helping people from lower socio economic backgrounds qualify to be a solicitor. Mary is currently GC Relationships Director at Mischon de Reya and has recently launched the GC Academy, a mini MBA for General Counsel.

With 20 years experience in the music industry, Hazel is a music-tech lifer, guitarist and an Angel Investor. In 2018 Hazel was the CEO and Co-Founder of Musiio, an AI startup which sold to SoundCloud in 2022. She started her music-tech journey as an early employee at Shazam and has also had the privilege and experience to work at Pandora Internet Radio, Universal Music, BandLab and HMV.

Jason C. Foster has held leading roles in consulting, healthcare and technology companies for nearly 25 years in the US, UK and Europe. He spent 10 of those years building Indivior (LSE: INDV) which completed a £3.5B listing in 2014.

 
Jason is currently CEO and Executive Director for Ori Biotech, a leading cell and gene therapy manufacturing technology innovator with offices in Philadelphia and London, which has developed and launched the AMT designated IRO® Platform.

He is a member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine’s Board of Directors and a frequent commentator on trends in CGT in publications like Wall Street Journal, Endpoints, Fierce Biotech and Cell & Gene.

 
In addition, Jason is a Venture Partner with THENA Capital and a Board Director at Ori Biotech (ED), GripAble (NED, Former Chairman), Auxita (NED) and Scalpel (NED).

Liz Ashall-Payne is the Founder of ORCHA. A former NHS clinician and NHS leader, Liz saw first-hand how difficult it was for professionals and patients to know which health apps they could trust, and she founded ORCHA to solve that problem. Today she advises policy leads and health systems around the world on the safe adoption of digital health and AI. Alongside leading the business, she is a techUK Member of its Health and Social Care Council, a UK Department for Business and Trade ambassador and an NHS England NIA Alumni Fellow, and she holds academic roles with UCLan, Warwick University and the University of Plymouth. Her work has been recognised with awards including HIMSS Future 50 Healthcare IT Leader and the Bionow Outstanding Contribution Award.

Based at Sci-Tech Daresbury in Cheshire, ORCHA is a world leader in the evaluation of digital health technologies including AI. Over more than eleven years it has carried out over 40,000 assessments, helping health systems, clinicians and the public find safe, effective digital health tools. Through its ATLAS platform and AI Risk Profiler, ORCHA works with the NHS across England and Wales and partners in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and beyond, providing the assurance that allows digital health and AI to be adopted with confidence.

PocDoc is a digital health diagnostics company on a mission to make testing for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal disease more accessible. Its patented technology combines portable diagnostic testing with AI-powered analysis and digital health pathways, enabling rapid, clinically valid health assessments and connecting patients to appropriate follow-up care and treatment.

Stephen Crosher is CEO and Co-Founder of RheEnergise. Director level experience across the renewable energy industry, property, and retail. RheEnergise is innovating in Energy Storage, bringing a solution that delivers clean energy on demand with their High-Density Hydro® solution.

Simon has over 30 years’ experience in the defence and security sector having had experience in government, industry, politics and academia.

As the strategy and technology director for Leonardo in the UK, Simon is responsible for directing the company strategy, research and development, innovation, intellectual property and partnership activity. Simon also advises numerous technology start-ups, is an expert subject matter advisor to HMG Cabinet Office National Security risk secretariat, a board member of the UK’s Oxford-Cambridge supercluster, and chair of the ADS Science and Technology group.

Simon was previously the director of defence and security at Cranfield University and chairman of the academic, Resilience, Intelligence and Security Community (RISC) group, reporting to the security minister. Prior to this Simon has worked for Boeing’s Phantom Works, Her Majesty’s Government in various roles across the MOD and Foreign Office, and served an eight-year term as a district councillor.

As Chief Executive of Screen Yorkshire Caroline champions the film, TV and wider screen industries in Yorkshire & Humber and provides leadership to a talented team of industry experts who deliver skills and talent development, production support and content investment. Caroline’s 25-year career within the screen industries has evolved from running her first production company with acclaimed music video director Dawn Shadforth to her previous role as Head of Creative at Screen Yorkshire. Along this journey she has spent time as Talent Development Executive for Scottish Film Talent Network, Head of Film at Creative England, Head of Creative Development at Warp X, managed the UK Film Council’s nationwide short film programme through her company Lifesize Pictures and spent a year as Director of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

Tarun Ghulati is a Chairman, President, CEO, Strategic Advisor, Board Member, Serial Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Politician. He has led global financial services businesses across Asia Pacific, Middle East Africa, Europe. He has sat on 48 boards internationally.  

