Meet the Fellows

A woman speaking with a man during a business networking event.
The Innovation Fellowship grants industry leaders in innovation the chance to build networks with like-minded experts and develop new strategies.

The Innovation Fellowship is London’s leading cross-industry innovation community and provides peer-to-peer connections that could take decades to build.

Through the Fellowship, London & Partners facilitates a collaborative, transparent environment to share best practice and lessons learnt in open innovation practice.

Fellows

Find out more about some of the Fellows in our network:

  • Katherine Platts

    Katherine Platts

    Director of Technology Innovation and Sustainability​, Unilever
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    Katherine Platts

    Katherine Platts

    Director of Technology Innovation and Sustainability​, Unilever

    Having studied psychology at university and then starting a career in technology, Katherine has always been fascinated by human-computer interaction and the effects of the rapidly evolving technology landscape on organisations and wider society. With a focus on responsibility and ethics, she is driven to create the right ways to explore evolving technology and stay one step ahead of the game when it comes to impact and opportunities for doing good.

  • Adam Weir

    Adam Weir

    Senior Director of Innovation and Materials, New Balance
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    Adam Weir

    Adam Weir

    Senior Director of Innovation and Materials, New Balance

    Adam is a creative leader with more than 20 years in the fashion and consumer goods business. He has a global outlook, having worked in many countries around the world. Adam leads a team of project managers, engineers and designers focused on creating innovative products for New Balance Apparel.

  • Marta Mateu Vilalta

    Marta Mateu Vilalta

    Director of Open Innovation & Startup Studios, Mango
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    Marta Mateu Vilalta

    Marta Mateu Vilalta

    Director of Open Innovation & Startup Studios, Mango
  • Sheena Amin​

    Sheena Amin​

    Director of ITV AdVentures​, ITV
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    Sheena Amin​

    Sheena Amin​

    Director of ITV AdVentures​, ITV

    Sheena runs ITV’s media for equity investment fund where she helps consumer startups and scaleups become famous through the brand-building power of TV. Investments include What3Words, Spoke, Carwow, Resi, Feel and THIS.

  • Nichola Bates

    Nichola Bates

    Managing Director of Aerospace Xelerated, Boeing
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    Nichola Bates

    Nichola Bates

    Managing Director of Aerospace Xelerated, Boeing

    Nichola joined Boeing in 2017, where in her role as Managing Partner for Aerospace Xelerated, she invests in and supports startups using AI and autonomous technologies to the benefit of the aerospace sector and related industries. Prior to Boeing, Nichola worked with early stage and scaling startups, where she championed the role of the SME to government, particularly in the security and resilience sector. Nichola has extensive experience of international business development and fundraising for growth, from strategy through to execution, and a wide network across governments and industry. Since working with one of the world’s largest corporations, Nichola has become even more passionate about the benefits of collaboration between startups and corporates.

  • Kevin Rodrigues

    Kevin Rodrigues

    Managing Director, Head of Europe, BP Ventures
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    Kevin Rodrigues

    Kevin Rodrigues

    Managing Director, Head of Europe, BP Ventures

    Kevin is an investment professional with global investment experience spanning Africa, Europe, south-east Asia, Latin America and North America with a focus on venture capital and private equity and more than $901m of risk capital deployed and multiple exits.

    As an angel investor and entrepreneur, he has investments in several consumer and technology startups in Europe, Africa and the US.

    He currently serves as Regional Managing Director at BP Ventures where he leads investment activities at BP's corporate venture arm in Europe, Israel and Africa.

  • Esra Demir​

    Esra Demir​

    Group Digital Partnership Director, HSBC
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    Esra Demir​

    Esra Demir​

    Group Digital Partnership Director, HSBC
  • Sanghamitra Karra

    Sanghamitra Karra

    Managing Director, Head of Inclusive Ventures Group EMEA, Morgan Stanley
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    Sanghamitra Karra

    Sanghamitra Karra

    Managing Director, Head of Inclusive Ventures Group EMEA, Morgan Stanley

    Sanghamitra has more than 16 years of experience in the financial services industry, with a focus on venture investments and risk management.

    As the Head of the Inclusive Ventures Group at Morgan Stanley for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), she leads a team that invests and supports founders with funding, mentorship and access to the firm's global network of investors and clients. The mission of the group is to help reduce the persistent funding gap and create a more diverse and inclusive ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation.

    Prior to this role, she had held multiple senior roles in risk management covering stress testing, climate risk and investment management risk.

    Sanghamitra holds dual masters degrees in Statistics and Climate Change and Development.

  • Brigit Lee

    Brigit Lee

    Senior Director, Head of Global Entertainment Services – EMEA, Sony Interactive Entertainment
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    Brigit Lee

    Brigit Lee

    Senior Director, Head of Global Entertainment Services – EMEA, Sony Interactive Entertainment

    A tech executive currently with Sony PlayStation and formerly at Amazon and Best Buy, Brigit has more than two decades of experience working with both startups and large companies to forge global, strategic partnerships and to build out new, innovative businesses.

    At Sony PlayStation, Brigit currently oversees the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) non-game and global sports partnerships portfolios.

  • Jon-Paul Brett

    Jon-Paul Brett

    Director of Digital Delivery, Burberry Group plc
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    Jon-Paul Brett

    Jon-Paul Brett

    Director of Digital Delivery, Burberry Group plc

    Jon-Paul Brett has a strong background in IT and project management, with experience working for companies such as Burberry, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Jon-Paul has held various roles such as Digital Director, Director of IT Delivery & Operations, and Programme Manager, where he managed transformation programmes, led teams, and implemented strategic initiatives. Jon-Paul holds a Master of Science in Programme Management from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

  • Mariama Boumanjal

    Mariama Boumanjal

    Google for Startups, EMEA Lead, Google
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    Mariama Boumanjal

    Mariama Boumanjal

    Google for Startups, EMEA Lead, Google

    The Lead for Google for Startups UK, Mariama manages the programmes and portfolios of more than 200 startups from the UK and across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Since 2020, Mariama has also managed the Black Founders Fund, having provided $35m to more than 400 Black Founders across Europe, Africa, North America and Brazil, with founders securing more than $400m in follow-up funding.

  • Gurdeep Kohli

    Gurdeep Kohli

    Lead, Europe & America, Standard Chartered Ventures
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    Gurdeep Kohli

    Gurdeep Kohli

    Lead, Europe & America, Standard Chartered Ventures

    Gurdeep has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, covering venture building, digital innovation, fintech engagement and corporate strategy. Over the last six years, he has evolved from corporate strategy to a global leader in digital technology venture building and corporate transformation. As a founding member of SC Ventures, the innovation, investment and digital tech venture unit of Standard Chartered, he has contributed to shaping the mandate of the business and incubated some of the most innovative technology ventures across multiple themes.

  • Nidhin Raj

    Nidhin Raj

    Digital Transformation Senior Lead (Innovation and Scaleups), Mars
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    Nidhin Raj

    Nidhin Raj

    Digital Transformation Senior Lead (Innovation and Scaleups), Mars

    Nidhin is a recognised industry executive (10-plus years), who has developed a robust foundation by transitioning from a researcher to a product owner and delving into diverse business domains.

    This progression has granted him invaluable first-hand experience, enabling him to genuinely comprehend and address varied client challenges.

    By leveraging his exceptional relationship skills and adopting a consultative problem-solving approach, he is adept at converting client problems into tangible solutions, delivering exceptional results for clients in the health, products and life sciences sectors.

