Dan Brooke

Chief Marketing & Communications Officer and Board Champion for Diversity, Channel 4

Dan Brooke heads up Marketing, Press and Publicity, 4Creative and Corporate Relations across the Channel 4 group. He is also the Board champion for diversity, joining from documentary producer Rare Day, where he was Managing Director, and previously, he was Managing Director of Discovery Networks UK. Under Brooke, Channel 4 has been awarded the Marketing Society’s Brand of the Year 2016, Best Diverse Company at the National Diversity Awards 2016, Campaign’s 2015 Advertiser of the Year and Creative Review’s 2012 Global Agency of the Year. He is also on the Boards of Channel 4 and the Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory.

Alastair Campbell

Writer, Communicator & Strategist

Alastair Campbell is best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesperson, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, charities and consultancy. Campbell is Editor-at-Large of The New European and author of fourteen books, including number one best-selling Winners and How They Succeed, an analysis of what it takes to win in politics, business and sport. Campbell is Chairman of fundraising for leading blood cancer charity Bloodwise, and a leading ambassador for a range of mental health charities including: Time to Change, Alcohol Concern, Maytree, and Kidstime.

Caroline Casey

Disability activist, social entrepreneur and founder of #valuable

Caroline, an award-winning social entrepreneur, is both an adventurer and a business woman. Subject of the National Geographic Documentary Elephant Vision, Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, Counsellor for One Young World, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, TED speaker, past advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative and unwavering campaigner. Caroline is committed to building a global movement on inclusive business through #valuable, which seeks to ensure businesses recognise the value and worth of the one billion people globally living with a disability across the full supply chain – and for businesses to equally position disability on the business agenda.

Nejra Cehic

Anchor and Reporter, Bloomberg Television and Radio

Nejra Cehic is a London-based Anchor and Reporter for Bloomberg TV and Radio. She anchors “Bloomberg Markets: Rules and Returns” on Bloomberg TV and “Daybreak Europe” on Bloomberg Radio. She reports on financial markets on a daily basis, regularly breaking news and providing in-depth analysis.

Cehic has also covered big events from Brexit to the Greek debt crisis. Her numerous interviews include exclusives with Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, FCA CEO Andrew Bailey and Man Group CEO Luke Ellis, as well as interviews with UK Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, South African Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and Unilever CEO Paul Polman.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Cehic worked for the BBC. She has a PGDip in Broadcast Journalism from Cardiff Journalism School and a BA (Hons) in Classics and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford. She was shortlisted for an Asian Women of Achievement Award in the Media category in 2015 and named a We Are The City 2016 Top 100 Rising Star.

James Chen

Founder, Clearly

James Chen is a venture philanthropist and entrepreneur with a global outlook. He is founder of Clearly, an innovative global campaign working to bring clear vision to the 2.5 billion people worldwide who are denied it – so that everyone can reach their full potential. In 2011, James set up multi-award-winning charity Vision for a Nation in Rwanda, with the aim of providing nationwide access to eye-care and affordable glasses to a country of twelve million people. A stunning success, affordable eye-care services are now available to all 15,000 villages in Rwanda.

Constantin Cotzias

Chairman, Bloomberg London

Constanin Cotzias is a Director of Bloomberg Europe and chairs the Bloomberg London office. He heads government relations, business development and strategy globally. Cotzias also sits on the board of Bloomberg’s regulated trading platforms – Bloomberg Multilateral Trading Facility, and Bloomberg Tradebook. From 2004 to 2010, Cotzias was Global Head of Bloomberg Law – the organisation’s legal and compliance news and research business.

Renée Elliott

Founder, Planet Organic

Renee started Planet Organic in 1995, looking to sell healthy, organic, natural foods by bringing them out of the niche and into the mainstream. With stores open in seven locations, Planet Organic has popularized healthy food and living since its inception. With the aim of creating a health food community, Planet Organic attracts loyal customers who view them as a reliable expert. Prior to founding the company, Renee worked as a journalist for WINE magazine and the manager of Wild Oats Market, sparking her passion for organic food.

