2025 Speakers

Richard Parker
Mayor
West Midlands Combined Authority

Leon Butler
Chief Executive
IBM

Andy Hague
CEO
TechWM

Katie Obi
Chief People Officer

OneAdvanced

Nikki Christie
Deputy Director, Creative, Digital, Finance and Business
Skills England

Charlie Smith
Executive Director
IBM UK & Ireland

Sara French
Director Trade and Growth
London & Partners

Lucy Dimes
Former Non-Executive Director
Babock plc

Praveen Jayaraj
Vice President
Goldman Sachs

Richard Billingham
Chief Operating Officer
Aston University

Prashant Aggarwal
Exited Founder
MoneyHero Group

Emily Stubbs
Head of Policy
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

Joanna Birch
Founder
Growthinnk Associates

Alex Zarifeh
Founder
ATLP Future Readiness

Karen Rodkin
Operations Director
Netcom Training

Cian Galvin
Head, TechFirst and Cyber Skills Team
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology

Rachel Moore
Learning and Development Director
OneAdvanced

Karen Newman
Founder
BOM

Kellie Kwarteng
Founder
Halzak | Elevate Women in Tech

Prof Roya Rahimi
Professor of Marketing and Leisure Management
University of Wolverhampton

Victoria Pargetter-Garner
Director – Digital Skills & Commercial Impact
TechWM

Amber Strickland
Principal Associate
Gowling WLG

Caroline Hildreth
Principal – Transport & Logistics
Netcompany

Charlie Blakemore
CEO
Intercity

Dr Anneloes Smitsman
Founder
EARTHwise

Hannah Proffitt
Hardware Engineering Leader
GE Aerospace

Dave Sharpe
Co-founder & CTO
Chiron.ai

Amelia Kallman
Futurist
Kallman Communications

Davies Okeowo
Founder
PitchHub Ltd.

Amanda Brock
CEO
OpenUK

Steve Rigby
CEO
Rigby Group PLC

Melissa Snover
Founder & CEO
Nourish3d

Richard Knott
Head of AI
SCC

Tom Haworth
Founder
B13.ai

Chris Blackwell
Chief People and Performance Officer
AutogenAI

Louise Campton
Founder
Primary Goal

Lalita Pinky Taylor FRSA
Founder
We Job Box

Rebecca Bignold
Co-Founder & CEO
Fibraxis Ltd.

David Milton
Entrepreneur in Residence
WMG

Dan Harris
Founder & Chairperson
Neurodiversity in Business

Monder Ram
Director
CREME – Aston Business School

Mike Lewis
Strategic Lead for West Midlands Digital Roadmap
West Midlands Combined Authority

Phil Chell
Co-Founder & CEO
Chiron.ai

Laura Bond
CEO
Superspree

Clare Streets
Innovation and Digital Lead
SuperTech

Andrew Knight
Co-founder
GTA Savants

Suzie Branch-Haddow
VP – External Development
BMet

David Plumb
Chief Innovation Officer
University of Warwick

Sam Meiklejohn
Partner
Gateley

Amy Moore
Solutions Manager
Gowling WLG – CoLab innovation

Dr Marco Ghisoni
Technical Product Manager
Equivital

Ben Cheema
Founder
Agenda For Change

Amandip Kaur Jheeta
Senior Director
NTT Data

Chris Traverse
Engineering Director
Huel

Raj Boora
Global Head of Data
Pinsent Masons

Prof Clare Schofield
Dean Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences
University of Wolverhampton

Lucy Rook
Managing Director
BlackRook Academy

Shahin Ashraf MBE
Deputy Leader
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Jamie Whysall
Principal, Head of Health
Netcompany

Kirsty Davies-Chinnock
CEO
Women of Metal

Dr Samia Mahmood
Senior Lecture
University of Wolverhampton

Angela Spence
Chair of the Board of Governors
University of Wolverhampton

Kari Lawler
Content Creator
Independent

Elisabeth Lewis Jones
CEO
Liquid PR

Alex Bellingham
Director, UK Tech Sector & Growth Lending
HSBC UK

Lin Lowden
Ecosystem Marketing & Sales Lead
Good Growth

Davina Schonle
Founder
HumanVantage AI

Irene Graham OBE
CEO
Scaleup Institute

Josh Robson
Head of Public Affairs and External Relations
Scaleup Institute

Serena Koivurinta
Venture Partner
Borski Ventures

Alexander McLeod
Start-up Coach
University of Warwick

Enrique Dupuy de Lome
Director Venture Capital
Estrella Galicia

Rupert Lyle
Early Stage Investor
Future Planet Capital Regional

Dave Bannister
Intellectual Property & Commercialisation Manager
Birmingham City University

