Aishat is the strategic lead for Livity’s emerging talent programme, Creatives and Entrepreneurs in Residence, which engaged 600 young people in the first three months.

Aishat also runs Digify, Livity’s digital marketing diversity internship. She is responsible for bringing young diverse talent into the creative industries whilst helping brands and agencies to create the talent processes and cultural shifts needed to help them flourish.

With a deep connection to youth culture, Aishat works with young entrepreneurs and creatives to develop and execute groundbreaking projects. She uses this first hand knowledge of the audience for brands such as Warner Music and Nando’s to design innovative strategies that attract, recruit and retain the most creative and diverse young talent in the market.

@aishattweets

Alisdair is accredited as one of Scotland’s leading sector-specialist advisers, tech ecosystem builders and innovation experts amongst the digital, data, creative and deep tech industries. Focused on developing the service transformation and agile growth of businesses, organisations and market-listed companies, Alisdair is recognised for his experience and dedication to developing Scotland’s Digital, Technology and Creative Ecosystems including the development of many of Scotland’s prominent digital and technology businesses.

Experienced in designing and delivering Tech Accelerators and Innovation Labs, Alisdair has recently been focused on developing a range of Global Partnerships dedicated to growing the International Trade for Scotland’s Digital, Data and Technology Industries and was also the co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Turing Festival (now Turing Fest).

Not many people know… that I am a qualified BASI Ski Instructor.

@aligg

Amali de Alwis is CEO of Code First: Girls, a multi-award winning social enterprise that works with individuals and companies to increase the number of women in tech. As part of their mission they delivered £2.5 million plus of free coding courses in the last year alone, and helped clients and partners such as BT, Twitter, and Thoughtworks hire more diverse tech talent.

Outside of the day job, Amali is a Board member at Ada National College or Digital Skills and a London Tech Week Ambassador for 2019. She was recently named The Most influential woman in UK IT and was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list 2019 for Services to Diversity and Training in the Tech Industry.

The innovation that has excited me lately is… Boston Dynamics’ Handle Robot (imagine a hummingbird on wheels that packs boxes!)

@amali_d

Amy Williams is the founder and CEO of ethical advertising platform Good-Loop. The team behind, among others’ things, the world’s first ethical ads on Snapchat for Unilever, Good-Loop work with the likes of Nestlé, Coca Cola and TOMS to convert people’s attention into donations to charity.

Formerly at Ogilvy Advertising, today Amy is one of Forbes 30 under 30 for media & marketing and a regular commentator on the use of technology for good and the growth of profits-with-purpose business models.

My favourite quote/saying is… Knowledge is Power. France is Bacon.

@ala_swimmily & @GoodLoopHQ

As Managing Director and Chief Consulting Officer, Ann led the expansion of Ogilvy Consulting into EMEA in 2017, and heads up the regional team in the UK, delivering brand strategy, digital transformation and innovation consulting solutions for clients ranging from established brands to disruptive technology players.

In January, Ogilvy Consulting was named a UK Leading Consultancy by the Financial Times for the second year running and recently published ‘The CMO and the Opportunity of an Era’,a paper about galvanising enterprise transformation around a vision for brand experience.

With a career spanning multiple digital roles in Ogilvy and in WPP, Ann is also passionate about the development of people and tackling challenges like diversity and mental health.

The film/book title that describes my life is… ‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day, a brilliant articulation of the strength to be found in surfacing our vulnerability.

@ann_higgins

Anne is a passionate and unwavering champion for change in our industry. She has been a key partner in delivering the Daydream Believers pilot with Edinburgh College promoting creative and critical thinking at school level. She also ensured her mostly female Creative Team in the AmazeRealise Edinburgh office have felt empowered to lean in and take on new and challenging opportunities. She was one of the participants in TRC’s Special Edition Training Course.

The fact she won one of only eight places is a testament to her drive to fulfil her potential and give back to the digital community. She also became a Digital Trustee on the Board of an Edinburgh-based social innovation charity called People Know How.

My desert island luxury would be… A kindle with everlasting books and battery power.

@AmazeRealise

Artur is a technology enthusiast, developer and maker, with a passion for excellent service, innovative ideas and is fascinated with the latest and coolest products. When not building or breaking new gadgets, he is busy thinking about how to make tech more intuitive and easy to use for everyone. As a Tech Lead at GPJ, he is mainly responsible for prototyping, R&D, coming up with new ideas and leading the dev team when creating brand new and amazing experiences for the clients.

When not in the office, you can find him snowboarding on a snowy mountain or kitesurfing till sunset with his friends.

The next big thing in digital will be… easy to use augmented reality glasses and AI that will help us to speed up how we solve many of the top problems.

@techyinnovator

Leading delivery teams in Glasgow and Manchester, Ashleigh’s focus on agile project delivery has seen the team evolve their way of thinking to facilitate better working practices.

Working with organisations across the UK and US, Ashleigh has built a loyal following of clients. This includes the University of Colorado, The Honolulu Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Dance. Her strategic approach, coupled with a passion for data-driven results, accompanies her empathetic nature to launch 1st class solutions; it also makes her a much-valued extension to client teams.

Ashleigh’s links with Founders4Schools, a charity connecting school children with business leaders, has seen children being mentored by an exemplary female leader in digital.

My favourite quote/saying is… With brave wings, she flies – without having the courage to challenge yourself you’ll never know what you’re capable of achieving.

@ashecameron

Cally Russell, 31, started Mallzee, the UK’s leading multi-retailer fashion shopping app, in 2013 in Edinburgh. Downloaded over 1.5 million times and featuring 150 plus high street retailers the unique product preference data generated powers Mallzee Insights, the B2B element of the business. Mallzee Insights provides pre-release product testing and retail insights to help retailers maximise the profitability of every product. Originally from Dunoon and a Dundee University Graduate, Cally has grown Mallzee to employ 26 people, raised over £5m in investment and won a range of tech, fashion and entrepreneurial awards. Selected by Forbes for their prestigious 30 Under 30 European influencers list, Cally has also been named by Drapers as one of their 30 Next Generation.

My one wish would be… that Liverpool would win the Premier League and Champions League double this season!

@CallyRussell

Caroline teaches physics at Penketh High School, Warrington and is Director of Spark Penketh, a school makerspace dedicated to embedding digital skills across the curriculum. Through the first digital creative pathway of its kind in the UK, she has taught hundreds of students Industry 4.0 skills and this year won the TES New Teacher of the Year award for her STEAM/digital learning work.

Caroline also co-founded Liverpool Makefest, a festival promoting science, technology, engineering, art, maths and maker-education for young people. Now in its fifth year, the festival attracts 6,000+ visitors annually and Caroline has co-authored the framework to roll out Makefests nationally.

Caroline believes passionately in providing diverse, rich learning environments in which the creativity of students as “makers” can flourish.

At school I… was a trouble, but I had patient teachers. It’s one of the reasons I got into teaching myself.

@ka81

With a remit to establish a team and infrastructure of cross-agency talent, Cat heads up Brand Scotland and leads the bold, new #ScotlandIsNow campaign, looking to deliver a strong nation brand that positions Scotland for sustainable growth, resilience and future prosperity.

With talent from across VisitScotland, Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, Brand Scotland aims to activate partnerships across the public and private sectors to drive reputational value and awareness of our progressive nation. The team have already achieved staggering results and been shortlisted in some of the nation’s most prestigious awards.

Formerly, Cat ran the strategy and marketing teams for a multi award-winning digital agency, After Digital, for seven years and outside of her day job she was one of five who lead on TEDxGlasgow, building it to be one of Europe’s most established TEDx organisations.

The innovation that excites me is… anything in the realm of data science and technology meeting medicine.

@C_Leaver

Charlotte was one of Born Social’s founding team. Today, it is an an award-winning social media agency for businesses that think like David, not Goliath, with a team of over 40, a 50:50 gender split, no pay gap and world class clients.

As COO, Charlotte has successfully scaled every part of the business from process to people. The last twelve months alone involved: restructuring the business; creating five new teams; 20+ hires; creating company values; an admirable wellbeing initiative; a learning & development programme; and a company-wide incentive scheme.

Charlotte won Women In Marketing’s ‘One to Watch’ award, completed The Marketing Academy Scholarship Programme, mentors young women in industry and was listed on 2019’s Forbes Under 30 in Media & Marketing

I’m where I am today because… I didn’t follow my dreams of being a Sky Sports reporter

@bebornsocial

Christel’s passion for influencing change can be traced back to her early school years in  Denmark where she campaigned for students right to influence education. Today, she has made it a career spanning marketing, organisational change and digital strategy; leading cultural transformation at Deloitte and launching Digital at KPMG in the UK.

Her move to Epam was driven by a curiosity to approach change from a technology perspective, and she now dedicates her time to working with senior leaders as they navigate the complex, but exciting, challenges brought by digital.

She is an Apps for Good Mentor, a mother of two young daughters and a knowledge hunter with a huge passion for Karaoke.

Not many people know that I… trained to be a ballroom dancer.

Drawing on her fascination with the human mind, usability and human- computer interaction, Cristina has worked on a wide range of projects to achieve the best experience for users across industries and contexts. Her most recent success at Cyber-Duck was a huge, complex digital transformation project or a global medical and travel security company. Cristina also enjoys blogging and public speaking. In 2018, she spoke about the discipline of UX, ethics of design and positive friction, at events including UXPA UK, Leeds Digital Festival, UX Cambridge, Ladies that UX, Coventry University and Northumbria University. She also enjoys giving back to the community by running the BIMA Digital Day and careers panels at local schools, growing the next generation of designers.

I got into digital because… I want technology to be people-centred and solve problems instead of creating new ones.

@crvigano

Christel’s passion for influencing change can be traced back to her early school years in  Denmark where she campaigned for students right to influence education. Today, she has made it a career spanning marketing, organisational change and digital strategy; leading cultural transformation at Deloitte and launching Digital at KPMG in the UK.

Her move to Epam was driven by a curiosity to approach change from a technology perspective, and she now dedicates her time to working with senior leaders as they navigate the complex, but exciting, challenges brought by digital.

She is an Apps for Good Mentor, a mother of two young daughters and a knowledge hunter with a huge passion for Karaoke.

@chionwurah

Damian is Head of Strategy at independent digital agency Redweb, where he leads the agency alongside the founder and CEO. An award winning digital polymath, he has built his career by helping organisations to build competitive advantage through design thinking and transformational strategy.

Over the last year he has led Redweb to a new proposition, visual identity and evolved structure by reimagining the agency/client relationship as a partner
model based on mutual value, disrupting the established industry status quo.

Damian leads by example, continues to push boundaries and supports others to grow by creating an environment where everyone is genuinely part of the drive to create change – for themselves, Redweb’s partners and the industry.

Relaxation is… a paddle, pedal or plod around the New Forest I call home.

@randomapricot

Managing Director Kagool

Category CEOs & Leaders

Dan is the Managing Director of Kagool, an award winning digital agency and Sitecore specialists. Under his leadership Kagool is now an established Econsultancy top 100 agency and 41st in the Drums list of independents.

Dan is passionate about culture. Under his leadership Kagool is one of the highest rated UK agencies on Glassdoor, holds Investors in People Gold status and is also recognised by Best Companies, with an inclusive working environment focused on its people.

An IOD Director of the Year winner, Dan has also been recognised by Sitecore, a Digital Experience Platform leader, as a Most Valuable Professional for the past 2 years.

Away from Kagool also volunteers as a Trustee providing digital consultancy to charitable organisations.

I’m where I am today because… of the support and encouragement of my family.

Dan jointly leads Creative Products, which has quadrupled in size during his time with the business. After several years running tech start-ups Dan joined Nice Agency in 2013, shaping their Agile Development proposition ahead of the acquisition by Karmarama and the subsequent move in to the Accenture Interactive family.

Dan’s remit is to build the User Interfaces that enable progressive customer experiences; combining human insight and data with brand creative and tech driven design.

As well as running diverse product programmes for Sky, Deutsche Bank and AstraZeneca, recent work includes a Stroke application to reduce patients’ long-term brain damage
and identifying potential product opportunities to improve the standard of life for the visually impaired, on behalf of Guide Dog’s for the Blind.

Not many people know… that I launched my own social network before Facebook. Unfortunately, Zuckerberg’s was better

@danmoranuk

Dan runs business growth and brand agency Why Digital. This past year has seen Dan driving change in the business he’s worked on growing; as well as encouraging new talent to engage and collaborate with the wider agency community.

With hugely successful community engagement pieces, including leading another Do It Day, Dan has overseen agencies, brands, charities, educational establishments and freelancers working together to solve challenges from employee wellbeing to children’ mental health services in both the Dorset area and nationally.

His culture-led growth strategy has seen multiple businesses grow and drive profit, whilst creating successful and healthy cultures. His mentoring of young entrepreneurs has seen them go on to win awards for emerging talent and young business leadership.

My one wish would be… to live in a world where people no longer fear talking about mental health.

@Daniel_willis

Daniel Gilbert is founder and CEO of Brainlabs, the smartest performance marketing agency on the planet. In 2018, Daniel was named #1 in PPC Hero’s Most Influential PPC Experts in the World list, crowned Biddable Media Professional of the Year at the Biddable Media Awards, and was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award London. He was a keynote speaker at Hero Conf London 2018 and spoke at events such as DMX Dublin, Friends of Search, and Campaign Breakfast Briefings.
On top of his contributions to publications including City A.M., Campaign, Econsultancy, and The Drum, Daniel was also a judge for the Campaign Media Awards.

My little-known hobby is… gymnastics.

@dangilbertppc

A jack-of-all-trades, the role of Strategy Director at Hydrogen fits Daniel Rae to a T.

Daniel is hands-on and loves to continually hone his skills: most recently as a 2018 delegate on TRCmedia’s exclusive Cross Creative programme for senior digital professionals.

He also contributed to marketing book Think Video, providing insights on video marketing and social media influencers. As well as supporting those already in the industry Daniel is keen to help the next generation and headed back to his old school for BIMA’s Digital Day to highlight VR, AR and digital as career options. He is currently working with 3rd year Glasgow Caledonian University design students, creating a course project to help them understand design in the digital world.

The next big thing in digital will be… brands using one-to-one messaging and bots to provide more information and build deeper relationships with customers.

@iamdanielrae

Since taking the helm at leading digital agency Digitas, in June 2018, Dani Bassil has already delivered a new digitally-focussed proposition, led on the organisation’s rebrand and shifted the agency to create even stronger digital experiences, that go beyond the expected. And all this in her first few months.

The future of the agency is certainly bright with Dani in the hot seat, with one eye on the present and one in the future, she recently appointed a new senior executive team, made up of a cross section of digital and creative talent, not only the best of the best but also the right fit for her future vision, those committed to the team and to take the agency into its next era.

I’m where I am today because… of my amazing family, friends and colleagues who supported me and all those who didn’t (fuel to the fire).

@dannibass

Danielle has worked in technology for over 15 years and is Head of Technology at the 150-year-old Co-op, responsible for technology ranging from the Co-op membership and data platforms to the new Co-op Health and Insurance Distribution businesses. Danielle has worked in the digital space at the Co-op since 2001 and has worked across a multitude of sectors ranging from food to funerals. Danielle is a prominent figure in the North West technology community, regularly speaking, running events and judging technology competitions locally and globally. A well known passionate, active champion of diversity in technology, she is a Non-Executive Director of Innovate Her which is an 8-week, after school programme dedicated to giving girls aged 12-16 the self-belief and skills they need to pursue a career in technology. She is a Board Director of the Co-op Credit Union and co-founder of @MapClubMcr.

Relaxation is… reading my collection of Isaac Asimov books.

David’s a technophile who loves helping people understand the tech landscape and plan their approach to success. In addition to his role running WordPress agency Pragmatic, he is leading a
sister blockchain agency Dcent.tech, co-chairs the BIMA Blockchain Council and is an international speaker.

I’m where I am today because… I was lucky to be born a white man in twentieth century Britain.

@divydovy

Dipa started her career in the fashion industry, working on digital design and art direction for brands such as Burberry, Warehouse, TOPSHOP and Ted Baker. She also made her mark across the revamped Crabtree & Evelyn brand redesign.

Now Senior Digital Designer at Wunderman, her work across a broad sector base doesn’t just start and end at design. She fully immerses herself into the strategy and UX teams striving to find the best design solution possible and feeding into customer experience.

Since leaping into the ad agency world, she has broadened her skillset to work across more digital tech-led projects such as apps, AI and VR. You can see some of Dipa’s work in the recent Fund Female campaign as well as across the Selfridges ecommerce experience, style guide and online look and feel.

Given the chance, I’d tell… my younger self to trust my own instincts and take more risks!

@DipaThanki

Don Smith is an inventor and has his own invention and disruption practice called One Hundred Flowers. He consults on innovation, invention, disruption and creative strategy and also runs a business developing his respiratory invention, The 1nhaler.

Until 2016, Don was an award-winning Creative Director in digital marketing, which he then left to begin a new career as an inventor, looking to bring his philosophy on innovation and invention into the fields of health, energy, environment and sustainability.

He has recently been involved with projects relating to Artificial Intelligence in life sciences, business modelling in financial services, blockchain technology in healthcare, data-driven innovation in transport and travel,and marine conservation in tidal energy.

Not many people know that I… invented a revolutionary new, compact, respiratory inhaler, designed to deliver dry-powder medicines

@donsmithb100m

Hui’s focus in 2018 centered on driving an audience-first approach across Sony Music’s UK labels to ensure marketing strategies continue to adapt to ever-changing consumer habits. Her leadership helped Sony move early into podcast development and voice activation. Sony Music became the first UK label to launch artist Amazon Alexa Skills with projects from Paloma Faith and Little Mix.

Hui also served as Chair of The BRIT Awards Digital Committee 2017 – 2019, working with UK music trade organization BPI and content agency Somethin’ Else to expand the show’s digital footprint and boost online viewership throughout her tenure.