    Nidhin's expertise lies in developing and implementing effective go-to-market strategies that drive business growth and maximise revenue.

  • Linda Burchhart

    Linda Burchhart

    External Innovation Director, Haleon
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    Linda Burchhart

    Linda Burchhart

    External Innovation Director, Haleon

    Linda Burchhart is an Austrian nomad, having lived in the US, East/South East Asia and Europe. She's now settled in London with her partner and two cats. Linda is an experienced innovation and alliance enthusiast with proven business growth in industry-leading organisations (health tech and consumer), driven by human-centric design and research principles to foster innovation in the healthcare sector. She currently leads External Innovation for Haleon's Therapeutic Oral Healthcare, responsible for the sourcing and scientific assessment of novel assets and partnerships to help execute growth opportunities for potential new products globally.

  • Shruti Ajitsaria

    Shruti Ajitsaria

    Head of Fuse, Allen & Overy
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    Shruti Ajitsaria

    Shruti Ajitsaria

    Head of Fuse, Allen & Overy

    Shruti is the Head of Fuse, Allen & Overy’s (A&O) tech innovation space which opened in September 2017. Fuse’s philosophy is to identify legaltech, regtech and dealtech companies relevant to A&O lawyers and their clients and to find ways to start working together. Prior to launching Fuse, Shruti was a Counsel in the Derivatives and Structured Finance group based in London, specialising in credit derivatives (involving drafting almost all of the standard documentation in this area over the last decade). Shruti is now the first person at A&O to have directly been promoted to partner into its Advanced Delivery & Solutions (AD&S) Group.

  • Gerard Kelly

    Gerard Kelly

    Vice President of Innovation and Venture Acceleration, National Grid
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    Gerard Kelly

    Gerard Kelly

    Vice President of Innovation and Venture Acceleration, National Grid

    Gerard leads the UK Innovation team at National Grid Partners. He’s passionate about sustainability and is motivated to be part of the drive to net zero by developing the innovative technologies and impactful business models to help his company get there. Gerard has more than 10 years’ experience in the energy sector leading multi-disciplinary teams in startup and corporate environments. Gerard is a Chartered Engineer, holding an MBA from INSEAD and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Limerick, Ireland.

  • Aaron Smith

    Aaron Smith

    Head of Innovation Ecosystems, Fidelity Investments - FCAT
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    Aaron Smith

    Aaron Smith

    Head of Innovation Ecosystems, Fidelity Investments - FCAT

    A passionate disruptor, an obsessive innovator, an inquisitive researcher and a recovering technologist. With 20+ years experience across the technology and financial services industries, Aaron has an inherent desire to uncover "unknown unknowns" and to help those looking to change the future for the better.

  • Neta Meir

    Neta Meir

    Group Innovation SVP, Sodexo
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    Neta Meir

    Neta Meir

    Group Innovation SVP, Sodexo

    Neta Meir is a passionate innovator and transformer. Her experience in marketing, digital transformation and innovation led her to her current role as Sodexo Group Innovation SVP. In her role, Neta and her team are responsible for the acceleration of Sodexo’s innovation journey, by creating an internal and open innovation ecosystem that supports the growth and transformation of the business. Neta is a multicultural person, born in Israel, living in London and working in Paris, and speaks Hebrew, English and a bit of French.

  • Chetan Kotur

    Chetan Kotur

    Head of Technology and Innovation, Europe, Laing O’Rourke
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    Chetan Kotur

    Chetan Kotur

    Head of Technology and Innovation, Europe, Laing O’Rourke

    Prior to joining Laing O’Rourke in 2022, Chetan was instrumental in starting up and launching globally Polestar, the high-performance electric car brand headquartered in Sweden. Most recently, he was Head of Products for Asia Pacific, based in Shanghai. At Laing O’Rourke, Chetan leads the team developing transformative innovations focused on improving productivity, safety and sustainability for complex buildings and infrastructure projects. Chetan has a first-class degree in Automotive Engineering from Loughborough University and was named Young Engineer of the Year in 2018 by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

  • Claire Dracott​

    Claire Dracott​

    Director of Tech Innovation​, News UK
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    Claire Dracott​

    Claire Dracott​

    Director of Tech Innovation​, News UK

    Claire has 12 years of experience heading up design teams. She is currently working for NewsUK which encompasses many different well-known brands: Times Media, The Sun, TalkSPORT, Virgin Radio and TalkTV. Her current role is Director of Tech Innovation, enabling future thinking of trends and technologies, leading a mixed-discipline team to look at what these new technologies might mean for the business, understanding the best tech to use and validating the idea quickly with the end user.

  • Nick Passey

    Nick Passey

    Head of Commercial Digital & IT, International & Japan, AstraZeneca
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    Nick Passey

    Nick Passey

    Head of Commercial Digital & IT, International & Japan, AstraZeneca

    Nick is responsible for digital and IT across AstraZeneca’s emerging markets (International) and Japan (Commercial) – covering Asia, Middle East, Africa, Russia, Eurasia and Latin America. Nick is a member of the International Region leadership team and Global IT leadership team at AstraZeneca. Nick focuses on enabling new patient experiences and outcomes through exploiting innovative digital solutions, which includes addressing challenges in the end-to-end patient journey.

  • Julia Duckworth​

    Julia Duckworth​

    Innovation R&D, Europe​, Diageo
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    Julia Duckworth​

    Julia Duckworth​

    Innovation R&D, Europe​, Diageo

    Julia leads Diageo’s Europe Innovation R&D team by blending science and technology with creative brilliance to develop brilliant liquids, packs and designs across the entire Diageo brand portfolio. She holds an Awarded Chartered Scientist (CSci) and Fellow of Institute of Food Science and Technology (FIFST) distinctions for exemplary commitment and professionalism to practicing and advancing science.

  • Mayowa Odusote

    Mayowa Odusote

    Senior Design Lead – Radical Change, DLA Piper
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    Mayowa Odusote

    Mayowa Odusote

    Senior Design Lead – Radical Change, DLA Piper

    Mayowa is the Senior Design Lead and part of the Radical Change team at DLA Piper, helping to shift mindsets by delivering impactful client engagements and interactions using design thinking. Passionate about empowering people to create change, prior to joining DLA Piper, Mayowa worked at EY as Deputy Innovation Lead for the People Advisory Practice. She has more than eight years’ experience in management consultancy.

  • Vikram Seth

    Vikram Seth

    Head Of Blockchain and Web3, Shell
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    Vikram Seth

    Vikram Seth

    Head Of Blockchain and Web3, Shell

    Vikram is a passionate innovator with more than a decade of experience in the energy sector, working with industry-leading organizsations such as Shell. With expertise in sustainable development, systems thinking, and digital innovation, Vikram is focused on Web3 technology and its transformative potential to shape the future of the energy sector.

  • Nina Manning

    Nina Manning

    Chief Transformation Officer, Killik & Co
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    Nina Manning

    Nina Manning

    Chief Transformation Officer, Killik & Co

    Nina is an experienced leader in innovation through technology and product in the wealth management industry. Her primary experience has been in building investment apps and the technology that supports them, allowing for wider adoption of change and innovation. Nina builds innovative digital solutions for clients and advisers, improving efficiency and experience.

