Thimon de Jong runs WHETSTON / strategic foresight, a think tank specialised in future human behaviour, societal change & business strategy.

He is an experienced keynote presenter and leadership trainer and worked for clients like Morgan Stanley, Vodafone, and IKEA.

Thimon also lectures at the social psychology department of Utrecht University where he teaches master students how academic research can be practically applied to improve business strategy. He has a master’s degree in Cultural Studies with a minor in International Business Studies. He is a former insights & strategy director at TrendsActive, researcher at FreedomLab Future Studies and editor-in-chief of RELOAD Magazine.

Yancey Strickler is a writer, speaker, and the Cofounder and former CEO of Kickstarter. Kickstarter has helped filmmakers, musicians, writers, designers, artists, and other creative people raise more than $4 billion to bring new creative projects to life. Kickstarter projects have won Grammys and Oscars, entered the Museum of Modern Art, gone into space, and pioneered new fields of technology.

Yancey has been recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He has spoken at the Museum of Modern Art, MIT Media Lab, Stanford, Columbia University, the Tribeca and Sundance Film Festivals, and events around the globe.

Yancey is also Cofounder of The Creative Independent, a growing resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. His writing has appeared in Pitchfork, Spin, The Village Voice, and The Washington Post. His first book, entitled “This Could Be Our Future,” will be published by Viking Press in Fall 2019.

With 20 years of international legal experience, Paul provides counsel to clients in relation to their most complex and challenging IT and digital transformation programs.

Based in Dubai, in recent years Paul has advised clients in relation to programs covering cloud adoption and migration, digital payment ecosystems, digital transformation, innovation and IT and business process outsourcings, at both a local and global level. In recognition of this work, Paul and his team are top ranked in both Chambers Global and Legal 500.

As Co-Chair of DLA Piper’s Global Technology & Sourcing practice, Paul is passionate about supporting clients to achieve their organizational objectives. Paul is also a member of DLA Piper’s Change Council which is responsible for fostering radical change and innovation at the firm, and building on the firm’s recognition by the FT as one of the world’s top 10 firms for innovation.

Paul is currently undertaking his Executive MBA with INSEAD and expects to graduate in December 2019.

Chris has over 14 years experience in building and managing enterprise workloads in multiple environments. For the past 9 years he has focused on deploying applications and services in cloud environments whilst retaining a strong security posture. He is a capable leader in bringing modern technology practices to large enterprises and is an industry expert in major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

Today, Chris is responsible for the Cloud Practice for KPMG UK. The team has numerous capabilities around DevOps, Cloud and Automation, allowing the firm to quickly and easily deploy applications and services to clients. By building this capability, Chris has given KPMG a competitive edge in terms of agility and speed to market and is assisting clients in gaining a similar capability themselves. Through these capabilities, KPMG has been able to deploy hundreds of workloads to the cloud in support of our clients business transformation projects.

A geek at heart, Kelvin has over 15 years of experience in technology investment banking, venture capital and managing high-growth operations.

He is currently Head of Venture at Founders Factory, a global technology incubator and accelerator uniquely backed by industry-leading corporates, providing all start-ups with the unfair advantage of early access to partnership opportunities as well as support from a full-time team of 70 specialists, offering the best platform for founders to launch and scale their companies. As Head of Venture, Kelvin oversees all fundraising activities within the portfolio and provides full-stack end-to-end investment support.

Prior to Founders Factory, Kelvin was interim COO at Qumin, a next generation marketing company with a sole focus on opening the world to China. Before that, Kelvin was MD at Metail, a deep tech scale-up harvesting the power of computer vision, fashion and consumer data to make the apparel supply chain more efficient. At Metail, he was responsible for finance and operations, investor relations, and international business and corporate development.

Prior to getting his hands dirty as a start-up operator, Kelvin was a venture investor at DFJ (Draper Esprit) and worked at Credit Suisse and HSBC where he provided M&A and financing advice to technology corporates and SMEs globally.

Kelvin is an active angel investor in the technology space and currently sits on the board of a number of companies specialising in personalised commerce, marketing automation, mobile infrastructure, quantum cybersecurity and intelligent robotics.

Kelvin holds a first class Master's degree in Computer Science from Imperial College London

Gary Barnett is the CTO for AirSensa, a technology start-up that has developed a platform that supports hyperlocal environmental monitoring in urban and rural environments.