My little-known hobby is… photographing street art around the world for my blog http://graffitilanes.com

@ruffian

Duane is a strategic polymath, accelerating ‘edge thinking’ from emerging culture, science and tech into brand futures exploration and creative experimentation. His cross-discipline work in 2019 saw him: explore new-age sustainability with BLOCKTAIL, a concept cocktail powered by blockchain, showing full traceability of each ingredient’s own supply chain; explore retail through a human-first lens using the psychological concept of FLOW; see a Buddhist Monk, a neuroscientist and an Immersive Theatrical Director share unexpected insights into how

Connected Retail can absorb shoppers in the moment through immersion and personalisation; and be selected as one of only a few content partners at FUTUREFEST, Europe’s largest festival of the future, exploring how multisensory and interactive design is changing the rules and future behaviours of flavour.

Not many people know that I… run an experimental supper club called Ready Meals.

@dhready

Elen’s work aims to create improved situations and reduce exclusion by design both physically and socially. She uses human-centred design methods to create designed products that are current and inclusive.

With a background in Three Dimensional Design, specialising in product, Elen has worked directly with a wide range of materials helping to develop her creative problem solving skills. She is confident in pushingthe boundaries of what is possible.

Currently studying a Masters Degree in Industrial Digitalisation, Elen’s focus is on using digital processes to innovate everyday products and services. She uses digital technologies combined with design thinking to improve the efficiency and desirability of the products with which we are surrounded with,
in particular assistive technologies and medical devices.

My greatest idea is… to innovate assistive aids and medical devices – essential for some, desirable for all

@elen_parry

Life is short, so Emil decided that family should always come first and the work should only be done with people who care for others. Through trial and error he’s trying to find his way in this world, always experimenting and never conforming.

Relaxation is… essential

@emilblum

Emily joined hedgehog lab in early 2018 as a UX research intern working alongside the team. Upon completing her masters in Research Psychology she joined the team permanently.

With 2+ years of practical psychology research experience in varying fields, Emily has quickly adapted and applied her skills within the design industry. Her psychology knowledge and background has helped hedgehog lab create and implement a more formalised structure ensuring scientific user research is incorporated into projects. Emily works with hedgehog’s design team to empower them to inform their work with effective and reliable research.

Emily is passionate about discussing and teaching about psychology in user research and design and has written blog articles and delivered presentations within the local design community.

My little-known hobby is… baking, I almost always ‘accidentally’ bake enough cookies to feed a small country.

@emilymhewitson

Emma is an interactive producer, she’s spent well over 15 years giving audiences agency to explore stories in exciting new ways. She cares a lot about the people at both ends of the process, the makers and the users. Emma loves anything that grabs attention, drives education and makes voices heard. She has produced games for marketing, entertainment, learning and social change, working on a few BAFTA winning projects along the way. Currently working with Cooperative Innovations helping them to grow the business, to create and define best practice for immersive content and also produce tools to help developers make the best of all the newly emerging hardware. Emma is also Executive Producer of Sheffield Doc/ Fest’s Alternate Realties programme.

Not many people know that I…have one leg longer than the other.

@em_cooper

Emma is a creative, author, blogger, vlogger, budding stand-up comedian, five times TEDx speaker and regular on the tech conference circuit. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 29 she made it her mission to raise awareness about the condition and continue her life as she planned.

She featured in the BBC2 documentary The Big Life Fix where Microsoft’s Haiyan Zhang created a bespoke wearable device that allowed Emma to write and draw for the first time in years.

This year Emma is doing something new every day and blogging about it at www.thef—itlist.com to shine a light on the importance of investing in our own development and happiness. Emma is also Creative Lead at Parkinson’s UK and last year spearheaded the creation of their Devices and Apps library to help those with the condition discover effective and safe tech.

My favourite quote/saying is… ‘Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.’ Andre Gide

@ems_lawton

Emma leads the Creative team at Spotify UK, which exists to help companies and brands best utilise Spotify’s advertising products.

Before joining the Spotify team, she was a Creative Specialist at Snapchat and prior to that a Creative Specialist at Twitter. Her role is an amalgamation of creation, co-creation and consulting. Co-creation is at the core of what she does; working closely with agencies and brands, with their creative campaigns, and advising on the best ways of using Spotify within those campaigns.

Relaxation is… running along the East London canals on a crisp sunny day.

@emmahopkins

Appointed Managing Director in 2016, Ete has led AnalogFolk to unprecedented growth and creative excellence. Placed 29th in Econsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies 2018 and ranked amongst it’s ‘top four’ creative agencies, AnalogFolk also placed 2nd for Campaign Magazine’s ‘Digital Innovation Agency Of The Year’ and was IPM COGS ‘Service Agency of the Year’. New business wins have taken AnalogFolk London from a UK- centric business to a regional European offering, culminating in recognition as an ‘outstanding all-rounder’ in the FT’s ‘UK Future 100’, for UK companies making a positive long-term impact on their sector and wider society, and achieving exceptional financial performance.

Away from AnalogFolk, Ete is a leading protagonist in driving diversity, inclusion and equality across the industry.

The innovation that is exciting me lately is… 5G because it will disrupt how software is done, and the lower latency could change almost every sector.

@CultureHeroesUK

Gemma started a global movement that encourages and celebrates the achievements of IT architects, with a particular focus on women, who are vastly underrepresented. In 14 months, over 2,000 people globally have been inspired to start progressing towards technical project leadership roles. Thanks to this movement, Gemma has helped a small corner of IBM cover new ground in the salesforce.com technology space.

Gemma also writes a blog that provides exam tips and tells the personal story of her fight with breast cancer. Gemma values learning and now strives to become a technical authority, having recently attempted the Salesforce Certified Technical Architect exam. Only 5% of the 250+ certification holders worldwide are women, so she is keen to show others that it’s achievable.

At school I… was often in trouble, because I wanted to know why the rules existed in the first place

@gemziebeth

Georgie Barrat is a technology journalist, broadcaster and presenter. At the beginning of 2017 she joined The Gadget Show’s new presenting line-up.
Alongside her work as part of the Gadget Show team, ITV Tonight, Good Morning Britain, ITV Weekend and is a regular on The Jeremy Vine Show and James Martin Saturday Morning. She often comments on breaking tech stories for the likes of Channel 5 News, BBC Radio 5 live, talk radio & BBC Radio 2.

She has contributed to reviewing the latest apps and devices for The Mirror, Tech City News, The Guardian, Marie Claire & The Metro.

Georgie is passionate about women working in technology and devotes time to encouraging more girls to be involved in STEM subjects.

@georgiebarrat

Hannah believes a job will only be done outstandingly if you truly care about it.

In the last year, she’s been the driving force behind talent programme, Digify, supporting emerging talent into the digital creative industries. Through this, she’s presented her views on skills training alongside Sadiq Khan as well as showcased best practices to inclusivity to the Deputy Prime Minister of Hong Kong.

Aside from developing businesses through talent, Hannah believes in the power of co-creating alongside your audience. She’s led and executed global creative projects for Netflix, Facebook and most recently NGO Better Care Network on an international behavior change campaign targeting volunteers and encouraging them to think differently about voluntourism.

At school I… was always getting in trouble for chatting and passing notes. That’s a big part of my job now so it worked out well!

@LivityUK

Ingrid has spent the last year working at Red Badger helping win new client accounts, growing existing accounts and implementing processes designed to scale in the future. Working with a fantastic Badger pitch team, key client 2018 wins include News UK and Tandem Money. She has also helped develop and implement new sales and account growth processes, which have been rolled out and are being used across the business. As part of her continued drive to ensure happy clients and sustainable growth, she is now focused on creating and launching Red Badger’s partnership strategy, designed to develop strategic partnerships with leading technology providers, to ensure that Red Badger continues to deliver best-in-class work for a range of new and existing clients.

My desert island luxury would be… a great sound system and big selection of music.

@ingridolmesdahl

Isabel is Founder and CEO of Creative Mentor Network, a charity which mentors young people into creative careers. For four years Isabel was a Teach First teacher, then she trained incoming teachers for Teach for Lebanon.

In 2014, back in the UK and noticing a lack of opportunity in the creative industries for young people from low-income backgrounds, Isabel established Creative Mentor Network. The organisation has helped 400+ young people into jobs across the industry, and partners with 40+ creative businesses including Soho House, Sky, Sony Music and M&C Saatchi.

Named the 2018 Major Players Diversity Champion, Oystercatchers Industry Leader, and Campaign Magazine’s Future Trailblazer, Isabel’s mission is to ensure the industry includes young people who don’t start out with the right network.

I’m where I am today because… I never understood ‘no’ to mean ‘no’.

@isabelfarchy

James is a director and developer at Parallax. He’s been working on developing city-wide IoT streetlighting projects, smart city and in-store experiential projects.

He’s spent his time using data to save councils’ money on energy bills by building a dashboard, an over-the-air-update protocol and testing tools, which were quickly rolled out across multiple cities.

His interactive media work includes in-store activations for major shoe brands. Using touch tables for data collection, customers’ can build a photo collage that is then printed on a photobooth printer.

I’ve never… liked toasted crumpets.

@mrrio

James Hilton is founder and Global CEO of M&C Saatchi Performance. In 2006, dissatisfied with the lack of quality and marketing knowledge when looking for
a mobile marketing supplier, James made the decision to found his own company Inside Mobile.

Over the past decade, James has led the agency to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital industry. In 2018, this
meant taking the necessary step to more accurately reflect the direction of the agency by rebranding to M&C Saatchi Performance, with James identifying performance as the next frontier in digital.

James’ steadfast belief in the power of performance has seen the agency grow at an exponential rate, employing more than 150 staff in 11 locations globally.

The next big thing in digital will be… overcoming the complexity of multichannel attribution which will create yet another surge in digital media expenditure.

@mcsaatchiperf

For 10 years, James Wilkinson has been bridging the gap between digital marketing and web development. Specialising in producing multi-channel digital marketing campaigns, he believes in the competitive value of digital-centric organisations. From this standpoint, James modernises and increases clients’ reach across any industry, from charities to B2C commerce.

Since joining CTI Digital as Marketing Director, James has grown a client service marketing team from the ground up. The team has been enhanced by James’ dedication to investing in the professional development of those around him. More recently, James has increased his focus on client empowerment. By leading training courses, he teaches clients to take control of elements of their own marketing and, ultimately, the future of their brands online.

My little-known hobby is… meditation. I think it’s extremely important to take time away from work and learn to focus inwards

@jamesWilkinson

James works with some truly inspiring clients that are changing the world one day at a time. Whilst being supported by a talented team, he’s enabled these clients to tell their engaging and powerful narratives and assisted in pushing their organisation’s objectives forward.

Working closely with Anglia Ruskin University, James plays a considerable role in preparing students for life in the industry. He’s helped sculpt a module for the Graphic Design BA (Hons) course to give students an insight into working on a professional level multi-discipline project whilst getting helpful feedback from a real agency.

At school I… was told I should give up my dream of becoming a designer.

@dellar

Jared is a data scientist at Atos- Google AI Lab a global leader in digital transformation. Having joined as a graduate in 2016, he has quickly established himself as an expert in the areas of machine learning and AI. Passionate about technology, mathematics and data, he has delivered many innovative solutions to clients from a diverse range of industries.

In 2018 Jared put a number of technologies to successful use, from using machine learning to power recommendation engines, to working with genetic algorithms to solve complex optimisation problems. Recently Jared has been working in the Atos-Google AI Lab alongside AI experts from both Atos and Google to show clients the power of artificial intelligence and how it can be applied within their organisations.

I am where I am today because… I’ve had an amazing family supporting me who I strive to make proud, in particular my little brother.

Jennifer has been an integral part of various cyber skills campaigns across the UK including working with government and corporations surrounding the issues of ethical hacking, cyberbullying, and what to do in case of a security breach. Through her efforts in legislation, events, and security, Jennifer started Hacker House as a community of hackers in East London in 2014 and since then has launched a training portal to help bring more students into the industry of cyber security. In the last year she has trained students all over the UK and has expanded her work to the west coast of the USA to help encourage companies to adopt the same strategy of endorsing cyber skills.

Not many people know that I… can recite copious amounts of Shakespearean text.

@Jennifer_Arcuri

Atos brought Jillian into the business in 2017 to establish and grow the UK&I Digital Practice. Leveraging her expertise from leading business units at Logica, Sapient Publicis and Slalom, she focused her team on solving clients’ business problems with digital solutions that were truly effective at scale.

Today the UK&I Digital Practice is made up of over 160 colleagues providing services ranging from Industry 4.0 and IoT to data, analytics and AI, customer experience and business digitisation. The team partners with clients across all industry sectors connecting these services to design, build and deliver everything from innovative prototypes to multi-million pound engagements, which, in turn, led towards Atos Digital Services’ recognition as #3 in eConsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies 2018.

Relaxation is… hovering at 30m down in the ocean, taking photos of passing manta rays and sharks.

@jillian_moore

Jodie leads Microsoft’s Cloud Scale Analytics business in the UK, shaping their Big Data & Analytics strategy across Product, Marketing, Sales & Partner. She’s a firm believer that with better data you’ll make better decisions.

Prior to this in her role as a technology strategist, Jodie played a vital role in shaping an entirely new partner ecosystem for Microsoft. She engaged digital agencies around the UK, evangelising Azure’s Data & AI capabilities through roadshows and workshops.

Jodie brings a vivacious and infectious energy to everything she does witha particular passion for championing and recruiting female talent. This is demonstrated through her mentoring of early in career females, speaking at partner events and through social media.

I got into digital because… I had an incredible school teacher called Miss Farmery who supported and inspired me.

@jodieerodgers

John has worked in the digital sector for almost 25 years and leads large-scale creative and digital solutions for major international brands.

As the head of a team that won a 2017 BIMA award for a new e-learning platform, he now works at the UWS as Head of Digital where he is applying his years of digital experience to the exciting challenges and opportunities facing Higher Education in the digital world. Over the past 12 months he has applied a strategic perspective to the digital activity and promotions to help move to a digital-first approach across platforms, services and promotions.

John was previously Digital Director and a Co-Managing Director at Front Page and before that worked in User Education for Adobe.

I got into digital because… Digital (along with a healthy dose of critical thinking) can help solve so many problems.

Jonny is the founder and CEO of LAB, the independent digital agency that uses a blend of consumer neuroscience, psychology and behavioural economics to design, build and market digital brands and experiences.

Jonny has overseen a standout 12 months for LAB, in which it has moved to a new, bigger space in the heart of Soho and hired Gocompare.com’s Adrian Webb as Chairman, as it looks to its next chapter of growth.

Under Jonny’s leadership in the last year, LAB has been named a ‘One to Watch’ in Econsultancy’s Top 100 Agencies; placed at number 6 in the Wirehive League Table; and featured in The Drum’s Top 100 Independent Agencies for the second year running.

Not many people know that I… refuse to take my phone / laptop with me on holiday.

@jonnyto

Josh Akapo is a multifaceted creative who has immersed himself in the digital space. In his growing career, he’s worked with Lovebox Festival, the NHS, Stormzy and many more

– all by 21. Working at student marketing agency Hype Collective, he set up the Hype Mentoring programme which connects talented young people with the creative industries at large, and he also aids the team in creative strategy and research. As youth mentoring not-for-profit Joined Up Thinking’s marketing lead, he has been instrumental in curating inspirational events, as well as helping to launch campaigns such as the NHS Blood + Transplant collaboration, tackling organ donation within the black community. He also has a clothing company, ARCHTYPE, and finds time to study at KCL.

The innovation that excites me lately is… the ‘water box’ device used to clean contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.

@jalekapo

In six years, Josh has risen from a graduate trainee at the Jellyfish Academy, the agency’s in-house training programme, to become PPC Director. Responsible for leading client strategy, developing the
team around him and continuously improving the agency’s paid search offering, he oversees a team of 17 paid search specialists and leads the strategy across some of the agency’s most long-standing accounts.

He was one of only four industry experts invited to speak at Google’s Firestarters event on performance marketing. Coinciding with Google’s 20th birthday, the theme was ‘Twenty years on: The present and future of search’. Josh’s talk focused on technology and his belief that it will enhance rather than hinder the role of the future search practitioner.

The film/book title that describes my life is… Happy Feet

@JellyfishAgency

As Director of Marketing at WPP martech agency, Cognifide, Josie champions CSR and sustainability. Over the last 2 years, she has coordinated the establishment of a strategic sustainability framework that allows colleagues across the organisation to determine where and how they make a difference. Last year alone, the company supported 13 individual projects, involving over 100 staff and over 390 hours of volunteering. Josie oversees all UK initiatives and has personally advocated for several, with a particular emphasis
on gender balance and inclusion. In 2018, these included working with the charity Hestia to help women suffering from domestic abuse; with #techmums, to reconnect women with technology and with the charity, You Make It, to help transform young lives.

My desert island luxury would be… Friends. Is that allowed? I can’t imagine being stranded anywhere on my own for too long.

@JosieKlaf

As Client Strategy Director, Karen Pearce has shaped Digirank into what it is today: a people-powered, insight hungry, award-winning, and strategic digital marketing agency.

Karen leads our team of talented digital experts. Her knowledge, guidance and support enables the team to help make local and national clients market leaders in their sectors through strategic digital marketing.

Aside from growing the business, Karen is passionate about involving the

local community in digital, nurturing talent and opening doors for the next generation of digital as part of Digirank’s ‘Digiskills’ programme. 2018 was a whirlwind year, with Karen inspiring record business growth. 2019 is shaping up to be even bigger, she will be heavily involved in exciting business changes and will be working towards a ‘mini MBA’ run by Google.

I got into digital because… anything is possible. It’s shaped by people and creativity, there really are no limits to what can be achieved.

@karenhowells1

Katie is Co-Founder and Director of StateZero Labs, the world’s first solution-led Blockchain Lab for startups. Having spent her entire career working with startups in emerging tech in the UK, Europe and Latin America, she now focuses on educating the tech market on genuine business use cases for blockchain, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workforce.

The innovation that’s excited me lately is… the shift in focus on blockchain for enterprise solutions rather than just cryptocurrencies.

@KatieMillsSZL

Passionate about new business and marketing, Katie has had a busy year focusing on developing a new proposition to market for the ever growing Etch Group.

Already seeing great success, Katie has focussed on driving a sales and marketing strategy that increases the agency’s reach and drives new business opportunities by developing a robust marketing strategy and training the heads of department across the agency group to drive outreach and sales.

At school I… spoke even more than I do now! Known for speaking up, I have always voiced my opinions and challenged the status quo.