  • Sol Enenmoh

    Sol Enenmoh

    Director, Group Digitalisation, HSBC
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    Sol Enenmoh

    Sol Enenmoh

    Director, Group Digitalisation, HSBC

    Sol Enenmoh helps organisations become better by encouraging new ways of thinking. He joined HSBC in 2022 to promote innovative methods and encourage group-level digitalisation at scale globally. Previous roles include EY, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Vanquis Bank, Hastings Direct, Vhi and BP (retail and payments).

  • Catherine Abell

    Catherine Abell

    Director of London Innovation Hub, Accenture
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    Catherine Abell

    Catherine Abell

    Director of London Innovation Hub, Accenture

    Catherine is an experienced financial services strategy and innovation professional. Her expertise includes running innovation programmes and engagements including accelerators and incubators, developing new products and propositions, establishing fintech partnerships and driving corporate innovation.

  • Jonathan Munday

    Jonathan Munday

    Executive Director, Strategy, Sustainability and Innovation, Coutts
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    Jonathan Munday

    Jonathan Munday

    Executive Director, Strategy, Sustainability and Innovation, Coutts

    Jon is an Executive Director at Coutts and serves primarily as a Strategy, Sustainability and Innovation Lead for Coutts and the NatWest Group Wealth Businesses. He has been with the NatWest Group for eight years, the majority of which has been spent with Coutts. Jon holds a BA degree from the University of York, a master's from Hult International Business School and a Postgraduate Certificate from the University of Cambridge. He is a keen runner and has taken part in events all over the world including the Marathon des Sables.

  • Nicholas McQuire

    Nicholas McQuire

    Director, Enterprise AI and Innovation, Microsoft
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    Nicholas McQuire

    Nicholas McQuire

    Director, Enterprise AI and Innovation, Microsoft

    Nicholas is a globally recognised thought leader and former 20+ year technology analyst with a passion for artificial intelligence and enterprise innovation. He was named among the top technology analysts in the world in 2019 and 2020 by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations. Moreover, Nicholas is a board member with entrepreneurial and corporate experience and a proven track record advising C-level executives and enterprise IT strategists. He is also a member of the CIO100 and Next CIO judging panels which recognise the most transformational CIOs and next generation of IT leaders in the UK each year.

  • Alex Quie

    Alex Quie

    Principal Investor, Salesforce Ventures
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    Alex Quie

    Alex Quie

    Principal Investor, Salesforce Ventures

    Alexandra joined the Salesforce Ventures London office in 2021 and works across all stages and sectors to find the best cloud software companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She has worked on investments including Algolia, Contentful, Gong, Monday.com and Zencity, among others.

    Prior to Salesforce Ventures, Alexandra lived in Los Angeles where she worked as a software investor at K1 Investment Management and in business development at Canyon Partners, a distressed debt hedge fund. She started her career in fixed income in London, working at Bluebay Asset Management. She holds a BA with Honors in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Chinese) from the University of Cambridge. She is an active member of the Global Women in VC group.

  • Oliver Latham

    Oliver Latham

    VP Strategy and Growth – Workforce Skills, Pearson
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    Oliver Latham

    Oliver Latham

    VP Strategy and Growth – Workforce Skills, Pearson

    An experienced consulting, sales, commercial and strategy professional, Oliver is building the Workforce Skills Division as VP Strategy and Growth at Pearson. Prior to this, Oliver led a team of 40 sales and commercial professionals across the UK and Ireland in the Higher Education market. Oliver has worked in major global organisations, and was a strategy and management consultant at EY for 11 years. He has led companies and governments in different countries and built his own startup business.

  • Andy Doyle

    Andy Doyle

    Director of Operations, Innovation and Strategy, Grosvenor
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    Andy Doyle

    Andy Doyle

    Director of Operations, Innovation and Strategy, Grosvenor

    Andy Doyle is a senior professional with more than 20 years of industry and professional services experience in major public and private sector organisations. He has extensive track records of leading teams on complex business transformations, real estate projects and programmes, investment, and operational management. Working as the Innovation Director for Grosvenor's UK property business (£5bn property portfolio), Andy leads the Innovation programme and Alternative Investment Portfolio.

  • Oriana Medlicott

    Oriana Medlicott

    Responsible AI Manger, Admiral Group
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    Oriana Medlicott

    Oriana Medlicott

    Responsible AI Manger, Admiral Group

    Oriana leads AI Ethics in the Technology Strategy Unit at Fujitsu. In her role, she focuses on AI Ethics strategy and, alongside startups, leading POC's across Fujitsu's technology areas. She is co-host of the Let’s Chat Ethics podcast, Strategic Partnerships Lead for Diverse AI and on the advisory board of The AI Ethics Journal at UCLA. Prior to Fujitsu, Oriana worked as an AI Ethics consultant with startups, think tanks and academia across North America and Europe. Oriana also guest lectures the Introduction to AI Ethics in Industry module at Nottingham Trent University.

  • Edward Manning

    Edward Manning

    Commerical Innovation Director, Dentsu
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    Edward Manning

    Edward Manning

    Commerical Innovation Director, Dentsu

    Edward Manning is a media professional with more than 12 years of experience, currently charged with developing new, diverse and innovative revenue streams to protect the future of Dentsu International. He has a keen interest in generating value between the margins, as well as using adjacency to become relevant in new sectors. He's passionate that Dentsu has much to learn from other industries, and that operational transformation will be required.

  • Sandy Tung

    Sandy Tung

    Principal Policy Officer, Innovation and Technology, Greater London Authority
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    Sandy Tung

    Sandy Tung

    Principal Policy Officer, Innovation and Technology, Greater London Authority

    Sandy Tung is Head of the Technology and Innovation team at the Greater London Authority. She runs Challenge LDN, the Mayor’s open innovation programme that invites a diverse cohort of innovators to co-design solutions that tackle the capital’s most pressing problems.

  • Iryna Chekanava

    Iryna Chekanava

    Innovation Growth and Partnerships, Lloyd's
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    Iryna Chekanava

    Iryna Chekanava

    Innovation Growth and Partnerships, Lloyd's

    Iryna has more than 10 years of experience working in the technology sector with a focus on insurtech. Before working at Lloyd's, she ran her consulting agency that specialised in building and scaling innovation communities and startups. Iryna holds a bachelor's degree in Media and Communications (with distinction), and a naster's of Social Sciences in Political Science and Public Policy.

  • Tobias Caterer

    Tobias Caterer

    Open Innovation Manager, Marks & Spencer
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    Tobias Caterer

    Tobias Caterer

    Open Innovation Manager, Marks & Spencer

    With three years' experience at M&S, Tobias has spent the last year working in the Innovation team as an Open Innovation Manager. The focus of the team is to solve 50 problems/opportunities for the business to generate £10m bottom line benefit.

  • Connie Emerson

    Connie Emerson

    Chief Strategy Officer, Princes Ltd
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    Connie Emerson

    Connie Emerson

    Chief Strategy Officer, Princes Ltd

    Connie is a consumer-centric strategy, transformation and innovation director with a passion for retail, hospitality, food, drinks and fast-moving consumer goods. She relishes the challenge of working within a business to make data-driven strategic choices, identifying value-creation opportunities, writing the strategic narrative and galvanising teams to execute with excellence. Having worked in industry and as a consultant in the UK and internationally on strategy, innovation, brand and commercial challenges, Connie is well-placed to define clear strategies, transformation initiatives and plans for in-market results, through collaborative leadership, content and capability development.

