Speakers
Andy Thomas, CEO, KYND
Andy has more than 20 years of experience leading start up and growth phase businesses within the global cyber security market.
Now as the founder and CEO of KYND his aim is to make complex cyber risks simple to understand so organisations of any size can take action where necessary and be alerted to future risks as they arise.
Melanie Hayes, CMO, KYND
Melanie is the Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of KYND. Her aim is to make complex cyber risks simple; in a language you don’t need to be an IT guru to understand so organisations of any size can take action where necessary.
Bob Driver - Head of UK5G
Bob leads the UK5G programme on behalf of CW. CW is the lead partner for a consortium chosen by the Department of Digital, Culture Media and Sport, to create and deliver the national 5G Innovation Network called UK5G. UK5G brings together and markets the UK’s 5G eco-system - including the national Testbed & Trials programme along with other business-led 5G initiatives.
James Herbert, Founder & CEO, Hastee Pay
James created Hastee to change the way people are paid forever, enabling people to receive a portion of their earned pay on-demand to reduce financial stress and increase the productivity of employees and their organisations. Hastee removes the friction between working and being able to benefit from the fruits of that labour.
Nick Chism, Director General, Enterprise at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Nick has promoted better collaboration between the public and private sectors around the world. His professional background is in corporate finance. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, and an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Matt Palmer, award winning cyber security leader, innovator and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
Matt Palmer is an award winning security innovator, leader, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Delivering strategic change and transformation in cyber risk and security by helping organisations to understand, quantify, and act on their risk.
Danny Simpson, CEO, MID Communications Ltd
MID Communications Ltd is the largest independent franchise of Telefonica O2 UK, providing services throughout the Northwest and a business centre based n Rochdale.
The 15-year industry knowledge has seen Danny experience the launch and impact of both 3G and 4G. He has also witnessed the release of the first ever iPhone in along with many other tech gadgets like wearables, smart tech, innovative apps and especially tablets. Danny has seen how each of these have cannibalised the market in laptops to how the digital landscape has changed and works in our world as it is today.
Richard Maybury, Purpose, Results & Priority Management Trainer & Speaker, Attitude Solutions
Through his specialist training business, Attitude Solutions, Richard has been equipping and enabling his clients’ people to manage their competing priorities and deliver their business-critical results easier every day through leveraging their technology. He works with SMEs, FTSE250 and S&P500 companies. The common denominator among all his clients is that their ambition outstrips their resource and they want to give their people the best possible opportunity to deliver their best work regardless of the demands of the day.
Jennifer Major, Head of IoT, SAS UK & Ireland
Mold event only
Jennifer has spent her career at SAS working as an analytics consultant across a range of industry sectors. Her job is to help organisations create and act on insight from data in a governed, secure, transparent and ethical manner.
Kamile Stankute, External Affairs Manager, Institute of Directors (IoD)
Kamile joined the IoD after graduating from King’s College London with MA in Politics and Contemporary History. Her role is managing day to day relations with MPs, government departments and assisting with policy developments and research. She is also involved in the IoD’s Mental Health in the Workplace campaign and has written a policy report on Managing Mental Health in Changing Business Environments.
John Preston - Director Superstarbots
Originally from a multi million pound branded sales and marketing background to a gym owner and successful online coach, John is now the Go To expert for Social Media Marketing, Messenger Marketing and Automation.
John is based in Manchester and runs the SuperstarBots agency, Manychat UK Networking Group and was one of the first worldwide to be recognised with the Manychat Marketing Expert award & more recently as an Educator Partner.
Martyn Gill, Digital Solutions at Telefónica
(Manchester only)
Martyn is a pre-sales lead for O2, supporting delivery of Microsoft services into SMB and Enterprise customers. Martyn’s role is to help customers identify how technology can be the enabler to achieving key business outcomes, without compromising productivity or security. Martyn has enjoyed 18 years with O2, and has previously been nominated for salesperson of the year by ISM (Institute of Sales and Marketing).
Susan Hallam, Founder and CEO - Digital Marketing Consultant, Strategist & Public Speaker
(Nottingham only)
With more than 30 years’ experience working in the digital industry, Susan Hallam is a leading influencer in the Internet world. She has always believed in the power of data and knowledge, and that successful digital engagement and transformation drives business success. Susan is a practicing digital marketing consultant, a public speaker, and the Founder and a Director of Hallam Internet, one of the UK’s leading digital agencies.
Vicky Hunter, South West EEM at Tech Nation, Global Community Manager at Silicon Drinkabout and Co-Founder of DoveLetters
(Bristol only)
Tech Nation are creating a national network connecting ambitious entrepreneurs across the UK. Each region is supported by an Entrepreneur Engagement Manager (or EEM) who connect, signpost and celebrate scaling companies, making sure that they know about relevant Tech Nation programmes and other local and national resources and opportunities.