He is a Strategic Advisor, Global Cyber Alliance, Former Deputy Chairman and longest serving committee member Asian Business Association, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Sits on the Europe Board for Christel House International and is Chairman St John’s Wood Capital among several other boards. He advises many governments and stood as an independent Candidate for Mayor of London and for the UK Parliament.

Bob is a specialist in cybersecurity with over 23 years experience in the Military and Civil Police, and 13 years in the banking and private sectors. He delivered the first-ever banking forensics lab, now widely used in financial services, and has experience with collaborative initiatives involving law enforcement, intelligence agencies and regulators.

Jennifer Davidson is a self-made entrepreneur, recognised voice in modern leadership and the Founder & CEO of Sleek Events, one of the UK’s fastest-growing independent experience partners. She believes businesses shouldn’t have to choose between commercial success and putting people first.

Still proudly independent, Sleek featured on the FEBE Growth 100 List in 2026 and The Sunday Times Fast Growth List 2025. The business has achieved 84% growth over the past three years, with projected revenue set to exceed £50m by 2026/27.

Jennifer believes a leader’s role is to create an environment where people can be the best version of themselves. That philosophy has shaped every stage of Sleek’s growth, earning recognition on both The Sunday Times and Campaign Best Places to Work lists in 2025 and 2026.

Today, Jennifer champions independent, values-led growth, showing that long-term success comes from investing in people, building lasting partnerships and creating a culture where both clients and teams can thrive.

Andrew Clancy is the Founder and CEO of Coreus, a rapidly growing UK construction consultancy with a mission to create a business that people genuinely want to work with and for. Starting as a one person business in 2019, he has led Coreus to become one of the UK's fastest growing self funded construction consultancies, recognised by Building Magazine in the Top 150 businesses employing people across 5 offices nationwide in Exeter, Bristol, Truro, Birmingham and London.

Under Andrew's leadership, Coreus has earned national recognition for its people first culture, including being named by The Sunday Times as the UK's Best Workplace for employees aged 16 to 34. Selected from 567 organisations, Coreus is the first construction consultancy to receive this accolade with Brighton and Hove Albion and Octopus Energy being highly commended. Andrew has championed a modern approach to the construction industry by prioritising flexible working, rapid career progression and creating opportunities based on potential rather than hierarchy.

Passionate about creating positive social impact, Andrew established The Coreus Foundation in 2024. Since then, the foundation has raised over £100,000, enabling it to support charities and initiatives aligned with its three core pillars: Knowledge, Health and Conservation.

As well as being the CEO of Coreus, he is co-founder of CFS, a financial wealth management business and also C Squared Construct, a civil engineering business with a plant hire operations arm.

Chris Gore is a former military leader turned entrepreneur and the founder of SPOR Group, a specialist AV integration business supporting more than 1,500 meeting rooms across the UK and Europe.

He began his career in the military, where discipline, clarity of communication and accountability were non-negotiable. That experience continues to shape how he leads today. He believes leadership is rooted in ownership, taking responsibility when something falls short, improving systems that do not perform as they should, and paying attention to the frustrations that often go unheard inside large organisations.

When he founded SPOR Group, his ambition was not to build another AV integration company, but to solve a pattern he had seen repeatedly in enterprise environments: significant investment in workplace technology that did not consistently deliver when it mattered most. Meetings failed, users lost confidence, and internal teams were left managing the fallout.

SPOR was built around a different standard, one focused not only on design and installation, but on long-term performance, visibility and accountability. Under Chris’s leadership, the company has grown into a trusted partner for global enterprise clients that require reliability at scale.

Chris is particularly vocal about the realities of hybrid working. While many organisations rushed to deploy technology, he believes the more complex challenge lies in ensuring consistency and measurable performance across entire estates. His view is straightforward: workplace technology should quietly enable productivity rather than become a source of friction.