  • Jess Bonner

    Jess Bonner

    Director, Capita
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    Jess Bonner

    Jess Bonner

    Director, Capita

    Jess Bonner is a Director at Capita Scaling Partner (CSP), the strategic investment team for the Capita Group, and helps to bridge the gap between large enterprise/public sector and tech SMEs. With a commercial background, Jess started her career in finance and qualified as a corporate solicitor before moving into the world of tech. At CSP she is responsible for strategic partnership origination, investment exits and CSP operations, as well as working with colleagues across Capita on a company-wide partnership strategy.

  • William Pryke

    William Pryke

    Head of Open Innovation & Tech Scouting, Openreach
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    William Pryke

    William Pryke

    Head of Open Innovation & Tech Scouting, Openreach

    Will works in technology scouting and innovation for Openreach to accelerate its Open Innovation programme. An experienced executive and Open Innovation specialist, William has more than 20 years of experience exploiting disruptive technologies and delivering new solutions. Most recently, he was responsible for the establishment of the University of Suffolk – DigiTech Centre, supporting academic collaboration with entrepreneurs, business and government. Formally, William was Head of the BT Infinity Lab, a group wide accelerator programme supporting consumers and business, which delivered a number of startup collaborations.

  • Danielle Sheerin

    Danielle Sheerin

    Group Head of Programs and Community, NatWest Group
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    Danielle Sheerin

    Danielle Sheerin

    Group Head of Programs and Community, NatWest Group

    Danielle has 15-plus years driving innovation across diverse industries, including education, scaleups, city level government and financial services.

    With a focus on programmes and communities, Danielle is committed to fostering a culture of innovation and creating environments where both individuals and organisations can thrive through learning, partnerships and investments.

    Passionate about empowering others to reach their full potential, Danielle strives to create pathways for success that are accessible to all.

  • Jonathan Lewis

    Jonathan Lewis

    Head, Commercial Innovation, Channel 4
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    Jonathan Lewis

    Jonathan Lewis

    Head, Commercial Innovation, Channel 4

    Jonathan joined Channel 4 in the autumn of 2012 and has performed a number of roles within Channel 4’s commercial team over the last nine years, previously leading Digital Advertising sales and strategy. Recently, he has expanded his responsibility, driving growth and innovation across all areas of Channel 4's commercial business, building upon existing successful innovations in areas such as digital and social (4Studio) and linear addressable advertising. He is also developing new revenue streams to deliver Channel 4's Future4 strategy. Jonathan is a multi-faceted commercial leader with experience delivering transformational results for both digital and broadcaster businesses.

  • James Vincent

    James Vincent

    Senior Director, Innovation & Market Development, Thomson Reuters
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    James Vincent

    James Vincent

    Senior Director, Innovation & Market Development, Thomson Reuters

    James has always been at the riskier forefront of new commercial launches and opportunity development for the businesses he has worked at. He is passionate about developments across markets and how they can help them grow and innovate. Mainly with a B2B focus, he leads the innovation within the professional segment of Reuters.

  • Marie Cesbron

    Marie Cesbron

    Global Open Innovation​, Chanel
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    Marie Cesbron

    Marie Cesbron

    Global Open Innovation​, Chanel

    Marie's international 25-year track record encompasses executive leadership and advisory roles in the consumer and luxury goods sectors. At the peak of her marketing career at L’Oreal, Marie switched to innovation and found her vocation. She was Global Innovation Insight Director for L’Oreal R&D, then Global Innovation Director at Walgreens Boots Alliance’s consumer arm before becoming Founder, Director of Do Well Do Good innovation consultancy. As such, she has been contracted by Chanel Global Open Innovation from its inception in 2019. Marie holds an MS in Management from HEC Paris (1996) and a BS in Psychology from Paris V University (2010).

  • Jennifer Sheldon

    Jennifer Sheldon

    Head of Core Innovation, LEGO
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    Jennifer Sheldon

    Jennifer Sheldon

    Head of Core Innovation, LEGO

    As Head of Core Innovation at the LEGO Group’s Creative Play Lab, Jennifer is working to create opportunities for children to reach their potential through play. Prior to her role at the LEGO Group in London, Jennifer spent nearly two decades in San Francisco’s Bay Area building innovative products designed to educate, entertain and inform. She also guest lectured on Product Management & Innovation at the Product School and Product Events, launched a mentorship program for Sony Interactive Entertainment, and lead the San Francisco Chapter of Women@ PlayStation.

  • Shaun King

    Shaun King

    Strategic Partnership, Change and Transformation Director, AXA UK&I
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    Shaun King

    Shaun King

    Strategic Partnership, Change and Transformation Director, AXA UK&I

    Shaun is a seasoned Managing Director with a proven track record in driving business transformation, operational delivery and program management at the highest levels. With significant experience at leading global corporations including AXA, TCS, Capita, Capgemini and IBM, he has successfully led new ventures, major restructuring efforts and enabled digital and technological advancements, all while enhancing customer experience and driving outcomes in line with strategic objectives. 

  • Dana Cullen

    Dana Cullen

    Senior Director, Enterprise Innovation, Travelers
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    Dana Cullen

    Dana Cullen

    Senior Director, Enterprise Innovation, Travelers

    Dana is Senior Director of Innovation at Travelers, a leading multiline insurer, where she shapes strategies and initiatives to ensure the company's competitive advantages remain strong and adaptive to emerging risks.

    With a background in corporate venture capital and insurance underwriting, Dana brings a unique perspective to her role, blending a deep understanding of the venture ecosystem with practical insurance experience to drive innovation within the organisation.

    She is passionate about leveraging technology and innovative partnerships to address emerging challenges in the insurance sector.

    A firm believer in lifelong learning, Dana holds degrees in economics, business administration and health policy.

  • Dan Francis

    Dan Francis

    Chief Innovation and Digital Officer, BDO UK
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    Dan Francis

    Dan Francis

    Chief Innovation and Digital Officer, BDO UK

    Dan is the Director of Innovation and Digital for BDO UK. His previous experience extends across digital products and propositions, change, strategy and innovation in large and small companies, for brands such as American Express, BP, Sainsbury's, Barclays and Google.

  • Rachel Kneen

    Rachel Kneen

    Strategy & Innovation Lead, Just Eat
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    Rachel Kneen

    Rachel Kneen

    Strategy & Innovation Lead, Just Eat

    Rachel has been working in marketing for 14 years. For the last six years, she has worked at Just Eat, the UK's biggest online food delivery marketplace. Having spent most of her career in social media and strategy, she has been appointed as Just Eat's first Strategy and Innovation Lead, tasked with taking the UK business into the next stage of growth.

  • Joana Santos

    Joana Santos

    Head of Strategy UKI, Amazon Web Services
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    Joana Santos

    Joana Santos

    Head of Strategy UKI, Amazon Web Services

    Joana Santos leads Strategy for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Amazon Web Services (AWS). This organisation helps companies from startups to the largest enterprises accelerate their customer-centric digital business transformation and help them realise new forms of customer value, leveraging AWS Cloud. Before this role, Joana led Sales Strategy and Operations for LATAM at LinkedIn’s digital advertising business and worked in strategy consulting at EY-Parthenon across Europe, the US, South America and Africa. Her previous experience includes working in the African technology start-up M-KOPA, American investment bank Citigroup and the UK Parliament.