@katiestreetmate

Kevin is co-Founder and CEO of specialist SEO and content marketing agency, Re:signal, leading a team of 15 people and £1.5m in revenues.

He has founded and grown one of the UK fastest growing companies (Deloitte Fast 50 UK and 500 EMEA 2017), working with clients including Expedia, Auto Trader and ASICS. Re:signal has won 5x industry awards for its work in 2018, with Kevin voted the prestigious Search Personality at UK Search Awards, totalling 20x for the agency since launch in 2012.

Kevin initiated the voluntary SEO support for PrideMatters and Make a Wish foundation. He is also a judge for the US Search Awards, MENA Search Awards and Interactive Awards.

I got into digital because… I was told journalism was too competitive and I should find something different!

@kevgibbo

Leigh Dobson is the Client Service Director at Signal. Part of Cello Group PLC, Signal is a full-service digital & CRM agency with over 250 staff and offices in Edinburgh, London and Cheltenham.

She has responsibility for the client, commercial and cultural health of the agency in Edinburgh. This equates to the happiness and satisfaction of a broad, diverse and ambitious staff group and an equally demanding set of clients that include The Royal Bank of Scotland, The Edinburgh Fringe, The British Red Cross, Baillie Gifford and Nando’s.

Day-to-day, she manages a 20+ team comprising Account Management, Project Management and Marketing Operations and leads the operational decision-making of Signal Edinburgh as part of the Senior Management Team.

My favourite quote/saying is… “Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.” Elizabeth Taylor

@leighdobbers

Passionate about the opportunities that technology and particularly apps offer to improve health and care efficiencies and outcomes, Liz founded ORCHA, the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Application in 2015, determined to present a way to offer guidance to app developers to help raise app quality, as well as helping the public and professionals to confidently find and apply apps that could genuinely improve public, patient and organisational outcomes.

Initially a Speech Therapist, Liz has 20 years NHS experience. She has successfully led innovative change and service transformation in complex health economies. She has led national and European change programmes and networks to deliver transformational shift and has experience of working collaboratively with public sector, industry and academia.

I’m where I am today because… of tenacity, tenacity tenacity! I will not give in!

@LizAshallPayne

Lindsay Herbert is an IBM Inventor, as well as the iX Innovation Leader. Among Lindsay’s IBM inventions is IBM Instant Checkout, a ground breaking system that detects shop items without needing to individually scan them, and then enables quick, secure payment.

Lindsay is also a Governor for the Museum of London, as well as the author of the book Digital Transformation, which published with Bloomsbury and has received international praise for its no-nonsense approach to innovation in major organisations.

A sought-after speaker, Lindsay draws upon her own insider insights leading major innovation with a diverse set of leading brands. Lindsay’s core message is that real digital transformation means to become more adaptive to change itself, and that it’s accomplished by leveraging the new ways of working brought about by the innovation age.

My one wish would be… that science andtechnology can release the wisdom of human minds from the constraints of their malfunctioning physical bodies.

@digital_lindsay

Lucy is a senior art director at Great State and one half of Two Girls Co with her wife, working on everything from websites, video content, campaigns, product design to print.

At Great State, Lucy conceived and art directed the UNHCR’s Step with Refugees – a global campaign launched in 2018 that syncs with fitness applications, where users can ‘donate’ their miles to match the 2 billion kilometres covered by refugees each year.

In early 2019, Two Girls Co launched the Girls Who Design enamel pin to empower women in the design industry to feel proud of what they do. This pin is a perfect conversation starter to help bring more diversity to creativity, something Lucy is incredibly passionate about.

I’m where I am today because… my wife forced me out of the humdrum and made me create my graphics portfolio.

@lucy_w_shrimp / @twogirls_co

A digital marketing student from Bournemouth, Maddie specialises in paid search marketing. She only joined the digital industry around 18 months ago but in that short period she has discovered that she has a talent for it, and “absolutely loves” delivering formidable results.

Outside of work, Maddie applies her marketing abilities (and her addiction to social media) to fundraising. In the last two years she has raised money for Dorset Mind, The Alzheimer’s Society, and We Do Ethical, all causes she strongly supports, and all of which have benefitted from her digital skills.

Maddie loves… spending time with her friends and family, reading, listening to music and finally her cats!

@Madison_C64

Mark led digital transformation programmes for large enterprise clients at IBM iX. He is passionate about creating high-performing, digital design and development teams that help iX’s clients get closer to their customers and increase their pace of delivery; two key ingredients for dealing with the disruption many industries are facing.

In 2018, Mark lead a new partnership between IBM iX and Audi UK, to bring Audi’s digital experience in line with the intelligent and beautiful cars the brand is known for. To achieve this, Mark lead the creation of an Agile development hub, where iX, Audi and Audi’s partners work side-by-side to build, test and learn about the ‘best digital experience, bar none’.

Relaxation is… playing with technology, just for the sake of it.

@markc303

Matt is responsible for the continued commercial success and strategic evolution of R/GA in EMEA. As R/GA continues to scale its teams, client portfolio and offerings in the region, Matt’s decade of industry experience ensures that the right working practices and culture are in place to allow the agency to act as a trusted partner to its global clients. Over the last year, Matt led the EMEA launch of R/GA’s new Transformation at Speed model, resulting in significantly increased revenue from 2018. During this time the agency also won 13 major new clients, delivered award winning work for clients such as Google, Nike and McDonald’s, and culminated in R/GA London being named Digital Innovation Agency of the Year by Campaign Magazine – for a record fourth time in the last six years.

I got into digital because… I believed in a more human future

Matt is a digital designer at Sightsavers, a non-governmental organisation that works in developing countries to treat and prevent avoidable blindness and promote equality for people with disabilities. His experience spans creative disciplines including branding, UI/UX design, illustration, animation and art direction, and he now focuses on accessible and inclusive design, for which he is a keen advocate.

He has written for Creative Review about being a colour-blind designer, and he helped to create Sightsavers’ Perspectives exhibition at the D&AD design festival in 2018, which encouraged designers to make sure their work is accessible for everyone. He has also worked with global banknote manufacturer De La Rue to develop a more inclusive approach to designing banknotes around the world.

My one wish would be… To have just one day a year where the internet is switched off across the world.

@the_other_matt

Since taking over as Head of Digital Marketing for Jellyfish Connect, Matthew has transformed the way the digital marketing team works, both structurally and with regards to its progressive approach to technology and growth. Under his leadership, the team have been able to deliver 22% year-on-year growth across its 3 core products whilst still being able to reduce costs, streamline procedures and work more efficiently.

Key to this success over the last year has been down to Matthew bringing all channels into one central team, moving away from a siloed approach and moving towards an omni-channel strategy that allows for greater expansion across all channels and has now set the framework for continued future growth.

My favourite quote is… ‘A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.’ Henry Ford

@matthewread88

Michael Olaye is CEO at Dare, a digital agency with hub offices in London and Stockholm; and Chief Technology Officer at Inside Ideas Group.

His experience has seen him named one of The Drum’s 100 most influential people in UK digital. He was also recently named one of the 100 most influential Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leaders in the UK technology sector, in a House of Commons and Financial Times-backed list.

In his spare time Michael mentors, helping up-and-coming industry candidates and supports local communities in the UK & Sweden. Healso advises digital businesses and is active as a guest speaker in the wider digital & technology sector.

The innovation that excites me is… driverless cars – it’s the next best thing to having a chauffeur.

@magicTuscan

An experienced brand and innovation specialist, Melissa leads digital strategy and audience-first thinking at WIRE; one of Scotland’s foremost creative agencies.

Her passion for finding new ways to connect technology with stand-out creative thinking has been instrumental in some of organisation’s biggest wins; from Highlands and Islands Enterprise to the Communicorp group. Industry accolades in the last 12 months have included Best Digital Strategy, Best Social Media Campaign, Best Low-Budget Campaign, as well as a personal listing in The Drum’s 50 under 30.

Melissa regularly acts as a thought-leader at events and in the media. After a sold-out talk on artificial intelligence last year, 2019 has seen her feature on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland and STV’s Scotland Tonight.

The next big thing in digital will be… the disappearance of the word digital. Online and offline will find new ways to connect.

@secretcelebrity

Mike has forged a career making data science as accessible and impactful as possible – spending the last year focussing on innovative applications of natural language processing to help businesses make the most out rich text data in the digital space that was previously under-utilised.

Establishing and growing the data science offering and team at SHARE to develop and deliver novel data solutions whilst championing transparency and ethics in applied AI, Mike has worked to help build the reputation of data science in the wider digital marketplace and enable clients and colleagues to make data powered decisions.

I got into digital because… I’m a huge data nerd and no other industry offers the wealth of data to do cool stuff with!

Nathan has been steadily growing CreateFuture’s client and project base as they enter their third year, working most recently with Adidas, FreeAgent, Penguin Random House and The Macallan. CreateFuture’s headcount has grown to 10, as they develop and refine their hybrid model, pointing client/agency teams at brand, marketing and product design. Highlights include helping established clients take two new financial services businesses to market.

He has also been active in supporting BIMA’s Scottish council work.

My great idea is… Gladiators meets Love Island – looking for backers if you’re interested 🙂

@kidcamel

With previous careers in law & advertising, Nick founded Big Group in 1991 as an integrated communications agency. 2018 proved seminal with the acquisition of two agencies in Amsterdam
to form Big Amsterdam and winning 14 creative industry awards. Nick has driven the agency forward with a 1st class management team and as CEO, he is ambitious for new digital opportunities alongside developing a strong culture across it’s locations in London, Bath, Newbury and the newly opened Amsterdam.

Outside of executive responsibilities, Nick co-founded The MOBO Awards, relaunched The Prince’s Trust Fashion Rocks and received the 1st ever honorary Brit Award in 2018 for managing a successful 20 year partnership between Mastercard and the Brit Awards.

Relaxation is… weeding the drive at my home in the South of France.

Nikki joined Unilever in 2012, driven by a passion for technology with a purpose. Her time at Unilever has been focused on partnering internal teams to find the best technology solutions for every-day business opportunities. Key roles include implementing predictive capabilities to accelerate consumer research, and software development to support simulated product development within packaging teams.Since 2017, Nikki can now be found in London, partnering Marketing Innovation teams -finding new digital capabilities to embed consumer feedback into product development and simplify internal processes to enable fast decision making, entrepreneurship and creativity. Her ambitions are to champion lean principles (build-measure-learn) through digital capabilities designed for experimentation and learning and empower our Innovation teams with a founder’s mentality.

My favourite quote is… ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways thatwon’t work.’

Nina Jasinski is the CMO of Ogilvy UK. She has helped shape the proposition for Ogilvy’s world-class capabilities from a
marketing perspective, bringing in new clients in need of not just advertising solutions, but overarching marketing transformation.

Not many people know that I… Once skateboarded really well (I know!)

@ninajas

With 18 years experience working in SEND education, mainly with children with Autism, 2018 saw Paul see the fruition of several years of work in aiming to improve the employability and career choices for his students in digital industries.

With 75 students taking part on the day, several teams of students from Paul’s school made the finals of the BIMA Digital Day competition, with one team winning the Vodafone challenge. They are the first SEND school to achieve this.

Paul continued to champion the rights of the neurodiverse in employment as a guest speaker at BIMA’s ‘Importance of inclusion and diversity in digital industries’ breakfast briefing in March and through developing digital training projects for his students.

I’m where I am today because… I’m a dreamer with a bit of luck.

@pauldav1975

As part of Toptal’s 3% global design talent, Pharaoh’s skills in the field of Digital Product Design have helped many startups and brands to create world-class digital experiences.

After founding his own design studio in 2016, he received a BIMA Award nomination for his outstanding design work on ‘Now’, a pioneering social matchmaking app that grew weekly by 270% after its initial launch in 2018.

Whilst operating as one of the Directors of Now, Pharaoh also forms part of InVision’s Design Leadership Forum and serves as the Chief Design Officer at Appello, an international full-service design and development agency.

With a wealth of experience in digital, Pharaoh continues to be an advocate of holistic design, with an emphasis on thoughtful reduction, mindfulness and craftsmanship.

Not many people know that I… am into quantum mechanics.

@neworks

Phil  joined VCCP iX in 2016 and oversees a talented engineering team based in both London & Prague. His true passion lies in technical innovation, and it is his time spent working with creative disciplines that has driven some truly unique products and platforms, such as easyJet, Look&Book.

Agencies and clients require a new type of Technical Director who are as comfortable and effective in the delivery of corporate developments as they are in the creative use of emerging technology and innovations. Phil fits this bill perfectly and provides a reassuring, confident partner for clients trying to navigate the unpredictable, morphing world of technology.

Relaxation is… Inbox Zero.

Phil is Founder and Creative Director of BAFTA-winning gamestudio PRELOADED. Since 2000 he has worked with game-based technologies to create playful, purposeful experiences for adults, young people and kids.

Over the past 18 months he has focused on bringing purpose to immersive platforms; working with WITHIN on their voice-based AR story platform, exploring accessibility in AR with BBC R&D and partnering with VIVE Arts and Google VR on landmark factual experiences. Currently he is working with Magic Leap on a new MR educational experience.

Outside of PRELOADED he sits on BAFTA’s Games Committee and BIMA’s Immersive Council. In 2019 he also gave his first TEDx talk: Games with Purpose – a manifesto for the role of games beyond entertainment.

The innovation that’s excited me lately is… mixed reality. We’re witnessing the birth of a new medium, which will change the way we see our world forever.

@philstuart

Phil Stuart
Founder and Creative Director PRELOADED

Category Tech Trailblazers

Phil is Founder and Creative Director of BAFTA-winning gamestudio PRELOADED. Since 2000 he has worked with game-based technologies to create playful, purposeful experiences for adults, young people and kids.

Over the past 18 months he has focused on bringing purpose to immersive platforms; working with WITHIN on their voice-based AR story platform, exploring accessibility in AR with BBC R&D and partnering with VIVE Arts and Google VR on landmark factual experiences. Currently he is working with Magic Leap on a new MR educational experience.

Outside of PRELOADED he sits on BAFTA’s Games Committee and BIMA’s Immersive Council. In 2019 he also gave his first TEDx talk: Games with Purpose – a manifesto for the role of games beyond entertainment.

The innovation that’s excited me lately is… mixed reality. We’re witnessing the birth of a new medium, which will change the way we see our world forever.

@philstuart

Priya Lakhani OBE is Founder CEO of CENTURY Tech, the award-winning AI teaching and learning platform. Launched in 2015, CENTURY creates personalised learning journeys for students in schools across the world. This year the company agreed a landmark partnership with the Belgian government to use CENTURY in all state schools in the Flanders region, the first state-level rollout of AI in schools.

Last year Priya, alongside Professor Rose Luckin, Director of EDUCATE and Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, established the Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Education, which aims to tackle potential threats to young people from the rapid growth of new technology.

Priya regularly comments on world news, politics, business and technology for BBC World News.

At school I… sold Chomp bars and Curly Wurlies to the other students.

@priyalakhani

Richard has gone over and above his everyday role to support the Sagittarius Marketing team and has been instrumental in the agency’s survival as it has evolved from a team of 36 to an 85-strong company. It is his mission to ensure all the developers, across the globe feel supported and well-informed on client projects whilst also leading into new digital frontiers.

When it comes to innovative agency projects he leads the way in tech on client proof-of-concepts including a Virtual Concierge (Microsoft Chatbot) for travel giant, Red Carnation Hotels.
As well as being the first developer to write Augmented Random Search in C#; a cutting-edge AI technique like Google DeepMind and can teach a robot to walk by experience.

My favourite quote/saying is… let one walk alone, committing no sin, with few wishes, like elephants in the forest.

@richardbrisley

9-5: Richard leads change and makes good things happen between brands, agencies and talented folk. He specialises in accelerating modern marketing & enabling digital transformation.

5-9: Richard is an award-winning advocate for diversity, inclusivity and equality. Named by the FT & Management Today as one of the top 30 men championing women in the workplace and a ‘Campaigner for increased diversity’ by Huff Post. Chair of The Ideas Foundation, Board Member of Creative Equals, BAME2020 & Token Man, the first male SuperMomma for SheSays and an Ambassador for The Marketing Academy Foundation.

My favourite  quote/saying is…that digital transformation is 90% people and 10% tech.

@londonrobinson

Rob has been running Graphite Digital since 2009. He has steered the agency’s growth and they work in partnership with some of the world’s biggest organisations to deliver exceptional digital customer experiences. Clients include Pfizer, Costa, BP and Harvey Nichols.

Rob has dedicated much of his time this year to running BIMA Young Talent Council initiatives and creating a Future Talent Programme to drive change, alongside his Graphite team.

Rob is the South East ambassador for BIMA’s Digital Day and this year he helped to onboard the 150 agencies & schools taking part. He continues to help digital professionals connect with young people, striving to bring diverse talent into the industry and giving young people the support they need to flourish.

My great idea is… To reinvent the work experience model, so it’s more informative for students and more sustainable for companies.

@rob_v

Having previously led the marketing function he stepped into a newly formed role to lead the development of the organisation’s digital programme – building direct relationships with the fans, grassroots volunteers and players in the game. The work so far has involved the development of a single customer database and a step- change of The FA’s digital platform to directly support engagement in the game across both men’s and women’s football from elite to grassroots. The launch of Matchday with PayPal and FA Superkicks apps are at the heart of a modern engagement approach.

The future potential of OTT, wearables and how technology innovation will shape the football experience for all is also a key part of his focus.

My favourite quote/saying is… “If it matters enough to you, you’ll find a way to get it done, if it doesn’t then you’ll find an excuse.”

@jamesrm

Sam has a track record of delivering growth and change through innovation, and is an expert in brand, product management, channel development and commercial operations. In 2017 he was behind the creation and launch of the FTSE 100-listed Centrica Business Solutions, a start-up consisting of six existing and acquired businesses and brands. He has since launched the company’s fully integrated digital demand generation platform in eight markets, delivering in 2018 a 9-point increase in NPS and order book growth of over 50%, with indirect channels on track to deliver over 25% of OI for 2019.

Prior to his success at Centrica, Sam was Global Digital & Marketing Operations Director for Vodafone Group Enterprise and Global Marketing Director for Cable & Wireless Plc.