Baroness Martha Lane Fox

Co-founder, Lastminute.com

Baroness Martha Lane Fox is a businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. Lane Fox co-founded Lastminute.com in the dot come room of the early 2000s. Subsequently, she has served on a number of public service digital projects. From 2009 to 2013, Lane Fox was Digital Champion for the UK and helped to create the Government Digital Service. This team launched gov.uk, transforming government service delivery. Lane Fox is a non-executive director of Twitter, the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Scale Up Institute. She is also a patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camped, and Just for Kids Law.

The Rt. Hon Matt Hancock MP

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture and Sport

The Rt. Hon Matt Hancock MP joined the House of Commons in 2010, and was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in January 2018. In this role he is responsible for broadband, broadcasting, creative industries, cyber and the tech industry. Previously, Matt was Minister of State for Digital. As a backbencher, he served on the Public Accounts Committee and the Standards and Privileges Committee.

Dr Mahamed Hashi and Solomon Smith

Founders, Brixton Soup Kitchen

Mahamed Hashi and Solomon Smith were inspired to start Brixton Soup Kitchen after a particularly cold winter that was hard on London’s homeless. The charity provides food, drinks, company and guidance to homeless people in Brixton and other areas of Greater London. With hopes to broaden their reach, Mahamed and Solomon also provide a free legal service for the homeless. The pair are recipients of the ‘Our Heroes Award’, ‘Back 2 Black Inspirational Award BAFTA’, and the ‘Evening Standard Progress 1000 Award – Most Influential Londoners’.

Caroline Hyde

European Technology and Media Presenter, Bloomberg Television

Caroline Hyde is the European Technology and Media presenter on Bloomberg Television, joining the network’s weekday technology program “Bloomberg Technology,” airing at 5pm ET/10pm BST.

Based in London, she covers all the key trends across the sector and interviews top executives, entrepreneurs and investors, including Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk and Salesforce

CEO Marc Benioff, as well as European tech leaders SAP CEO Bill McDermott, Vivendi Chairman Arnaud De Puyfontaine and founder of the internet Tim Berners-Lee.

Previously Hyde co-anchored “Bloomberg Markets: European Open” from Berlin and was the network’s chief European correspondent, traveling the region to report on the most important business, economic and political issues shaping global markets.

Hyde joined Bloomberg in 2008 to cover the European debt markets for Bloomberg News as a corporate finance reporter, focusing on company loans and bonds as well as sovereign debt. She covered the freeze in the European loan market following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the unraveling of the European sovereign debt crisis, as well as breaking news on the sales and performance of government bonds from Greece ahead of its bailout. Hyde has also provided in-depth reports on the London property sector, tech scene and shone a light on the European start-up community.

Prior to joining Bloomberg, Hyde worked in public relations for London’s Moorgate Group, where she was a debt market specialist, managing campaigns for clients including Standard & Poor’s and Lloyds Banking Group. She holds an MA (Oxon) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.

Mariéme Jamme

Founder, #iamtheCODE

Mariéme Jamme is an Award Winning Technologist. In sept 2017, she won the Innovation Award at the Global Goals Award 2017 by UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a GoalKeeper for her work in advancing the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. Named on the Powerlist 2017 of Britain’s 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean Heritage, Mariéme Jamme is a Senegalese-born British businesswoman in technology.

Jude Kelly CBE

Founder, WOW Women of the World Festival

Jude is the current artistic director of the Southbank Centre, due to step down this year after 12 years in the role to focus on WOW. The festival celebrates the achievements of women and girls, looking at the obstacles they face, and has grown to an international level. Jude’s early career saw her found the Solent People’s Theatre in 1976, going on to work as artistic director of the Battersea Arts Centre and Royal Shakespeare Company. As CEO and artistic director of West Yorkshire Playhouse, Kelly sat on the National Advisory Committee for Culture, leading to further government investment in arts and culture education.

Kerry Kennedy

President, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

For more than thirty years, Ms. Kennedy has devoted herself to the pursuit of equal justice, the promotion and protection of basic rights, and the preservation of the rule of law. She has worked on a range of issues, including children’s rights, child labour, disappearances, indigenous land rights, judicial independence, freedom of expression, ethnic violence, impunity, and the environment. She has concentrated specifically on women’s rights, exposing injustices and educating audiences about women’s issues – particularly honour killings, sexual slavery, domestic violence, workplace discrimination, sexual assault, abuse of prisoners, and more. She has led hundreds of human rights delegations.