  • Tom Winstanley

    Tom Winstanley

    CTO, Head of New Ventures, NTT DATA
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    Tom Winstanley

    Tom Winstanley

    CTO, Head of New Ventures, NTT DATA

    Tom has worked on the interface between business, experience and technology for more than 20 years in a range of industries and customer-facing business and technology roles with clients across Europe, APAC and North America. He enjoys the variety (and similarity) of challenges their clients face and building innovative solutions with his teams across the NTT DATA Group and wider NTT Group R&D community. Twice Tom has been a founding member of a digital practice, heading consulting and supporting the scale out of the organisation to deliver differently. He considers himself an information junkie and an honorary lecturer in University College London's computer science department.

  • Cheryl Anderson​

    Cheryl Anderson​

    Head of Innovation and External Networks​, Tata Steel
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    Cheryl Anderson​

    Cheryl Anderson​

    Head of Innovation and External Networks​, Tata Steel

    Cheryl Anderson is the Head of Innovation and External Networks for Tata Steel UK, having spent more than 18 years working in the steel industry, including international leadership roles in R&D, business development and marketing. This background enables Cheryl to bring experience from different disciplines to her current work leading on innovation, harnessing the power of cross-functional and external collaboration and leading company networks to deliver results in areas as diverse as health, safety and well-being, customer experience and new technology.

  • Mike Daley

    Mike Daley

    Group Director, Strategy and Innovation, PageGroup
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    Mike Daley

    Mike Daley

    Group Director, Strategy and Innovation, PageGroup

    Mike is passionate about the value people and technology create when they work together. Having built successful teams in fields from the arts to civil aviation, he has led them to identify and deliver innovative solutions to drive growth and competitiveness. Now at PageGroup, a specialist global recruiter, Mike is responsible for bringing external insight and perspective to the organisation, ensuring Page remains an industry leader in the innovative application of technology and supporting clients in their talent missions.

  • Greg Baker

    Greg Baker

    Global Head of Practice Innovation, Linklaters
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    Greg Baker

    Greg Baker

    Global Head of Practice Innovation, Linklaters

    As Global Head of Practice Innovation at Linklaters, Greg heads up a team of practice-embedded innovation lawyers and a multi-disciplinary innovation delivery team. Greg is a qualified lawyer with more than 10 years of practicing experience and is also a committed legal technologist.

  • Justyna Amelio

    Justyna Amelio

    Innovation & Strategy Epidemiology Director II, AbbVie
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    Justyna Amelio

    Justyna Amelio

    Innovation & Strategy Epidemiology Director II, AbbVie

    Justyna is the Strategy and Innovation Director II at AbbVie within the Global Epidemiology team, part of Pharmacovigilance & Patient Safety, Epidemiology and Research and Development (R&D) Quality Assurance (PSEQ).

    With 20 years of experience in real world data and other human health data research, she focuses on innovative approaches to develop faster, safer medicines with patient-centricity and the role of policy and regulations in mind.

    She is involved in global expansion with an emphasis on high-quality research. Previously, she represented PSEQ in AbbVie's R&D Convergence digital innovation initiative through cross-functional collaboration.

    Her past employment includes GSK, Amgen, RWD Consulting and academic institutions.

  • Manish Naik

    Manish Naik

    Head of Digital and Innovation, Anglo American
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    Manish Naik

    Manish Naik

    Head of Digital and Innovation, Anglo American

    Manish is an MBA professional with 12 years’ experience in operations, consulting, innovation and programme management across various industry sectors. He is a quick learner with keen business acumen and strong analytical abilities. Manish has a proven track record in leading cross-functional and multicultural teams, across the US, UK, Europe and India. His current role is focused on scanning and evangelising digital innovations in the oil and gas sector.

  • Chris Kelsey

    Chris Kelsey

    Vice President, Global Delivery Innovation, Salesforce
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    Chris Kelsey

    Chris Kelsey

    Vice President, Global Delivery Innovation, Salesforce

    Chris is the Vice President of Global Delivery Innovation. Building on a career utilising technology to drive business outcomes, Chris leads Delivery Innovation across the Global Professional Services organisation at Salesforce, capturing and leveraging the innovation that occurs across the organisation for the benefit of all. He lives in south London with his wife and twin boys.

  • Rachel Edwards

    Rachel Edwards

    Workplace Futures Lead, Lendlease
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    Rachel Edwards

    Rachel Edwards

    Workplace Futures Lead, Lendlease
  • Georgios Kolovos

    Georgios Kolovos

    Global lead commerce, payments and international expansion partnerships, PayPal
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    Georgios Kolovos

    Georgios Kolovos

    Global lead commerce, payments and international expansion partnerships, PayPal

    A results-orientated and entrepreneurial-minded executive, Georgios has experience in building and strengthening businesses by creating strategic alliances and partnerships and developing new distribution channels for new markets and segments. A leader with an intercultural background, Georgios has worked with partners and customers globally and managed growth agendas at country, regional and global levels.

  • Aaron Cole

    Aaron Cole

    Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, AA-X Ventures (Automobile Association)
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    Aaron Cole

    Aaron Cole

    Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, AA-X Ventures (Automobile Association)

    Aaron is the Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at AA-X, building connected-car ventures, solutions and brands for The AA. He is also a board advisor to fast-growth creative and fashion businesses.
     
    He was previously CMO at Jaguar Land Rover-backed luxury car rental service THE OUT, GQ and Partner at de-centralised brand consultancy Studio Everywhere, working with Diageo and AI legaltech firm LexCheck.
     
    During the first part of his career, Aaron held senior positions at globally awarded creative agencies Fallon, Mother, Wieden+Kennedy, Exposure and co-founded Common Industry.
     

  • Tom Williamson

    Tom Williamson

    Head of Innovation, Scottish Power
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    Tom Williamson

    Tom Williamson

    Head of Innovation, Scottish Power

    As Head of Innovation, Tom coordinates and leads on innovation policy and initiatives across the ScottishPower group. Tom has been at ScottishPower since 2009, previously working on Westminster political and parliamentary relations across the SP/Iberdrola group’s interests in the UK. Prior to joining the company, he spent five years working in Parliament, latterly as Director of the Parliamentary Resources Unit in the House of Commons.

  • Carol Twomey

    Carol Twomey

    Vice President, WI SRE Center of Excellence Lead, Fidelity Investments
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    Carol Twomey

    Carol Twomey

    Vice President, WI SRE Center of Excellence Lead, Fidelity Investments

    In her 22-year career, Carol has held a number of leadership roles both in Ireland and the US leading strategic software engineering programs and teams. She currently leads the Fidelity Ireland Innovation Council with a focus on associate innovation, in addition to being highly engaged in D&I (women in technology) and cultural and social programmes.

  • Brad Whiting

    Brad Whiting

    Head of Innovation and Digital Products, BDO
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    Brad Whiting

    Brad Whiting

    Head of Innovation and Digital Products, BDO

    Brad is the Head of Innovation & Digital Products at BDO LLP. Brad leads BDO Labs, which is BDO’s own accelerator for ideas, across Audit, Tax, and Advisory. The Innovation & Digital Office is the focal point for all innovation activities, primarily around accelerating the adoption of digital or emerging technologies, alongside the creation and launch of new products and services.

  • Faizan Muhammad

    Faizan Muhammad

    Investment Director, FirstGroup plc
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    Faizan Muhammad

    Faizan Muhammad

    Investment Director, FirstGroup plc

    Faizan is a finance professional with extensive experience gained working alongside C-suite executives in both large corporates and small and medium enterprises.

     

    His specific areas of expertise include investment origination to execution, mergers and acquisitions, business modelling and strategy.

     

    He is passionate about applying core innovation principles from the life sciences sector into the fast developing transportation industry.