Over the past 20 years Gary has worked as an analyst and consultant for two of the world’s leading research organisations and has advised dozens of organisations across the public and private sectors on the topic of digital transformation. Prior to taking on his current role Gary lead the Technology element of GlobalData’s Thematic research program, bringing together the combined research of all of GlobalData’s technology analysts into a theme-based framework.

He continues to advise organisations in the public and private sectors on the topics of the Strategy and Architecture, Digital Transformation, and on the impact of emerging technologies like Quantum Computing, Blockchain, the Internet of Things, and Blockchain.

Before becoming an analyst, Gary worked first as a software engineer then as an enterprise architect in the UK and France, developing and designing mainframe and large-scale client-server applications. Gary also served as CIO and Membership Manager for the Royal Yachting Association, the UK’s national body for sailing. In 2015, Gary was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Martin specialises in structured credit and asset management acting for many of the world's leading private equity credit funds, banks and corporations, on complex funding structures, portfolio sales, securitization, derivative products and technology investment. He has over 25 years' experience working for and advising funds and financial institutions.

Leading a team of over 700 lawyers in more than 90 offices worldwide. The group provides advice on tax efficient structuring, vehicle formation and management, regulatory issues, vehicle funding and lending, asset acquisition and disposal including NPLs and consumer assets, capital markets listings and reporting, and asset management including portfolio repackaging and trading.

Martin is recognised as one of the world's leading FinTech lawyers (ranked in Legal 500) and advises on technology solutions for emerging and traditional funding structures. He is at the forefront of alternative investment strategies and products including applying new techniques through platform structures, digitalization and fund driven investment.

Daphne Bens has extensive experience in advising clients, (multi)national corporations as well as listed companies in complex cross border M&A transactions. Daphne's practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures and general corporate law.

Daphne has a specific focus on the Technology sector and the Hospitality and Leisure sector and is member of the DLA Piper core teams in these sectors.

Raman Bhatia heads the Digital business for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management in the UK and Europe. He and his team are responsible for driving innovation, new digital ways of working and the design, development, deployment and commercialisation of digital platforms, products and channels.

Prior to HSBC, Raman was a Vice President at HouseTrip - a venture-backed online platform for holiday rentals. Before HouseTrip, Raman was Head of Strategy for Expedia in EMEA. His early career was at Bain & Company in London and as a consultant to local and regional governments in the United States. Raman holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and in 2019 joined the board of fintech company Bud.

Kit Burden has extensive experience in the areas of outsourcing and complex technology transactions, advising both users and suppliers of IT, commercial and outsourcing services and in relation to all aspects of the procurement process.

Kit's work ordinarily involves him on business critical projects frequently valued in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

His clients include major retail banks, airlines, high street and online retailers, pharmaceutical companies, investment banks, outsource and IT service providers, and various name brand and multinational companies.

Julian is a digital, technology and business transformation leader ranked in the CIO Top 40 in 2018 and has executive and C-level experience across retail, consumer products and supply chain industries. As VP, Global Markets - Distribution, he leads IBM's business in the UK covering these market sectors.

Julian has held CTO, CIO and Supply Chain leadership positions at Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and House of Fraser, where in each he designed and led large scale digital and technology enabled business transformation initiatives. Julian sits on the GS1 Apparel Board, is an Advisor to Retail Week Tech, an international conference on digitally enabled commerce, and advises and campaigns with Business Disability International upon the role of technology in enhancing the opportunities and experiences of disabled customers and colleagues in the work place.

Before holding senior roles in industry, Julian held consultancy leadership roles at both CapGemini and CSC where he focused on Business Transformation, Digital & Technology Strategy and Enterprise Architecture. He is a trained coach and facilitator, with experience of coaching and mentoring senior business, technology and digital executives. He is a regular industry speaker and also guest lectures on Oxford Brookes University Executive MBA course, where he is also collaborating on a research based book project.

