Meet Our teachers and mentors
Alan Cooney
Frontier lab
Alan Cooney
Frontier lab
Alan is one of the UK's leading AI researchers, working on empirical control and alignment. He recently led the Autonomous Systems Research Team at the UK AI Security Institute (AISI), helping mitigate extreme risks from the world's most advanced AI models. Previously, Alan developed tools to understand the inner workings of AI models, which are often considered black boxes, by examining them at the individual neuron level. Prior to working in AI safety, he was an investment consultant and start-up founder, with his company Skyhook being acquired in 2023.
Joy Nazzari
DNCO
Joy Nazzari
DNCO
Joy Nazzari is the founder of DNCO,
a studio of experts in place branding working with cultural leaders, governments, developers and businesses with clients including the City of San Francisco, the Mayor of London, blue chip corporates and great cultural institutions including the V&A and National Galleries of Scotland. After studying economics, Joy started her career in investment banking and later the tech industry before choosing a career in the creative industry.
Natalie Anson-Wright
Empower Arts
Natalie Anson-Wright
Empower Arts
Natalie is an actor, writer, director and head coach at Empower Arts. She has been teaching acting for over 20 years helping professional actors and non-actors improve their performance skills. She trained at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and has an accreditation in the Ivana Chubbuck Technique for Coaching.
Ajit Singh
Harbinger Health
Ajit Singh
Harbinger Health
Ajit has spent over 15 years as a partner at Silicon Valley-based Artiman Ventures, focusing on early-stage technology and life science investments, with over $1 billion in assets under management. He now leads 2 ground-breaking biotech companies focused on cancer detection and building scientific ventures. He also serves on the boards of Sofie Bio, Leo Cancer Care, Artidis and Positrigo. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Foundation, the oldest and largest cancer research organisation globally.
Don Norman
Nielsen Norman Group
Don Norman
Nielsen Norman Group
Don probably doesn't need an introduction. He is a legend in the design industry who has been advocating for a human-centred approach for more than 40 years. He was a Vice President at Apple and has been
an advisor and board member for numerous companies. His books have been translated into over 20 languages, including
The Design of Everyday Things and Living with Complexity. Don is an active board member at NN/g and a member of the nonprofit charity The Don Norman Design Award and Summit.
Manmit Shrimali
Turing Labs Inc.
Manmit Shrimali
Turing Labs Inc.
Manmit co-founded Turing Labs Inc., which raised over $20M, and is focused on harnessing the power of AI to revolutionise the consumer product space. With over a decade of experience in decision sciences and prescriptive analytics, Manmit has dedicated his career to transforming data into actionable insights.
Simon Gough
Facilitator
Simon Gough
Facilitator
Simon is a service design consultant, facilitator and writer with clients ranging from FMCG companies to central government. Over the past decade he has focused on developing an expanded toolkit that brings together design thinking, systems thinking, data and with working on projects that combine environmental, social and technology themes. Most of his work involves helping to facilitate design processes and capabilities, from helping to create and grow new services and startups to building design capacity in large enterprises.
Margaret Ochieng
Organisational Psychologist
Margaret Ochieng
Organisational Psychologist
Margaret is an organisational psychologist specialising in inclusive leadership, talent and culture. She works across the UK, US and Sub-Saharan Africa, enriching knowledge by designing thought-leadership models and evidence-based frameworks that are accessible, intellectual and practical.
David Nelson
Foster + Partners
David Nelson
Foster + Partners
David is co-head of design at Foster + Partners, sharing design responsibility for all projects. He sits on the practice’s Design Board that has full responsibility for design within the office. As a Senior Executive Partner, David guides the studio strategically. Sustainability is one of his key areas of interest.
Since joining Foster + Partners in 1976, David has worked on a number of important early projects, including the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and the Hammersmith Centre. In 1979, he joined the team working on the design of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank.
David’s design portfolio includes projects such as the New German Parliament in the Reichstag, Berlin; Bilbao Metro, Spain; North Greenwich Transport Interchange and Canary Wharf Underground station, London; Stanford University Laboratories, California; the McLaren Technology Centre and Production Centre, Woking; the new Supreme Court, Singapore, Deutschebank and Lumiere Residential, Sydney; Central Market and Masdar City, Abu Dhabi and the Apple Campus, California.
James Sullivan
Bitstamp
James Sullivan
Bitstamp
James is an accomplished executive with extensive experience as a COO, General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer and more. James has worked across multiple sectors, investment management, crowdfunding, and technology in legal, risk, compliance, internal audit and operational roles. He has been working in disruptive, fast-growth, early-stage companies since 2018, helping establish effective and efficient processes and systems that underpin
a solid foundation to enable these businesses to scale. Having an operations mindset gained from being a COO, he finds and implements continuous improvement by finding opportunities for standardisation, simplification and elimination.
Kate Williams
Bateman Communication
Kate Williams
Bateman Communication
Kate is informed and inspired by 20 years working with a huge range of organisations, from BCG to Save the Children, Unilever to LEGO, British Airways to Yorkshire Building Society. Kate's clients range from startups to FTSE30 companies, with many shapes and sizes in between. She loves the variety this brings and never stops being amazed at how similar many of the challenges are, that leaders face. She is
a qualified executive coach with expertise in coaching capability, leadership team facilitation, purpose-driven strategy and culture change.
Tony Browne
NHS
Tony Browne
NHS
Tony brings together digital, human-centred design and organisational change to supercharge organisations and deliver fantastic customer experiences. As an experienced director and coach, he's helped industry leaders deliver transformational change across a wide range of cultures and sectors – some of his previous clients include IKEA, Linkedin, Ford and H&M Group.
Matt Fenby-Taylor
Unobravo
Matt Fenby-Taylor
Unobravo
Matt is a product leader and advisor who builds consumer and business-facing products and marketplace businesses. Currently, he is the CPO at Unobravo – a company that is revolutionising mental health care with the most empathetic, clinically impactful, and accessible product available. Previously, he was building products in the personal finance space at ClearScore, for travellers at Skyscanner and for creators at SoundCloud.
Rachel Varrilly-Gierula
Leadership Coach
Rachel Varrilly-Gierula
Leadership Coach
Over the last 25 years, Rachel worked in the operations and learning space, with
a focus on leadership development, culture and transformational change. Today she brings her cumulative experiences to the table when working 1-on-1 with individuals, teams and clients dealing with topics like navigating politics, influencing and effecting positive change, managing egos, hierarchy and stakeholders; to build the best possible outcome for the customer, the business, and the team.
Abi Wright
Leadership Coach
Abi Wright
Leadership Coach
Abi has over 20 years of experience in Alexander Technique and coaching. In 2019, Abi co-founded Festival of The Girl,
a not-for-profit initiative with a mission to inspire and engage girls of primary school age to realise their full potential that created a lasting impact by inspiring future leaders in all sectors, industries, and endeavours. She also co-founded Arrive in Politics in 2021, a cross-party mentorship programme for young women at all levels of UK politics to further create a more equal society.
Chloe Scott
Leadership Coach
Chloe Scott
Leadership Coach
Chloe is a registered Occupational Therapist with over 15 years of experience working within a broad range of clinical mental health settings. Chloe works collaboratively to gain a shared understanding of what is important to the person. She incorporates her knowledge and extensive training in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy to support emotion regulation and work with what is getting in the way of living a meaningful life.
Karen Sargent
Leadership Coach
Karen Sargent
Leadership Coach
Karen Sargent is a Business Psychologist and Executive Coach who draws on 20 years of experience developing leaders in organisations such as the BBC, Unilever, Lloyds of London, Deutsche Bank, Thomson Reuters, Gilead Sciences, Schneider Electric, Coca-Cola, The Co-Op, NHS and more. This combined with her experience as a Brand Manager and leading a remote team of over 100 people gives her an in-depth understanding of the key challenges managers and business owners face.