  • Ahmed Mohamed

    Ahmed Mohamed

    Head of Open Innovation, Openreach, BT
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    Ahmed Mohamed

    Ahmed Mohamed

    Head of Open Innovation, Openreach, BT

    Ahmed Mohamed is Head of Open Innovation at Openreach and leads on technology scouting, drone operations and network innovations.

    Part of BT Group for 27 years, he played a key role in developing broadband technologies, its IoT practice and helped establish the BT Infinity Lab to foster global startup partnerships. His work drives UK-wide network advancements.

  • Tom Watkins

    Tom Watkins

    Director, Technology Innovation & Enablement, HSBC
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    Tom Watkins

    Tom Watkins

    Director, Technology Innovation & Enablement, HSBC

    Tom is a passionate technologist with more than 20 years of experience building and leading large transformation programmes within financial services.

    His current role is focused on driving strategic partnerships with HSBC's largest hyperscale vendors through innovation in order to deliver mutually beneficial, new to world products and services.

  • Krista Griggs

    Krista Griggs

    Global Accounts Director, Fujitsu
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    Krista Griggs

    Krista Griggs

    Global Accounts Director, Fujitsu

    A business and thought leader in financial services, Krista is deeply passionate about solving even the toughest of business challenges, delivering commercial advantage and value.

    With more than 20 years’ experience in digital transformation, she rapidly understands stakeholder challenges. Combining this with technical depth and ability to foster a creative environment, Krista develops innovative and realistic solutions.

    Her dedication to succeed in the partnership increases ownership and accountability across the team. This achieves value and advantage to her clients and business and provides opportunities for her people to thrive.

  • Niels van den Brink

    Niels van den Brink

    Director of Architecture, Analysis and Innovation, Travis Perkins
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    Niels van den Brink

    Niels van den Brink

    Director of Architecture, Analysis and Innovation, Travis Perkins

    Niels van den Brink is a seasoned executive in digital architecture and strategy with extensive experience across multiple sectors, notably at BP and Travis Perkins. He holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology. His career highlights include leading transformative IT strategies and architectures, focusing on agile methodologies, DevOps and cloud-native services. Niels has significantly contributed to driving technological innovation and fostering a digital-first culture in every organization he has led. His leadership philosophy integrates customer-centric product development, commercial viability and technical feasibility.

  • Saurav Chaudhuri

    Saurav Chaudhuri

    Head of Innovation, E.ON UK
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    Saurav Chaudhuri

    Saurav Chaudhuri

    Head of Innovation, E.ON UK

    For the past 25 years, Saurav has helped chief experience officers of large organisations drive top-line growth through the design and launch of new customer value propositions, new products, new services, new customer experiences and new ventures.

    He is an expert in innovation and proposition design, building capabilities and embedding an entrepreneurial mindset to design and launch new propositions, turn around underperforming ones and develop practitioners to run innovation functions effectively.

    He brings a mix of startup, scaleup and corporate consulting experience, and has worked in multiple industries including energy, oil and gas, telecoms, banking, insurance, consumer goods, retail and healthcare.

  • Scott Heath

    Scott Heath

    Innovation Manager, Hitachi Rail
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    Scott Heath

    Scott Heath

    Innovation Manager, Hitachi Rail

    Scott has worked in the rail transportation sector for nearly 10 years, initially joining Network Rail after completing an MSc in Programme and Project Management with a specialism in Innovation. He moved to Thales in 2019 to help manage its European Commission co-funded R&D as well as delivering the innovation roadmap. From 2021, he has assumed the responsibilities of the former Head of Innovation, leading an R&D and Technology team based in London.

  • Ruthana Foulkes​

    Ruthana Foulkes​

    Senior Manager, Strategic Business Development​, Thomson Reuters
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    Ruthana Foulkes​

    Ruthana Foulkes​

    Senior Manager, Strategic Business Development​, Thomson Reuters

    With more than 13 years of experience understanding customer and market needs, Ruthana is adept at spotting opportunities for commercial success. Whether it's a full business, product idea, or tweaks to current models, she can see how the whole picture fits together and chase the opportunity.

  • Bradley Ebsworth-Willis

    Bradley Ebsworth-Willis

    Associate Director of Continuous Improvement & Innovation, Reed in Partnership
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    Bradley Ebsworth-Willis

    Bradley Ebsworth-Willis

    Associate Director of Continuous Improvement & Innovation, Reed in Partnership

    Bradley Ebsworth-Willis is Associate Director of Continuous Improvement & Innovation at Reed in Partnership.

    His core objective is to develop and implement an effective continuous improvement and innovation strategy that ensures the delivery of high quality, responsive services across several sectors, including the employability, health and wellbeing, citizen and assessment services.

    He has worked in the public services sector for 12 years in a number of different roles, starting his career as an employment adviser. 

  • Harrison O'Hara

    Harrison O'Hara

    Head of Advancing Technologies & Innovation, BAM UK & Ireland
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    Harrison O'Hara

    Harrison O'Hara

    Head of Advancing Technologies & Innovation, BAM UK & Ireland

    Harrison is an innovation leader with more than a decade of industry experience working across some of UK’s largest infrastructure projects including Crossrail, the Thames Tideway Tunnel and HS2.

    Earning a Master's in Construction Innovation and Management further expanded his knowledge base and equipped him with the tools to drive transformative change within the industry.

    He has a proven track record of implementing company-wide technological solutions, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and delivering industry changing innovation.

  • Katie Mills

    Katie Mills

    Head of Zeigo Power, Schneider Electric
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    Katie Mills

    Katie Mills

    Head of Zeigo Power, Schneider Electric

    Katie is Head of Zeigo Power recently acquired by Schneider Electric. Prior to this Katie led innovation and investment for Schneider Electric UK and Ireland, helping to identify market gaps and potential investment opportunities for Schneider Electric, and to position Schneider Electric as a key part of the UK innovation ecosystem. Katie has spent the last 10 years working in the early stage tech community, working with startups in renewable energy tech through to cyber security innovations. She has invested in more than 30 startups as an angel investor and sits on multiple boards as a strategic advisor to startup teams

  • Edward Sloan

    Edward Sloan

    Partner, Head of VC & Investments London, Mills & Reeve
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    Edward Sloan

    Edward Sloan

    Partner, Head of VC & Investments London, Mills & Reeve

    Edward advises on venture capital investments in the tech sector on behalf of investors and companies.
     
    He regularly advises institutional investors, funds, universities and corporate venture arms, as well as founders and growth companies, from spin-out through to later stage as they build and invest in tech companies. 
     
    Edward qualified as a solicitor in Scotland before moving to London and qualifying as an English solicitor.
     

  • Irene Colomer

    Irene Colomer

    Experience Design and Innovation Strategy, Salesforce
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    Irene Colomer

    Irene Colomer

    Experience Design and Innovation Strategy, Salesforce

    Irene is focused on uniting emerging technologies, fulfilling business needs and harnessing human insights to elevate the customer experience and initiate new business ventures, fostering growth.

  • Cathy Goodwin

    Cathy Goodwin

    Global Head of Food Innovation, Costa Coffee
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    Cathy Goodwin

    Cathy Goodwin

    Global Head of Food Innovation, Costa Coffee

    With a master's in Creative Talents and Solutions in Business and a long career in product development, Cathy has worked for the likes of Compass Group, Sainsbury’s and McDonald's. She is now Head of Food Innovation for Costa Coffee, responsible for the food growth agenda across the UK and Ireland and more recently has taken on an additional global and nutrition remit.