Beth Butterwick has enjoyed a wonderful and varied career in Retail for over 25 years. Having completed a Fashion & Marketing Degree, she joined Marks & Spencer on their Graduate Training Scheme, where she spent 16 years in the Clothing Division. She joined Gap Inc in 2005 as part of the Senior Management Team responsible for delivering the European Expansion Programme. In 2009 she joined MS Mode BV, part of KKR's Maxeda Group and based in Amsterdam as Commercial Director, playing a key part in its performance improvement prior to its acquisition by Excellent Retail Brands. In 2011 she returned to the UK to take up a Brand Director role at Bonmarché. 8 weeks into the role the business was put into administration; Beth led the successful sale process to Sun Europe LLP private equity. During her 5 years there, she steered the company through a massive turnaround, including  a successful stock market flotation on AIM Listing in November 2013. In September 2016 Beth took up her current role as CEO of Karen Millen a Global fashion retailer with 400 shops in 65 countries. Owned by Kaupthing bank, she is charged with delivering a successful transformation and eventual sale. In recognition of Beth’s services to the retail industry, she was awarded the Draper’s 2015 Retail Personality of the Year. That same year she was made Barclay’s Business Woman of the Year in recognition of her dedication and services to Bonmarché a Yorkshire-based business. In November 2017 Beth was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Huddersfield for her services in Retail.

Fernando Chueca is a Managing Director with Carlyle Europe Technology Partners, focusing on buyouts, growth capital and strategic minority investments throughout Europe in the technology, telecommunications, software and business services sectors. Mr. Chueca is based in London.

Since joining Carlyle in 2001, Mr. Chueca has advised on 11 major investments and nine completed realizations across Europe.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Chueca worked for the strategic venture arm of J.P. Morgan, focusing on investments in the financial services space.

Mr. Chueca holds an MSc in electrical engineering from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain.

Mr. Chueca is a member of the boards of Livingstone Technologies and Nature Delivered (Graze), and was formerly on the boards of Itconic, Expereo, ITRS Group, Arsys Internet, Bigmouthmedia and FRS Global.

Lord Clement-Jones has long experience of parliamentary affairs in the UK, EU and internationally, and has advised governments, blue chip companies and trade associations operating in highly regulated fields including financial services, utilities, health, pharmaceuticals and the environment.

He is a member of the Saudi–Britain Joint Business Council, a Law Society Ambassador to the City of London; an Icebreaker Fellow and Vice-President of the 48 Group Club, a business network which promotes links with China.

He is Chair of Ombudsman Services Limited, the not for profit, independent ombudsman service that provides dispute resolution for the communications, energy, property and copyright licensing industries. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Airmic (the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in Industry and Commerce) and of the Faculty of Corporate Finance of the ICAEW.

Tim was Chairman of the Liberal Party from 1986 to 1988 and played a major part in the merger with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats. He was made CBE for political services in 1988 and a life peer in 1998. He was Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2010. He is now Liberal Democrat Spokesman on the Digital Economy.

He is Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence (2017-2018) and a former member of the Select Committees on Communications (2011-2015). He is Co-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence. He is Deputy Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China and Vice Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Publishing; Writers; and Intellectual Property.

Tim is a Consultant to DLA Piper, former positions held include London Managing Partner (2011-2016), Head of UK Government Affairs and Chairman of China and Middle East Desks.

Giulio Coraggio advises some of the major land-based and online gaming operators as well as game suppliers on their business in Italy and their expansion in other jurisdictions.

Giulio has obtained substantial experience in drafting international commercial and technology contracts, including cloud projects, sourcing, outsourcing and software license agreements, sponsorship agreements, product and service supply, distribution and franchising agreements also in the fashion sector.

Furthermore, he has a strong focus in advising world leading operators on data protection, information technology and Internet law issues in relation also to the Internet of Things, wearable technologies and eHealth projects as well as on e-commerce, e-payment deals, telecommunications, unfair commercial practices and misleading advertising.

Giulio is the head of the Italian Technology sector and is the Global Co-Chair of the Internet of Things group. He also leads the Italian gaming and gambling practice.

Laura Da Silva Gomes is the Founder and Director of WePlayFair.org, a project aiming at preventing crime in sports, specifically female sports. Its mission is to help develop strong, captivating, exemplary and values-driven female sports. The first stage of the project is to provide education on sports integrity, responsible gaming, diversity & inclusion and social responsibility to athletes as well as sports stakeholders.

She is also the Director of Silverfish CSR, a social responsibility agency with a tech solution to address impact. She believes that businesses have no choice but to strive for more that just profit. There is no option but to consider positive and negative impacts on society and the environment and to address them with the same creativity that it takes to lead successful businesses.

Kevin Duffey is Managing Director of Cyber Rescue, the European leader in executive response to cyber-attack.