Beyond the business, Chris hosts the Future Workplace podcast and is the author of book Work Isn’t Working, which explores why workplace technology strategies often fail to translate into business results and what leaders can do differently.

At his core, Chris combines operational discipline with commercial pragmatism. He remains focused on one principle: that technology should support performance, and that responsibility does not end once the system goes live.

Charlotte is a key player in the evolution of UK wealth management, a pioneering leader and a champion of diversity and financial wellness. Following a distinguished 20-year career at Goldman Sachs, serving as a partner for 10 years, Charlotte launched the first truly hybrid wealth management service with Netwealth in 2016. At the centre of her vision is the combination of the best bits of a traditional service with improved transparency, control and accessibility, all at a fraction of the typical cost.

Projjol is the founder and Chief Product Officer of Zeotap, a technology company that empowers brands to ensure governance is at the centre of their customer data and AI strategy. He’s also a co-founder and board member of Nua, a leading women’s wellness company, and serves as the Chair of the UK’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO).   

His prior roles include those as Chief Product Officer at Moboqo, acquired by Applovin (NASDAQ: APP), as well as VP Marketing and Business Development at Fyber, acquired by Digital Turbine (NASDAQ: APPS). He has degrees from DePauw, Indiana, and Oxford universities.  
 
After hopping around for many years, studying/working in India, where he grew up, and then the US, UK, and Germany, Projjol dropped anchor in the UK a few years ago –– initially Oxford and more recently Bristol, where he lives with his wife Mihika and dachshund Ruby (not necessarily in that order). 

Kate Smyth Davis is the founder of Meraki People, a board-level organisational design consultancy working with scaling founder-led businesses turning over £3M–£100M. Built around a single conviction, that most people problems aren't people problems, they're structural ones, Meraki's team of consultants and specialist advisors help fellow founders scale and professionalise. As a founder herself, Kate knows exactly what's at stake when they do. She holds NED roles including the Association of Business Mentors, chairs the IoD Special Interest Group on Organisational Development and Performance, guest lectures at Royal Holloway University of London, and facilitates a CEO peer forum for Sir Richard Harpin's Business Leader.

Geeta Sidhu-Robb is a straight-talking, multi-award-winning coach, entrepreneur and activist, named in 2026 the Top 100 Influential People & Top 100 Entrepreneurs & Influential Men and Women Award- Executive Coaching & Business Growth. Founder of WCorp and Green Flag, she transforms workplaces for women and channels investment into women-led businesses.

A TEDx speaker, Netflix contributor and sought-after media voice across UK and European press, radio and TV, she has mentored high-profile leaders -the 3rd largest Female PE exit at $1.8B in 2026 and Sam Smith CEO of finnCap from £15M revenue to IPO and a £52M exit. In the last 15 years she’s contributed over £2.5B to the UK economy.

Most recently, Geeta has launched Bootstrappers Business Academy based on her 7 Rungs methodology - a live, structured coaching programme built specifically for female founders.

Unlike generic business courses, 7 Rungs maps seven precise stages of growth, from a founder's very first pounds of revenue all the way to £2M and beyond, coaching women at the exact intersection of their business stage and their personal pattern.

It guides them through stage-specific coaching that is bite-sized, practical and designed around the realities of women's lives. Geeta coaches on the programme personally and early members are already reporting very exciting, life changing results.

Sam spent the first decade of her career as a management consultant to financial services firms, specialising in risk-based capital and risk governance advice, before moving into portfolio NED roles and Angel investing in 2009. As a founding Investor Director of edtech company Scholarpack, she provided strategic advice and hands-on support on its journey from pre-product to successful exit via trade sale. Sam served as a NED and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee at The Key Support Services 2018-2025 (10x organic and M&A driven growth during that period driving exit via a private equity sale). Having sat on numerous start up and SME Boards over the past ten years, Sam is currently Chair at Sherloc, connecting her directly to this session's sponsor, NED at WatchMyCompetitor and sits on the Investment Committee of homeless charity Emmaus. She also acts as an advisor to several companies including Peachie, Rubitek and The Matcha Yaad.

Mark Watson-Gandy is a barrister at Three Stone Chambers, a leading chancery / commercial barristers’ chambers. Both Chambers Directory and Legal 500 rate him as a “leading junior” in their 2026 edition.