  • Gemma Rawlins

    Gemma Rawlins

    Head of Fundraising Innovation, Marie Curie
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    Gemma Rawlins

    Gemma Rawlins

    Head of Fundraising Innovation, Marie Curie

    Gemma specialises in innovation, strategy and product development within the third sector. She has worked in a number of large, well-known charity brands and she is passionate about developing new ways of generating and diversifying income streams.

  • Andy Mitchell

    Andy Mitchell

    Head of Group Innovation, Westfalia Fruit
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    Andy Mitchell

    Andy Mitchell

    Head of Group Innovation, Westfalia Fruit

    Andy has worked in farming and fresh produce for more than 30 years. Throughout his career he has worked at every point of the supply chain, from farmer to final retailer. Andy's goals are to bring industry leading technology that can improve business and supply chains, as well as eliminating true waste in the production and supply of fresh produce.

  • Gavin Lonsdale

    Gavin Lonsdale

    Global Head GPS Platform of Engineering and Innovation, HSBC
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    Gavin Lonsdale

    Gavin Lonsdale

    Global Head GPS Platform of Engineering and Innovation, HSBC

    Gavin leads the strategic payment platform engineering and Innovation team at HSBC.

  • Paul Batterham

    Paul Batterham

    Head of Innovation, Kainos
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    Paul Batterham

    Paul Batterham

    Head of Innovation, Kainos

    With more than 15 years of experience as a digital innovation leader, Paul helps customers navigate the complexities of the digital landscape and emerging technologies to achieve their goals. As the Head of Innovation at Kainos, he merges end-to-end service design with product innovation, underpinned by a robust entrepreneurial and optimistic spirit.

  • Sharon Jenkins

    Sharon Jenkins

    Head of Legal Innovation, CMS
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    Sharon Jenkins

    Sharon Jenkins

    Head of Legal Innovation, CMS

    Sharon's firmwide innovation role at CMS supports the different practice groups with their innovation and digital transformation strategies. Most recently, she was appointed to the Law Society's Leadership and Management committee.

  • Ismael Benmira

    Ismael Benmira

    Product Innovation Senior Manager, Mars
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    Ismael Benmira

    Ismael Benmira

    Product Innovation Senior Manager, Mars

    Ismael leads innovation and creates digital products from the ground up at Mars. Armed with more than 10 years of analytical skills, product mindset and a robust consulting background, he has boosted the performance of 200-plus global sales associates across five major Mars subsidiaries, managing approximately $10bn in sales data, resulting in improved sales efficiency and increased ROI. His area of expertise encompasses creating digital solutions for sales teams, leveraging demand and third party data. Ismael enjoys shaping the future of digital product innovation, where creativity, user-centricity and data converge to redefine industry standards.

  • Tara Honeywell​

    Tara Honeywell​

    Head of Commercial Ventures​, Barnardo’s
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    Tara Honeywell​

    Tara Honeywell​

    Head of Commercial Ventures​, Barnardo’s

    Tara began her career at Brand Consultancies, identifying market opportunities and overseeing the new product development of a number of brands stocked in Boots, Selfridges and Tesco. Tara was one of the UK's first Collaboration Consultants, leading partnership agency Mediator, where she worked across a portfolio of blue-chip businesses, advising them on their partnership strategies. In her current role of Head of Commercial Ventures at Barnardo’s, Tara actively seeks out startups in the Health and Social Care space, identifying the sweet spot where purpose meets profit.

  • Sean Spain​

    Sean Spain​

    Head of Innovation, Brit Insurance
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    Sean Spain​

    Sean Spain​

    Head of Innovation, Brit Insurance

    Sean is the Head of Innovation at Brit Insurance. He leads a team of software engineers, data scientists, product managers, product designers and innovation associates. He is focused on horizon scanning tech and insurance markets, working with EC to determine how Brit can best respond and introducing new capabilities to the business through product development and scaleup/strategic partnerships.

  • Cynthia Vega

    Cynthia Vega

    iLab, global partnerships, Kantar
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    Cynthia Vega

    Cynthia Vega

    iLab, global partnerships, Kantar

    Cynthia leads the global product for Dx (Digital Analytics) and the global Innovation Lab at Kantar Analytics. Using the latest in human and artificial intelligence, her team helps clients accelerate the launch of new innovations and create strategies for better communications through the use of data, tech and analytics. An intrapreneur and social entrepreneur based in London, she connects entrepreneurs from across countries and mobilises members of diaspora communities.

  • João Stakonski

    João Stakonski

    Technology Innovation Analyst​, Unilever
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    João Stakonski

    João Stakonski

    Technology Innovation Analyst​, Unilever

    João comes from a startup background with experience in venture building, digital transformation and innovation consulting. He joined Unilever's Tech Innovation team to connect the company with external talent to build a scalable innovation framework. João is a graduate of Imperial in the MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management programme. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and the innovation ecosystem, travelling, football and cinema.

  • Alastair Wye​

    Alastair Wye​

    Lead Innovation & Technology Solutions Attorney​, Latham & Watkins
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    Alastair Wye​

    Alastair Wye​

    Lead Innovation & Technology Solutions Attorney​, Latham & Watkins
  • Tim Spiers​

    Tim Spiers​

    Director of IT, Innovation, Digital and Transformation, Oxfordshire County Council
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    Tim Spiers​

    Tim Spiers​

    Director of IT, Innovation, Digital and Transformation, Oxfordshire County Council

    Tim is experienced in implementing technology, innovation and digital services within both public and private sectors. He harnesses the power of technology and innovation to reduce costs and innovate the delivery of business services.

  • Joe Torjussen

    Joe Torjussen

    Head of Innovation, Modernisation & Reform Unit, Cabinet Office
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    Joe Torjussen

    Joe Torjussen

    Head of Innovation, Modernisation & Reform Unit, Cabinet Office

    Joe leads the innovation mission of the government's modernisation and reform programme, delivering a programme of work to drive a culture of innovation in the Civil Service. Within this role, Joe is also the UK delegate to the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) working group. Joe is a graduate of the London School of Economics and the Civil Service Fast Stream and is currently enrolled in the Cabinet Office Emerging Leaders Scheme at Henley Business School.

  • Lauren Barr

    Lauren Barr

    Head of Innovation, Crisis
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    Lauren Barr

    Lauren Barr

    Head of Innovation, Crisis

    As Head of Innovation at Crisis, Lauren is responsible for generating significant income from new commercial income streams to diversify the charity’s funding portfolio. This includes establishing an Innovation Lab within Crisis, as a method to explore, prioritise, test and scale new opportunities; along with building a diverse community of partners and individuals with lived experience of homelessness to leverage throughout the innovation process. With 11 years of experience working in the charity sector, she is passionate about taking an audience-centric and insight-led approach to developing new ideas and embedding an innovative culture within organisations.

  • Richard West

    Richard West

    Partner and Global Head Client Innovation, Global Head Liability Defence, Kennedys
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    Richard West

    Richard West

    Partner and Global Head Client Innovation, Global Head Liability Defence, Kennedys

    Richard is a director of Kennedys IQ, a partner at Kennedys, Divisional Head of Liability, Global Strategy Board member and Head of the Kennedys’ Innovation Group. As leader of the Kennedys’ Liability Division, Richard has an interest in how technology can impact the legal and insurtech sector. He sponsors Kennedys’ global Ideas Lab, designed to give everybody at Kennedys the chance to develop innovative solutions to solve client challenges. Richard and his team have won several legal/tech and innovation awards, including the “FT Innovative Lawyers 2019: Innovation in the business of law – new products and services” award. He was named by the FT as one of the top 10 Innovative Individuals, who are “Leaders of revolutions in legal practice” in Europe.