Kevin enjoyed two careers before his current role.

He worked in what we now call “Cyber” for 20 years, starting with IBM in the 1980s. Later he was CEO Scandinavia, CEO Asia, and on the Board of the UK’s largest systems integrator, Logica (now CGI). He oversaw digital innovation for banks, telcos and governments in over 20 countries, with clients ranging from GCHQ and the MoD, to the Reserve Bank of India and the Government of the Philippines.

Kevin’s second career has been in “Rescue”. He was headhunted into International SOS, and as Group General Manager he oversaw the evacuation of 4,000 people during the Arab Spring. Kevin deployed staff to respond to the Fukushima nuclear crisis and to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone. He was then headhunted to run G4S International, managing staff in 30 countries as they moved billions of dollars of gold and high-denomination currencies.

Kevin joined Cyber Rescue in 2015. He welcomes invitations to connect via LinkedIn.

Nick Fitzpatrick has a particular focus on copyright, digital broadcasting, television, sport, film and sponsorship.

Nick works with a full range of media clients, from US studios to private individuals. Nick is also co-chair of our global Media, Sport and Entertainment team.

Chloe Forster is a lead lawyer in our Technology Transactions and Strategic Sourcing group, advising on complex and strategic technology and sourcing transactions, including outsourcing, offshoring, IT change and digital transformation projects as well as the use of artificial intelligence and automation, blockchain and other digital and emerging technologies across multiple industries, geographies and sectors.

Chloe work regularly involves global, multi-tower and multi-vendor ecosystems, working with clients to structure deals accordingly, to maintain focus on achieving overall deal objectives.

Chloe's work often includes providing advice on multiple aspects of the sourcing process, including developing the contract structure, commercial construct, implementation approach, governance and performance management regimes.

Chloe's clients include major retail banks, pharmaceutical companies, high street and online retailers, global consumer goods brands and major hospitality and airline companies.

Luisella Giani, EMEA Industry Transformation Director at Oracle, has over 15 years of international experience leading digital strategy, operations and product development.

Following a degree in Artificial Intelligence, she started her career with iconic brands of the digital age, such as Skype, Netlog and Lycos. More recently she has been helping global businesses, such as Yellow Pages, Goodyear-Dunlop and DuPont Coating, with their digital transformations. Her role at Oracle is to help companies to continuously innovate defining, creating and realize new digital experiences.

Harveen Gill is founder and Joint Managing Director of HGA Group - the UK's leading international boutique recruitment and consultancy operator within fashion and retail.

With offices in London, Italy, Turkey, South Africa and Dubai, 50% of HGA Group's assignments sit in international territories. Clients of HGA Group include mid - sized organisations and blue – chip multiples. The unifying factor being that all are undergoing transformation. Retailers that secure the talent that deploy the correct technologies will be able to enhance their competitive advantage by personalising products and shopping experiences and refining logistical processes.

Harveen has ensured that her personal ethics, standards and vision underpin every touch point, as she and her team deliver top tier individuals and teams into organisations. Longevity is vital – many of her live client relationships span over a decade. She champions assignments within international and emerging markets whilst acting as brand ambassador for the business.

Although recruitment is the staple for HGA Group, Harveen is also Board Advisor to a technology established start – up - gowherewolf.com.

Her retail career includes working for John Lewis, New Look and Topshop.

Clare Gregory's practice focuses on the employment implications of business transfers and outsourcing, as well as senior executive severances. She has concentrated on employment law for over 10 years. Clare is experienced in managing cross border projects involving employment issues across several jurisdictions, and reporting to clients on multi-jurisdiction issues. She also regularly handles cases where instructions are received from outside of the UK. 

Clare has a particular interest in collective consultation and outsourcing issues and has been involved in advising on a Court of Appeal case involving the application of TUPE, as well as cases of significant value in both areas. Clare is regularly instructed by clients in relation to the removal and appointment of directors services sector.

She has a Masters in Engineering from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

Janine Hirt is the Chief Operating Officer and a Board Member at Innovate Finance (IF), the UK membership association for global FinTech.

Janine is responsible for monitoring key trends in FinTech and innovation to ensure Innovate Finance is continuously providing its membership community - from startups to multinational financial institutions - with the best support possible. She overseas IF’s 250+ member ecosystem and directly manages the relationship with its highest supporters.

