Griselda began her career as an electrical engineer, she then veered into business having been influenced by the challenges and successes that her parents experienced as entrepreneurs. She trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with one of the BIG 4 professional services firms but now runs her own businesses, Novi included. Griselda is a […]
Richelle’s career in business transformation and innovation has focused on tackling the toughest commercial challenges for businesses at all stages – start-ups, scale-ups and the reinvention of established businesses. She has designed and delivered national business programmes, led a growth consultancy practice for a professional services firm, been Head of Innovation at Leeds City Council,
In 2015 Bill retired as a partner of PwC where he led the Risk Assurance practice for the North of England. Having also been a partner coach in the firm he now operates as a qualified independent executive coach. In addition, he is a non-executive director and a trustee of a large multi-academy trust whose
Susanna Lawson worked in the health and social care sector and witnessed huge inefficiencies in the training delivery models which drove her to develop OneFile, the leading e-portfolio software in the education sector. Susanna is also the overall winner of The Forward Ladies National Awards 2017.
Currently UK Counsel and Director, Legal at Klarna Bank AB. A law graduate, she has worked for several organisations including senior legal counsel at Barclays, BAE Systems and legal director at HBOS. She is an executive director of Plan International UK and an Aspiring Solicitors ambassador.
Despite only having 6 ‘O’ Levels to my name, I have edited two magazines (I was the UK’s youngest-ever magazine editor), and gone on to found the UK’s ‘coolest food brand’, Green & Black’s Chocolate (as recognised in the Coolbrands Survey for the 11 consecutive years). Today I travel the world, passionately sharing the rollercoaster
Richard John Carter was born in Wakefield, United Kingdom, in 1962. He studied Economics and Business Administration at the Manchester Business School, United Kingdom, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden, Fachhochschule Reutlingen, Germany and Middlesex University, United Kingdom. Richard began his career at Bayer in Germany and then moved to Taiwan. He then moved to BASF
Linda built her career from humble beginnings to become one of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. After leaving school at sixteen she sold fashion from a Leeds market stall, before launching her international fashion brand, Honeysuckle. Later becoming one of the first women to head a fashion company flotation on the London Stock Market. Known as
Ian has over 35 years of experience in the banking industry across several financial institutions and has held several senior leadership roles, most recently at HSBC. In his current role, Ian leads HSBC in the UK with over 38,000 people, covering Corporate and Business Banking, Retail Banking and Private Bank including all associated product lines.
A former lawyer, Sahar Hashemi founded Coffee Republic, the UK’s first US-style coffee bar chain with her brother and built it into one of the UK’s most recognised high street brands with 110 bars and a turnover of £30m. She left the day-to-day management of Coffee Republic in 2001 and published a bestselling book, Anyone
Kavita Oberoi is one of the UK’s most highly regarded successful entrepreneurs and social philanthropists, with a multi-million-pound business portfolio. In 2009 she was named in a Bank of Scotland report as one of Britain’s 100 most entrepreneurial women and in 2014 awarded an OBE for services to entrepreneurship and start-up businesses. In 2012 Kavita
Gina Miller is a prominent businesswoman, a passionate philanthropist and a responsible capitalist who has campaigned in the areas of investment and pension reform, political transparency and scrutiny, modern-day slavery, social justice and the charity sector. In 2016, Gina successfully challenged the Government over its authority to implement Brexit, winning in both the High Court
Following over 20 years as a secretary and then PA, Heather established Baker Thompson Associates in January 2000 to fulfil the need for specialised PA/EA/admin training; training for Assistants by Assistants. She now (pandemic excepted) travels with world working with small and large organisations enabling Assistants to find ways to excel in their roles, for
Matt founded Tastecard (originally Tastelondon) in 2006 with just £20,000 – fifteen years later it is now the UK’s largest dining club with over 3 million members. Of course, the last twelve months have proved challenging for Tastecard as most of its partner restaurants have been closed and members asked to stay at home, but
Scarlett Allen-Horton is a top-performing international executive search recruiter; equality, diversity and inclusion specialist and founder of Harper Fox Search Partners, a top executive search firm with a passion for placing senior female and ethnic minority talent across the engineering and energy sectors. In addition, Scarlett is a finalist of the acclaimed BBC Apprentice Television