Shona Gold is Director of Sales & Marketing at Vue Entertainment, she sits on the executive team, and is on a mission to deliver the best big screen entertainment on the planet. She thrives on building teams and working with people who are razor sharp, ambitious and a great laugh. Shona has redefined Vue’s role and positioning, and has utilised research and insight to shape the company’s strategic initiatives, keeping customers at the core of what Vue do. She has developed a stellar digital team with whom she has defined Vue’s digital strategy, built a market leading web and mobile capability, accelerated key initiatives such as PPC, CVM, social media as well as adopting new technologies in payments and personalisation to enhance customers experience.

The next big thing in digital will be… a flash in the pan.

@vuecinemas

As a Creative Technologist, Sam works to blend digital and physical spaces. This year, he’s created an assistive AI- driven music-box for dementia patients and an ‘Internet of Things’ solution
that teaches children how to properly maintain and look after their first plant. He’s concepted and overseen the development of a LEGO ‘shop’ on Snapchat, where users can look around and purchase clothing via AR. According to Snapchat, it’s one of the leading examples of what’s possible on the platform.

Sam also designed and built wearable tech to help support him on his climb of Kilimanjaro, which helped track his heartbeat, blood oxygen levels, altitude and GPS location. The data he captured is currently being translated into a data visualisation art piece.

The innovation that has excited me lately is… The emergence of “calm technology”.

@SamuelCox

According to their website, anything is possible. They believe it so much they made it their brand.

It’s been quite a year for Sam and the agency he co-founded in 2018. Multiple awards, client wins andrapid growth followed, proving integrated media, creative and consultancy services deliver a  compelling proposition. Sam is challenging the traditional client/ agency model and bringing back client trust in their agency partners.

Success is measured by their impact on a client’s triple bottom line – profit, people, and their impact on the planet. They link their payment models directly to success. His introduction of development funding for life and a tech innovation fund supporting self-build projects has made Anything is Possible a great place to work.

Not many people know that I… gave up my job and spent a year on honeymoon, travelling the world with my wife. It was the initial spark that inspired Anything is Possible.

@sjfe

Simeon Quarrie is a renowned storyteller and international speaker using story and interactivity to drive change. The owner of VIVIDA is a Canon Ambassador and GTeam member. Listed as one
of the world’s most influential creatives, he works to tackle issues of diversity and inclusion with Canon across Africa and Europe and played an instrumental role in creating Burberry’s new Burberry Inspire programme. His agency VIVIDA added VR to its storytelling toolkit and works with brands like Barclays and Merck to use story and interactivity to nurture resilience and innovation. He was selected to Keynote on creativity at Apple HQ in San Francisco. He has also personally funded projects designed to change perceptions of blindness and mental health.

I’m where I am today because… I believe everyone has a story worth sharing.

@simeonquarrie

From consulting at adidas to launch a new running brand last year, Sunny provides the direction and connected UX strategy for Tribal Worldwide. He has helped shape the entire digital customer experience for Volkswagen UK, an enormous responsibility given its position as the most visited automotive website in the UK.

The pinnacle of Sunny’s contribution in 2018 came when he helped the DDB group retain Volkswagen’s business in the UK and Europe. His customer-centric militancy and his advocacy for digital experience – in the middle of a global advertising pitch – was a huge success. He brilliantly represented experience design and creativity, garnering accolades from VW clients and agency network colleagues alike.

My desert island luxury would be… a couple of cases of Flying Goose Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce, it makes anything taste good.

@priyalakhani

Umesh (uMe) Pandya is driven by using design and technology to solve problems that matter, he has been working as a practitioner in the digital sector for over 18 years, conceiving and launching inclusive, human-centred, digital products, services and ventures.

In addition to co-founding Wayfindr, a multi-award-winning, social tech, not-for-profit that empowers vision impaired people to navigate the world independently, uMe has been
transferring and adapting tools, process and methodologies from the design

and start-up sectors to help accelerate product and service innovation in the social impact sector. He is currently developing the Social Venture Canvas
– a free to use tool that supports social tech entrepreneurs on their journey in creating purpose-driven, impact led, sustainable digital businesses.

My favourite quote/saying is… “Design needs to be plugged into human behaviour. Design dissolves in behaviour.” Naoto Fukasawa

@the_ume

As Marketing and New Business Director, Victoria is responsible for driving Think’s growth, brand, marketing and technology partnerships.

She’s part of a leadership team that has helped steer the agency through an incredible year. As well as winning a host of awards including The Drum’s Digital Agency of the Year, Think saw a 60% growth in revenue YoY – with Victoria driving highly competitive wins for Liverpool FC, Shop Direct, LV=, The Adecco Group and Knight Frank.

To top a defining year, Think was acquired in 2018 by EPAM, one of the world’s largest engineering firms. Victoria played a crucial role in the acquisition’s success; bringing all of her responsibilities together to enable Think to not only dream big for its clients but deliver big too.

The film/book title that describes my life is… Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

@weevics

Warren has been working in experience design for 20+ years, working for Yell, PA Consulting, Oyster, Framfab, LBi and Universal Music. He founded experience design consultancy ELSE in 2010 to specialise in behaviour change, new product development and service innovation. ELSE works with multinationals and start-ups and includes UBS, Adidas, Boehringer-Ingelheim, T. Rowe Price and Kodak as clients. ELSE has a strong focus on its culture, employing a 4-day work week, protected R&D time and a generous training budget.

Warren is a guest lecturer at Brunel University, delivering the Experience Design module on the MSc in Digital Design, and he’s also lectured on the MBA at Cambridge. ELSE is also involved with Northumbria University and Imperial College.

I’ve never… had the desire to leap from a plane, go to Vegas, or listen to Radiohead.

@snowbadger

Before joining Facebook, Zaynah studied at The Global Academy where her passion for tech grew. Previously she attended a grammar school, an environment she could not thrive in. Even though facing societal and family pressure, she took a risk and decided to build a new path for herself. She set up her own business using Instagram called Zaynah’s Bakes, a home-sale cupcake business where she reached 16,000 people within the first 2 weeks. Zaynah also built a strong portfolio through various work experience and internships. She is now working in the marketing team at Facebook where she is responsible for managing regional campaigns which run across Facebook & Instagram. Currently she is working on a program which supports young BAME women in Tech
& Apprenticeships, which she wishes to launch in the near future.

Given the chance, I’d tell… my younger self: “You’re doing great sweetie”.

@zaynahdin

Alex Price is the founder of specialist digital agency 93digital, which he started in his bedroom before dropping out of university to build an award winning agency. Alex serves on BIMA’s Young Talent Council helping to get more young people into the digital industry, and has featured in the BIMA 100 on two occasions previously in the Rising Star category. Alex was also named as The Drum’s Agency Rising Star in 2016.

As VP, Marketing and Business Development, Alex led Huge’s notable European growth in 2017, welcoming new clients including Expedia, Hugo Boss, Zalando, Google, Esprit and Thomson Reuters, as well as winning the AAR’s largest digital pitch of the year. Alex was also the driving force behind a new workshop partnership with London Business School, as well as a push to use digital as a medium for social good, partnering with local authorities in East London to tackle the knife crime endemic.

Alex leads the ‘Make Something You Love’ event series, curating makers from all walks of life that can provide inspiration to those working in the digital industry, and has supported BIMA with Digital Day and the BIMA Mentoring scheme.

@alexpym

Alexandra has achieved industry-wide recognition for building an award-winning digital and communications strategy for Wimbledon.
Through the combination of a content-first, platform second approach, a data-led audience strategy, and placing value on consistent innovation and continuous evolution, Alexandra has led Wimbledon to become one of the most well-respected digital brands in sport.

She was named one of the BIMA 100 2018, Drum Digerati 2018 & 2017, Sports Technology Young Exec of the Year 2017, and Leaders Under 40 and Sport Industry NextGen Classes of 2016.
She has an MA in History from Oxford University and an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School.

Alexis is quickly becoming a leader in strategic innovation and digital futures, helping organisations, governments and NGOs to reimagine tomorrow. Her recent work includes helping government leaders develop a vision for 2030 and further build out programmes, policies, and services for the future. She also helps lead engagements with big tech, exploring digital security issues and developing human-centric technologies around people’s online privacy needs and concerns.

The impact of Alexis’s work is not only evidenced by her delivery of client projects; she thrives in both business development and team management. Her avid curiosity, strategic mind, and innate ability to connect with people, make her a valued part of the Idea Couture team.

@ideacouture

Industrial Sector Lead at IBM iX.

Alison, Clarky as she’s known leads an incredible team focused on the Automotive, Aerospace and Defence industry. She works with businesses struggling to digitise by using creativity and design to help solve complex issues.

From a standing start, she’s delivered some incredible digital transformation projects; on production systems, using design techniques and processes to prototype, engaging engineering stakeholders, and delivering through agile processes. She’s an exceptional creative brain in a sector where creativity is not highly valued. She’s encouraged a sea-change, and clients now come to her for creative-lead solutions to deeply complex business problems.

@IBM_iX

Alistair is ECD at agency We are Social. Having worked for incredible companies like Agency Republic and Guardian Labs, he continues to seek out the most interesting work in the most cutting edge new areas of advertising.

Recently his 5 part content series investigating technology’s effect on privacy in the 21st century won a D&AD Pencil, was featured in the Big Bang Data exhibition and screened at the WEC in Davos.

His short film, The Last Job On Earth which brought to life the issues surrounding automation in the work place, was awarded Best Animated Film at the Lovies and is being featured in the exhibition Robots at the German Design Museum.

@VariousProjects.

If you’ve not met Andy before he could arguably beBritain’s most energetic tech entrepreneur. He is founder and CEO of Angel Solutions, a Liverpool based software agency established in 1999. This Ringmaster and his team of 50 (and growing) create innovative products out of an award winning circus themed office! Andy was in the 2018 BIMA 100, is the Chair of BIMA Liverpool and is a regular speaker at both local and national events. Andy now spends most of his time working across the city region on projects that invest in young people and mentors other businesses & aspiring entrepreneurs

Anna Rafferty runs BBCW’s global digital marketing portfolio. She leads the company’s shortform and social content production, drives the corporation’s reputation for innovation and editorially develops new IP’s.  In the past year she has worked on brands including BBC Earth, Blue Planet II, Doctor Who, Top Gear and Hey Duggee.

She joined from Pottermore, J.K. Rowling’s entertainment company where she was Director of Product, Content and Creative and part of the launch team for the Fantastic Beasts’ franchise and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Rafferty previously spent 11 years at Penguin Books where she was Digital MD. She is the Chair of Culture24, a digital arts charity and on the board of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

@raffers

Antony is a strategist, speaker and writer. He is CEO and co-founder of Brilliant Noise, a marketing-led digital transformation partner for global brands. In 2017 Brilliant Noise grew by 30% and welcomed a number of senior colleagues. In addition to designing market leading transformation programs for clients including Diageo, adidas and Universal Pictures, Antony is a regular industry speaker. He hosts Brilliant Noise’s annual Dots conference and is a regular contributor to publications including Forbes and The Huffington Post.

Antony also serves as the Chair of Lighthouse, an arts and culture agency producing, supporting and presenting new art, film, music, design and games. In 2017 the organisation was awarded continued Arts Council England National Portfolio funding, ensuring investment until 2022.

@amayfield

Ardy doesn’t fit the mould of advertising.

Politely doing what clients ask has never been his style.

His approach is lateral, even asymmetric.

He asks too many questions.

And pushes hard when the answers are weak.

But entrepreneurs like Ardy fundamentally don’t fit in the mainstream.

They hunt for opportunities at the margins.

Opportunities like using tech to: make ads, talk to clients and (god forbid) even make advertising profitable.

If opportunity is found at the margins, Ardy proudly sits there.

Having launched M&C Saatchi Accelerator, he works everyday to find new ways to grow the tech-enabled businesses of tomorrow.

Think of him as a hunter of opportunity, whose digital tools are as disruptive as his questions.

@ArdyDanielewicz

As well as his day job as Director of Legal affairs and Third Party Sales at ITV – co-ordinating some of the biggest changes to commercial TV (and its digital offerings) over the last five years – Barry has created and developed the Social Mobility Business Partnership (SMBP).

The SMBP is a volunteer-led charity which brings together over 80 professional services firms, and some of the country’s biggest brands, committed to supporting students from low income backgrounds in their pursuit of a career. From a programme of 20 students in London in 2014, Barry has grown the scheme to accommodate over 400 pupils in nine locations around the country. For more info visit https://smbp.org.uk/.

@SMBP_UK

Ben is Director of drpdigital, part of creative agency drp. Under Ben’s stewardship drpdigital has committed to a number of pioneering shared value recruitment initiatives. Developing and nurturing new talent with local partner enterprises has become a core strategic focus which has facilitated a rapid and substantial expansion of the digital team over recent years.

Ben’s strong links with local colleges and universities have been pivotal in implementing a development programme that gives invaluable insights, experience and apprenticeships for future digital talent.

Additionally, Ben and his team have collaborated with the National Autistic Society and charity ASPIE, to provide workshops, work experience and paid employment at drp for autistic team members.

@drpdigital

Carl is the co-founder of LivingLens, a technology business which unlocks the insight in people’s stories to inspire decisions. With his passion for consumer insight and unbounded enthusiasm, Carl has raised millions in equity investment to fund LivingLens development over the last 4 years.

The past 12 months has seen LivingLens add offices in New York and Toronto, and build significant AI capabilities. This has opened up new ways for businesses to understand their customers more effectively than ever before to improve areas such as product development, campaign testing and customer experience feedback. The result for LivingLens has been 400% growth, 40% of business coming from North America, pipeline conversion more than doubling, and projects delivered in over 40 languages.

@carllw7

As Strategy Director at SHARE Creative, Carla is responsible for bridging the gap between the data and creative and is known for placing consumers at the heart of any project.

With 10 years’ experience in various research, data and analytic roles,  Carla has helped deliver integrated campaigns and build bespoke data products across a variety of sectors and FTSE 350 brands spanning healthcare, automotive, FMCG, financial and lifestyle with clients including Sky, FCA, Southern Comfort, The North Face and Vans to name a few.

Carla has recently been featured in an inspirational piece for wearethecity.com as an identifited woman leader in Tech.

When she’s not at work she can be found salsa-ing around or spending time with her family.

In 2017 Casey became the first ever elected President of SheSays. In that year she doubled the amount of events they ran, continued to grow their online community, built new brand partnerships and led the ‘I AM REINDEER’ Xmas campaign for a second year.

As well as leading the wider team she continued her work with the mentor scheme – Who’s Your Momma, a scheme that has paired over 200 women in 3 years.

Outside of SheSays she is the Creative Lead of Refinery29 London and the founder of The Freelance Circle – a venture that allows freelancers to anonymously review their experiences of advertising and marketing agencies.

@caseyjbird

Charles believes a deeper understanding of human behaviour is essential for the future of the UK creative sector, in order for us to maintain our global position as creative elites. He is bringing the most innovative minds in the industry together to create a movement that leads to further integration of behavioural science to continue our outstanding creative contribution to a global audience.

Alongside co-founding Unity & Motion, delivering successful video campaigns for Tefal, Stella Artois and KPMG, Charles mentors progressive individuals from Deloitte consultants, investment bankers, city lawyers and agencies. He trains teams and individuals to gain a deeper understanding of how people process information in different ways, the value systems people operate from and how to communicate progressively.

@parkinson.charles

Charlie is obsessed with virtual reality. In 2016 he co-founded Wolf in Motion alongside design partner Guillaume Couche with the aim of creating innovative and engaging immersive experiences. The duo have been busy helping brands such as Pilsner Urquell and Glenfiddich take their first steps in the virtual world whilst keeping time for more experimental training, artistic and augmented reality projects.

Recently Charlie has lead the development of a physically accurate VR photography simulator, the world’s first synchronised live VR and live music performance, and an innovative VR mixed-media experience, released at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

@charliefuller

Chris is a pragmatic staightalking northerner heading up the Realise customer experience offering. He has changed Realise immeasurably since his arrival and is now tasked with creating a more compelling offering accross all strategic design service’s, to allow Realise to challenge clients to think bigger, be more ambitious in their outlook and recognise the true value in what they are doing.

This approach has seen Chris help shape the fan experience of over 60 EFL club websites, rethink the role of “digital” in large investment management compnies and figure out how to make the end to end journey of bus travellers as stress free as possible.

@realisetweets

Chris heads up the experience design team at ORM. Since joining, Chris has focused on collaborating with leading transport and financial brands to reframe their digital products with client owned customer data and insight driven conversion at the heart of everything.

Within ORM, Chris has devised new structures and processes to break down silos, enhance communication and derisk delivery; tactics that he best describes as “not that dissimilar to the ‘total football’ philosophy of the 1974 Dutch team”.

Off the digital pitch, Chris hosts a podcast noted by The Observer as one of the sports podcasts of 2017: ‘Quickly Kevin, will he score?’ – a sideways reminiscence of 90s football.

@cjscull

Claire has driven the quality of CG Visualisation. In the last year, Claire has pushed the boundaries of architectural visualisation into Virtual Reality.  She partnered with Aitken Turnbull and Hammond Care to develop VR-Empathy Platform (EP) technology, enabling Architects and designers to create dementia friendly spaces using VR-EP to understand how dementia affects vision. Combining years of technical skills and knowledge; sales, business development and contract/client management experience, Claire cultivated an approach that has confidently secured and sustained relationships with substantive clients. Claire has most recently collaborated with Multiplex, Morrison Construction, Interserve and Vital Energi to win competitive multi-million-pound contracts.

@ClaireTMcGarry

Craig has run a series of innovative online workshops for young learners that explore cyber security skills in a fun and practical way. Almost 2000 young people from across the UK and internationally have taken part in the live-streamed sessions in the past 6 months and learned “How to Rob A Bank”. This is bringing in new digital talent who don’t have the opportunity to learn these much-needed digital skills.

These online collaborative games have made learning digital skills a fun and sociable experience, and feedback from learners is that it has increased their awareness of jobs in digital.