Vincenzo Migliore
Monday.com
Vincenzo Migliore
Monday.com
Vincenzo builds revenue and teams for ambitious companies, from Seed to Series A. He's built and run the Go-To-Market strategies for CEOs and founders across ESG, HR, legal tech and AI. His recent wins include a first multi-year deal worth over 50% ARR and a first Big Four proof of value for a Series A AI business. Before this, he spent over 11 years at LinkedIn, leading various commercial roles and becoming a two-time President’s Club winner. Vincenzo specialises in outbound strategy and revenue system design, combining strong commercial execution with a modern, data-driven approach to scaling sales performance.
Harry Pearce
Pentagram
Harry Pearce
Pentagram
Harry is a Partner at Pentagram – the world's largest independent design consultancy. He has worked around the world devising identities, installations, packaging and books for clients as diverse as Liberty, Thames & Hudson, WITNESS, Waitrose & Partners No.1, Abu Dhabi Cultural Quarter, Phaidon Press, Pink Floyd Records, Saks Fifth Avenue, Science Museum and the UN. He also created identities for Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor for their major retrospectives at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Andy Cottrill
Q5
Andy Cottrill
Q5
Andy is an organisation design expert with experience across the private and public sectors. He is currently a Partner at Q5 – an award-winning organisational health consultancy, where he leads teams through complex restructuring and change programmes – from cost-saving initiatives and value-chain redesign to operating-model transformation. His clients include Burberry, the BBC, NBC News, easyJet and HSBC. Before Q5, Andy worked at Accenture and within the Civil Service Fast Stream.
Thierry Brunfaut
Base Design
Thierry Brunfaut
Base Design
Thierry is the creative director and founding partner of Base Design, the international network of branding studios based in Brussels, New York, Geneva, Melbourne and Saigon. A company of cultures. He is the author of the renowned 5 Minute poster series, a professor, and a regular speaker at design and branding conferences worldwide. Thierry bears a striking and seemingly contradictory resemblance to both Moby and Kermit the Frog.
Mattie Yeta
CGI
Mattie Yeta
CGI
Mattie is the Chief Sustainability Officer for CGI. She continues to develop a strong relationship with the United Nations and COP summits, and provides actionable insights for clients. Her appointment further confirmed CGI’s commitment to not only reach Net-Zero, but to bring sustainable products and solutions to their clients. Mattie has expertise in sustainable development at strategic and delivery levels across the public and private sectors. She has extensive experience working with the United Nations and has received the “industry sustainability leader of the year” award and was recently announced in the top 100 sustainability power leaders.
Emma Wee
Neurodiversity Coach
Emma Wee
Neurodiversity Coach
Over the past 30 years, Emma has successfully combined a broad design portfolio with education and research projects. She enables individuals to tap into their innate creativity and apply it, not just to produce creative work but also to develop skills in self-advocacy, communication and leadership. For the last nine years, she has focused on neurodiversity strategy coaching, working with clients such as Universal Music Group, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She adapts working practices for the neurodivergent community, helping them reach their full potential.
Jeremy Lindley
Diageo
Jeremy Lindley
Diageo
Jeremy is one of the world’s most respected design leaders, known for transforming design into a strategic driver of business growth, cultural relevance, and positive change. As the Global Design Director at Diageo, an award-winning multinational alcoholic beverage company, he leads creative direction across a portfolio of more than 200 brands, including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, and Smirnoff. His leadership spans award-winning commercial impact and beauty through to sustainability and inclusivity. A former Chair of the Design Business Association, Jeremy remains a leading advocate for inclusive design and measurable creativity.
Monika Linton
Brindisa
Monika Linton
Brindisa
Monika founded Brindisa in 1988,
a pioneering food importer and distributor of fine Spanish food. In 1996, she opened the Brindisa warehouse for outlet shopping in Borough Market and was one of the first retail outlets in the area. Later on, it was established as Brindisa Tapas Kitchens, with the first tapas restaurant opening in Borough Market in 2004. Brindisa now has five groundbreaking tapas bars and restaurants in Central London. Monika’s aim has always been to bring excellent food and ingredients from the most remote parts of Spain to Britain and to champion selected smaller producers and their skills.
John "Sinx" Sinclair
ustwo
John "Sinx" Sinclair
ustwo
Sinx is a founding partner of the digital product design studio ustwo with offices in New York, Malmö, London, Lisbon and Tokyo. You've probably heard about Monument Valley – the most beautiful BAFTA-winning game they've created that even appeared in House of Cards TV show and during the official presentation of the new iPhone.
Paul Albert
Element Human
Paul Albert
Element Human
Paul has over 20 years of experience
across startups, scaleups and turnarounds. Before joining Element Human, he was the Chief Commercial Officer at Rest Less.
Paul launched four different multi-million businesses in Europe and drove
a turnaround with another. At Payhawk, Paul led the professionalisation of their sales organisation, scaling it from €3M to €12M and expanding the team from 30 to 110 people across sales, customer success, pre-sales and customer support in one year. Paul's leadership career began at Vision Сritical where he grew the EMEA business from £0 to £8M. He then launched Zappi
in Europe, scaling it from £0 to £8M in
four years.
Ratnesh Bagdai
Brindisa
Ratnesh Bagdai
Brindisa
Ratnesh is the Director and Co-Owner at Brindisa. He appreciates the importance of supplying chefs and restaurateurs with accurate financial information as soon as it can be made available. His accountancy company looks after 60 restaurants and 17 restaurant groups. He launched Spanish food supplier and restaurant group Brindisa with Monika in 2004.
George Riddell
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
George Riddell
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
George is a leading expert in international trade policy, with extensive experience advising businesses, governments, and organisations on navigating global trade complexities. He has led trade policy teams at several consulting firms, providing strategic guidance on the impact of trade negotiations, supply chain resilience, and sustainability measures. He has represented the UK in high-profile trade negotiations at the WTO, OECD, and G7, and served as
a special advisor to the Kenyan government during the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference. George also supports clients in developing strategies to mitigate risks and seize global market opportunities.
Luke Jerram
Artist
Luke Jerram
Artist
Luke is a British multidisciplinary artist best known for creating large-scale public artworks that focus on democratising access to art and science by placing installations in public and unexpected places. His work includes "Museum of the Moon" – a touring installation of a detailed moon sculpture, made using NASA imagery and "Play Me, I’m Yours" – a global street piano project where pianos are placed in public locations for anyone to play, encouraging community engagement and spontaneous creativity. Luke has had over 900 exhibitions around the world and has been featured in the NY Times, BBC, LA Times, The Guardian, The Lancet, BMJ, and Vogue Magazine.
Steve "Buzz" Pearce
tem, former Monday.com
Steve "Buzz" Pearce
tem, former Monday.com
Buzz is a multidisciplinary executive, designer and advisor. He has led design teams for iconic brands including Skype,
the BBC, Lonely Planet, LEGO, Alexander McQueen and Jamie Oliver. He also served on the board of the Design Council, advising government and policymakers on the societal impact of design.
Tim Greenhalgh
Like a Moth
Tim Greenhalgh
Like a Moth
Tim has spent over 30 years with Fitch, Conran and lately Landor & Fitch. During his three-decade tenure at Fitch, he was the driving force behind a huge breadth of brand experience work – from McLaren, Hilton and Harrods to Lego and Adidas. More recently, he has helped author the Landor & Fitch creative ambition and been integral to numerous client, cultural, new business and thought leadership initiatives. Tim managed the creative output of 20 multinational design studios, driving design standards and influencing the shape of brand and retail design worldwide.