Janine previously led corporate relations at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) before joining the founding IF leadership team as Head of Membership then Ecosystem Director. She received her BA Magna Cum Laude from Boston College, JYA at Oxford University, and her MSc from the London School of Economics. Janine is an American, Swiss and German national who calls NYC and London home.

Tottenham Hotspur is one of the most popular and instantly recognisable brands in world football, known for a history of style and flair on the pitch that last season took them to the UEFA Champions League final. As part of the Club’s ambition, this April it opened its doors to a state-of-the-art new 62,000 stadium, heralding an era of regeneration to the Tottenham area. Widely regarded as one of the best sports stadiums in the world, it features the world's only retractable grass pitch to reveal an artificial one that will play host to NFL matches as part of a 10 year deal. In addition Saracens and Heineken Champions Cup rugby, as well as music and other leading entertainment events will make this an iconic London destination.

Nick joined Tottenham Hotspur in August 2019 and brings over 20 years of sports marketing, business development and leadership experience with him to take help drive Spurs’ commercial programme forward.

After gaining a 2.1 Hons degree at University of Durham and 2 years at Octagon, Nick spent nearly 19 years helping to build what is now CSM Sport & Entertainment (owned by Providence Equity Partners). Starting out as a Sales Manager, Nick became Managing Director of Essentially Group and eventually Chief Executive Officer at CSM in 2017 with specific responsibility for the day to day running and profitability of their Rights Division; recognition for his success delivering commercial programme for the likes of British & Irish Lions, Chelsea FC, Cirque du Soleil, England & Wales Cricket Board and LaLiga.

Nick lives near Saffron Walden with his wife and three children.

Martin Kissinger is the Founder and CEO of Lendable. Lendable offers personal loans to a broad range of borrowers by matching them up with qualified investors, using instant credit decisions and fully personalised pricing. Martin previously worked in venture development at Rocket Internet, and among other projects started the incubator's first fin-tech venture, Lendico. Prior to Rocket, he spent time at venture capital firms including Accel Partners. Martin graduated at the top of his class with a research masters degree in Economics from Oxford, and also holds a BSc from the London School of Economics.

Max is co-founder and CSO at NearSt, a retail technology company getting people back into real shops. The company’s Real-Time Local Inventory technology is revolutionising the idea of physical shopping. By connecting the world's local inventory to the web, NearSt is making it faster and easier to buy something from a shop just around the corner than ordering it online.

An ex-Ogilvy Strategist and Tech Innovation Consultant, Max helped traditional companies and markets innovate like technology startups. His successes involved working with both corporates and startups using his innovation methodology Open Activation on which NearSt is built.

Managing Director, EMEA Global Banking and Markets Technology and Head of EMEA Global Transaction Services Technology

Allison is responsible for EMEA Global Banking and Markets Technology. Global Banking & Markets Technology provides end-to-end technology solutions and support for Global Banking and Global Markets (including Equities, Electronic Trading, Rates and Currencies, Credit and Structured Products, Commodities, Sales and Capital Markets and Global Markets Operations & Middle Office, Wholesale Banking, Research, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking clients).

Allison is also head of EMEA Global Transaction Services Technology (GTST). Allison joined GTST in August 2016 and has overall responsibility for the end-to-end delivery of technology solutions supporting the global corporate and transaction services business in the region. In addition, she is also responsible for the International Treasury Management and Commercial Banking platforms managed within EMEA region and utilized globally across EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and the US.

Allison is a member of the GT&O Diversity and Inclusion forum in her role as co-lead of the EMEA GT&O and GBAM Technology D&I Council.

Prior to this role, Allison was Head of Equity Technology in Asia Pacific supporting the Asia Equities business operating their technology platform and providing solutions to improve trading, facilitate sales, and manage risk positions. Allison joined the bank in 2011 and has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years. Prior to joining the company she was at Deutsche Bank in London where she worked in Equity Derivatives and Group Treasury IT. Allison was previously with Merrill Lynch for 9 years working both in New York and London offices and started her career as part of the Merrill Lynch Graduate Program. Allison is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in Engineering.

Vanessa is the Chief Commercial Officer of Aon’s Cyber Solutions team in EMEA, responsible for the commercial strategy. She works closely with Aon’s cyber insurance, risk and security experts, driving cyber solutions in response to organisations’ needs.