@Craig88

Dan owns brand strategy agency, Why Digital. When diagnosed as bipolar, he leveraged his influence to drive mental health awareness, and volunteered his time giving marketing advice to charities, whilst also rallying the local digital community to drive change. He created a fringe event of The Drum’s Do It Day in Bournemouth, focusing on mental health awareness, involving leading creative and digital minds to conceptualise solutions. He implemented a campaign to engage influential business people to share their mental health stories and encourage conversation around mental health.He’s delivered talks on using technology to manage his mania and depression with such success, his psychologist discharged him from therapy. He’s now developing this further to create a solution to help others.

@why_digital

Danielle makes up half of Redweb’s marketing team, and takes responsibility for internal and external brand activity, as well as events and community initiative involvement.

Danielle is passionate about educating people on the breadth of opportunities in digital, she organises Digital Wave – the largest digital careers conference for young people in the UK. She attends careers fairs and schools delivering inspirational career talks. Danielle continuously promotes apprenticeships to bridge the gap between education and careers and is part of the Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network (YAAN). Danielle is also part of the BIMA Young Talent Council. In 2017 she was recognised jointly in BIMA’s Top 100 as a Digital Ambassador and received a Rock Star award in 2017 for Rising Star.

@Redweb

Darren is currently resident inventor at Digitas – always testing emerging technologies, building prototypes, and constantly leaving them all in wonder of what he’ll dream up next. There are no small words to describe his depth of technical knowledge and his drive to bring ideas to life.

Darren’s technology-fuelled creations include everything from a Santa skill for Alexa at Christmas, pitch-winning VR experiences, room-sized holograms, AR experiences and even a cryptocurrency platform that he put together in the space of an hour-long meeting.

Whatever the challenge, Darren will come up with a creative and technical solution to inspire people and smash it.

@pixelpig

Davor has lead the team at B-Reel to punch well above their weight and deliver one of last year’s most awarded pieces of work; the Official Gorillaz App. Recognized around the world, from Cannes to New York and beyond, the work has firmly put the UK digital creative scene front of mind.

He joined B-Reel London in September 2015 and has, together with Managing Director and Founding Partner Johannes Åhlund, been instrumental in building a new team that has moved B-Reel from digital production into its current position as one of the UK’s most progressive and interesting creative agencies.

@B__REEL

When Castrol chose IBM iX to be their digital transformation partner, their goal was to leverage digital to create superior customer experiences.  Des knew that a total shift in mindset, culture and working patterns would be required to be successful in this new world. Des and his team would have to embrace more risk, more ambiguity, and accept some failure through experimentation and prototyping. And that’s what he did.

Des created a true partnership – IBM iX & Castrol together – co-creating in shared spaces, innovating in an environment that absolutely demanded a “one team” approach and a single minded focus on the customer. He led the joint team from the front and people naturally followed.

@therealdesj

Dominic has been creating digital experiences for over 17 years in a range of sectors and now engineers experiences as a Senior UX Consultant at Valtech. He’s an advocate for UX and customer-centric insight driven design and has been shifting organisations towards data driven developments whilst still keeping user needs at the heart of their digital offerings.

For him, it’s simply not a case of just understanding the problem, but delivering success both for the user (exceptional, usable experiences) and for the business (transformation, added value, organisational objectives).

Away from the office, Dominic is a presence in UX and measurement circles; both attending, speaking and running events as well as being a UX mentor for the next generation.

@dh_analytics

Appointed as Managing Director in 2016, Ete has led AnalogFolk towards a period of unprecedented growth and creative excellence, which saw AnalogFolk placed 29th in Econsultancy’s top 100 digital agencies 2017, and one of the ‘top four’ creative agencies; recognised in The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, winning The Drum’s ‘Content Marketing Agency of the Year’ and a runner-up for Campaign ‘Digital Innovation Agency Of The Year’.

A Drum Digerati “Top 100 people in UK Digital” 2017 and 2018 Alumni, Ete was recognised in the BIMA 100 in 2017 (‘Champion for Good’) and in 2018 (‘Leaders and Visionaries), as well as Creative Pool’s ‘Top 100 Influencers’ 2018 and Campaign Magazines ‘Top 10 Trailblazers’ in 2017 and 2018.

Euan is co-founder of WhiteHat. WhiteHat is a tech startup which matches talented, driven young people with apprenticeship opportunities at some of the world’s best companies; ranging from Google and Warner Bros through to Just Eat and Sage. WhiteHat works primarily with 16-23 year olds who have chosen not to go to university and help them accelerate their careers, delivering a range of apprenticeships designed for the digital age.
WhiteHat’s mission is to create a diverse group of future leaders by focusing on building an outstanding alternative to university and transforming the way our education and employment system currently works for young people.

@WhiteHatGB

Gary has been at the forefront of Mando’s journey into using Artificial Intelligence, regularly consulting with FTSE 100 companies to enable them to improve customer experience, by innovating with cutting edge technology such as intelligent chat bots and machine learning.

Gary was one of the first Microsoft AI MVPs (Most Valuable Professional) globally, with a focus on the Microsoft Bot platform and Cognitive Services. He speaks at conferences, both locally and internationally, sharing his technical knowledge with peers and helping to open the eyes of business stakeholders to the art of the possible with AI. He also helps to lead Mando’s thought leadership events and activities and is working to define Mando’s long term approach to ‘innovation-as-a-service’.

@garypretty

With a background in digital marketing and product development, Giulia currently leads a team of digital change agents at Cancer Research UK, and is the driving force behind the charity’s transformation journey. She’s embedded a hub and spoke model which devolves digital skills into the organisation through cross-functional agile teams. She works tirelessly to influence and educate, and frequently shares her experience with other charities. Giulia’s impact has helped Cancer Research UK becoming a sector-leading digital organisation and user-centric, lean and agile in everything they do.

Giulia is also a champion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and a passionate advocate for women in technology.

Gregor is a firm believer in thoughtful and holistic design executed with beautiful consideration and craft. Within 8 years of his graduation, he has trailblazed his way through his career, picking up an award/honour at each of his positions along the way.

He has now taken place leading the creative team at renowned Edinburgh agency Tayburn as Design Director, where he brings his in-depth knowledge of digital design, conceptual thinking, art direction, UX and digital strategy to further strengthen the team.

A strong advocate of ‘paying-it-forward’, Gregor has also mentored the design courses at Edinburgh College for several years, helping graduates to develop industry-ready skills.

@gregormatheson

Helen is a Marketing Communications Strategist at Dog. During the last year, she has been fundamental to the growth of BIMA Scotland. She has helped build a strong council, curated excellent speaker panels, supported the growth of BIMA Digital Day and helped launch the first ever BIMA curated university guest lecture programme.

Helen is particularly passionate about championing female talent, something that has grown since participating in TRCmedia’s Special Edition programme, a course designed to address the gender imbalance at board level in the digital and creative industries in Scotland.

Ultimately, Helen always seeks to leverage her vast network for the mutual benefit of everyone involved, ensuring talented individuals get their time in the limelight.

@dogdigital

Helena Good is a design lecturer at Edinburgh College. As a lecturer she has sought to develop how employers and educators connect to create the workforce of the future.

Over the last 9 years she has developed an award winning Mentoring Programme involving designers from leading agencies. The success of this programme has enabled her students to regularly win national design and marketing competitions. In January 2017 she launched Daydream Believers, a programme of engagement in secondary schools promoting creative thinking, digital skills and employability. Helena believes that one of the best ways to activate our highest potential and achieve our goals is to daydream. Her desire is to open the doors to a world that pays you to daydream!

@helenamgood

Inga leads the BA (Hons) Interaction Design programme at the Glasgow School of Art, and since its inception, she has been committed to its growth and development nationally and internationally. Over the last 12 months, Inga has delivered several projects which beyond providing excellent skills and experience for the students, has made great strides in bringing the School into much closer collaboration with the Arts, the local community, and our Scottish-based digital industry leaders. She is collaborating with BIMA to establish a guest speaker programme by inviting members of BIMA to speak to students studying Interaction Design and other design programmes, thus strengthening links between education and industry.

@ingapaterson

James is the founder of Cambridge-based digital agency Onespacemedia. A designer, creative director and computer scientist by profession, James has spent his career working at the intersection of design and technology. Having founded two previous agencies, James launched Onespacemedia in 2011 to help Cambridge’s rapidly expanding technology and life science sectors to leverage cutting edge digital to compete on the global stage.

James has created a company ethos that insists on the highest standards of quality, accountability and transparency – this strategy is the driving force behind Onespacemedia’s reputation for excellence and its innovative work that consistently delivers measurable success for its clients. As a mentor, guest lecturer and public speaker James is a passionate advocate of the UK digital scene.

@jamescotton

Under the guiding hand of founder and CEO James Freedman, Zone has grown to become one of the UK’s foremost full-service digital agencies. With James providing strategic direction, the agency produced a calibre of work that caught the eye of Cognizant, and in October 2017 James negotiated a deal that saw Zone become part of the Fortune 500 global technology giant.

Zone’s new owners recognised James’ expertise and he retained his leadership role at the agency. James helps Cognizant expand its digital footprint by leveraging Zone’s industry-leading expertise in technology, strategy and content to provide an unrivalled end-to-end digital transformation service for some of the world’s biggest brands, including BMW Group, which was won in 2017.

@jamessfreedman

Janelle Feliciano is an Associate Creative Director in London. She started her career in the advertising industry and over the years worked across multiple communication disciplines specialising in social and digital.

She recently took her digital skills into PR by joining Weber Shandwick. Before that, she was at Jam where she launched Amazon Fashion with body positive campaign, “I Wish I Could Wear” and “Tap to Give”: the world’s first charity turnstile raising funds to provide clean water for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

Janelle has won awards such as Cannes Young Lions, New York Festivals, One Show, Creative Circle and Campaign Big Awards. She also mentors for The One Club bootcamp, BIMA’s Digital Day and the PRWeek Mentoring Scheme.

@TheAdnormal

Over the past year, Jessica has been developing a new approach to competitor benchmarking. Her systematic approach to competitor analysis is aimed at helping organisations map out and understand their competitive landscape with respect to UX. She has applied this approach with select User Vision clients, and is currently scaling it for broader use.

This year, Jessica also worked with colleagues to develop and deliver a short course on Designing for Humans – bridging the gaps between psychology and user-centred design. She is presenting these ideas as part of the BIMA curated guest lecture programme at the Glasgow School of Art.

@jessscameron

Jim is the CEO and co-founder of Manifesto, a scale-up agency that employs fifty people and delivering award-winning digital work with a purpose. He’s created a family of talented individuals who work together to do things a little bit differently for organisations such as Unicef UK, Parkinsons UK and the National Trust.

Jim co-hosts a monthly technology podcast, AlexaSTOP! about how technology is changing people’s lives, and presents a weekly tech show, de:code, on Hoxton Radio. Jim’s career also includes his position on the Board of Trustees for Asthma UK. Jim is a great leader who’s energy and enthusiasm represents everything an agency CEO should be.

@jimbowes

Joanna is a stalwart client partner & visionary at Amaze and  a campaigner for driving and raising the profile of client services within the digital sector. Passionate about promoting the profile of talent in the North West, Joanna is part of the council that has established BIMA’s Manchester presence over the past year.

In addition to leading a portfolio of global clients, delivering transformational business and marketing communication solutions, and having responsibility for the client services team in one the UK’s leading agencies, Joanna has found time to create a Client Service Community in the Northwest as well as actively promoting the national calendar of events.

Without Joanna, the North West would not have the connected, collaborative and digital centric client service community it does today.

After failing at being in a band John got into designing record covers instead. Then Napster happened so he swapped CD’s for CDing at Grey Direct and Joshua, before moving on to a senior position at AIS. He then traded one start up for another, spending 10 years as a founding partner and ECD at Elvis, winning Cannes, D&AD and The One Show as well as Agency of the Year along the way.  John moved to Proximity in 2013 and since then he’s helped the agency pick up nearly 200 awards, including a Gold Effectiveness Lion for The Economist and 17 DMA awards in 2017 and was named in Campaigns top 20 ECDs. He still can’t drum.

Jon joined Vodafone in 2014 as Head of Digital and leads the digital business in the UK covering digital from marketing and sales through to engineering and innovation for all of Vodafone’s consumer and enterprise customers. Along with his 150-strong team of developers, UX designers, creatives, marketers, analysts and product teams, Jon has been busy transforming the digital business at Vodafone over the last 12 months, building an entirely new digital architecture, creating a new digital innovation hub in London and rolling out new digital experiences, including TOBi, the first chatbot in telecoms to offer an end to end sales journey.

Prior to Vodafone, Jon held a variety of digital and commercial leadership roles at Adobe, Orange and Eurostar.

@VodafoneUK

Karmarama joining Accenture Interactive is one of the key defining moments of our industry in the last 12 months and this was led by Jon. He’s constantly on speaker platforms and conferences discussing issues around marketing in the digital age, speaking at Cannes, SXSW and the World Federation of Advertisers Global Marketer conference where he has been part of the team leading  ‘Project Reconnect’ , aiming to rebuild trust in brands in a digital world.

@karmarama

Kat is an award-winning CD and the Head of Facebook’s Creative Shop in Northern Europe. Kat’s biggest passion is empowering and fostering women in the creative industries.

She has been instrumental in driving diversity and inclusion by supporting the Creative Equals’ Intern Bursary, which gives junior female creatives facing financial challenges access to jobs in the ad industry. Kat also judged and presented The Drum’s ‘Creative Women of the Year’ award celebrating trailblazer women, who pave the way for others to follow.

At Facebook, she launched a Returnship Programe, upskilling mothers returning to work to be FB and IG specialists. She is a proud member of the Creative Equals’ advisory board and plays a key role in the organisation’s success

@daddycaniburnit

Kerensa runs The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA), an international programme aiming to help address the digital skills gap. The programme provides free digital skills education in the form of engaging online modules (badges). The iDEA curriculum has been curated to help inspire people all over the world to become Digital Citizens, Workers, Makers, Entrepreneurs and Gamers to enhance their employability; and to help them become economically active.

Kerensa was previously the BBC’s Head of Strategic Delivery. Her work on the BBC’s Make it Digital strategy earned the Innovation Enterprise Chief Strategy Officer’s Best Innovation Award. Kerensa is also a Professor, an Executive Coach and a bestselling author and is passionate about helping people unlock their potential.

@zinca

Barbican Young Poet, Kieron, broke into the ad industry via the first intake of Ogilvy’s creative internship The Pipe in 2016 and has gone from strength to strength.

With no background in advertising, Kieron’s digital thinking and creative flair has shaped the strategy for Vodafone’s new digital-first sub-brand VOXI – one of the biggest brands coming out of Ogilvy UK right now.

Kieron’s creativity extends beyond Ogilvy in his poetry, with performances at City Hall, The Barbican and Buckingham Palace under his belt.

As a co-founder of Ogilvy Roots, Kieron champions greater diversity of talent within the industry and is passionate about working with London’s inner-city schools to bring the next wave of creative digital natives into the industry.

@Kieron_Rennie

Lani leads cross-functional, agile delivery teams at digital consultancy, Red Badger. She’s also the inspiration, leader and driving force behind its social value task force, a group committed to providing their time and skills to great causes both in and out-of-hours.

In the last year alone, her championing of Payroll Giving (with Red Badger matching donations) has seen the company awarded the platinum certification for participation. She’s set up long-term collaborations with incredible non-profits including Code Your Future, the Anthony Nolan Trust and Pride in London. Combined with a framework she helped develop which rewards volunteering for social value and open source projects, Lani’s determination to drive social change has seen it become a core part of Red Badger’s culture.

@lanishamash

For 20 years, Laura has brought a fresh and experimental approach to digital. Combining tech insights with passionate storytelling, she’s won numerous awards for her commercial work and been recognised globally as an innovator and industry leader.

In 2016, Laura proved her creative prowess when she co-founded The Great British Diversity Project, which went on to prove the power of diversity for creative effectiveness. She sits on international juries from the ANDYs and SXSW to LIAAs, and is a keynote speaker at major festivals around the world.

Laura co-founded SheSays, a global volunteer network with over 40,000 members which works to get more women into the creative industries.

@MrPresident

A rising star in the UK digital industry, Laura has enjoyed a pivotal role in an amazing year at Soluis, leading the creative process on their most ambitious project to date – visualising the reimagination of an entire country! The project saw her steer multidisciplinary teams to transform complex social, cultural, and economic objectives into inspiring, impactful visual narratives, delivered across immersive visualisation platforms, to an audience of world leaders and innovators.
She also sits on the board of directors guiding the re-birth of Brutalist masterpiece St Peter’s Seminary, and was accepted on to TRC Media’s competitive Special Edition programme, which addresses, through specific leadership training, the gender imbalance at board level in the digital and creative industries.

@lauramchard

As Director of Business Development at WPP marketing technology agency, Cognifide, Leigh heads up a team of Client Service and New Business professionals, and owns the agency’s P&L with revenues of over £23m.

In the last 18 months he spearheaded the addition of ten new clients and increased the average deal size from £1.2m in 2015 to £1.9m in 2017. Last year he led teams who successfully pitched for a record 50% increase in new business revenues, adding many household names to Cognifide’s client roster. As an active force within the WPP Adobe Alliance he played a key role in ensuring that WPP were named Adobe’s Experience Cloud Solutions Partner of the Year 2017.

@cognifide

Leyya and Roshni are two brown, female, state-school educated second/third generation immigrants from working class backgrounds, who happen to be creatives in design, tech and advertising.

They co-founded The Other Box – an award-winning platform celebrating people of colour and other minorities in the creative industries – to make the conversation around diversity more intersectional and inclusive. By combining their lived experience of everyday exclusion and tokenism with academic knowledge of race and racism they want to create tangible, long-lasting change.

As well as running workshops within agencies, they’re regularly invited to sit on panels, radio and TV shows. They were recently shortlisted for the WOW Women in the Creative Industries award for Breaking New Ground.

@_TheOtherBox

Loral is the CEO and co-founder of Sustainably, a real time social responsibility platform, making it easy for consumers and businesses to have a positive impact, integrated into daily life.

Sustainably turns busy consumers cashless transactions into impact by rounding up their spare change every time they shop. It enables brands to match donate to causes their customers and employees care about in real time, localising and personalising their social responsibility. Sustainably won Best of Show at Finovate, was nominated for a BIMA Award for Technology with Conscience and is a top 5 Virgin Startup. Loral created this from idea to inception. Sustainably’s advisory board includes the co-Founder of a billion dollar tech company and a unicef ambassador.