Darren O'Kelly
Untold Studios
Darren O'Kelly
Untold Studios
Darren has spent 15 years running and growing The Mill – one of the most celebrated video production houses in the world, later acquired by Technicolor. Darren then co-founded Untold Studios, which grew to another huge success, including BAFTA and Emmy nominations and continues shaping culture through Music, TV and Advertising. Untold Studios develops original programming, produces music and advertising content, and crafts world-class VFX, all enabled by next-generation technology. Darren is an impassioned advocate for the visual effects industry who strongly believes in the power that visual effects and animation can bring to storytelling.
Becky Williams
Leadership Coach
Becky Williams
Leadership Coach
Becky has over 15 years’ experience in cultural transformation, coaching and facilitating senior teams to build the right culture, leadership, and structures for creative collaboration. She has worked across multiple sectors, supporting brands like Unilever in driving braver communication, helping Sainsbury’s foster
a more open culture, and reigniting customer curiosity for a major financial services provider. Known for her playful, inquisitive style, Becky excels at bringing teams together quickly, whether virtually or in person, creating environments where meaningful change can happen.
Emilie Colker
Avanade
Emilie Colker
Avanade
Emilie helps organisations make creative leaps so they can change and innovate more intentionally and rapidly. She has been a Chief Creative Officer before moving to become a Chief Design Officer at Avanade – a 25-year joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture with 60,000 employees around the globe – where she is responsible for early innovation globally, which includes Emerging Technology R&D, Collective Intelligence and innovation, thought leadership and client innovation experience. Before Avanade, Emilie spent six years as a Global Partner and Managing Director at IDEO.
Max Kelly
Techstars
Max Kelly
Techstars
Max has spent his career launching new products and companies, as well as running global strategy for international businesses. He has given guidance to organisations through his 10 Board Director roles.
During his 12 years at Virgin, Max ran strategy for the group during its growth from $4bn to $20bn in revenue. He co-founded four companies whilst there: Virgin Mobile USA,
one of the Virgin unicorns, Virgin Mobile Canada, Virgin Healthbank and Virgin Insight (where he was CEO).
Cat Drew
Design Council
Cat Drew
Design Council
Cat is the Chief Design Officer at the Design Council, where she leads the Design for Planet mission to shift the design sector to work more regeneratively. She co-founded the UK Government’s Policy Lab, pioneering the use of design in policymaking, and has held leadership roles at Uscreates and FutureGov, making public services more user-centred and systemic. She introduced speculative design to government policymaking, applying it to projects on ageing and rail, and led a major engagement initiative to create the world’s first Government AI & Data Ethics Framework. She is a member of The Point People, is a faculty member for States of Change, sits on advisory boards for the Institute of Coding and the D&AD Impact Council. A recognised expert in systemic design, she frequently speaks on design’s role in social & climate innovation and in 2019 was inducted into the Design Week Hall of Fame.
David Sheldon-Hicks
Territory Studio
David Sheldon-Hicks
Territory Studio
David is a creative and technical director with a background in film, digital media, music videos, and advertising. He is the Founder of Territory Studio, a creative VFX design agency, best known for creating blockbuster film UI and screen graphics. His work includes high-profile projects such as The Dark Knight, Casino Royale, and title sequences and visual effects for studios including Marvel, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros.
Paul West
Dalziel & Pow
Paul West
Dalziel & Pow
Paul is a strategy and transformation expert with experience spanning creative direction, architecture, service design, brand consulting, digital and experiential. He is currently Director of Strategy & Transformation at Dalziel & Pow – a global strategy and design studio – where he connects the dots between disciplines to transform businesses in a holistic way. His global clients include Adidas, Volkswagen, LEGO, Nike, Johnnie Walker, Guinness, EE, ZKB and Knight Frank, to name a few.
Adrian Talbot
Miroma Group
Adrian Talbot
Miroma Group
Adrian is an award-winning, highly commercial and versatile Chief Financial Officer, with over 20 years of international experience in marketing and communications. He is the CFO at the Miroma Group, a global marketing transformation company. Before joining Miroma, Adrian was the Global CFO at Hotwire, a leading global technology communications and marketing consultancy. In previous roles, he also worked as a Commercial Director at the advertising agency BBH and was CFO during the sale of Instinctif Partners to private equity.
Tamar Blue
MentalHappy
Tamar Blue
MentalHappy
Tamar leads MentalHappy, a social network helping people around the world to overcome challenging life events and improve their daily lives through peer support. She and her company are alums of Y Combinator, one of the world’s most respected startup accelerators. Tamar launched her first peer-support organisation for her fellow high school classmates, an effort that earned her recognition from The White House. Her work with MentalHappy has appeared in major publications such as Nasdaq, TechCrunch, Silicon Valley Business Journal, and the CIPA award-winning book Impact Founder.
Ciaran McClellan
ME+EM
Ciaran McClellan
ME+EM
With 19 years of experience in e-commerce and retail, Ciaran has expertise across all aspects of marketing and e-commerce disciplines, from digital marketing and CRM to brand management and data analytics. He currently serves as Growth Director at the luxury fashion brand, ME+EM, where sales have increased fifteenfold in the last six years. He has also been an integral part of the executive teams at The Cotswold Company and Long Tall Sally, both of which have achieved successful exits.
Valerie Casey
SVP and Chief Design Officer
Valerie Casey
SVP and Chief Design Officer
For two and a half decades, Valerie had the privilege of leading great teams in creating successful products, services, and businesses. Her focus on human-centred design, impeccable craft, and continuous iteration has significantly improved customer satisfaction and financial performance. Before Walmart, she was the Chief Product Officer at Samsung NEXT, the global innovation & venture division of Samsung. She also held executive leadership positions at some of the most amazing design firms in the world – Head of Digital at IDEO, Global Executive Creative Director at frog design, and Associate Partner at Pentagram.
Yana Welinder
Kraftful
Yana Welinder
Kraftful
Yana leads Kraftful, an AI assistant that helps 50,000 product teams build better products by listening to users at scale. Kraftful has been named the 2024 Most Innovative Company by Fast Company, has won multiple product awards, and is backed by Y Combinator, Google, Samsung, and other exceptional investors and entrepreneurs. Yana is also a Stanford fellow, a Senior Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund, and has been invited to speak at Masters of Scale, the UN Internet Governance Forum, Yale, NYU, and many other prestigious places.
Marian Holties
Nucu
Marian Holties
Nucu
Marian is an award-winning marketing leader with over 20 years of experience in international marketing roles, working with companies such as Abbott, Peloton and Activision. She is currently an Advisor at Nucu, a Finnish wellness company founded in 2016 to help babies and families sleep better. She excels in building brands, driving go-to-market plans and developing innovative campaigns that engage customers and fuel growth. Marian is recognised by Marketing Week and Campaign Magazine as one of the top marketing leaders in the UK.
Kaaren Hanson
Chase
Kaaren Hanson
Chase
Kaaren is an award-winning design executive with over two decades of industry experience. Most recently, she was the Chief Design Officer at Chase, where she scaled the team from 200 to 1100 and transformed the culture and practices to be customer and design-centric. She has held executive roles at Facebook, Medallia, Intuit, and Wells Fargo. Kaaren is dedicated to delivering world-class experiences that drive business results. Her team’s successes have been highlighted in Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg Business Week, LA Times, and Inc. Magazine.
Robert Stevenson
Ford Motor Company
Robert Stevenson
Ford Motor Company
Rob is a product design and experience leader with over 20 years of experience connecting human insight, business strategy and product development. He is currently the Product Design & Experience Chief at Ford Motor Company, where he leads human-centred product and experience strategy for Ford of Europe, shaping the strategic direction of new vehicle programmes. Before Ford, Rob worked at Sichuan Changhong Electric, Kohler Co. and Samsung Electronics. His work includes the ModernLife collection at Kohler, recognised by Red Dot and iF Design Awards, and early curved-display concepts at Samsung.
