The New Geography of Growth  Shaping the future of business and innovation

Chris is Net Zero Programme Director for the Broadway Initiative, where he leads the delivery of Broadway’s work with the Net Zero Council including to develop Sector Transition Plans, and the UK Business Climate Hub, the one stop shop on sustainability for small and medium sized businesses. Broadway Initiative is the coalition of leading trade associations working together with government, business and civil society to deliver the UK’s net zero and environmental goals

Dipa is a future focused, human centred leader who brings clarity, momentum and purposeful change to every organisation she touches. With 25 years across financial services, employee benefits, pensions and technology enabled consulting, she blends proven operational foundations with forward looking innovation to build organisations that scale with confidence and pace.
Most recently, Dipa led a financial services firm supporting more than 380 clients with rewards, benefits and pensions. She drove a major digital and operational transformation to modernise a 15 year old operating model, remove internal friction and free consultants to spend more time with clients.
Previously, she was CEO of Cloud8, a SaaS fintech serving SMEs. She created, scaled and exited the business to Benifex in 2023. Her first step into tech was a white labelled B2B2C platform inspired by 16 years of HR and benefits experience a product built from deep sector insight rather than code. It was acquired by a larger competitor after four years.
Across her career, Dipa has remained committed to one thing: delivering good advice for employers, underpinned by brilliant communication and technology that drives genuine employee engagement.

Having helped deliver a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Games for Buckinghamshire the Birthplace of the Paralympic Movement, and spent a decade as Director of the Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership Ian is now Head of Business Partnerships & Investment at Buckinghamshire Council.

As part of this role he is the Executive Lead for the Silverstone 2035 programme, a multi-agency collaboration seeking to capitalise on business innovation, sporting and community opportunities associated with the internationally renowned race circuit. This programme has recently helped secure major Local Innovation Partnership Funding to grow the commercial, skills and innovation ecosystem at the heart of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.

Jonathan has a long-standing connection with the IoD and was appointed Director General in October 2019.

Jonathan has spent 30 years working in the professional services sector, most recently at Grant Thornton International, where he was responsible for the organisation’s interest in China. He is the author of three books about China and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Jonathan is a fellow of the IoD, and prior to his appointment as director general, he was chair of IoD Yorkshire and North East region.

Rob Lewis graduated from the University of Leeds in 1991 with a BEng Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering and subsequently again from Leeds in 1995 with a PhD in CFD. From 1995 to 1998 he worked as a support engineer and later project team leader at Fluent Europe Ltd. From 1998 to 2007 Rob led Advantage CFD, an aerodynamics and CFD consultancy, from start-up with Reynard Motorsport to eventual closure under Honda F1 Racing Team. In 2007 Rob and others founded TotalSim Ltd, a Computational Fluid Dynamics Consultancy which now employs 55 people in Daventry and Silverstone, Northamptonshire. Rob is formerly a chartered engineer and a Fellow of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. In June 2017 Rob was awarded an OBE for services to science applied to sport in recognition of Rob’s contribution to the performance of British athletes’ over the last 3 Olympic campaigns. Over the past 10 years TotalSim has developed a number of aerodynamic test facilities including two wind tunnels at TotalSim’s Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub and more recently opened the Catesby Tunnel Test facility using a former 1.7 mile rail tunnel as a vehicle test environment.

Seb Hayes is an Asset Management Director at Federated Hermes, which he joined in 2016. He leads the firm's strategy at Silverstone Park, a commercial, technology and innovation hub next to the home of British motorsport. The estate includes just under 1 million sq. ft operating portfolio and more than 1 million sq. ft of consented development pipeline and further potential. He has supported the current Evolve East and Evolve West schemes. Seb sits on the boards of Silverstone Vision 2035 and the Silverstone Technology Cluster, and he works with government and regional partners to align the estate with national growth priorities, including the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.

Toni Allen has over 25 years of experience driving integrated marketing, sales and commercial strategies across global sectors including technology, professional services, education, FMCG, healthcare, cybersecurity and non-profit. As Chief Engagement & Growth Officer at the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), a global 157,000 membership body and research institution, she leads transformative initiatives that connect and grow the global engineering and technology community.

Toni is a passionate advocate for the power of technology, championing data-driven engagement, digital transformation, and innovative customer experiences. Her strategic leadership spans B2B and B2C audiences across industry, academia, government, and society ensuring that the IET’s mission to inspire, inform, and influence is delivered with measurable impact.