Vanessa joined Aon in 2002 and has more than 17 years of insurance experience, including more than 5 years of cyber insurance. She also authored multiple cyber thought leadership reports.

She holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) and a MSc in Business Economics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Michael is Co-founder of Fidor and currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Fidor Solutions, a digital bank solutions provider behind the success of Fidor Bank. 

Prior to his time at Fidor, Michael worked at DAB Bank as Head of Business Development and Head of Retail Business.

He is former Head of Research Group of Financial Services Marketing at the Institute of Marketing (LMU) in Munich.

Michael holds a PhD in Economics. He was member of the PSR Strategy Board helping to design the NPSO for UK.

Alessandro Mantelero is Associate Professor of Private Law at the Polytechnic University of Turin.

He is Council of Europe Rapporteur on Artificial Intelligence and data protection. He has served as an expert on data regulation for several national and international organizations, including the UN–ILO, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the UN-OHCHR, the European Commission, the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, the Italian Ministry of Justice and the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM).

He has held visiting appointments in several universities, including Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. He is Co-Editor at Computer Law & Security Review and member of the editorial board of European Data Protection Law Review.  

Chris is an experienced industry expert in building cross functional teams, technology platforms and digital products for global brands.

He is currently leading development of the UK Open Banking Standard, including creation of the collaboration and governance model which covers both regulatory compliance and commercial requirements. Chris is a strategic innovator and founder of Ozone, a fintech providing PSD2/Open API technology solutions and advisory services to banks, third parties and regulators in UK, Europe and Globally.

Sriram is the Global Lead for Disruptive M&A and leads a multidisciplinary proposition to advise clients on venture investment and M&A opportunities to capture innovation-led growth opportunities. He has advised clients on a range of complex issues covering growth & innovation strategy, M&A, corporate venturing and change management. He is UK relationship leader for Uber and his clients include Softbank, Ricoh, Bank of America, UBS and BT. 

He is also the Global Lead for M&A Insight and responsible for positioning Deloitte as a market leader for eminence and works closely with clients to drive insight-led deal opportunities. He has been featured in in publications such as Financial Times, WSJ, The Economist, BBC, NY Times and Atlantic Magazine. He is also a frequent media commentator on BBC, Bloomberg TV and CNBC.

Craig oversees the day to day running of the partnerships department to provide a best in class service, working with brands such as; OnePlus, AMD, Letou, Rivalry & DXRacer. He develops commercial strategies and offerings to bring on-board partners that are going to help Fnatic achieve their mission.

A background in sponsorship and partnerships in both the tech/I.T. sectors selling products from likes of Symantec & Quantum. He has also worked in football, account managing some of the world’s biggest football clubs such as; Juventus, Liverpool & Ajax alongside major sports brands; Adidas, New Balance and Nike for the largest B2B football networking media company. 

Uljan Sharka is Founder and CEO of iGenius, the AI company behind crystal, the first virtual advisor for data intelligence. He was previously a consultant at Apple. 

Uljan leads iGenius’ strategy and mission to bridge the gap between people and data using groundbreaking technology such as Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning.

A rising star in European AI innovation, Uljan was mentioned at the Web Summit, TechCrunch Disrupt and Startup Grind, among other events. He also featured in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Under Uljan’s leadership, iGenius was selected by Facebook’s Accelerate program for thriving startups, and as a Google Cloud Platform case study for top use of Machine Learning, cloud technologies and fast data retrieval.

Jonathan Simnett coined the term 'M&A is the new R&D' to summarise the current reality of maintaining corporate development strategies amid the ever-increasing rate of change in the technology industries and now in the traditional industries they are transforming.

A director at Hampleton Partners, a firm at the forefront of international Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Finance advisory for companies with technology at their core, he’s pursued in a long career in academia, marketing and M&A advisory, through which technology entrepreneurship, innovation and related mergers and acquisitions activity runs like a binding thread.

He’s won and judged scores of awards, for business management & helping owners and investors in complex, fast-growth tech B2B & B2C segments to: grow; manage change; reposition; enter markets; acquire; merge; exit; IPO & report through the delivery of more effective management, positioning, message development, content creation, digital, communications and influencer & M&A advisory strategies.

Hazel works and travels internationally as a reporter, covering events across the world as well as drilling in to technical and economic analysis on the changing face of sport media. She notionally lives in East London and has not just a cat but an Instagram account for her cat.