Lottie Whyte
MyoMaster
Lottie Whyte
MyoMaster
Lottie founded one of the UK’s fastest-growing health and wellness businesses and is one of only ten British business-owners backed by Google. She launched MyoMaster in 2021, scaling the company to millions in revenue and achieving a £20m valuation in just four years. Before MyoMaster, Lottie was the youngest ever board member at M&C Saatchi. Lottie now sits on the board of several companies, passionate about empowering others. Known as the ‘Dragon Slayer’, her steadfast conviction in her business and objection handling created one of the most-watched pitches in the history of the show 'Dragons' Den' with over 30 million online views.
Lusine Tarkhanyan
Method
Lusine Tarkhanyan
Method
Currently serving as the Director of Data and AI practice at Method, Lusine provides data-driven digital strategies and delivers transformation project portfolios to a variety of industries, from consumer retail, healthcare, industrial, finance, and innovation sectors. She established the Data Design practice at Method, advocating for a data-driven design philosophy that merges Design Thinking with Data Science to shape and monetise data for value creation.
Rhiannon Bell
Google Search
Rhiannon Bell
Google Search
Rhiannon has been passionate about design, UX, and the power of the internet since the early days, starting with the BBC's early efforts into digital and later leading design for Zynga, where they launched Words With Friends. Rhi went on to build and scale the UX team at NerdWallet before coming to Google, where they've been ever since. Rhi's creative focus has centred on driving home a user-centric, empathetic view within product organisations and elevating the craft of design.
Marina Willer
Pentagram Design
Marina Willer
Pentagram Design
Marina is a Brazilian graphic designer, filmmaker and the first female partner
at Pentagram London. Marina has led the design of major brand identity schemes including Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Tate, Amnesty International, Southbank Centre, Serpentine Galleries, Oxfam, Nesta, Second Home, Moholy Nagy Foundation, Opera Ballet of Flandres and Brazil’s Oi and Nubank among many others. She also has designed major exhibitions for the Design Museum including ‘Ferrari: Under the Skin’ and ‘Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition’. Both were the most-visited exhibitions in the history of the Museum.
J. Paul Neeley
Facilitator & Speculative Designer
J. Paul Neeley
Facilitator & Speculative Designer
J. Paul is a designer and researcher based in London, with a background in service design, speculative design and strategy. He is currently exploring the social, cultural and ethical implications of emerging technologies – from climate change and healthcare to AI and synthetic biology. Before this, he led teams at Mayo Clinic, Teton Radiology and Unilever.
Katey Harvey
Koto
Katey Harvey
Koto
Katey is the Managing Director of Koto. Her core focus is making space for creativity – leading the studio's efforts across people, growth and creative excellence. Originally an illustrator, she has worked in Client Service and Creative Production for 15 years and established many of Koto's retained clients, shepherded rebrands for household names such as Coca-Cola, Airbnb and Fanta. She also supported founders as they launch the start-ups of tomorrow.
Dan Witchell
Koto
Dan Witchell
Koto
As Executive Creative Director of Koto, Dan brings over 25 years of branding expertise. He previously founded Proud Creative, his own award-winning studio, which he led for a decade. He also co-founded and curated the acclaimed Kemistry Gallery – London’s only gallery dedicated to graphic design. A frequent lecturer and awards juror, Dan’s award-winning work has been featured in brand publications and exhibitions globally.
Philip Eaves
GXO Logistics, Inc
Philip Eaves
GXO Logistics, Inc
Philip is a seasoned board-level operations leader known for delivering results and managing P&L responsibilities across diverse organisations. He has extensive experience in highly complex organisations across e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, B2C, B2B and 3PL models. In his previous role as Director of Operations at Farmdrop, Philip played a strategic role in directing business operations to drive efficiency, growth, and development across the supply chain, customer fulfilment centre operations, and customer experience.
Christoph Rauscher
Method
Christoph Rauscher
Method
With 15 years of experience in R&D and Product Management in consumer electronics and the telecommunications industry, Christoph followed his passion for products & services and joined the Design & Innovation Consulting sector in 2012. As a firm believer in the power of Human-Centred Design, he works with Designers, Strategists, and Technologists to help clients across different sectors to untangle complex challenges, leading engagements with a transformative outcome.
Dem Gerolemou
Google Climate & Science AI,
Dem Gerolemou
Google Climate & Science AI,
Dem worked at DeepMind – one of the top AI research laboratories in the world and currently works at Google Climate & Science AI, where he researches, incubates and launches products and services to tackle the climate crisis through emerging technologies and explores the future of scientific exploration and discovery. Passionate about building a fairer and healthier world, he also helps non-profit organisations use AI and new technologies for good.
Dick Powell
Seymourpowell
Dick Powell
Seymourpowell
Dick founded Seymourpowell 42 years ago where he and his team have designed a wide range of products, including the world's first cordless kettle, the BSA Bantam motorcycle, Casio Baby-G watches, and, more recently, the interior for Virgin Galactic's SpaceshipTwo. Other clients include BMW, Nokia, Clairol, Ideal Standard, Panasonic, Yamaha, and Ford. Seymourpowell has won several design awards, including the Design Week Award, D&AD Silver Award, and BBC Design Award. Dick also serves on the boards of the Design Council, the DBA, Samsung’s IDAB and Design Singapore’s IAD.
Adam Handling
Frog
Adam Handling
Frog
Adam is the Michelin-starred Chef and Owner at Frog. He is passionate about British food, sustainability, and fighting food waste. Using produce from British suppliers, Adam’s beautifully presented dishes start with careful sourcing of top quality, seasonal ingredients, prepared
in several different, creative ways to bring their true flavour to life. Adam has several impressive awards under his belt and has made numerous global television appearances, including Saturday Kitchen Live, The One Show and judging on Top Chef, MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals and in 2023, was named BBC’s Great British Menu’s Champion
of Champions.
James Knappett
Kitchen Table
James Knappett
Kitchen Table
James is the chef patron and co-founder of Kitchen Table. He's landed formative positions at the likes of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, The Berkeley and The Ledbury. He then relocated to Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow for three years, before venturing further afield in 2005 to undertake a role at renowned restaurant Per Se in New York. James then moved to the world-famous Noma in Copenhagen before returning to London to start his own venture. In September 2012, he and his wife opened Kitchen Table in Fitzrovia, which was awarded a two Michelin star's.
Paolo Privitera
Events.com
Paolo Privitera
Events.com
Paolo is a global tech entrepreneur
with over 30 years of experience. He has founded 6 companies, invested in over 100, and advised countless, including being
an LP in 8 funds. He has raised over $300M across startups and funds. Paolo received 10 career awards, and 4 of his companies had an exit. His latest company, Evensi,
the world's largest events platform, raised $100M and was acquired by Events.com. Paolo is actively involved in M&A
and Corporate Development, assisting companies with global scaling, fundraising, and achieving successful exits.
Ivy Ross
Ivy Ross
Ivy and her team created the design language for the Google hardware products that launched in 2017, winning over 240 design awards over the last three years. Business Insider recently named her one
of the 15 Most Powerful Women at Google. In 2019, she was voted number 9 of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Previously, she held executive positions ranging from head of product design and development to chief marketing officer and president of several companies, including Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Bausch & Lomb, Old Navy, and Gap.
Eric Norman
Pioneer Fund
Eric Norman
Pioneer Fund
Eric specialises in early-stage investments
and innovative product development.
With a robust background in motor vehicle manufacturing and technology, he combines engineering management expertise with a keen eye for startup potential. Eric has a proven track record
of leading cross-functional teams and developing cutting-edge solutions, including smart consumer electronics that have garnered significant media attention.