Scarlett Allen-Horton Read More »
Andrea Reynolds developed Swoop. She is amazing at recognising her strengths and her passions. She had the opportunity to move on to larger businesses within her career but her passion was with SMEs. She created a platform that fits SMEs with their best funding options so that they can reach their potential and so grow
A 24-year-old lifestyle content creator and the Partnerships and Editorial Manager at Cohorted Communications, based in Leeds. Emma considers herself a mental health advocate, being completely transparent about her journey with depression and anxiety alongside her studies and the influence this has on her post-graduation journey. As she progresses more into her professional career, she recognises more
Sarah Haran was the Chief Operating Officer and Board Director of iomart Group Plc, a cloud computing IT business where Sarah was part of the founding team and the first employee. Under her stewardship, iomart grew from zero revenues to £100 million. In March 2017 Sarah decided to focus her attention on her hobby handbag
Dr Suzanne Doyle-Morris, speaker, executive coach and author, has been improving the lives of women working in male-dominated professional services and STEM fields since 1998. She’s known for 2500+ ICF-accredited executive coaching hours, 200+ organisational presentations, 110 YouTube ‘how-to’ videos, 3 best-selling career development books, 1 Cambridge PhD… and a partridge in a pear tree.
Dr. Suzanne Doyle-Morris Read More »
Susie works on board-level appointments across all sectors. After a 30-year career as a traditional headhunter, Susie had one of those lightbulb moments when realising that, in the digital age, there had to be a better way of hiring new board members. In 2014, Susie founded Nurole, the global platform changing how organisations bring the
Alex Depledge is one of the leading female lights in the UK tech scene. An innovative, principled and inspiring businesswoman, she co-founded the pioneering Hassle.com, which sold for £27 million in 2015. She has now started Resi, a groundbreaking online architectural service that is revolutionising how Britons renovate. Alex was the FL Awards overall Business
Marcella Allison is the CEO of Copy Harvest LLC and the founder of the Mentoress Collective (formerly Titanides Mentoring Collective), an organisation dedicated to promoting female freelancers, entrepreneurs, and copywriters. Learn more at sexistsecret.com. As a copywriter, she works with some of the top direct-response companies in the industry. She has written for The Motley
Anna joined Boeing as Managing Director of Boeing Defence UK in 2019 from GKN Aerospace. She is responsible for Boeing UK’s significant defence programmes, people and sites and the organisation’s growth, alignment and business development. Boeing, across all businesses, operates at 65 sites and employs 2,500 people directly and many more through a significant domestic
Georgina is the owner of The Organised Personal Assistant supporting social enterprises and small businesses with their operations so they can focus on their passion. As a VA, Online Business Manager, HR Manager and Business Coach, Georgina provides powerful support to passionate entrepreneurs.
CEO, Founder and owner of DiamondAir Selection Group. Christina has immense experience in premium passenger handling globally. From 18 years of age, Christina has organically developed 3 companies into global, multi-million-pound businesses and created an unsurpassed business model: an international network in over 600 airports and train stations globally.
Christina Lawford-Potter Read More »
Jodie Hill is committed to de-stigmatising mental health and disability in the workplace. Following a breakdown in 2018, she changed her working life by establishing Thrive Law, believing everyone should be enabled to Thrive at work. Thrive Law specialises in Employment and HR, focusing on workplace mental health.
Noel-Ann Bradshaw is Professor of Operational Research and Mathematics Education at the University of Greenwich, where she is also Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science. She is keen to promote STEM subjects to girls, particularly showing how Florence Nightingale’s use of statistics and data management saved lives.
A highly experienced professional with 28+ years of experience working at the Director level, Maria now works as a Mentor, Facilitator and Board Advisor. Maria has mentored and guided 350+ business leaders to stimulate growth, becoming their trusted ally and supporting them through various stages, enabling them to achieve their desired goals.
Dr Khadija Owusu is an award-winning UK Junior Doctor, Leader, Change Agent, and International & TEDx Speaker. She is the Founder of The Like Her Project (Ghana), a Founding Member and Director of Programmes at Melanin Medics, an Ambassador at the GUBA-Enterprise and a Trustee for the charity Raising Futures Kenya.
