Judging Panel

The Judging Panel for these prestigious awards is made up of leading figures from business, charity, politics and the public sector. We are pleased to announce that once again the Chair of the Judging Panel will be Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE.

We will be updating this page as more judges are approved, please check it from time to time to see who else will be joining our esteemed panel.

Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE

Chair of Restoration Partners

Chair of Judging Panel

Nic Budden

Chief Executive Officer

Foxtons

Andy Long

Chief Executive Officer

Pentland Brands

Laura Hinton

Chief People Officer

PwC

Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE

Chair of Restoration Partners

Chair of the Judging Panel

Ken is Founder and Chairman of Restoration Partners, the boutique technology merchant bank and architects of the Virtual Technology Cluster model Ken’s technology career spans over 30 years commencing with IBM from whom he won a scholarship while at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. In 1992, after a twelve years as a senior executive at Wang Labs in the US and Europe, Ken founded Interregnum, the technology merchant bank.

He was elected as a Fellow of the British Computer Society in 2006. He has considerable public company Board-level experience on both sides of the Atlantic. He is currently a director of Thomson Reuter. He is also on the board of The Institute of Directors as a Non-Executive Director. Ken is a Freeman of the City of London; Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists; a Director of the Thomson Reuters Foundation; Chairman of Thames Reach (for which he received an OBE in 2010); Chairman of Shaw Trust, was an original member of IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standard Authority) and Founder and Chairman of the Powerlist Foundation. In 2009, he was named the Sunday Times Not for Profit Non-Executive Director of the year.

Ken was voted number one in the Powerlist’s Top 10 most influential British black people in 2016. In 2015 Her Majesty the Queen, appointed him as her Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. Ken was knighted for services to Business and Philanthropy in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List.

Nic Budden

Chief Executive Officer

Foxtons

Prior to joining Foxtons in 2005, Nic had an international career in business development, operations, marketing, strategy and finance, having held positions at BT Group plc (1990 to 1997), Cable & Wireless Group (1997 to 2002) and Severn Trent Group (2003 to 2005). Nic holds a degree in economics from the University of Essex.

Andy Long

Chief Executive Officer

Pentland Brands

Andy Long is Chief Executive Officer of Pentland Brands, a UK based private, family owned brand management company operating in sports, outdoor and fashion.

Pentland owns a number of well-known brands including: Speedo, Berghaus, Canterbury, Mitre, and Ellesse. Pentland is also the global licensee for Lacoste and Ted Baker footwear and sells its products in over 190 countries worldwide.

A Chartered Management Accountant, Andy has been with the company since 2005 and previously worked at Procter and Gamble and Boots Group. In 2016 Andy was appointed to the Board of Sport England, the arm’s length body of the UK Government charged with increasing the number of people enjoying the benefits of sport and activity in England – no matter what their background, ability or age.

Laura Hinton

Chief People Officer

PwC

Laura graduated from King’s College, London with a Business Management degree. She trained in audit prior to moving into HR Consulting. Laura joined PwC in 2005 and became a Partner in 2006. Before joining the Executive Board, she held a number of Leadership roles including Head of People for the Tax Practice, and UK HR Consulting Leader. Laura continues to work with global clients to support them with people transformation programmes and culture change.