Anirudh Ramanathan
Signadot
Anirudh Ramanathan
Signadot
Anirudh co-founded Signadot, a Kubernetes native platform, which was backed by the/ venture capital firm Redpoint and Y Combinator, raising $5M+. Before this, he led engineering and product at Rockset (acq. by OpenAI) and was a core Kubernetes maintainer at Google. With a passion for scaling early-stage startups and developer-focused GTM, he helps founders formulate and bring their vision to life.
Jonathan "Dines" Wilkins
BLUP
Jonathan "Dines" Wilkins
BLUP
Dines is a powerhouse in the global creative scene—a celebrated Creative Director and Digital Artist from London who’s reshaping the future of art, design and culture. His work merges the raw energy of London’s street culture with
the electric vibes of Tokyo, crafting a visual language that’s both boundary-pushing and unmistakably fresh. From working with the biggest names—Nike, Adidas, Disney, EA Sports, Sony Music—to owning the stage at OFFF, UsByNight, D&AD and Adobe Max, Dines doesn’t just create; he leads. His art isn’t just about aesthetics;
it’s about impact. It moves people, sparks conversations and makes waves where
it matters most.
Leslie Witt
8am
Leslie Witt
8am
Leslie has a deep wealth of experience in customer-driven innovation and an unwavering commitment to improving people's lives. Before joining 8am, she was
at Headspace focusing on mental health. Prior to that, Leslie focused on improving financial outcomes as Head of Design at financial software company Intuit. She was also the Head of Financial Service Innovation at IDEO, where she worked with a wide array of partners, including financial institutions, fintech giants, payment providers, retailers, non-profits, foundations and the public sector, counting Visa, Wells Fargo, MetLife, the Gates Foundation, the CFPB and the World Bank among her clients.
Sally McCutchion
Leading Beyond Hierarchy
Nicole Quinn
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Nicole Quinn
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Nicole spent the last 10 years at Lightspeed Venture Partners, scaling the firm from $2bn to $30bn+ AUM. She co-ran the Consumer Team and worked with beehiiv, Calm, Cameo, Character AI, Daily Harvest, Daybreak, Girlboss, Goop, Hungryroot, Lightyear, Multiverse, Rothy’s, Zola and, perhaps most importantly, Haus Labs as that was where she originally met Mike Blank and CAA in 2017 when incubating
the beauty brand with Lady Gaga. Before Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nicole spent a decade at Morgan Stanley covering retail and online. She did the IPOs for Facebook, Groupon, Prada and Pandora.
Shawn Flynn
Silicon Valley Highpoint Capital
Shawn Flynn
Silicon Valley Highpoint Capital
Shawn began his career in Beijing, China, where he founded, scaled, and successfully exited a company before returning to the U.S. to work with fast‑growing Silicon Valley startups to establish overseas public companies. Now at SVH Capital, Shawn and his team use AI and tech to augment the steps of the transaction process. He specialises in mergers & acquisitions, raising growth capital, and secondaries. He is also the host of the award‑winning “The Silicon Valley Podcast”, where he shares weekly insights from Silicon Valley thought leaders.
Kate Stanners
Saatchi & Saatchi
Kate Stanners
Saatchi & Saatchi
Kate Stanners is Chairwoman and Global Chief Creative Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi. Based in their London headquarters, Kate oversees Saatchi & Saatchi’s creative output, the creative talent of the network and global clients that include Visa, UBS, Beiersdorf and Deutsche Telekom to name a few. Recognised as one of AdAge’s ‘Women
to Watch’, she also sits on the customer experience council of the V&A Museum and was honoured to be made President of D&AD 2019/20. She is a member
of WACL, an association for the most influential women in the UK Communications industry.
Janaki Kumar
PMorgan Chase & Co.
Janaki Kumar
PMorgan Chase & Co.
Janaki has spent over 30 years delivering impactful products in Fintech and beyond. Before JPMorganChase, Janaki was the head of the Design and Co-Innovation Centre at SAP Labs, Palo Alto, where she created exceptionally award-winning products and services. Janaki co-authored the book Gamification at Work: Designing Engaging Business Software. She was also a speaker at a TEDx conference, an inventor on over 20 patents and was named a Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2016.
Michelle Lee
IDEO Play Lab
Michelle Lee
IDEO Play Lab
Michelle leads an integrated research, design, and development team bringing engaging, interactive and playful experiences to market. Her team builds upon 30+ years in toy invention, leveraging the principles of play to connect with people at a deeper emotional level that captivates, delights and empowers. Immersed in a globally recognised human-centred design firm, Michelle's IDEO tenure includes research and product design roles.
Charles Migos
Intangible.ai
Charles Migos
Intangible.ai
Charles has more than 20 years
of experience in product design and design leadership, leading teams to conceptualise, design and develop product experiences for a number of innovative and award-winning products. Prior to founding Intangible.ai, he was the VP of Product Design at Unity and held design management positions at Microsoft, Apple and Pinnacle Systems. Charles focuses on fostering product experiences that are purposeful, efficient, elegant and delightful and seeks collaborative environments where design
is not the end result, but a methodology
and practice that produces great products.
Georgia Fendley
Construct
Georgia Fendley
Construct
Founder and Creative Director of Construct London. Expert in the creation and transformation of luxury brands.
Creator of brand identity including Airelles, Aman, Baur au Lac, Boodles, Capella, Claridge's, The Dorchester, Epi, Frette, Harvey Nichols, Hotel Bel Air, The Goring, Le Grand Bellevue, The Lana, Mulberry, The Ritz and Wadi Safar
For the last 20 years, Georgia has been at the forefront of luxury brand transformation. Specialising in brand strategy, brand creation, art direction and brand communication. Focussed on providing genuine partnership and building long term relationships with the worlds most discerning clients.
Her objective is to elevate brands by fostering a robust strategic understanding from which I can create unique visual codes that reflect each brands essence and values.
Shamil Thakrar
Dishoom
Shamil Thakrar
Dishoom
Ed Warner
Motionspot
Ed Warner
Motionspot
Ed established Motionspot in 2012 to help improve the inclusive design of the built environment and provide advice on innovative, accessible products to make spaces more inclusive without compromising on aesthetics.
Today Motionspot is a RIBA award winning inclusive design consultancy aiming to transform spaces and lives through beautifully designed, inclusive environments that deliver independence and ease of use for anyone regardless of their disability, faith, gender, age and other human characteristics.
Whether a new build or refurbishment, Motionspot provides inclusive design consultancy at all stages of a project, helping clients and design teams go beyond minimum design standards and building regulations to create accessible and inclusive spaces, buildings and products for all communities.
Marc Escobosa
Salesforce Futures
Marc Escobosa
Salesforce Futures
Marc helps enterprises navigate emerging technologies like powerful AI and robotics by keeping human and societal needs at the centre of value creation. From architecting one of the first enterprise SaaS interfaces
to leading Salesforce's customer-facing innovation practice, he's spent 25+ years tapping into otherwise overlooked user needs, team dynamics, and unexplored market signals. He has had a direct hand
in work with Apple, the International Committee of the Red Cross, 21st Century Fox, T-Mobile, and Caesars, among many others.
Yolanda Martin Olivas
Jigsaw
Yolanda Martin Olivas
Jigsaw
Yolanda is an international design leader and platform strategist, with over 20 years of experience across fintech, energy,
e-commerce, and media, where she has led global teams through large-scale transformation. Most recently, as Fractional Chief Product Officer at Jigsaw Create, she restructured product and design functions, embedded platform thinking, and scaled AI-first tools for professional services. She is also a founder of Batyb, a consultancy that helps organisations architect digital ecosystems and coaches elite design teams, amplified by Generative AI. Previously, Yolanda served as Global VP of Design at ClearScore, where she introduced scalable design systems and led a major brand and product redesign.