@loralquinn

Returning to her talent roots, Louize Clarke created Digital Gum in September 2017. It’s a programme that gives returners, apprentices and small businesses  the in-demand skills they need to thrive in the digital economy.  “Digital explorers” are immersed in sessions, from social media marketing, app design and coding through to video content, VR and SEO.

This builds on Louize’s digital talent legacy in the Thames Valley. Now in its third year, ConnectTVT’s flagship platform, 50 Game Changers, brings together innovative start-ups and scale-ups to celebrate regional, grassroots talent and success.

A long-term advocate for STEAM, Louize continues to champion Green Meets Grey, the programme that connects next generation talent with business mentors to tackle real-world challenges.

@louizeclarke

Luciana joined REWIND in 2017 to head up new business & partnerships.  Previously a freelancer with 5+ years’ experience in award-winning startups, her recent focus has been leveraging her law, business, and entrepreneurial background to support and grow the UK’s immersive tech industry. To that end, she helped co-found Realities Centre London, co-chairs the Tech London Advocates AR/VR committee, and carries out ongoing research on ‘VR for good’ applications, namely within neuroscience and cognitive behavioural change.

Luciana is also co-founder of Unfold Inclusion, a UK social enterprise powering diversity in XR. Passionate about empowering women in tech, Luciana is a STEM and Founders4Schools ambassador, as well as a mentor and spokesperson for Code First Girls, SheWorx, and Women of Wearables.

@LCarvalhoSe

Over the course of 2017, Luke’s passion saw him progress into the role of Lead Designer at hedgehog lab. As a learning enthusiast and problem solver, Luke dedicated his spare time throughout the year to studying various laws and principles of design, putting them into practice both in his work and innovative personal projects.

Luke’s most impressive attribute has been his willingness to share the knowledge and experience he has picked up, both within his organisation and with the UK design community. A keen networker, he regularly travels the North of England to take in presentations from designers and has presented his philosophies at events such as the 2017 Integrated Live Marketing Summit, IxDA and Rise & Design.

@luke_medlock

In 2017, Lydia co-founded FeedForward Ai an artificial intelligence consultancy. Bridging the gap between academia and industry, FeedForward apply the latest machine learning research to real business and creative problems. As well as bespoke consultancy, they have built a solution for personalising customer experience on media platforms.

She is committed to demystifying Ai through communicating its concepts and practical applications, and has started the Innovation AI event series – where research and industry meet. She believes diversity is essential in Ai to maximise innovation and build solutions that benefit all.

Lydia is a member of the BIMA Ai Think Tank, with a particular interest in using technology to enable human creativity and the effect of bias in machine learning.

@Lydia_Gregory

In addition to encouraging students to take up STEM subjects via Founders4Schools, Lynsey is also part of the Skyscanner Future Tech charity team, whose mission is to help make Scotland a great place to base a tech company.

Despite not having a tech background, Lynsey is currently using her network of peers in tech companies in Scotland to bring a similar experience to Girlsday NL to Edinburgh, with an ultimate aim of creating a Girlsday tech event for Scotland.

By spending a day getting a feel for life in a real business, and completing tech tasks to spark interest in a tech future, Lynsey aims to help redress the gender balance in the tech roles of tomorrow.

@lynzsb

Marianne is the founder of Think Designable the alliance for disability inclusive brand practice. Their aim is to better society’s relationship with ‘difference’. They’re doing this by looking at how brand experiences are designed and questioning accesibility and representation at every stage – both digitally and physically. Marianne is in the process of planning their second conference on Inclusive Brand Practice in November 2018 with a view to challenging the way major brands think about disability.

Marianne studied Inclusive Design as part of her Masters, and believes this should be a common part of mainstream brand development. Her aim now is to bridge the gap between assistive and mainstream products and services, thereby improving quality of life for all.

@thinkdesignable

Since 2000 Martin has built a group of successful businesses that deliver best in class 3D visualisation and interactive digital presentation. His vision to connect the latest digital technology platforms to the needs of different market sectors has led his businesses to be among the earliest innovators in bringing the benefits of augmented and virtual reality to the property, design and construction sectors.

Martin’s most recent start-up, Sublime, which he co-founded in 2017 with two other entrepreneurs, is his most ambitious to date. Sublime is building the next generation of tools and content platform for the nascent VR market and the anticipated future AR sector. Early success in the Middle East and Asia point to another successful venture.

@soluismd

Matt’s spent much of the year using technology to disrupt the energy industry. He helped launch Orbit Energy, from concept to a fully functional customer portal in just over 3 months. Collaborating with Create Future, his team has developed the Bryt Energy site, with plans to use assistive AI to give small B2B energy customers unprecidented levels of control.At the other end of the industry he’s helping E.ON launch their first Facebook chatbot.

As well as his project work, Matt’s been in mentoring a growing the technical team. He particularly relishes helping people make the big leap from Developer into a Technical Director, developing the business and management skills required to run their technical practice.

Mel is a dynamic force driving Wunderman’s reputation as a leading digital agency across EMEA. Helping clients looking for a step change in digital transformation, Mel has been integral in winning over 50 new pieces of business in the last year including Samsung and BT.

Named one of Ad Age’s Women To Watch, Mel has the courage and commitment to lead 4,000 people in building a world-class agency by hiring and partnering with best talent in the business. She has been consistently leading the region’s ongoing gender equality and diversity debate, which earned her a spot on the Steering Committee for Gender Parity for the World Economic Forum. She’s also a member of Women in Advertising and Communications London (WACL).

@_MelEdwards

Michael leads the long-term technology vision of Inside Ideas Group and is responsible for its technical collaboration and advanced technology incubations.

Michael’s future-facing ethos saw Dare secure several crucial portfolio wins in 2017’s final quarter, a 25% increase in staff, a 50% revenue boost and industry-leading work for the likes of Chelsea FC, Nike, Starbucks, BMW and Vision Express among others.

For the past 18 years he’s worked as a developer, creative technologist, technical director and founder at Hyperlink-Interactive, BBC, U-dox and more. In 2011, Michael single-handedly created the Havas London in-house technology and digital team. In his spare time, he mentors, speaks and supports local communities with London’s School of Arts and Communications and Future First Alumni.

@magicTuscan

Although Mike is a Creative Technologist he doesn’t always start with a new technology, he starts with people and re-imagines how we experience the world to create meaningful change. He and his team use technology as the tool or platform to communicate their ideas, normally in playful, engaging and unexpected ways.

Recent innovations include Solo, the radio Ai that reads facial expressions to match songs to your mood, and Track, an AR driven app and product that lets anyone attach audio tracks to objects.

Mike’s craft mentality of failing fast and embracing limitations helps him and his team to push the boundaries of what’s possible within technology and design.

@michaelshorter

Miranda is the Business Director at Great State, formerly independent award-winning digital agency e3. She has an extensive background in digital and communications, formerly running Icon Medialab UK and sitting on the international board in Stockholm.
Her current work at Great State has focused on launching the new agency merger with strategic consultancy LSU and on developing new c-suite client relationships, through thought leadership programmes that help brands focus on innovation, develop new digital products and services, and reframe their business models around consumers’ ever-increasing expectations. During her 7 year career break to raise her two children, Miranda published three novels with Random House and has also contrinbuted to business books on social media and digital strategy.

@miraglover

By day, Nathalie works on clients from Pilgrims Choice to Amazon and runs a scheme for single Creatives. By night she’s the co-founder of Taxi Fabric which turns taxi interiors into moving canvas’ to show communities how impactful design can be. This won 2 D&AD Impact Pencils and was shortlisted for a Fast Company Innovation Award.
She also founded #thisdoesnotmeanyes – a photography project which saw her meet the Queen. And she co-founded the #SOwhiteproject highlighting AdLand’s diversity issue. She blogs for Huffington Post, was voted a top 9 female Creative (The Drum), a female leader redefining the Creative industry (The Dots), a top 30 trailblazer (Creative Equals) and just won the IPA’s Women of Tomorrow award.

@awlilnatty

Neil is a design leader and speaker who cares about making an impact for people and profit through insight and design. He heads up his consultancy practice, Industry Visionaries, where he develops new methods to stay at the forefront of his craft.

In the past year, Neil has introduced a futures thinking practice to Nile and its clients, helped NHS Digital reimagine its B2B experience using service design, and introduced new ways to scale customer involvement in digital delivery for challenger banks.

Over the years he has shared his love for design at a number of international conferences, most recently in 2017 at UX London, one of the world’s premier design conferences.

@skuft

Neil has led Sapient, as EMEA Chief Strategy Officer, to two ‘Digital Innovation Agency of the Year’ wins in four years. Prior to Sapient, Neil held strategic leadership roles at Euro RSCG (now Havas) London, MCBD (now Dare) and TBWA/London, where he was first Executive Planning Director and then Chairman. He also founded the independent creative agency Enter in 2006.

Neil is an expert in business and marketing transformation, brand strategy, communications and digital/social across a wide range of categories. Passionate about proving the commercial value of all forms of creativity, Neil was Convenor of the Judges for the IPA Effectiveness Awards in 2008 and is also a Fellow of the IPA.

Nicky has worked in digital storytelling for over ten years. Over the past year she has worked on the National Theatre of Scotland’s digital transformation project with After Digital. She also led on the tender, procurement and delivery of the company’s new website.
Nicky is committed to building relationships and collaborations that support the National Theatre of Scotland in engaging with hard to reach audiences and finding opportunities for artists to realise the potential of digital technologies in their work.

@nickyfagan

Oli is Managing Partner of digital customer experience studio Tangent. Experts in research, experience design, technology and data, Tangent helps businesses navigate the digital landscape and better serve their customers.

In 2017, Oli lead the acquisition of Decibel Digital, a leading strategy and design agency, bringing a number of key staff and blue chip clients into the Tangent family. New business wins in the year included one of the UK’s largest utility companies, Belmond, and The Nido Collection. With 55 staff in London and a new office in Newcastle, Tangent is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing independent digital consutancies in the UK.

@Thisistangent

Over the last year, in addition to continuing his active work on the BIMA Liverpool Council and heading up the BIMA Liverpool Immersive Community, Owen is an inaugural member of the BIMA Immersive Think Tank. He contributed to the first output of the group – BIMA’s VR Best Practice Guidelines – and presented the guidelines at Prolific North Live – the UK’s largest marketing expo outside London.

In the last 12 months, Owen has exited his video production agency of 18 years, Liverpool-based Mocha, and turned his attentions to co-founding Juice Immersive – a specialist agency focussed on delivering end-to-end immersive content marketing campaigns set to disrupt the property development market through the leveraging of VR, AR and MR technologies.

@owencotterell

Pip Jamieson is the founder of The Dots, a LinkedIn challenger designed around the networking needs of ‘no collar’ professionals – creators, freelancers, entrepreneurs and millennials.

Delightfully dyslexic with a distinctive marmite laugh (you either love it or you hate it), Pip was named by The Sunday Times as one of the Top 100 Disruptive Entrepreneurs innovating in their respective fields and by Creative Review as one of the top 50 Creative Leaders.

The Dots’ key innovation is to facilitate networking by collecting data on the full teams that deliver projects (similar to a community-driven IMDB), which means the company is at the forefront of spotting trends in the future of jobs, skills and work.

@Pip_Jamieson

Rachel has over 12 years experience in digital and client services. Since joining Your Favourite Story to head up Client Services, her drive and curiosity have helped reshape that team as well as the wider approach to client work. She is not afraid to interrogate a brief or challenge established ways of working, and does so with complete and persuasive professionalism.

Rachel will always look for ways to deliver incremental value and insight, whether for the agency or a client’s business. And she is committed to developing both her team and herself, including most recently, her role as a BIMA mentor.

@rachelfaber

As Senior Designer at After Digital, Rachel oversees all the agency’s creative output and mentors and develops young talent whilst delivering outstanding UX design for the likes of the Royal Academy of Dance and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. With a keen eye for detail, Rachel is passionate about crafting beautiful interfaces and applying her design methodologies to produce accessible, user-centred designs. Rachel’s design ethos is to push boundaries, ask questions and never stop exploring.

Prior to joining After Digital, Rachel worked with New York digital agency F Sharp, creating immersive digital experiences for blue-chip brands including Disney, Nike, Microsoft, Spotify and Warner Bros.

@_rachelward

Rachel’s dream was to become Head of Department before 30. Last year, she did just that. She’s integral to the Profero leadership team and has worked extraordinarily hard to gain enviable knowledge and experience.
In 2017 alone she redesigned Primark.com (which receives 3.5M daily hits), designed Diageo’s first chatbot, Whisky Matcher (winning two innovation CampaignTech Awards), and was instrumental in securing major new business.

Rachel’s leadership style is participative and nurturing and she prioritises her team’s happiness. She has dynamic client relationships and is fastidiously commercially-savvy. She runs the internship programme and regularly offers talks and mentoring to universities.

@rachelgoestweet

Richard realised the power of bringing together startups, agencies and brands long before anyone else. This year, the Friday Club London, the non-profit he co-founded in 2012 to do just that, hit the sigificncant milestone of accepting its 600th member. ‘Another bright marketer keen to mentor the best startups in town and learn something along the way.’ His words.

Richard is also one of Europe’s most active tech investors with a portfolio that includes many of the leading lights in the ecosystem from SoFar Sounds to Kalo to What3Words, a privileged position that’s established him as one of the go-to people when you need a view on the future. Even if sometimes he doesn’t even know what’s happening today.

@richard_fearn

Following his recognition in the BIMA100 Rising Stars in 2016, Richard has continued to rise in the digital industry.

Joining Thomson Reuters 18 months ago, Richard has already made an immediate impact by leading a global digital transformation programme to re-imagine the customer experience. Central to this is a new enterprise-wide digital touch point, MyTR, which is a consolidation of multiple legacy portals. As well as providing the vision and strategy, Richard mobilised a team of 200 people to create the platform in just seven months.

With an ability to define and articulate the future digital vision, drive performance, and execute, Richard balances all parts of the equation to deliver digital success.

Richard has a rare combination of creative and commercial skills with a contagious energy that he directs across content, brand, service design and organisational engagement with emotional intelligence and strong leadership.

Richard’s ethos is ‘show, don’t tell’ – hence this client testimonial from the Principal Adviser on Digital and Social at Rio Tinto: “Richard has built a relationship with me that is based on honesty and fairness. I don’t do slick well – it is enough of a reason for me to not work with an agency. So, Richard’s approach and attitude has played a big role in the successful relationship between our company and Rufus Leonard.”

@rufusleonard

Rob Edwards is Managing Director at GIANT – a tribe of digital creatives, dedicated to cause-related projects. In the last 12 months, Rob has driven GIANT to accelerate positive change in the cause market by encouraging the use of leading-edge technology such as blockchain, chatbots and artificial intelligence.

A key component of this strategy was the launch of Overherd, a quarterly charity event that tackles the digital challenges the nonprofit sector faces. As well as completing the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme, Rob was appointed trustee of two pioneering charities: YAUF, a charity that supports disadvantaged children through music and arts; and Khulisa, a charity that aims to reduce reoffending and rehabilitate young people.

@robedwards

Robyn has seen a gap in market and worked tirelessly to engage digital agencies, develop educational links and work with local government to create a route for young people into the digital industry.

Robyn displays maturity well beyond her years, she is engaging, personable and has tireless energy and this has been demonstrated in the success of the Catalyst programme. She is absolutely one to watch in digital!

@robyndooley

Roxanne has a strong voice in the industry, working on the Diversity and Inclusion agenda. Her work with female leaders explores what stops us from truly showing up. She believes gender stereotypes harm everyone and has brought men to the gender conversation via the HeANDShe conferences.

Her work on Unconscious Bias has raised awareness of how we are all part of the system that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

In 2017, Roxanne played a key role in starting the neurodiversity conversation. She wrote a book ‘Diverted’ charting her family’s journey to this newest frontier of inclusion and co-founded the #diverseminds conference alongside Creative Equals. This was the industry’s first conference for those who are neurodivergent and has started a new conversation.

@roxanne_hobbs

As a business consultant and digital change agent, Ruth is a go-to commentator on the evolving technology and business landscape. She focuses predominantly on business development as MD for ThoughtWorks UK and is a trusted adviser on leadership, business and digital to Regent’s University Faculty Board. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Chief Marketing Officer Council Europe, regularly contributing to research and informing market leading industry publications on digital trends and business transformation.

She is a regular speaker at conferences (including Women of Silicon Roundabout, Rant&Rave, ARC, Retail Week and CMO Summit Europe) on issues including women in tech and diversity and inclusion, and is an adviser and mentor to start-ups on funding and accelerator strategies.

@RuthHarrisonUK

Sam is CEO and Founder of Just After Midnight, the go to support people for brands and their agencies. Sam has held senior roles at digital agencies across EMEA and Asia Pacific for over 10 years before founding the business. An entrepreneur with a reputation for creating new services and new ways of disrupting the traditional agency model, his experience over the years has helped him establish a healthy breadth of knowledge across the strategic, technical and creative elements of the industry.

After many years working in digital, Sarah changed tack completely when a trip to Uganda led her to co-found Y.O.U Underwear, a social business that is changing the world one pair of pants at a time.

Y.O.U makes 100% organic cotton underwear for men and women. They use sustainable manufacturing processes, ‘real models’ to promote body confidence, and have a ‘buy one give one’ model to provide underwear to people who don’t have it.

In the last year, Sarah has taken Y.O.U from an idea to a small global business, with a successful Kickstarter campaign, an initial range shipping to 10+ countries around the world and, most importantly, hundreds of pairs of pants delivered to women and children in Africa.

@sarahbjordan @YOU_underwear

Selma Nicholls is CEO and Founder of Looks Like Me, a talent agency that aims to redefine beauty by raising the profile of underrepresented groups in the fashion and advertising world.

The name of the agency, Looks Like Me, was inspired by her three year old daughter, Riley-Ann, who questioned her own identity when she saw limited imagery of children that looked like her in the media and asked why. With a background in creating content, casting and production, Selma designed and developed tailored workshops, editorials and castings that would open the door for black and ethnic minority groups to be more visible by challenging the status quo in the world of brand communications.