He was appointed as one of the Legal Services Champions who promote the UK’s £60 billion legal services offering overseas as part of the UK government’s “GREAT” campaign. 

He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster (where 20 years ago he founded its Corporate Finance Law LLM) and at the Université de Lorraine in France. His books have included “Simple Contract Law”, “Corporate Insolvency Practice” and “Personal Insolvency Practice”. He is one of the Editors of “Butterworths Corporate Law Service”.

As a barrister, Mark successfully defended the appeal over a US $1.5 billion recoupment claim in the Stanford International Bank liquidation in Antigua and was counsel for the amicus in the Fairfield Sentry liquidation (Bernie Madoff) in the BVI. He also successfully represented the administrators in the Cambridge Analytica administration in the UK. 

Mark was the founder of Kids MBA whose course teaches core business skills to 12-15-year-old children which is presently provided, through its partnership with the awarding body, ABE Global. Forbes Magazine recently singled it out as one of the “five leading global programmes supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs”. 

Until September 2020, he was chair of Mental Health First Aid England, a spin out from the Department of Health charged with raising the nation’s mental health literacy. He grew this social enterprise to one fastest growing SMEs in Europe, with 1 in 68 of this country’s adult population having undertaken Mental Health First Aid training. 

He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year’s Honours List.

Dan Silverston is the former Managing Director of The Soho Sandwich Company, which he built into a national premium food-to-go manufacturer producing over 15 million sandwiches & salads a year. Following its 2023 acquisition by Around Noon Food Group he became a Non-Executive Director & board member. Dan is now an Investor focused on supporting the next generation of founders, taking on board positions & advisory roles with younger entrepreneurs who can benefit from his experience in scaling businesses at pace and planning for a future exit.

Liz Jackson MBE, Sales and Marketing Director at Initium, an employee-owned corporate finance firm, is a force of nature in the entrepreneurial world. With a focus on supporting ambitious business owners, Liz guides clients through growth, valuation and exit strategies, while also helping them navigate life after a sale. She founded Initium’s Fellows community, the Diamonds network for women business leaders, and drives partnerships with like-minded organisations. Having launched her own award-winning business the same year she lost her eyesight, Liz brings unmatched insight into the challenges entrepreneurs face. Honoured with an MBE in 2007, her story inspires resilience and success.

Simon Gray is an entrepreneur, founder, CEO and investor who has spent more than 25 years building challenger brands and helping ambitious businesses grow.

Having founded Boost Drinks, and now Fizz With Purpose, the business behind IT'S GIVING, a disrupter in the better-for-you-drinks market, Simon combines commercial instinct with a deeply human approach to leadership. He believes that sustainable growth comes from creating businesses where people, culture and performance work hand in hand, and he’s built a reputation for developing high-performing teams, strong partnerships and brands that genuinely stand out.

Simon shares practical, experience-led insights on entrepreneurship, challenger thinking, leadership and building cultures where people can do their best work. His style is thoughtful, authentic and refreshingly free of business jargon, drawing on decades of real-world successes, setbacks and lessons learned.

Born and bred in Leeds, Simon is a proud Yorkshireman, lifelong Leeds United supporter and enthusiastic golfer and padel player. He’s married with three daughters and believes the best businesses are built by people who never lose sight of what matters most.

Dr Avi Baruch is the Co-Founder and CEO of Climingo, and a climate technology entrepreneur focused on helping organisations make better use of weather and climate data.

Avi began his career in academia, completing a PhD at Loughborough University before c- founding Previsico, a flood forecasting company spun out from university research. Previsico grew into a leading climate resilience business, supporting insurers, governments, infrastructure providers and major commercial customers.

After helping scale Previsico to Series A, Avi left to launch Climingo through Carbon13. Climingo helps organisations cut through the growing weather and climate vendor market by evaluating which providers perform best for their specific locations, risks and use cases, then supporting procurement of the right supplier.

At Climingo, Avi leads strategy, partnerships, customer development and product.

Professor Raghib Ali is an internationally recognised leader in clinical epidemiology and population health whose research is helping to transform our understanding of the aetiology and prevention of non-communicable diseases, particularly in under-represented populations – in the UK and globally.