Patrizia Bertini
Euler
Patrizia Bertini
Euler
Patrizia is a Design Operations Strategist, currently leading EU regulations for innovation at Euler. Before this, she was running Design Operations at 8x8, a global communication company. She has developed her approach to Design Ops through 20+ years of international experience in usability, accessibility, web design, design management and user research and has set up and grown Design Ops practices at companies like Intuit, Tide and Babylon Health.
Bidisha Sinha
Zaha Hadid Architects
Bidisha Sinha
Zaha Hadid Architects
Bidisha joined Zaha Hadid Architects in 2005 and has decades of experience delivering international architectural projects across all stages — from design concept through to completion. As Project Architect for the 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize winner Evelyn Grace Academy, she worked through all stages of design and delivery. Bidisha was also the Project Senior Associate on Mathematics: The Winton Gallery at the Science Museum in London, completed in 2016, which received the RIBA award. Her current ongoing projects include a large-scale student university residence, super-luxury retail mall interiors, a collection of single-family residences and two museums.
Rachel Hepworth
Harvey, former Notion and Slack
Rachel Hepworth
Harvey, former Notion and Slack
At Notion, Rachel joined at 60 employees and became the company's first CMO, expanding the marketing team internationally and 10x'ing growth. At Slack, she was part of the marketing leadership team, founding the Growth Marketing function and scaling the company through IPO. I joined Climate Corp when it was a 15-person startup; her work contributed to a major pivot that transformed the business and enabled a nearly 10-figure acquisition.
Alex K. Johns
Further
Alex K. Johns
Further
Shaping the strategic and creative direction of the London studio and its global client partnerships.
Enda Ridge
Enda Ridge
Data Science and AI leader with 16+ years' experience building and scaling Data Science teams that drive measurable commercial value across FTSE 100 retail, e-commerce, global Big Tech, AI, and UK government.
Edna balances a Senior Staff Data Science role at Google with a Non-Executive Directorship at HM Land Registry (UK Government).
He is committed to the "people" side of the equation: mentoring senior technical practitioners and building high-performance teams that bridge the gap between complex data science and pragmatic business impact.
Julia Whitney
Leadership Coach
Julia Whitney
Leadership Coach
Julia is a design leader turned executive coach. She works with leaders to help them realise their full potential. Her clients include leaders and leadership teams from AWS, Condé Nast, Dropbox, Spotify, Financial Times, IDEO and many more. Julia brings her board-level experience to her coaching practice. She’s led design teams for more than 20 years in the US and the UK. She was General Manager and Executive Creative Director for the BBC’s 150-person UX & Design department. She’s a regular public speaker and runs retreats and online group coaching programmes for design leaders.
Dan Makoski
Wellcome Leap
Dan Makoski
Wellcome Leap
Dan is an Executive Vice President and Chief Design Officer who has led user experience and design at many of the world’s largest companies, including Google, Walmart, Microsoft, Capital One, Motorola and UnitedHealth Group. Dan combines the ambition of Silicon Valley with the empathy of human-centred design to innovate by design. Dan started Google’s modular phone project, designed Hotmail and the original Surface at Microsoft, created “Hey Moto” while leading design research globally at Motorola (which was quickly adopted by Google), and doubled conversion with a redesign of Walmart.com.
Jim Prior
Partners
Jim Prior
Partners
Jim has worked with many of the world’s greatest brands, both as a senior leader inside organisations and as a trusted external advisor and global agency CEO. Starting in the casualwear industry, he moved to the creative agency world in 2001, joining The Partners, a globally renowned brand consultancy, a part of WPP, becoming the CEO in 2004. He led Superunion until its merger with Design Bridge in 2023, where he took the role of Chair, before retiring from WPP later that year.
John Anderson
Former Olympic & Paralympic Performance Director; Leadership Coach
John Anderson
Former Olympic & Paralympic Performance Director; Leadership Coach
John was the Performance Director and Team Leader of the Olympic and Paralympic Canoeing Teams from 1997 to 2017. He has a strong track record of success in strategic leadership, directing performance, high performance and executive business coaching. In his role as an executive performance coach, John provides support to public and private sector board-level business leaders to gain a greater understanding and application of the leadership and winning behaviours that improve performance. He is passionate about helping people to improve, accelerate their performance and achieve successful outcomes in extremely challenging sporting or business environments.
Abigail Wilmore
People Flow
Abigail Wilmore
People Flow
Abigail has over 25 years of experience in luxury fashion and beauty, including roles as Chief People Officer at Tom Ford Fashion, Stella McCartney and Dr Barbara Sturm, as well as HR Director at Kering (formerly Gucci Group). She discovered her passion for Human Resources early on and has since become a champion of human-centred workplace cultures. As the Founder of People Flow and a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Abigail is dedicated to leading with empathy and driving positive change in the workplace. She is also a triple-accredited Executive Coach and an advocate for diversity, inclusion and sustainable people strategies.
Susan Allen
Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer
Susan Allen
Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer
Susan launched Here We Flo in 2017 –
a rapidly growing B Corp with an impressive roster of advisors and investors from Graze, Charlotte Tilbury, Unilever and L’Oréal that has been shaking up the personal care category ever since. She is on a mission to challenge shame and stigma around periods, pee and pleasure, with products that are better for vaginas, vulvas and the planet. Recently, she has been recognised as a 2023 Glossy Future Leader in the Wellness category.
Ed Parham
Space Syntax
Ed Parham
Space Syntax
For the past 20 years, Ed has been leading innovation at Space Syntax – an international practice that uses science-based modelling and spatial analysis to help design and plan buildings, cities and public spaces by forecasting how people will move, interact and use places. Throughout his career, Ed has led international planning projects that shaped capital cities and developed modelling methodologies to help better understand how urban systems support daily activities and address challenges of climate change and health.
Christophe Egret
Studio Egret West
Christophe Egret
Studio Egret West
Christophe co-founded Studio Egret West in 2004 with David West, establishing a dynamic and integrated practice where urban design, architecture, and landscape are seamlessly brought together through both strategic vision and attention to specificity. He is widely recognised for his evocative sketches and paintings, which are often used as part of his creative process. After establishing an Employee Ownership Trust, he stepped down from the practice in 2024, leaving it under the leadership of his co-founder, David West.
Kresse Wesling
Elvis & Kresse
Kresse Wesling
Elvis & Kresse
Kresse is a multi-award-winning sustainability entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Elvis & Kresse, a company she launched in 2005 that transforms industrial waste – like decommissioned fire hoses – into luxury products while donating 50% of profits to charity. Before that, she built and scaled an environmental packaging business across Hong Kong and the UK, giving her early operational and venture experience. Her work has diverted hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill and earned her major recognition, including an MBE, a CBE, and awards from the Cartier Women’s Initiative.
Ed Glass
Ed Glass
Ed has almost two decades of experience in delivering successful executive and board-level searches across the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, on a global basis. He leverages his strong international network, market knowledge, and analytical skills to identify and engage high-potential candidates who can drive innovation, growth, and transformation. He also collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to ensure a smooth and efficient hiring process and a positive candidate experience.
Sarah Lowes
Executive Coach
Sarah Lowes
Executive Coach
As a Certified Transactional Analyst and experienced coach, Sarah believes strongly that awareness of oneself and others is key to individual, team and organisational success in terms of both productivity and wellbeing. Her specialities include behavioural profiling, executive coaching, leadership and management, and many more.