Bethany Koby

Co-founder and CEO, Tech Will Save Us

Bethany Koby is the co-founder and CEO of Tech Will Save Us; creators of award-winning make-it-yourself kits that fuse the power of play with the possibilities of technology. Koby is also a mum, designer, educator and entrepreneur. She is passionate about shaping a brighter future for kids by empowering them to create with rather than be fearful of, or passive to, technology.

Rosemary Leith

Founding Director, World Wide Web Foundation

Rosemary is a leader in internet equality, founding the World Wide Web Foundation with Sir Tim Berners-Lee. They have been fighting for equal opportunities around the globe, so that the internet is free for all. Leith is also a non-executive director of YouGov, a trustee of the National Gallery and a fellow at Harvard University. Previously she has been Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Internet Security and has been a member of a number of boards across sectors.

Paul Lindley

Founder, Ella’s Kitchen

Paul Lindley is an award-winning entrepreneur, best-selling author and activist. In 2006, Lindley founded Ella’s Kitchen, an organic baby food brand that took on a Goliath industry to become the UK’s number one baby food brand. A certified B Corporation, Ella’s Kitchen is widely-recognised as one of the UK’s leading purpose-led businesses, and under Lindley’s leadership became an instrumental force in national campaigns to improve childhood nutrition. This March, he was appointed as Chair of the Mayor of London’s new Child Obesity Taskforce. Lindley is Chair of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights UK, a trustee of Sesame Workshop, a director of Bite the Ballot, and author of Little Wins: The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler.

Edie Lush

Co-founder, Global Goalscast

Edie is an Author, Executive Editor of Hub Culture, a Communication Trainer and MC. She also co-hosts for the CBS distributed Global Goals podcast, with thousands of interviews under her belt. She creates impactful social media content around the globe, from events in Davos, to the UN General Assembly in New York, to the COP Climate Summits. She has been the Economics and Political correspondent for Bloomberg Television, a columnist at The Week magazine and the Associate Editor of Spectator Business magazine.  She runs her own business providing senior leaders, influencers, academics and executives with communication training.  

Manish Madhvani

Co-founder and Managing Partner, GP Bullhound

Manish Madhvani is the managing partner of GP Bullhound, the global technology investment and advisory firm. Advising the ambitious founders of billion-dollar tech firms, Manish has played a critical role in accelerating the rise of the European digital economy and the firm has now completed over 510 transactions in the technology sector globally. Under Manish’s leadership, GP Bullhound has expanded its presence throughout Europe, into Asia, and recently into the USA through its acquisition of New York-based investment firm AdMedia Partners. His influence in the UK’s technology sector was recognised when he was included in the Sunday Times’ prestigious Maserati 100 last year.

Hussain Manawer

Poet, One Young World Ambassador

Using poetry as a form of self-expression, poet Hussain Manawer is taking on the unstable global climate with a fusion of social commentary and artistic wordplay. Infiltrating the worlds of entertainment, finance and business – to name a few – through his campaign work and poetry, the Ilford based wordsmith is challenging the stigma that exists around the topic of mental health. Most recently, he set a Guinness World Record for the ‘World’s Largest Mental Health Lesson’. His work has been featured on The Independent, Buzzfeed, and BBC amongst others. He is a One Young World Ambassador.

Ambarish Mitra

CEO and Co-founder, Blippar

Ambarish Mitra is the CEO and co-founder of Blippar, a leading technology company specializing in augmented reality, artificial intelligence and computer vision with the mission to index and understand the physical world. Under Mitra’s direction, Blippar has grown from a groundbreaking idea into an industry leader with offices in the UK, US, India and Singapore and was listed three years in a row in CNBC’s list of most disruptive companies in the world. Mitra is a serial entrepreneur who started his tech career in 1997, creating his first tech company based on women’s empowerment in India. Mitra is today an active private investor in the field of AR, AI, food tech and genomics.