Naeem Alvi, Brand Strategist & Founder, Notepad
(London only)
After a decade of working with fast-growth SMEs and big companies like RBS, Nike, Natwest and Argos to help them better define and grow their brands, Naeem founded Notepad to connect big brand experience with ambitious startups and new ventures that want to define, launch, and grow their brands quickly, effectively and affordably.
Previously, Naeem has worked as a copywriter, strategist, and creative director, at several leading branding and advertising agencies across London and Birmingham.
Paul Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer, TM Forum
(Bristol only)
Paul joined TM Forum after establishing the internationally acclaimed smart city project Bristol Is Open. Before that he was Chief Marketing Officer at Fortune 500 fintech software company SunGard, which grew from a $2.8bn primarily American company, to a $5bn global business. Prior to SunGard, Paul worked in a fintech start-up and as a freelance broadcast journalist. He has an MBA from Cass Business School, a Political Science degree from the University of Birmingham, and is a fellow of Bristol University’s Digital Futures Institute.
Julian Schultz
(London only)
Everyone is looking for new tools to bring in transparency, but often companies lack the power to drive change in people to improve productivity, even though the answer lays (thanks to technology) right in front of them. BlueOptima's analytics platform empowers software developers and their companies to create better software in the most time- and cost-efficient way.
James Gribben, Corporate Affairs Manager, Be the Business
(Bristol, London, Mold)
Be the Business is an organisation established to spearhead a business-led drive to help companies across the UK improve their performance. Launched in November 2017 with funding and support from the UK government and some of Britain’s leading companies, Be the Business works with the entire business community to share what works for today’s best businesses with every company that wants to learn and improve. James has worked for a series of leading business groups in the UK and Europe, including the Federation of Small Businesses, World Employment Confederation and European Chambers of Commerce.
Joyann Boyce, Social Media Consultant & Founder, The Social Detail
(Bristol only)
Joyann works with SMEs, with a focus on technology companies to maximise their impact through social media. The Social Detail has worked with a range of organisations such as Bristol City Council, Black Girl Convention, SETsquared and Future Space; and is an avid advocate for diversity and inclusion partnering on projects with TechSPARK such as SHIFT to create diverse stock photography.
Stuart Lynn, Founder, TechNorthEast
(York only)
Stuart Lynn is a renowned technology business leader and former Executive of the Sage Group.
Alongside running his own consulting business, Stuart is a Non Executive Director, Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland, and founder of TechNorthEast, where he is a strong advocate of the North-East’s thriving digital technology sector.
Gareth I.Jones, Founder, Innovation Centre for Enterprise (Welsh ICE)
(Mold and North Wales only)
In 2012, Gareth founded the Innovation Centre for Enterprise (Welsh ICE) - now one of the largest coworking spaces in the country. In 2017 he founded Town Square Spaces, an accredited B Corp set up to replicate the model in other locations. Through these, and his operation of Accelerator Wales, he has helped to support over 500 businesses and create over 800 jobs, generating £millions GVA uplift for the local economies. In 2019, Gareth was invited to join the Prime Minister’s Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs Business Council, where he currently advises No. 10 on how to support SMEs through Brexit.
Darren Wells, COO, Talent
(Nottingham only)
In 2012, Darren’s experience in technology recruitment spans over two decades. He has held senior leadership roles for the past 10 years, leading international teams of technology consultants helping global brands as well as technology startups win the war for technology talent.
Recently, Darren’s time at Talent has seen the business expand its presence across the UK & Europe, receiving multiple industry accolades along the way. In the past 12 months Talent were named ‘Best IT/Technology Staffing Agency’ by Recruiter Magazine, named LinkedIn’s ‘Most Socially Engaged Staffing Agency’ and Talent are the only recruitment company in the world to feature on Gallup’s ‘40 Great Workplace Awards’.
Robin Lester, Cloud Solutions Architect (CSA), Microsoft
(Nottingham, York and Mold only)
Robin Lester is a Cloud Solutions Architect (CSA) at Microsoft focused on developing AI capabilities and cloud data practices among our partner ecosystem. Helping partners understand Machine Learning technologies and separating the possible from improbable, the fact from the fiction. A firm believer in democratization of AI and adopting ethical AI principles.
Dr Lida Gharemanlou, Cloud Solutions Architect (CSA), Microsoft
(Bristol only)
Lida has joined Microsoft UK as an Advanced Analytics & AI Cloud Solution Architect in 2018, and her current focus is on applying Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques in Azure Cloud environment. She is also an AI ambassador and evangelist for the UK region who proactively drives AI engagements and delivers tech workshops to her customers.