@NichollsSelma

Shannie has played a key role in forging new pathways for diverse talent as both co-founder and Head of Talent at The Elephant Room. Her commitment to bringing in a wider pool of talent from across the creative industries has seen film makers, directors and writers brought in on client briefs and demonstrate that there is indeed a place for them in an industry which often feels far out of reach. Having global heads of HR from some of the world’s biggest brands ask her to help with their own recruitment shows that her ability, to tap into and access talent, will be a gamechanging one for the industry in the years to come.

@shannieloves

Shaun heads up The Studio School who are growing digital talent from the age of 14 upwards. Students have an extended school day so they can create digital products, learn ‘Agile’ and use platforms such as Unity, .Net and other technologies from a young age. They run an Edge Foundation funded ‘Digital Entrepreneurship Network’, are a Playstation First school and bring in industry mentors to support students to become industry ready. They consult with local agencies to ensure that they are delivering the right skills.

Shaun himself joined the BIMA Young Talent Council to give a voice to education. Notable student successes include a BAFTA Young Games Designer and an Internet Society ‘25 under 25’ award.

@LPSPrincipal

Simon is Chief Creative Officer at Isobar and works across the Dentsu Aegis Network portfolio of agencies, to champion the creative use of digital. He is instrumental in the Craft Matters global programme that brings together clients and agencies with the world’s leading and most disruptive technology companies, to innovate the way brands are built.

His work has been recognised internationally, scooping many awards and is also a regular jury member on numerous award shows. He is a member of the IPA’s Effectiveness Council, championing how creativity is critical to effectiveness in the modern economy. He is also co-founder of CANNT, the world’s festival of creativity, which brings creative thinking, action and enjoyment to a wider, more diverse community.

@skinnybouffant

As Marketing Manager, Sofia tells Cyber-duck’s story and ensures the agency’s work and ethos are known throughout he industry. Sofia first joined Cyber-Duck as an intern after graduation from the University of Cambridge, with a background in geography. She trained herself and rapidly progressed through five roles in less than four years.

With the founder and CEO, Danny Bluestone, Sofia now leads the Cyber-Duck Marketing Department. Her team enjoy promoting the agency’s user-centred expertise with a creative twist.

@cyberduck_uk

The igniter of hearts creatively, a creative collaborator and adventurer, Sulaiman is the Founder and Chief Purpose Officer of ThisAbility, the network that supports and celebrates creative disabled talent. He is also an independent consultant, speaker and writer on Divergent Leadership, Creativity, and Inclusivity and Advocacy.

@Kinectricity

Susan Hallam was awarded an MBE for innovation and enterprise in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2018 in recognition of her contribution to the UK digital industry.  She is Managing Director of Hallam, a digital marketing agency with more than 50 specialists, and clients including the United Nations, Speedo, and Suzuki.

She is thought leader in the digital space, speaking at conferences including SMX, ClickSummit, and for Vistage, the world leading organisation of chief executives. She is a leading figure in digital marketing in the Midlands, organising the Nottingham Digital Summit, a Fellow of the IDM, a Freeman of the City of London, and a Trustee of Nottingham Castle.

@SusanHallam

Tim is growing the Auto / Mobility practice he leads and helped establish. Tim is a passionate advocate for human–centred design, creating mobility experiences that are user–led not engineering–led. The pioneering book Humanising Autonomy, co–authored by Tim which champions ethical, inclusive and human–centred design for autonomous mobility is a first for UX design for autonomous vehicles.

Tim’s work has informed papers for the likes of Intel, Siemens and RCA. Tim has talked at Web Summit, London Tech Week and MWC and is passionate about design education, having set briefs and lectured at UCL and CSM.

@mypoorbrain

Tolu is a socially conscious entrepreneur with the firm belief that great businesses and brands do well when they become more than a means to an end for the consumer, and become brands that invest in people and which in turn people invest in. He has developed a personal brand that puts him at the forefront of championing equality and opening up opportunities to aspirational people from disadvantaged backgrounds. He founded his recruitment consultancy/ mentoring company, Limitless Future Achievements, in 2011. Since then he has worked with all the major creative agencies in the UK.

He is the co-founder of The Great British Diversity Experiment, the Emerging Talent Manager at Livity and the programme director at The Ideas Foundation.

When Tom’s not running user research tests, leading design workshops or delivering beautiful design experiences at TH_NK, he’s busy being a leading voice for UX in the North East; giving talks or penning thought-leadership pieces on the future of UX, AI and Virtual Reality; holding digital bootcamp days in schools; or mentoring emerging talent through his volunteer work with STEM. Driven by his infectious enthusiasm to make the world better, Tom is not just championing the UX industry, he’s championing the people who make it.

@tomwaya

Vicky Brown is a research-driven designer who’s passionate about psychology, service design and problem solving. Despite being only 26, Vicky manages a team of UX Consultants at Nomensa, leading and training the next generation of talent.

She is one of the main driving forces behind Nomensa’s ground-breaking and award-winning work for National Trust, Gatwick Airport, the Eden Project, Unite Students, npower and Innovate UK. Vicky is known for the positivity and energy she brings to all projects and challenges. She thrives in collaborative teams, leading researchers, designers, developers and clients to design elegant solutions to real, complex problems.

@vebrown

Victoria became ECD at Tribal Worldwide in January 2017 after 25 years in digital. She is an artist, a coder, a games programmer, a CD-rom developer, an interactive TV designer, a website creator, a digital communication machine, an inventor and an ever transforming digital head. She has proved that science and art, creativity and innovation, and tech and women go together.

An IPA Woman of Tomrrow 2016, a Creative Equals board member and a beacon for creative digital women, Victoria works with her own daughters, the kids at her junior school, the young women at university and all the females kicking it in the industry to champion women in digital and shape the future of digital.

@vics_buchanan

Will Cookson is on a mission to bring to life digital ideas, products and services that he thinks should exist. Last year he designed Skyjacker, an augmented-reality iOS game using real-time flight data, because airplane geeks would love it. Previously Will co-founded Believe.in, a software platform to help charities connect with donors, raise funds and increase awareness of their causes. He also built Bookindy, a chrome extension that compares local bookshop prices whilst browsing Amazon.

Will has 15 years’ agency experience at R/GA, Wieden+Kennedy, Razorfish, Poke and AKQA and has received a number of awards for his work.

Some people call him Dogg.

@willdogg

‘We don’t want to work for you, we want to work with you.’

This is the motto that Zoltan Vass lives and works by. And it’s been critical to the growth of CoderDog. His success is based on developing businesses by developing strong relationships – with clients, with suppliers and within his own agency.

To get results he breaks down barriers and builds bridges across teams (and between them). Attentiveness, curiosity, innovation, transparent communication and collaboration are the cornerstones of his approach. These are the values that make and create lasting relationships. These are the values Zoltan uses to develop businesses – and the people within them.

With client’s best interest at heart, Adam’s focus to redefine the way Reload delivers their expertise has challenged the way traditional agencies work.

Passionate about people, Adam has developed a client intimacy framework based on the findings of his extensive external and internal research solving pain points marketing managers often face when working with an agency.

After training the Reload team in his client intimacy framework just 6 months ago, Reload is now one of Europe’s top rated digital agencies according to Google. Adam’s training has also caught the attention of the world’s most esteemed Shopify web developers.  We Make Websites who have asked Adam to contribute to their client training.

Twitter: AdamJamesClarke

Insta: Adam_james_clarke

A modern day CEO makes people believe in their vision. They create an atmosphere for their employees to grow, excel and push the boundaries of what they thought was possible. They bring together the best minds and talent in the industry and build an environment for them to collaborate and thrive. They also lead from the front and steer the business in the right direction.

Adam embodies all of these values. His vision has the potential to change the way people understand their own bodies and engage with their personal health data. His multi-disciplinary team continues to innovate around biometric data, AI, machine learning, and blockchain to deliver market-leading health insight solutions.

Twitter: @PrevaylAdam

Adnan is a designer in the truest sense. A problem solver, a thinker, and an expert at applying thinking to making ideas into real output that works, not only looks great. His understanding of design principles, culture and audiences, and the craft, allows him to create brand identities, establish design systems and roll out stories and interfaces that feel timeless, and relevant to audiences. His work for some of the biggest businesses in Europe and the World captures brand essence but is familiar and always understandable as a product with a purpose. He creates designs that clients can really implement, and people love to use. And that inspires the design team, and keeps VCCP CX’s output progressive and relevant.

Alex’s approach to innovation with his practice Aeon Industries is both playful and pragmatic – he starts with the big out-there ideas, then roots them back into the reality of who would want this, why, and why now. The end result is original creative works and brand campaigns that sizzle with relevance, intrigue and a sense of tomorrow’s world having already arrived today.

Twitter: @Alex Hoban

Insta: @aeon.industries

Ali Hanan is an inspiration and driving force for cultural change that makes ALL of lives (and workplaces) a better place. By fighting for inclusion for all, our industry will make better work and we will be better employers and employees. We will be future proofing ourselves and our communities by embracing the changes Ali is instigating.

Twitter: @CreativeEquals

Insta: @CreativeEquals

She’s passionate, curious, solutions focused, inspirational and a joy to be around. Through her work with Erasmus, Young Mayors, key Havas programs and charity accounts she constantly strives to make a difference to the world and is passionate about giving her generation a voice. Only with people like Alice around will real change ever be able to take place; within our industry and within the wider landscape.

She’s inspirational by following her passions – art, music, performance – and by always being true to herself. I can’t wait to see where she is by the time she’s 30 – I’ll probably be working for her!

Insta: aliceimis

Alice has been a revelation since joining Tribal Worldwide London from AKQA in Melbourne. She is the safest of hands, in terms of account handling, but never rests on her laurels challenging both the internal team and the client to do better, to try new things or a different approach. She is brilliant at balancing the client needs of today around performance, but also with a view to thinking about the future of their business and how the agency can support them on that journey. This strategic thinking has been developed further through her MBA studies, which somehow, she is able to pursue at the same time as working full time with the demands of our clients – truly a superhuman effort.

Ally has worked day and night to make the BFS a huge success. She has transformed the lives of so many people and most importantly addressed an overlooked part of the creative industry: she has created ‘equity’. This means giving people who would not have access or opportunity to our ‘network’ driven sector means and a pathway in. Ally herself grew up on the Grenfell Council Estate in London and knows first-hand what classism feels and looks like, having experienced it throughout her career. Self-funding and building from scratch is a massive task which takes guts, courage, setbacks and a tireless work ethic to create something that is meaningful within the industry. We all know there is a lot of ‘diversity PR’ around where people will host dinners and ‘talk’, but the Brixton Finishing School is where the real, raw, action happens. If anyone deserves an accolade, it’s Ally. She was even working at 7.30am on the morning of her birthday this year.

Twitter: @BrixtonFSchool

A lot goes into outstanding leadership. Accounts must grow so teams have the opportunity to do great work. Andrea grows them. In a global marketplace, you may have to deftly run three offices in three different countries. Andrea has it covered. To grow and thrive, teams need an inclusive, supportive environment where high standards and empathetic mentorship go hand in hand. Andrea cultivates it. New services must be invented so that the overall team can envision, create, and deliver work that clients truly need. Andrea invents them. And when you triple the headcount and revenue of you office, remember to have a whole lot of fun along the way. (Andrea and her team always do.)

Anwen volunteers a phenomenal amount of time (equivalent to a month’s work a year!) to organise, Codebar Brighton: the weekly meetup that enables underrepresented people to learn programming in a safe and collaborative environment. Anwen finds industry coaches, students, sponsors, and venues for every workshop, every week. Her own story is an inspiration, and she spends evenings and weekends promoting Codebar everywhere she can.

If everyone gave the same amount of time, effort and enthusiasm that Anwen gives, there’d be thousands more opportunities for people in underrepresented groups to take the first step into a career in tech.

Twitter: @hello_anwen

Albert is one of the most influential people working in the immersive industry. As it grows and develops, he gives advice and works incredibly hard to help clients and colleagues. He is known for being cheerful, funny, intelligent, and incredibly driven to help everyone he can. The industry would not be the same without him.

Twitter: @Bertaroo

Insta: @Bertaroo

It’s not about how long you’ve been in the tech industry or your previous experience. Being a tech trailblazer is about pushing against the status quo, innovating and challenging what came before.

Step forward Bella Hepworth. In less than a year in the tech industry Bella is pioneering the way for women inventors in the UK being named as the sole inventor on high proportion of Prevayl’s patent applications, compared to the industry wide average of just 13% of worldwide patent applications being from female inventors.

She continues to use her knowledge of the fashion industry to push the boundaries and possibilities of wearable tech.

Bianca is one of the most important people in our community of creatives at Deloitte Digital. A skilled and passionate designer, but more so a passionate supporter of other people, Bianca connects us all with one another through her tireless commitment to running the Design Guild – our in-house community of creatives, makers, designers and thinkers – and works hard to help designers starting out on their design journeys to make the most of their talent, enjoying really involved and meaningful careers with Deloitte Digital.

Twitter: Kingbinks

Insta: King_binks

A leader, innovator and all-round great guy, Bill keeps pushing the boundaries with one of the last independents left, AnalogFolk. It takes courage and perseverance to keep pushing the boundaries after your most successful year ever, but that’s exactly what Bill has done.

And boy did he do it with style. 15 new business wins, an acquisition and new office launch in the same month, as well as recognition from both the FT and London Stock Exchange. More importantly, though, Bill and AnalogFolk have achieved all of this whilst remaining true to their mission of using digital to make the analog world better.

Cat is an absolute tour de force; as well as the huge job of leading Potato’s product delivery across its three studios, Cat is also focused on driving widescale change in the industry through her unique initiative The Gender Equality Collective (GEC), a platform and community aimed at redressing gender equality in businesses, educational settings and homes.

Sitting on Potato’s board and leadership team, she does a fantastic job of raising the profile of inclusivity daily within the business at a senior level. Her energy, passion and enthusiasm can be felt at every level within the business and she has also had an immeasurable impact on our interactions with clients, who have voiced their interest in ways we are driving inclusivity as a business.

Twitter: @catwildman2000

Insta: @gendercollect

Charlie has spent the last 10 years creating an environment that allows people to work in a way that allows them to bring their best selves to work. He has developed seven key values that drive this culture – and have shaped the culture of Beyond across its three studios, in London, New York and San Francisco. These values revolve around the wellbeing and development of all staff members, their career development and client needs. Charlie is a natural energiser of people who encourages them to embrace creativity, self expression, curiosity, respect, empathy and change. Further, by taking a human-first approach to technology, he has grown a team of individuals that produce world class projects for high profile clients.

Twitter: @Charliely0n5

Charlotte embodies the true spirit of digital transformation – whether it’s driving through agile ways of working, or hiring and mentoring digital rock stars from within the food industry, or delivering big digital ideas to help grow the UK’s biggest retailer’s share of voice (and revenue). Winning 2019’s ‘CMA International Content Marketing Awards – Editor of the Year’ (the first digital editor to win the award), as well as made The Grocer’s ‘Top New Talent of 2019’ list (only 36 on the list) is a testament to how she’s viewed by clients, colleagues and the industry – as well as her appointment as a judge for the UK’s Great Taste Awards.

Twitter: @charliesjones

As someone who successfully led last year’s largest deal for an independent digital partner in the performance sector, Chris is cutting a new model for Chief Financial Officers in the digital sector. The success of the investment and subsequent company integrations will no doubt ensure Jellyfish’s continued growth, as a challenger to the big network agencies and a global digital partner to some of the world’s leading brands.

But it’s his dedication to inspire and develop the current and next generation of digital marketers that makes him an inspiration to leaders around him, and crowns him as a worthy winner of this award. His work to provide mentorship programmes across the industry and the support he gives to the education sector is highly commendable and encourages a fluid pipeline of marketers for many years.

Twitter: @Chris_Lee1969

In her time at Rufus, Cierra has had a truly transformative impact on the strategy team, the offer and the business. Her natural curiosity, relentless pursuit of improvement and her deep seated empathy have been the engines of her impact. Everyone needs a Cierra on their team!

Twitter: @CierraDobson

Insta:
cierradob

Craig’s dedication to digital in the North West makes him an obvious choice to win in this category. From setting up the Kagool Manchester office in 2016 from the ground to now accounting for a third of the whole agency headcount, is a great achievement. His hard work, experience and expertise has contributed to employing 22 people in the Manchester area, a figure which continues to rise. Not only has Craig pioneered digital marketing services for Kagool, but he’s the first to turn his sights on bridging the digital skills gap in the sector alongside his passion for developing upcoming talent.

Twitter: @craigjohnsonuk

Daniel is a passionate Technology Director who loves to drive results for clients.
Over the last year he has helped boost awareness and increase sales for clients due to his mantra of ‘right, that worked – what now?’.

Daniel uses his thirst for knowledge to learn how technology can be used to improve the social media marketing efforts of clients, with c-commerce being his current focus. By keeping his finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the marketing world, he generates successful campaigns that hit objectives and offer a whole new realm of possibilities.

Daniel is keen to help the next generation of digital marketers and is actively involved in shaping various university courses based in the creative industries.

Twitter: @iamdanielrae

Insta: danielrae

Daniel is a behavioural specialist, marketer and creative technologist. He delivers innovative digital experiences for global technology brands. Using his experience across digital product design, marketing and content production he leads teams in creating experiences that align to our most human traits.

Believing that the most successful experiences arrive from a foundation of behavioural science; he uses social, psychological and economic theories to guide production teams in creating high-performance, award-winning work.

His most recent digital innovation centres around personality based marketing. He is currently developing technology that harnesses the ethical use of psychographic data to generate individual digital experiences.

Daniel’s mantra of ‘Lead, never follow’ continually drives clients and colleagues to take the boldest steps into the future of digital.

Dani has transformed Digitas into a fully integrated, non-siloed creative business seamlessly connecting creative, tech, consulting, data science, media and strategy. She oversaw the launch of a new Experience Consulting arm to enable the agency’s clients to transform their organisations, remove internal silos and fully connect their brand experience, and she led her team to win a raft of new clients, including GSK, E.ON, and Mondelez.