Dame Helena Morrissey DBE

Head of Personal Investing, Legal & General Investment Management

Dame Helena is well known in the City, particularly for her work on gender equality. She founded the 30% Club – a campaign for more gender-balanced boards – and is Chair of the Diversity Project. She joined LGIM in 2017. Dame Helena has been named one of Fortune magazine’s ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ and the Financial Times’ 2017 ‘Person of the Year’. She was appointed a Dame in the Queen’s 2017 Birthday Honours list. Her first book ‘A Good Time to be a Girl: Don’t Lean In, Change the System’ was published in February 2018.

Kate Robertson

Co-founder, One Young World

Kate Robertson is co-founder of One Young World, the premier global forum for young leaders from every country in the world. One Young World is actively supported by a list of Nobel Peace Laureates, world leaders, activists and CEOs. Its annual Summit draws 1500+ young leaders from 190+ countries to tackle the globe’s most pressing issues, from climate change to conflict resolution. Kate was formerly the Global President and UK Group Chairman of Havas Worldwide. In 2012 she was named Advertising Woman of the Year by Women in Marketing and in 2014 was similarly honoured by Advertising Week Europe.

Simon Rodgers

Chairman, Aviva Pride Network

Since Rodgers joined Aviva in 2007, he has helped spearhead a drive to make Aviva the most LGBT-friendly insurer in Britain, and one of the top companies overall for promoting LGBT issues. He works as an account manager on Aviva’s corporate events team, but during the rest of his time he chairs the Aviva Pride network. Alongside their internal activities, Aviva Pride supports the Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity that provides support for young people who face homophobia and discrimination. He received a standing ovation for his speech at the One Young World Summit 2012 in Pittsburgh, USA, when he revealed his ‘Some People are Gay. Get Over it!’ t-shirt.

Simon Rogerson

CEO and Co-founder, Octopus Group

Simon is the CEO and co-founder of Octopus Group, and winner of the 2017 EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Octopus is transforming markets and customer expectations by building companies with one purpose – the relentless pursuit of ‘better’. Most recently, Octopus entered the energy market and Octopus Energy has since become the third-largest supplier of renewable energy in the UK. Octopus manages more than £7.5 billion on behalf of both retail and institutional customers. Before founding Octopus, Simon spent two years working at Mercury Asset Management. He graduated with a first class MA in Modern Languages from St. Andrews University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Xavier Rolet KBE

Former CEO, London Stock Exchange

Xavier R. Rolet is an advocate for start-ups and the funding of small and medium enterprise, Rolet has built his expertise from a longstanding career in the financial sector. Rolet worked at Goldman Sachs and Lehmann Brothers before joining the London Stock Exchange Group. He was ranked as one of the best 100 CEO’s in the world by the Harvard Business review.

Sacha Romanovitch

CEO, Grant Thornton UK

Sacha became the first female to be elected as CEO of a major accountancy firm when she took up the role in July 2015. Her leadership is based on setting the business’ reputation alongside a bold purpose – by unlocking the potential for growth in people, clients and communities, Grant Thornton believes it can help shape a vibrant economy where no-one gets left behind. She is chair of the patron group for Access Accountancy, an industry-wide social mobility initiative that aims to provide equal access to the profession for talented and ambitious young people from all backgrounds. She also sits on the UK National Advisory Board to the Global Social Impact Investment Steering Group.

Sam Smith

Founder, finnCap

Sam founded finnCap in 2007, leading the buyout of JM Finn’s small-cap corporate advisory and broking division. Under her leadership as the youngest and only female Chief Executive of a City broker, finnCap is now one of the leading and fastest-growing independent brokers in the City. Outside of her CEO duties, Sam is actively involved in various mentoring projects and organisations.

The Rt. Hon. Elizabeth Truss MP

Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Elizabeth Truss has been a Member of Parliament since 2010 and was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury in June last year. Previously, the MP was Deputy Director at Reform, and has also held roles in the energy and telecommunications industry. As a backbencher, she called for reform in a number of policy areas, ranging from childcare to the economy. She has also Co-authored several books, including Coalition and Britannia Unchained.