  • Fiona Dolman

    Fiona Dolman

    Director for Transformation, London Fire Brigade
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    Fiona Dolman

    Fiona Dolman

    Director for Transformation, London Fire Brigade

    Director for Transformation with the London Fire Brigade, Fiona’s diverse career and operational and transformational leadership experience has involved functional to enterprise level business change delivery. She has demonstrated drive and energy that has created a pattern of marked service improvements. A strong advocate of good governance, programme controls and assurance, with a focus on people centred business change, Fiona has excellent collaborative working skills, is able to simplify complexity, influence decision makers and build strong stakeholder relationships.

  • Grant Dall

    Grant Dall

    Head of Transformation – EMEA, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
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    Grant Dall

    Grant Dall

    Head of Transformation – EMEA, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

    Head of Transformation for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Grant has more than a decade of product management and business development experience in the ICT space – in both B2B and B2C. Grant has experience in mobile broadband, carrier-grade and consumer wifi, incubation, site acquisition, IoT, satellite networks and alliance management. A creative at heart, Grant believes in a healthy disregard for the same old, same old. Throughout his career, he has helped people and businesses think differently so they can make positive change – for the organisation and for themselves.

  • Ashleigh Monagle

    Ashleigh Monagle

    Digital Advisory – Head of Digital & Data Advisory, Mott MacDonald
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    Ashleigh Monagle

    Ashleigh Monagle

    Digital Advisory – Head of Digital & Data Advisory, Mott MacDonald

    As a Digital Consultant, Ashleigh leads organisations through transformation with disruptive innovation that delivers positive outcomes. Often acting as an anchor for cross-functional teams, she provides both stability and connectivity when change is inevitable. These attributes have enabled fast execution and early benefits realisation for commercial success in more than 20 projects, including a 120% decrease in internal overhead cost. Ashleigh's distinctive approach to working combines being direct, collaborative and empathetic to develop fresh and innovative insight. She believes the best solutions and teams are grown in this way, providing the perfect environment for competitive advantage to flourish.

  • Sam Dover

    Sam Dover

    Global D&A AI Assurance & Strategy lead, Unilever
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    Sam Dover

    Sam Dover

    Global D&A AI Assurance & Strategy lead, Unilever

    A tech professional with a demonstrated history of working in the consumer goods industry, Sam has experience in digital strategy, open innovation, artificial intelligence, enterprise architecture, metaverse, product management, digital marketing, eCommerce (DTC and B2B), collaboration technology, sustainable sourcing, global change management, data and AI ethics. Sam was a graduate of Unilever’s Future Leader Programme and holds a BSc (Hons) Biology from the University of Manchester.

  • Paul Taylor

    Paul Taylor

    Head of R&D, Hitachi
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    Paul Taylor

    Paul Taylor

    Head of R&D, Hitachi

    Paul is an experienced sustainability and innovation professional currently working within Hitachi Europe Research and Development on new technologies. He creates IP and policy recommendations and forges collaborative partnerships, such as the Hitachi-Imperial Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Climate Solutions at Imperial. His previous roles span multiple sectors, including electric vehicles, fast-moving consumer goods, mining and agriculture.

  • Laura Goldwyn

    Laura Goldwyn

    Director of global food and beverage marketing, Mandarin Oriental
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    Laura Goldwyn

    Laura Goldwyn

    Director of global food and beverage marketing, Mandarin Oriental
  • Anna Browne

    Anna Browne

    Head of Innovation and Legal Technology, Trowers & Hamlins
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    Anna Browne

    Anna Browne

    Head of Innovation and Legal Technology, Trowers & Hamlins

    Anna Browne leads the Trowers & Hamlins Innovation and Legal Technology team. She is responsible for the firm’s international innovation strategy, internal technology efficiencies, use of legal technology in the business and client solutions. Anna is a qualified lawyer with a background in real estate finance. Anna trained at a city law firm and prior to working in innovation, Anna was an Associate at Trowers & Hamlins.

  • Verena Tse

    Verena Tse

    Area Coach – London, KFC
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    Verena Tse

    Verena Tse

    Area Coach – London, KFC

    Verena is Innovation and Strategy Manager at KFC UK & Ireland. Currently, she is leading the automations and robotics pillar, hoping to change the way the in-restaurant teams work. As part of the Tech Innovation team, she also partakes in defining KFC UK & Ireland's innovation roadmap and breeding the innovation culture in other teams. Before KFC, Verena was with Uber and Gousto.

  • Tara Waters

    Tara Waters

    Chief Digital Officer, Ashurst
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    Tara Waters

    Tara Waters

    Chief Digital Officer, Ashurst

    Tara is a technologist turned lawyer working at Ashurst LLP. After beginning her first career in technology at the height of the dot-com boom, Tara transitioned into law and relocated to London. Her legal practice focuses on advising startups and institutions on emerging technologies, business strategies and digital transformation. She also leads Ashurst's digital products and services team, responsible all aspects of the firm's technology-enabled services delivery. Tara is co-leading an initiative to articulate the firm's digital strategy.

  • Jim Johnson

    Jim Johnson

    Director, UKIMEA Region Board Member and Digital Leader, ARUP
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    Jim Johnson

    Jim Johnson

    Director, UKIMEA Region Board Member and Digital Leader, ARUP

    Jim is the board director responsible for providing strategy and direction for the digital transformation of the business in UKIMEA. He leads and support work to develop improved and new service offerings using digital and data-driven innovation across multiple business sectors and locations. He joined Arup in 1986 as a civil engineer. Between 2007 and 2011, he led Arup Geotechnics, Arup's specialist ground engineering consultancy practice working worldwide across all their market sectors. He subsequently went on to lead large teams for a variety of clients delivering major infrastructure projects and was also the leader of its Leeds office.

  • Svetlana Jefimova

    Svetlana Jefimova

    Blockchain Partnerships Lead, Anglo American
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    Svetlana Jefimova

    Svetlana Jefimova

    Blockchain Partnerships Lead, Anglo American

    With more than a decade of diverse and cross-functional experience, Svetlana works as Senior Innovation Manager at De Beers Group, where she is responsible for designing, testing, launching, and scaling new business models, products and services in various markets (UK, USA, Asia and Southern Africa). Svetlana's previous experience includes strategic and consulting projects in oil and gas, financial services, utilities, government, retail, quantum computers, events and sustainability. Svetlana holds a BSc in Economics and Business from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, an MSc in Economics and Business from the Norwegian School of Economics, and a CEMS Masters in International Management.

  • Ana Maria Norbury

    Ana Maria Norbury

    Director, Global Service Design, Baker McKenzie
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    Ana Maria Norbury

    Ana Maria Norbury

    Director, Global Service Design, Baker McKenzie

    Ana Maria leads the global service design team and plays an instrumental role in leading Reinvent, Baker McKenzie's innovation programme. The service design team uses design thinking methodologies to design and implement innovative solutions that continuously improve the client experience and to grow a culture of innovation across the firm.

The Fellowship offers a much-needed human-to-human interaction and network of senior innovation leaders, which allows me to source solutions to the problems and create new innovations every day.
Sonal Lakhani 
Global Head of Programmes and Strategic Initiatives, Barclays UK

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