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.

Alison Gurd

Global Head of Proposal Management

BNP Paribas Securities Services

Alison has over 30 years’ experience in the securities industry. In her current role with BNP Paribas Alison enjoys leading a global team supporting sales initiatives across 34 locations. Based in London, Alison is the Executive Sponsor for CSR at BNP Paribas Securities Services and a member of their CSR council, which drives the company’s agenda on social, environmental, economic and civic engagement. Alison is also an active member of Girlguiding, the leading UK charity for girls and young women.

Nick Hedley

Partner

Hedley May

Nick is a recognised leader in the appointment of C-suite functional leaders, with a specialist focus on General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officers and Chief Risk Officers. He has worked across industry sectors and geographies on behalf of a diverse range of clients, helping them recruit talented individuals who are able to transform the impact a corporate function has on the business. Nick is a qualified lawyer who began his career in law before moving into search in 1995. He has an LLB from London University.

Sarah David

Founder & Managing Director

Thrive Consulting Collaborative

Thrive founder and managing director Sarah David has built her consulting career having previously held senior executive level roles in a range of businesses going through significant growth and change. Her early career was spent as a lawyer with Slaughter and May, before moving into sales and management as a director of QD Legal, a highly successful recruitment business.

A key player in business acquisitions, Sarah has unusually strong experience in change situations, particularly engaging teams in major change, restructuring international teams and leading change programmes vital to growth and retrenchment strategies. She has been able to apply her tactics and strategies in organisations ranging from £2bn to $1m turnover, particularly in professional services, search, regulatory and education sectors, and in all ownership models, private, listed, public and private equity backed.
Her MBA, executive Harvard Business School programme, executive coaching training and investment in professional development are components of her success. She was the first person in her family to go to university.

Sarah’s not for profit experience includes board roles at The Children’s Society, inspire* and as CEO of Firefly, an autism school and outreach centre in Colorado, USA. She coaches and mentors CEOs in the charity space and has led CSR programmes for businesses in an executive capacity. Thrive is a social business, supporting social justice and mobility causes and charities.
Returning from the US after being suddenly widowed, Sarah took her experiences into consultancy and founded Thrive with her belief that business leaders do have time to make changes that will make them and their businesses prosper.

Sara Brennan

Positive Business Director

Pentland Brands

Sara Brennan is Positive Business Director– where she is tasked is looking at how Pentland and its portfolio of sports, outdoor and lifestyle brands, can accelerate its positive business strategy to deliver on its commitment to take-action for people and our planet Sara started her career in regulatory affairs and later moved into sustainability and CSR, whilst working in the petrochemical industry.

Her work caused her to grow more conscious of existing sustainability issues and opportunities and the role of businesses in addressing those issues. Sara is also interested in organisational change, especially in relation to developing beyond conventional leadership and discovering new ways of contributing to the wider environment in which organisations operate.