Luke Sully is founder and CEO of Custody Digital Group a UK/US digital asset custodian. CusDG provides an insured, highly secure, institutional-grade custodian service for a variety of digital assets and blockchain based information systems for organisations, consortia and governments.

Luke was formerly IBM Security Services' first global lead for blockchain, working with financial services clients across use case, implementation, encryption and security intelligence issues. He has also advised several asset and non-asset backed crypto currency companies across regulatory compliance, technical design, security and business development issues.

Prior to IBM, Luke was a Director at PwC LLP, the professional services firm, where he also co-founded the US firm’s blockchain and crypto finance practice in financial services in 2013.

He is a contributor to the Center for Sanctions and Illicit Finance based in Washington DC, and is a published author and speaker. Luke has a First Class honours degree in Languages and studied Entrepreneurship at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ed Thomas is principal analyst in GlobalData’s technology thematic research team. Prior to joining GlobalData, he was market intelligence manager at AI company IPsoft and a senior analyst at Ovum, a research and consulting firm.

David has advised the Naspers group of companies since 1996. Before joining the group full time, he was a partner in Mallinicks Attorneys (now Webber Wentzel) and worked in London at two leading international law firms. In 2008 David was appointed Naspers and MIH Group Senior Counsel. In this role he led the legal teams for the group’s M&A activities in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. David then became General Counsel of the Allegro Group and was subsequently promoted to the position of General Counsel: Global Transaction eCommerce at Naspers. In June 2015 he was appointed General Counsel, Naspers Group.

Patrick Van Eecke has deep experience in e-commerce related legal issues such as data protection, electronic signatures, consumer protection and advertising. He advises telecommunication companies, internet service providers, software developers, governments and companies using IT related services.

He is extensively involved in diverse consulting projects for the European Commission, national governments and multi-national global corporations.

Oliver Weingarten qualified as a solicitor at Olswang, and thereafter spent 7 years from 2004 as General Counsel at the Premier League specialising in commercial and intellectual property matters. Managing the sale and protection of media rights and sponsorship, forming the Sports Rights Owners Coalition, to litigating against YouTube in the US, the role entwined legal, commercial and policy. In 2011 Oliver joined The Formula One Teams’ Association as Secretary General to work with the teams to represent views on the commercial, financial and regulatory aspects of the sport. In July 2014, Oliver formed OW Advisory Limited to provide clients with a boutique offering related to sports rights, lobbying and fan engagement, and worked with private equity companies, athletes and rights owners including Marathon Man (Rob Young) and the Professional Darts Corporation. Oliver formed and was General Secretary of the Formula E Teams’ Association and has worked in sports tech (VR and mobile gaming with Virtually Live) and more recently in esports co-founding LDN UTD.

LDN UTD is a grassroots, fan driven esports organisation to help grassroots gamers take the path to pro, whilst aligning with societal benefits. Gamers upload their best gaming content to LDN UTD’s tech platform. Fans vote their favourite. The interactive leaderboard reflects the most popular gamers, and those gamers are invited to try-out at LDN UTD’s events, to compete for places in LDN UTD’s team. The try-outs are live streamed with the winners receiving a LDN UTD contract. Harnessing community spirit, building out in cities across the world with a regionalised approach to esports, fans will choose the title LDN UTD competes in. LDN UTD’s ethos is to provide purpose, and ensure gamers are educated on health, nutrition and other life skills.

Lawrence is a Co-Chair and Guarantor of GDF. He is a globally recognised digital finance advocate, advisor, and investment manager, over a career spanning more than 25 years. He is the principal of Elipses, an advisory and investment firm focused on digital disruption in the finance sector. He is the former CEO of Innovate Finance, a not-for-profit FinTech members association, which helped establish the UK as the premier FinTech Hub globally.

Michael is a Technical Director specialising in Cyber enterprise risk management within the transactions space, advising and working with both Private Equity (and their portfolio companies) as well as Corporate clients throughout the entire transactions lifecycle.

He was a founder member and led the creation of the end to end M&A service offerings for EY’s dedicated transactions cyber team.

He has a varied IT background consisting of both multi-sector industry and consultancy experience, holding various IT management and leadership roles at various global firms in various sectors
This varied career has led to him working all over Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America
Michael’s work involves him working on deals that are a few tens of thousands in value all the way up to tens of billions.

He is currently working for the world’s largest PE and Global corporates as part of his role at EY