Eugenius
Rap Artist
Eugenius
Rap Artist
Eugene’s extensive background in music includes appearances on major stations like Capital FM and Kiss Fresh. He's also a content creator and has been part of prestigious events like the National Social Media Awards and the celebrity opening of the Metropolitan Mayfair Casino alongside fellow talent Connor Mantle and Harry Morris. At 16, he started listening to rap and was besotted by it so much he couldn't get enough, and so he jumped knee-deep into hip-hop culture. Later at university, he started to learn the piano and refine his love for rap with the art of making hit rap music.
Rebecca Robins
Brand, Culture, Leadership Сhangemaker
Rebecca Robins
Brand, Culture, Leadership Сhangemaker
With a 20-year career at the intersection of brand, culture and leadership, most recently as Global Director and Chief Learning and Culture Officer at Interbrand, Rebecca’s work spans all sectors. She works with leading organisations across the world, from Bugatti to LEGO, LVMH to Reuters. Rebecca’s advisory work centres on companies dedicated to being part of collaborative solutions, including Quilt.ai, heralded at the vanguard of ‘AI for good’. An advocate of how we invest in people and culture, she is also an Advisory Board Member at the Chartered Management Institute.
Kathryn Firth
FPDesign
Kathryn Firth
FPDesign
Kathryn is an Architect and Urban Designer whose passion for creating thriving places spans 35 years. She leads masterplanning and urban design projects across the UK, US, Europe, and the Middle East, ranging from public realm improvements to large-scale regeneration projects. Kathryn was a Director at Arup, where she continues to consult, and was the Chief of Design at the London Legacy Development Corporation. She sits on Design Review Panels, is co-chair for the ULI UK Infrastructure & Development Council and a trustee of The London Society. She is active with Architects Declare, served on the BusinessLDN Place Commission, and is a Mayor’s Design Advocate alum.
Sarah Salter
WPP
Sarah Salter
WPP
Sarah graduated from the Design Leaders Programme at Future London Academy in 2024 and now works on partnering with WPP’s top global clients to drive marketing transformation, innovation and partnerships. She brings nearly two decades of experience, including over eight years at WPP’s media agency Wavemaker, where she rose to Global Head of Innovation and Platforms, leading global AI, platform, and emerging tech initiatives. Her work spans across brands like like Nationwide, the NHS, and Compare the Market, and she is a recognised powerhouse by Campaign, the Performance Marketer Power List, the IPA, and the Media Leader.
Robert Haynie
Impact Investing Advisor
Robert Haynie
Impact Investing Advisor
Robert is an impact investing consultant focusing on frontier and growth markets. He is currently supporting FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, serving as the Ventures Program ecosystem-building lead and the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator co-lead. As the former CEO of SPRING Accelerator, plus several years as a U.S. government diplomat and development specialist, Robert has expertise in structuring and managing blended finance mechanisms that align concessionary and commercial capital to achieve impact at scale.
Nicola Watkinson
TheCityUK
Nicola Watkinson
TheCityUK
Nicola has spent over 20 years working for the British and Australian governments, helping companies open up new markets, remove regulatory barriers and grow their global influence. As a leading practitioner in economic development and export, she has helped various organisations succeed on the global stage, delivering sustainable growth and jobs. Her passion for diversity, equity and inclusion is at the heart of everything she does, whether accelerating the pace of change across the financial and professional services industry, leading the debate through her academic engagements, or chairing the Fred Hollows Foundation Board UK and its Eyes on Equity campaign.
Cian O'Donovan
UCL Centre for Responsible Innovation
Cian O'Donovan
UCL Centre for Responsible Innovation
Cian is the Director at UCL's Centre for Responsible Innovation, a place for technologists and innovators to engage with the needs and values of the public globally. Through research, teaching and engagement, Cian explains digital change in today's world and how it could be different. He uses social science methods to tell stories about who benefits from digital systems, who is steering change, and with what impacts for people and the planet. He is also the Co-Founder of Uplift, Ireland's largest people-powered digital advocacy organisation for progressive social change.
Siân Jones
TV Presenter & Communication Coach
Siân Jones
TV Presenter & Communication Coach
Siân is a leading international speaker, conference host, and communications coach, known for her high-energy style and deep expertise. A former TV presenter for ITV, Sky News, Bloomberg, and CNBC, she now coaches senior leaders at top companies like HSBC, Pfizer, Deloitte, and Vodafone. Founder of Web Presenter Training, Siân blends acting, storytelling, and NLP techniques to help clients shine on stage, on camera, and online. Recent highlights include hosting and facilitating major events for a variety of large organisations, from The Telegraph to the European Parliament.
James Hilton
AKQA
James Hilton
AKQA
James is the Co-Founder of AKQA,
a creative company he led for over twenty years. During this time, he worked with clients such as Nike, BMW, Warner Bros., Audi, Heineken, Xbox, Coca-Cola, and Disney. In 2012, WPP bought a majority stake in AKQA for $550 million. James was also the Chief Creative Officer for Native, a world-renowned product and experience studio for a range of clients from aviation and healthcare to next-generation automotive and consumer electronics.
Tessa Clarke
Olio
Tessa Clarke
Olio
Tessa is leading a sustainability revolution through Olio, the community-driven app tackling waste and reimagining how we share the world’s resources. Under her leadership, Olio has grown into a global movement of over 9 million users, sharing more than 140 million meals and 15 million household items – collectively saving over 40 billion litres of water and avoiding 1 billion car miles’ worth of emissions. A passionate advocate for the power of small actions to drive systemic change, Tessa champions purpose-led business, climate action and community collaboration. She is a TED speaker, Ambassador for the Better Business Act, and Advisory Board Member to Stop Ecocide International. In recognition of her impact, Tessa was named Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman of the Year in 2023.
Zaiba Malik
Crisis Communications Consultant
Zaiba Malik
Crisis Communications Consultant
Zaiba is a highly experienced strategic communications consultant who specialises in reputation, issues and crisis management and media coaching at national and global levels. As an award-winning former journalist with over 20 years’ experience in news and current affairs, she has reported for some of the world’s most prestigious outlets in television, radio, print and online. Her reporting has been nominated for Royal Television Society and BAFTA Awards, and she has received the Women in Film and Television and Asian Women of Achievement Awards. She was named as one of the twenty most influential black and Asian women in the UK and is a regular media commentator. She is also a bestselling author.
Emily Saltmer
Leadership Coach
Emily Saltmer
Leadership Coach
For more than 22 years, Emily has worked in Global Fortune and FTSE 50 companies including Experian, Legal & General, Unilever, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC. She has extensive training, qualifications and accreditations in psychology, coaching, health and fitness. Emily combines her corporate experience, skills and qualifications to offer a holistic approach that is focussing on utilising client strengths to build confidence, capability and resilience to help achieve long-term healthy, sustainable outcomes.
Martina Presnajderova
Deel
Martina Presnajderova
Deel
Martina is deeply passionate about pricing. She formerly held the role of Head of Pricing at Wise, where she built and guided teams towards achieving global pricing optimisation, considering both product value and financial implications. Prior to her venture into the pricing sphere, she led machine learning initiatives within the startup sector. Since 2018, her professional journey has been dedicated towards disruptive, rapidly expanding, early-stage enterprises. Recently, she embarked on a new endeavour, working on pricing at Deel - a SaaS startup witnessing exponential growth.
Gemma Ballinger
Studio Output
Gemma Ballinger
Studio Output
Gemma is the Managing Director and Partner at Output – an independent design studio with a focus on digital and motion design. With over 15 years' experience, she's built strategy, new business and client relationships, making sure that working with Output is as rewarding as possible. Spanning across broadcast, entertainment and fintech, Gemma's delivered branding, design and digital to clients including BBC, ClearBank, Cuckoo, CALM, Penguin, Monzo, Marshmallow, Octopus Money, UKTV and Warner Bros.