Dawn is an accomplished engineer and operator with engineering director roles across several sectors. Currently, she is the CEO of Operations at Pure Data Centres, responsible for the construction and operation of hyperscale data centres. She is also the longest-serving President of the Women’s Engineering Society.
Coming from a small town in Italy, Carlotta started her career in Silicon Valley before joining the London corporate tech scene, working for companies like Oracle and Shopify. Additionally, Carlotta is a mentor for women’s networks, a career coach for School16, a startup NED and a University Guest Professor.
Jillian Thomas’ business ethos is simple: clients always come first. She has adhered to this mantra since launching Future Life Wealth Management at the height of the 2009 recession. Today, the company is one of the UK’s leading independent financial advisors with an annual turnover in excess of £1m.
Sheridan has two major roles. Leader in Technology Innovation at PwC and Founder and Co-CEO of charity Tech She Can. Sheridan set up the charity to improve career opportunities in technology for children and women. She’s a thought leader on technological innovation and its contribution to productivity in the UK.
Mae left her accountancy job at PWC to co-create ERIC. Her mission in life is to make sure young people from all walks of life were told about their career options in the creative industries. Her role is to work with creative employers and connect them with young creatives.
Hannah Duraid is a multi-award-winning young entrepreneur, best known for founding The Great Escape Game, an immersive escape room attraction. Since launching in January 2015, the business is approaching its 10-year milestone and has expanded to three sites, including a location at the prestigious Royal Armouries Museum. Across these sites, the business offers 17 unique escape room
Julianne is a nuclear energy specialist with over 20 years experience of working in the sector in strategic, commercial and operational roles. She describes herself as “a passionate leader who works with an exceptional team and delivers success by building high performing teams and creating an environment of empowerment, inclusivity, respect, trust and most importantly
Emma is a partner at Grant Thornton, one of the UK’s largest professional services firms. She is Practice Leader of the Sheffield office and a partner in their national Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS) team. Emma’s passion is helping finance directors and their teams navigate change and periods of intense activity, by providing practical and pragmatic
Ajaz Ahmed is best known for being the founder of Freeserve, which was once the UK’s largest ISP and is now known as Orange broadband. He came up with the idea when he bought a computer and nobody in the store could tell him how to get into the internet, the rest, as they say,
In 1995 Sahar Hashemi founded Coffee Republic, and built it into one of the UK’s most recognised high street brands with a turnover of £30m. Giving up a job as a lawyer in London, she staked everything on a dream – and made Coffee Republic one of the main players in the ‘coffee revolution’ that
Professor George Lodorfos is Dean of Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University. He is an electrical and electronic engineer by first degree, he holds Masters degrees in Automation and Control as well as in Innovation and Technology Management, and a PhD in Strategic Management of Research and Development. In addition, he has supervised to completion
Professor George Lodorfos Read More »
Lisa assumed the role of Head of BTC UK & Ireland in January 2016. She is also a member of the BASF Plc Leadership team. Having a strong passion for diversity & inclusion, Lisa represents BASF with WISE (Women in Science and Engineering). She also currently Chairs the Executive Committee for BACS (British Association for
Lara is a seasoned financial services chief legal officer, general counsel, and company secretary with international experience. She’s skilled in regulatory, payments, enterprise risk management, consumer protection, SME law, offshore, employee relations (contentious and non-contentious), corporate transactions, and commercial banking. An Independent Non-Executive Director at PensionBee Group plc, a Board Trustee at Shaw Trust, a
Ali has over thirty years’ experience in the travel industry working with British Airways, American Express Travel, Sabre, American Airlines, ASM, AG Consultancy and now easyJet. Ali is easyJet’s UK Country Manager, responsible for enabling easyJet to create the winning environment in the UK and overseas. Responsibilities include being the ‘face and voice’ of easyJet,
Recently retired Customer Experience Director, Small Business Banking, HSBC UK Debra White has been a Retail and Commercial Banker with HSBC Group for the last 40 years and in September 2016 took on the national role of Customer Experience Director for Business Banking Small Business. Previously Debra was the Regional Director for Small Business in