Chris Ensor
Deputy Director for Cyber Growth
National Cyber Security Centre

Chris Woods
Founder & CEO
CyberQ Group

Bill Mews
Co-founder and Reporter
TechTV

Clive Summerfield
Founder & CEO
FARx

Lisa Washer
Head of Cyber
IntaForensics

Sarah Gray
Senior Associate
Gowling WLG

Wayne Horkan
Head of Technology and Engineering
Cyber Tzar

Bridgette Bigmore
CTO
UKTL

Ryan Protheroe
Cluster Manager
Midlands Cyber

Anitha Chinnaswamy
Director – Cyber Security Innovation Centre
Aston University

Sophie Powell
Director & Co-Founder
Cyberwomen Group

Zoe Mobberley
Innovation Programme Development Officer
Warwick Innovation District

Anthony Gribben-Lisle
Trustee & Director
Wired Differently

Dominic Richardson
Partner
Gowling WLG

Michael Whiley
VP of Platform Engineering
OneAdvanced

Paul Ward
Director of Digital Services
Coventry City Council

Helen Frost
VP of Platform
OneAdvanced

Tom Haworth
Founder
B13.ai

Janne Kaariainen
Principal Consultant
AND Digital

Carl Tanner
Senior Manager, EMEA Customer Enablement
Databricks

Clare-Boden-Hatton
Director – Planning & Performance
Coventry City Council

Robert Franks
Managing Director
WM5G

Vicky Crockett
AI Portfolio Director
QA Ltd.

Claire Downes
Co-founder & CEO
Virtual Decisions

Dr Adam McGuinness
Programme Manager
Plug and Play

Dr Jean-Louis Duprey
Head of Research and Development
GenDX

Jason Sahota
Chair
TechWM

Prof Zeeshan Pervez
Director of Centre for Cyber Resilience and Artificial Intelligence
University of Wolverhampton

Phil Bindley
Field CISO
Intercity

Andy Bloxam
Partner Private Equity & Venture Capital
Foresight Group

Dan Glazer
Managing Partner London Office
Wilson Sonsini

Daniel Campion
CEO & Co-founder
Sitenna

Danielle McGrellis
Associate
ARUP

Indy Bening
Associate Principal
Gowling WLG

Jayne Hume
Head of the Global Division
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

Luize Silina
Investment Analyst
Future Planet Capital

Matthew Borthwick
Co-founder & CEO
Scalerr

Max Swinbourne
CEO
4T2Sensors

Maxine Laceby
Co-founder
Absolute Collagen

Nick Grimshaw
Regional Director
Creative UK

Sophia Tarr
Business Partnerships Manager
STEAMhouse

Stephen Windsor
Deputy Fund Principal
Mercia Ventures

Amahra Spence
Co-Executive Director
Hood Futures Studio

Asha Easton
Immersive Tech Network Lead
Innovate UK

Blake Kammerdiener
Senior Manager, Film & TV, XR Programming
SXSW

Bob Ghosh
Founder & Director
BG Projects

Dr. Jason Wouhra
Chancellor
Aston University

Hayley Pepler
Head of Culture, Creative Industries and Digital Roadmap
West Midlands Combined Authority

Henriette Breukelaar
West Midlands Regional Director
Canal & River Trust

Lamberto Coccioli
Director
Createch Frontiers

Melodie Leung
Director
Zaha Hadid Architects

Michael Candy
International Artist
Independent

Mikayla Sinead
Executive Board Member
Create Central

Miriam Beresford
Project Officer
Coventry & Warwickshire Exchange

Pauline Roche
Producer, Broker, Journalist
Digital WM Productions

Professor Francis Pope
Professor of Atmospheric Science
University of Birmingham

Rachel Farrer, PhD, MBA
Managing Director
Farrer Consulting

Rachel Jackson
Founding Partner
Nokamo

Ravi Deepres
Professor of Moving Image and Photography
Birmingham City University

Siamak Arzanpour
Co-founder & Co-CEO
Human in Motion

Simon Delahunty-Forrest
Assistant Director for Development in the Planning and Development Service
Birmingham City Council

Jim Shirley
Founder
Funding Hero

Melanie King
Chief People Officer
Intercity

Sonia Howe
COO
Invictus Games 2021

Tre Azam
Founder & CEO
Myndplay 

Joe Webber
Chief Product Officer
Good Growth

Abdi Timer
Data Scientist
IBM

Alfonso Sandoval
Developer Advocate
Cicso Systems

Dr. Manimuthu Arunmozhi
Assistant Professor in Cybersecurity and Business Analytics
Aston University

Cynthia Akiotu
Cyber Security Analyst
Tesco Bank

Serge Harjau
Tech Lead
Capital One

Igor Kanyuka
Software Engineer
META

Kingsley Okonkwo
Data Engineer
Ministry of Defence

Tom Clifford-Clarke
Senior Software Engineer
Capital One

John Murray
Assistant Principal – Commercial Development
Halesowen College

Phillipa Peart
Founder
Clarity Penny