Tom Elvidge
Olix
Tom Elvidge
Olix
Tom is a hands-on operations leader who has held exec-level roles at hyper-growth technology startups both in the UK and the US. Passionate about operating at the intersection of technology and operations in tech-enabled organisations, Tom thrives in mission-driven businesses that are rapidly scaling. Tom’s experience in the last ten years has been in senior exec roles at Uber, WeWork and London-based electric vehicle startup Arrival. Through these experiences, Tom has seen first-hand how to operate and lead in fast-growing technology companies at the intersection of operations, tech, product and policy.
Angus Dick
Arrival
Angus Dick
Arrival
With 25 years of global experience in Europe, the US, and Asia, Angus has shaped design strategies and product visions at companies like LG Design Europe, Native Design, Philips Design, and IDEO. Angus has a proven track record of building and leading multidisciplinary teams to drive business success across various industries, including electric automobiles, consumer technology, and more. Most recently, he served as a VP of Industrial Design at Arrival – a groundbreaking electric vehicle manufacturer – where he led future-focused projects guided by strong design principles.
Charles Migos
Intangible.ai
Charles Migos
Intangible.ai
Charles has more than 20 years of experience in product design and design leadership, leading teams to conceptualise, design and develop product experiences for a number of innovative and award-winning products. Prior to founding Intangible.ai, he was the VP of Product Design at Unity and held design management positions at Microsoft, Apple and Pinnacle Systems. Charles focuses on fostering product experiences that are purposeful, efficient, elegant and delightful. He seeks collaborative environments where design is not the end result, but a methodology and practice that produces great products.
Mike Branson
Pearlfisher
Mike Branson
Pearlfisher
Mike Branson is a Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pearlfisher, the definitive creative partnership with studios in New York and London. Through Futures, Strategy and Design, Pearlfisher strives to make a lasting impact on challenger and iconic brands. Since 1992, Pearlfisher has created effective and groundbreaking work for brands around the world such as Target, McDonald’s, Patron, Starbucks, Green & Black’s, and Cadbury Dairy Milk.
Paul Wright
Uber Advertising
Paul Wright
Uber Advertising
Throughout his career, Paul has been an entrepreneur, corporate leader and board advisor. He has been responsible for business development and sales strategy at the world's biggest companies including Farfetch, Apple and Amazon. He has run multiple teams from editorial, sales, marketing, agency, and engineering and sold 2 companies (one being his own, another in digital video). He is also dyslexic and wants to help companies do better with neurodiverse team members.
Yolanda Martin
ClearScore
Yolanda Martin
ClearScore
Yolanda is an international design leader and platform strategist. With over 20 years of experience across fintech, energy, e-commerce, and media, she has led global teams through large-scale transformation. Most recently, as Fractional Chief Product Officer at Jigsaw Create, she restructured product and design functions, embedded platform thinking, and scaled AI-first tools for professional services. She is also a founder of Batyb, a consultancy that helps organisations architect digital ecosystems and coaches elite design teams, amplified by Generative AI. Previously, Yolanda served as Global VP of Design at ClearScore, where she introduced scalable design systems and led a major brand and product redesign.
Abi Freeman
Brink
Abi Freeman
Brink
Abi co-founded Brink, a consulting agency which uses Behavioural Innovation to advise on new ways of working, building a global company that’s a force for good and a brilliant place to work. She has spent over two decades working in and around tech startups, government, academia and think tanks exploring how ideas make it out into the world and how best to fund, back and coach the people doing the hard work of innovation. Before Brink, Abi co-founded a tech startup. She and her team lived the full startup journey, being named as WIRED’s one to watch, selected for Techstars accelerator programme, receiving VC backing and selling the business in 2016.
David Pratt
Checkout.com
David Pratt
Checkout.com
David is an accomplished global finance executive with an unusually rich experience covering many fields of finance across multinational groups and operating company functions. He has extensive international experience in finance leadership roles in companies that include Vodafone, Verizon, Mars, Wise and now at Checkout.com. During 30 years of his career, has managed large finance operations and commercial teams through transformation, created target finance operating models including post-merger and achieved $2bn of synergies ahead of schedule and within cost budgets.
Alan Cooney
Joy Nazzari
Natalie Anson-Wright
Ajit
Singh
Don
Norman
Manmit Shrimali
Simon Gough
Margaret Ochieng
David Nelson
James Sullivan
Kate Williams
Tony Browne
Matt Fenby-Taylor
Rachel Varrilly-Gierula
Abi Wright
Chloe
Scott
Karen Sargent
Vincenzo Migliore
Harry Pearce
Andy Cottrill
Thierry Brunfaut
Mattie
Yeta
Emma Wee
Jeremy Lindley
Monika
Linton
John "Sinx" Sinclair
Paul
Albert
Ratnesh
Bagdai
George
Riddell
Luke
Jerram
Steve "Buzz" Pearce
Tim Greenhalgh
Darren
O'Kelly
Becky
Williams
Emilie
Colker
Max
Kelly
Cat
Drew
David Sheldon-Hicks
Paul West
Adrian Talbot
Tamar Blue
Ciaran McClellan
Valerie Casey
Yana Welinder
Marian Holties
Kaaren Hanson
Robert Stevenson
Lottie Whyte
Lusine Tarkhanyan
Rhiannon Bell
Marina Willer
J. Paul Neeley
Katey Harvey
Dan
Witchell
Philip Eaves
Christoph Rauscher
Dem Gerolemou
Dick Powell
Adam
Handling
James
Knappett
Paolo
Privitera
Ivy
Ross
Eric
Norman
Anirudh Ramanathan
Jonathan "Dines" Wilkins
Leslie Witt
Sally McCutchion
Nicole
Quinn
Shawn
Flynn
Kate Stanners
Janaki
Kumar
Michelle
Lee
Charles
Migos
Georgia Fendley
Shamil Thakrar
Ed Warner
Marc
Escobosa
Yolanda Martin Olivas
Patrizia Bertini
Bidisha
Sinha
Rachel Hepworth
Alex K. Johns
Enda Ridge
Julia Whitney
Dan Makoski
Jim Prior
John Anderson
Abigail Wilmore
Susan Allen
Ed Parham
Christophe Egret
Kresse
Wesling
Ed
Glass
Sarah Lowes
Eugenius
Rebecca Robins
Kathryn
Firth
Sarah
Salter
Robert
Haynie
Nicola Watkinson
Cian O'Donovan
Siân
Jones
James
Hilton
Tessa
Clarke
Zaiba
Malik
Emily Saltmer
Martina
Presnajderova
Gemma Ballinger
Tom Elvidge
Angus Dick
Charles
Migos
Mike Branson
Paul Wright
Yolanda
Martin
Abi Freeman
David Pratt
programmes and courses you might like
Mini-MBA
Self-paced, ONLINE
A practical business course taught by product leaders at Uber, Deel and more. Master essential business skills to influence products and shift your design career.
Executive Programme
Next Cohort Starts in July 2027London & California
Finally, a business programme for design leaders. Learn about finance, operations, management and entrepreneurship
Product Design Strategy
Self-paced, Online
Create influence with design and measure what matters
Branding Now
Self-paced, Online
The ultimate branding course for design directors and senior creatives. From brand strategy and identity to building a brand system and leading the team – learn the latest approaches from ex-Wolff Olins ex-DesignStudio Creative Directors.
Creative Leadership
Self-paced, Online
Learn how to motivate, manage and grow your creative team.
Creative Ops
Self-paced, Online
An in-depth Project Management course for agencies and brands. From scoping and budgeting to creating a smooth workflow, so that your team produces award-winning work without burning out.
Tailored Learning Programmes
Anytimein London, at your office or online
Bespoke learning programmes and tailored solutions for your business challenges.