Stephen Welton

Chief Executive, Business Growth Fund

Stephen Welton founded BGF in 2011. Under his leadership, BGF has grown to become the most active provider of growth capital for small and mid-sized companies in the UK and Ireland. In 2018, Welton was appointed a member of the first Council of Innovate UK, which forms an integral part of UK Research and Innovation. In 2017, he was a member of the Industry Panel for the Government’s Patient Capital Review and in 2013 served as an advisor to the Government regarding the establishment of the British Business Bank.

Rt Hon Lord Young of Graffham

Businessman and former Cabinet Minister

Lord Young boasts extensive experience across both the business world and in the political sphere. After building up his own companies for nearly twenty years, he joined the government in 1979 as a volunteer civil servant, introducing privatisation in the Department of Industry, before eventually serving as Chairman of the Manpower Services. Lord Young received his title in September 1984, and joined the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio. He served as Secretary of State for Trade from 1985 to 1987 and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 1987 to 1989. Lord Young is the current President of the Coram Trust and of Chai Cancer Care. He is either Chairman of a member of the board for a number of foundations.

HRH Princess Eugenie of York

Co-founder, The Anti-Slavery Collective

HRH Princess Eugenie of York and Julia de Boinville have been developing their knowledge in the field of Modern Day Slavery since 2012. Princess Eugenie has worked with many organisations including the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and de Boinville’s experience began when she visited The Women’s Interlink Foundation in Calcutta, a home that takes care of victims of human trafficking. In 2017 they launched The Anti-Slavery Collective. Their mission is to bring change makers together to raise awareness for modern slavery as a global epidemic. Alongside this, Julia is Vice President of Global Sales at Afiniti, an artificial intelligence and data analytics company.

Julia de Boinville

Co-founder, The Anti-Slavery Collective

Julia has been working to deepen her understanding of modern day slavery since 2012. It began when she visited The Women’s Interlink Foundation in Calcutta, a home that takes care of victims of human trafficking. Julia has since worked with organisations such as the McCain Institute and the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. In 2017 she launched The Anti-Slavery Collective with HRH Princess Eugenie of York. The Anti-Slavery Collective is an independent collective whose mission is to bring change-makers together to raise awareness for modern slavery as a global epidemic. Alongside this, Julia is Vice President of Global Sales at Afiniti, an artificial intelligence and data analytics company.

Michael Wilkins

Managing Director, S&P Global

Michael Wilkins is a Managing Director at S&P Global Ratings based in London where he has global responsibility for the firm’s sustainable finance activities, including environmental and climate risk research and related new products.

Michael experience at S&P Global Ratings includes seven years as Head of Infrastructure Finance Ratings, the analytical group within S&P Global Ratings which covers utilities, project finance, PPPs and transportation in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Michael was also co-head of the Corporate Securitisation group. He joined S&P Global Ratings in London in January 1994 and has also worked in the Melbourne and Hong Kong offices.  Michael’s expertise encompasses the European power, water, environmental, transportation and social infrastructure sectors.

Previously, Michael worked for Water UK, the trade body representing the UK water industry.  He also worked for four years as a journalist on various UK daily regional newspapers and global business publications.

Michael is a frequent guest lecturer at the London Business School MBA programme, Judge Business School, Cambridge University, MFin programme and Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise & the Environment as well as at UCL and King’s College, London. He is also a member of the FSB Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the G20 Green Finance Study Group (GFSG), the advisory council of the Smith School Sustainable Finance Programme and the Climate Bonds Initiative.

Michael has a Bachelor of Arts degree within Modern Languages at Bristol University. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Cass Business School and additionally has a Certificate of Carbon Finance & Analytics from the London Business School

Fatima Zaman

Advocate, Kofi Annan Foundation – Extremely Together

Fatima is a policy leader on issues relating to peace, security and CVE. Her work involves advising and working with key stakeholders to prevent the spread of extremism. She has extensive knowledge and experience of working in this field at local and international level. She strongly advocates engagement and dialogue around matters of faith and integration to achieve this. In 2017, Ms Zaman was named as the Chiarman’s Asian Woman of Achievement, with judges commending her for her internationally groundbreaking work on bringing improvements to peace, security and countering violent extremism in conflict countries. In the laudatio, judges earmarked her as a future Nobel Prize winner.