He is the CEO and Chief Investigator of Our Future Health, the world’s largest health research programme of its kind with over 2.8 million participants, focussed on discovering new ways to prevent, detect, and treat disease.

He was appointed as Chief Medical Officer in 2022 and CEO and Chief Investigator in 2023 and has built Our Future Health into the most diverse cohort in UK history with greater geographic, socio-economic and ethnic diversity than any previous study.

He is also a Clinical Epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge; Research Professor at New York University Abu Dhabi; a Consultant in Acute Medicine at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and an Honorary Consultant with the Office for Health Disparities and Improvement.  

He was awarded the OBE for services to the NHS and the Covid 19-response in 2022 and elected to the Honorary Fellowship of the UK Faculty of Public Health in 2023.

At 21, Marine became Europe’s youngest gallery manager, running the gallery of Steve Lazarides, who discovered Banksy. At 23, she launched De Re Gallery in Los Angeles with the backing of a US investor, attracting leading collectors and celebrities including Demi Moore. It was there that she conceived the idea of bringing the talent-agency model to the art world. In 2015, aged 25, she founded MTArt Agency in London, a Certified B Corporation.

Today, MTArt Agency is a leading global talent agency representing some of the world’s most innovative artists, with more than 300 projects delivered across major cities, brands and institutions. The agency has been recognised on the Sunday Times Power List and backed by investors including Frederic Jousset, Todd Ruppert, Simon de Pury and LocalGlobe. In 2025, Marine co-founded Urban X Culture with Sherry Dobbin and Patrick Foret.

A passionate advocate for the role of artists in society, Marine has published research with Warwick University and UCL, written a book with Penguin, and delivered four TEDx Talks on art, visual culture and cities. She has contributed to UNESCO’s Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity, serves as Special Advisor to UN Women UK and sits on the SXSW Festival Advisory Board in London. Her accolades include Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe, UK Entrepreneur of the Year, Great British Entrepreneur 2025, the Champion of Empowerment Medal and the Outstanding Achievement Award 2025.

After struggling to find a good insurance deal for his first car while caddying full time, James Noble, 32, launched this brokerage in 2016 to help other young drivers to get the best policy. Initially he raised £10,000 from golfers at the Surrey club where he was working as a caddy. Lewis Morgan, the co-founder of Gymshark, bought a 15 per cent stake in May 2025, buying out existing investors in a seven-figure deal. Sales, which represent gross written premiums, will reach £60m in 2026 and they business is targeting £100m in sales in 2027.

Roei Samuel is a British entrepreneur whose journey has been shaped by finding the right people at the right time. Now he’s on a mission to help others do the same. He built his first company, Realsport, leading it to a multi-million-pound acquisition by Gfinity. That experience didn’t just give him credibility - it gave him perspective: entrepreneurs don’t win when they’re building in isolation; they win when they’re supported.
 
Now, Roei has become a ‘Connector’. With over 80,000 followers on social media, he’s founded Connectd to help entrepreneurs find the 1% people - the crucial advisors, investors, collaborators, and believers who accelerate growth and make the hardest stages feel seamless.

James Cole is the Founder and CEO of Panache Cruises. An entrepreneur, business builder and industry disruptor, he has grown the company from start-up to an international luxury travel business operating across three continents. James is passionate about scaling businesses, acquisitions, leadership and using technology to accelerate growth.

Roy Shelton doesn't just build businesses, he transforms them. A multi-award-winning, MBA Graduate CEO with over 25 years leading high-growth technology and telecoms companies, Roy has raised more than £100m in funding, completed 28 acquisitions, and driven exits worth over £200m.

Currently Group CEO of Connectus, he led a management buy-in in 2018 and has since grown the business from 65 clients and sub-£500k revenue to 800+ clients and £10m+ across four UK offices.

From humble beginnings in a Yorkshire mining village to pioneering the world's first mobile social media network to then founding a company which he excited to Aviva, Roy brings rare, real-world expertise in turnaround, M&A, and scaling at pace across the UK, North America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

When he's not running businesses, you'll find him underwater. Roy is a qualified Advanced PADI diver, has a passion for rugby union, fishing and shooting.