Dani has also created a new inclusive, open workplace culture with a flat structure. She set up a new diversity counsel charged with narrowing agency’s gender pay gap, ushered in a new team of female leaders and made the agency’s approach to recruitment more inclusive to champion diversity and bring in the next generation.

Twitter: @Digitas_UK

Insta: @digitas_uk

As co-founder and CTO, Daniel is the tech visionary at the heart of ethical ad platform Good-Loop, imagining a world where AdTech is deployed for social good, as well as effectiveness, at a time when trust and transparency continue to be AdTech’s watchwords.

Twitter: @Winterstein

We are not all the same; but web experiences are designed for the neurotypical. With at least 10% of the population being neurodiverse, 18% being elderly, and 850k having dementia, large groups are being poorly served or worse – excluded from digital services. Dave is leading the charge on making a more inclusive web. His work conducting research into these challenges, designing solutions, and working with Government and businesses to build a better future is an invaluable contribution to his field and for making services available to everyone.

Twitter: @ENGINE_UK

David possesses a powerful combination of traits: ambition, hunger to learn, adaptability and a head for design thinking. Whilst juggling university studies and his responsibilities at ELSE, his design capabilities are already creating positive impact around him.

His contributions have supported work which has gone onto win awards for ELSE. Meanwhile his personal projects, that use design for social good, have been highly commended in the RSA Student Design awards and won a prototyping award at Facebook’s Design Jam.

David also has a voice in the industry, sharing his experience transitioning from industrial design to digital, to help other creatives starting their career. David exactly the type of person that this industry needs to celebrate.

Insta: @deyvifriedmann

Ed Riseman is the Co-Founder, Majority Shareholder of Big Group which celebrates its 29th year in 2020. Originally founding a £1 share capital business to take advantage of the opportunities that arose through video replacing film as a portable, simpler and more effective method of communication, the now £20m business adapted and embraced the change that swept the marcoms industry and Ed has successfully rode the waves and the business now employs 160 people across 5 sites in the UK and The Netherlands.

More importantly Ed is taking his team with him on the journey. Investing, supporting and guiding new talent into the creative and digital industry through Certificates of Sponsorship, apprenticeships, work experience, funding certifications in specific platforms and skill sets, flexible working to enable staff to complete university degrees; and allowing his team to prosper and grow through his trust in their talent, capabilities and passion.

Twitter: @biggrouplondon

Eleanor not only has an accelerated career to date, taking the lead on AI projects creating genuine public good with clients, she also uses the platform this affords her to directly change the industry, supporting many young people and women to get into tech careers through co-ordinating work experience, working with outside schemes and telling her own story. Despite being still early in her career, through her own ability she has been able to generate the influence needed internally at Atos to get these programmes embedded in the way we do things. Her career can only continue to accelerate from this point, truly a rising star!

Twitter: @ellie_mosley

Insta:
@elliemos

She shows a maturity beyond her years in terms of skills and professionalism. She will go very far.

Elliot is an example to everyone in the digital industry who feels passionate about change. The work they have done demonstrates commitment to a cause as well as personal bravery in being willing to stick their head above the parapet. Nobody asked Elliot to do any of this but they committed time and effort to the cause whilst also performing a key role in the Kin + Carta team. Elliot realises that this will always be a work in progress but their passion to make the world a better place is an inspiration to colleagues and clients alike. In short, Elliot is a true champion.

Twitter: @heyelliotinskip

Emma’s achievements have been built on her honest communication and her understanding of digital. Emma brings positivity and creative problem-solving to each project and works hard to ensure Studio 24 delivers excellent work to its clients. With experience of being a volunteer in the charity sector, Emma wanted her work – both personal and professional – to be impactful and to contribute to a better web and a better world.

Twitter: @emmatlane

Emma has succeeded in the face of multiple obstacles. Bringing together diverse organisations made up of disparate teams and nuanced company cultures. She had little previous experience of several of her new areas, including CRM-Marketing, advanced analytics, employee engagement and software development. She also had to bring together a new management team with diverging visions about where the company should go as well as build all new support functions; the scale of the challenge she faced is clear.

At the end of 2019, we have come together as a single organisation with a new lease on life and with more ambitious and exciting goals than ever.

Twitter: @EmmaTg46

Insta: emmatg46

Fleurie is part of exciting generation of young entrepreneurs prioritising the purpose of the work they do over all else. There is no doubt the world will be a more equitable place when Fleurie and her peers are running the show.

Twitter: @FleurieFM

Insta: @crueltyfreefleurie

Gaby excels in this category. Project Management rigour and adaptability, coupled with the business and commercial focus that would put any Business Director to shame. It is truly a combination to be reckoned with! She’s selfless, always puts her team first, and delivers to the highest quality. But if there’s one quality that puts her above everyone else, it’s her modesty. She really doesn’t realise how good she is and how much she is valued by everyone she works with.

Instagram: gabytownsend

Gavin’s personal values are his business values, and this resonates with everything he does. Gavin is the MD of Mashbo, award-winning digital design and development services which help businesses to grow and engage customers. Mashbo build things that people love to use. Values are at the heart of everything Mashbo do, It is evident as Gavin’s values shine through in every interaction you have with him or one of the products or solutions he is working on. He is always out to make a positive difference, pushing the boundaries, saying it how it is and being a go-giver, promoting education, collaboration and knowledge sharing over self promotion.

Twitter: @iamChaz_

Instagram: gavinsherratt

George is a passionate UX Designer who believes in results-driven design. A D&AD Yellow Pencil winner and ChipShop Awards 2015 finalist, George’s impressive portfolio of design and photography work, combined with raw talent, shone through from day one and he has quickly adapted to take on large-scale, complex design projects for some of our biggest clients.

He has spent 4 years delivering user-centred designs for clients such as Viva Tickets, Honolulu Museum of Art and, most notably, EDF Energy. A UX specialist, George delights in making the complex simple and has now progressed in his role, becoming a CX strategist, working on projects with Gazprom and University of Buckingham.

Twitter: @GeorgeHill

Insta: Georgehill93

Gregg’s marketing team, led by Hannah, has dominated public discourse in 2019 with some exceptional campaigns. Whether it’s the launch of their Vegan Sausage Roll, their witty social media responses or the Valentine’s PR campaign, it is evident that Hannah has created a marketing powerhouse that is winning over fans.

Twitter: @hannahsquirrell

Harpreet is one of the best in the industry. Her ability to not only set-out a strategy to build relationships with alliance partners but reshape the business she is in to be able to maximise those partnerships is rare. Her leadership from sales funnel to ensuring a client’s needs are met during the sales process to support client teams to leverage the best from alliance partnerships is outstanding. As well as her day job, the work she does to support women in tech, particularly at a crucial age in their school career makes her a worthy winner.

Twitter: @harpreetBushell

Herb is a super connector. He is a researcher of technologists, innovators, creatives and  thought leaders. His event curation for TEDxManchester, has contributed to producing one of the biggest TEDx events in Europe. Herb is the visiting professor for Innovation and Enterprise at Newcastle University Business School and founder of Thinking Digital, exploring new ideas in technology, media and content since 2007.

Twitter: @herbkim

Insta: herb.kim

As a queer young black woman of mixed heritage living with a life long illness, Honesty’s passion for driving change is non-optional. Born and raised under the poverty threshold of East London to teen parents, she was never afforded the option of ignorance in a world in which her success will always stand out as rebellion. The legacies left to her were survival and the fight for equity and equality – a fight that has since led to her becoming a Stonewall young campaigner for LGBTQIAA + people of colour, as well as working to support young people from diverse backgrounds within many cultural organisations including Lauderdale House, The London Transport Museum, TfL and The Wellcome Collection.

Foolproof was already one of the best known and well respected UX agencies when James arrived, but our centre of gravity was research insight and design advice. Under James, our studio has evolved to be one of the most exciting within the UK, embracing the latest practices, and securing high-profile design projects against the most established design-led businesses in the world.

Twitter: @jamesreeve

Insta: @jamesreeve

Jan is an integral part of the digital community in the South of the UK. Curating and producing events in digital, creative health and wellbeing sectors she has been awarded the license to run TEDxWinchester 2020, connecting the community and curating a programme of diverse speakers who all have an idea worth sharing. Jan is passionate about events as shared experiences and also founded a programme to encourage a greater diversity of keynote speakers in the tech and digital industries, Shared Platform.

Twitter: @jancarlyle

Insta: @autumn_live_

Javier thinks creatively and strategically in wide conceptual strokes but also grasps the details necessary to polish and finesse cutting edge experiences, brands, products and services – leading him to work with global brands such as Apple, Argent, Barclaycard, Bureau Veritas, Greystar, Orange, Lloyd’s Register, S&P Global Platts.

His team at Miura has worked within organisations to define unique experiences that are fundamental to their success. Beyond strategy, Javier has amazing brand and UX/UI design sensitivity and a compulsion to ensure the final product tells a story and is the very best it could possibly be. Javier leads happy and healthy creative teams by anchoring a common purpose – delivering an exceptional end product focused on the very latest technology.

As Lead UX Designer at MullenLowe Profero, Jessi has worked tirelessly to challenge traditional creative agency norms and create new ways of working that promote an innovative approach to creativity. Most recently she has developed exceptional digital experiences for clients including the NHS, Wagamama and Diageo.

Jessi is fiercely committed to finding new ways of working which last year, led her to create an initiative called ‘Ideation Station’; a collaborative and non-hierarchical user centric design approach to create ideas that bring in a diverse range of skill sets and achieve solutions with great imagination, innovation and speed.

A champion for diversity and inclusion, the hardest working person you’ll ever meet and without doubt a future leader of our industry.

One of Screenmedia’s founders and its present Technical Director, Jon has been fundamental to the growth of the practice over the past 15 years. His deep understanding of both technology and the possibilities it offers has driven the business’ focus on R&D. Jon has navigated Screenmedia through a rapidly changing technology landscape, driving the early adoption of technologies within the practice which have gone on to become industry standards.

Jon’s flair for problem solving has lead the practice to embrace innovation challenges, delivering some incredible firsts in its industry for forward-looking partners and clients. He continues to lead and inspire, demanding high standard and process-driven projects which delight Screenmedia’s roster of bluechip clients who continue to value his expertise.

Twitter: @billywizz

Insta: @webmonger

A strong leader, dedicated patron of digital transformation with a strategic approach. Jon is passionate about innovation and brings his natural transformative approach to the Pharma and Healthcare industry. Jon isn’t afraid to challenge the thinking of both his colleagues and his clients, guiding them to see the value of more innovative and user-centric thinking. Jon possesses the unique ability to advise clients from both a digital strategy and industry-specific position, navigating regulation and providing incredible value for clients.

Twitter: @humedini

Insta:
@humedini

His curiosity, adaptability and passion for designing for behaviour change are all traits that make Joe such a valuable member of the ELSE team. He hit the ground running, making immediate contributions to his work on key client projects.

We see many interns skilled in production, but Joe contributes and guides a lot of research based on his own personal experience – a great value-add for us.

His ideas have received industry accolade – he features in the Evening Standard’s ‘Progress 1000’ for his project aimed at helping Londoners reduce food waste. His game tackling the dangers of social media now enters Imperial College’s Venture Capitalist Challenge. And through the Interaction Foundry Research Group, he develops design interventions and toolkits to help other designers.

Insta: @by_josephshepherd

Kim is a total tech trailblazer and inspirational agent of change in her field. Not only because she daily challenges the status quo by being a woman in what is still a hugely male dominated role, but also because she has an unwavering desire and determination to democratise tech.

Each challenge is a journey of discovery for Kim, and she can be relied upon to add value to every project she’s part of. She inspires others with her curiosity – giving talks, strategic innovation coaching and client workshops – and comes at problems with a unique perspective. Both professionally and personally Kim is also hugely generous, nurturing talent through mentoring or helping to improve the world with ‘tech for good’ size hustles.

Kirsty is a force of nature. Her passion and enthusiasm for the work of her team, delivered for their clients knows no bounds. She is a natural people person, an excellent leader who continually works towards improving her skills and elevating those around her. She is a passionate mentor, and has the ability to motivate and energise her entire team, to bring great success.

Insta: @Kitty_bums82

Jonny is the Group CEO of independent digital agency LAB. The last year has seen Jonny take the LAB business to the next level, with the formation of a new group structure and the acquisition of digital marketing agency Reflect Digital.

Jonny has also boosted LAB’s R&D efforts, overseeing an application for an Innovate UK grant to continue the development of technology to help tackle the issue of businesses selling inappropriate products to vulnerable customers.

2019 also saw LAB successfully establish a four-day working week for all staff, boosting creativity, productivity and happiness.

Beyond his day job, Jonny has continued to use his digital powers for good, giving a talk on agency life to 250 students at George Abbot School.

Twitter: @JonnyTooze

Kate is a champion for Tech For Good and her work showcases a number of impactful tech projects she’s managed for the likes of RNLI, WWF and International Animal Rescue. Kate has focussed tirelessly on achieving the widest-reaching impact. She’s pushed suppliers and their platforms to ensure the app provides the greatest benefits for the budget, whilst also being flexible and future-proof. The project highlighted a lack of digital skills and confidence amongst patients, carers and nurses so Kate set-up a programme of digital skills workshops and resources and recruited 14 new Digital Champion volunteers for the hospice, to ensure the digital inclusion support services can be sustained far beyond the funded project.

Lauren has been driving the digital industry in disguise of a Partnerships or New Business manager for over a decade. Her passion and expertise in digital, innovation and emerging technology knows no boundaries. She is always looking for the solution to a clients problem or question in a unique way. Bringing together the right teams to execute some of our industry world firsts. If it doesn’t exist Lauren strives to make the magic a reality.

Twitter: @misslaurendyer

Insta: @misslaurendyer

Liah is indeed a rising star- both in her company, the design world and also as a champion for women in the industry. She elevates and encourages others to achieve success and recognition, as well as striving for this herself.

Twitter: @LiahMoss

Insta: @liah91

Lene is undoubtedly one of the rising stars of our industry. In 3 years since she joined Microsoft as a graduate, she consistently out performs many of her more senior colleagues. She is an exceptional partner manager, with a deep passion and understanding for digital agencies and how to build a successful partner channel for them into Microsoft. She is not only one of Microsoft’s top performers but her passion and commitment to support others success in their careers through the huge commitment she takes on to run Microsoft’s career advisory boards makes her absolutely worthy of this award.

Twitter: @lvdborght

Insta:
_lenevdb

Letty is young, smart, savvy and genuinely hard working. A natural team player, Letty works seamlessly across her design, technology and product counterparts. She is committed to caring about the people her work directly benefits, as well as the people she is working alongside to drive the work through to success.

Letty connects the dots where others might miss out on critical insights. She naturally works at the intersection of people, technology, data and process, and capably does so by applying lean and collaborative techniques that rapidly unpack the problem space to focus the energies of teams and the process of design to craft simple and innovative solutions.

Twitter: LettyKey

Lisa’s work always features themes of diversity and inclusion, the value that the social sciences can bring to the technology industry (what many are now terming ‘the rise of the digital humanities’) and the impact that technology has on people and planet (what many call ‘tech ethics’). The new methods, frameworks and processes she has introduced to colleagues, clients and her students has changed hearts and minds and transformed working practices across private, public and education sectors.

Twitter: @LisaTalia

Insta:
@LisaTalia

We believe that change cannot be achieved simply by top down initiatives. Often led by people who don’t understand how young people’s approach to work has changed; Mahadi provides a safe spring-board into what can be the scary world of entering an industry.

As Livity’s first ever community manager Mahadi is passionate about increasing diversity in the digital industries and creating inclusive pathways into employment for young people.

At Livity, she has led events connecting the world of work to big macro issues affecting society; sustainability, mental health, black history, gender, masculinity, violence affecting young people and voting rights. Outside of Livity she is a part of the SocialFixt team, working to diversify the creative industry through events, podcasts and job board.

Mahadi is an amazing ambassador for creative industries and deserves to be acknowledged for all her hard work.

Twitter: @Mahadi___

Insta: @Mahadi___

Matt started FX Digital as a website development company from his dining room in 2011, with his business partner Tom. As the business steadily grew, the easy option would have been to stick with what they knew – web design and build. However, this would not have been true to Matt’s personal philosophy, which was – and continues to be – a steadfast belief that investment in new technology is crucial; not only for his own business, but for society as a whole.

Matt has pioneered voice technology and innovative OTT TV solutions in the UK digital scene. His achievements with FX Digital demonstrate both entrepreneurial spirit and drive for change and advancement in the emerging tech space.

Twitter: @matthewduhig

I’ve not met a single person who has worked with Matt that hasn’t come away from the experience enlightened and uplifted. His attitude to everything is positive and this is quite incredible in the often stressful world of juggling deadlines and client demands. His way of working with clients is sympathetic and authoritative. He quickly gains trust and this is always well placed, as the directions he steers clients in always prove to be the ones they are glad to have taken. Matt’s ability to understand the work of everyone in our agency also makes him a pleasure to work with for his colleagues. We, and our clients, are incredibly fortunate to work with him.

Twitter: @m_emmins

Insta: @m_emmins

Innovative is often overused in digital, but Matt has a track record of delivering genuinely innovative technology that has an impact on his clients and their customers that goes far beyond hype and buzzwords.
This year as CTO he has helped Cohaesus continue to grow, bringing in new clients such as National Grid, British Business Bank and Yoti.
With existing clients he’s continued to drive real transformation through digital. One of his biggest achievements of the year was pitching and delivering an AI driven reimagining of the rehoming process at Battersea Cats and Dogs home.
Outside of his role as CTO at Cohaesus, Matt has co-founded the charity donation platform, Mr Bluebird.

Twitter: @mmeckes

Insta: @mmeckes

Matt champions the human side of technology. He educates tech veterans about the people who use their solutions, and focusses on giving those end-users the best possible experience.

Matt is dedicated to making UX accessible and sustainable for all. He has installed a usability testing lab and defined a new service at CTI, to produce bespoke, research-led digital strategies.

Offering strategic consultancy, Matt enables charities to spend where it matters. For universities, he sharpens the institutional focus to help students access the education they need.

Having transformed an entire agency’s outlook already, Matt will no doubt go on to change the way everyone sees technology. Tech is not a means to an end, but a powerful tool for change.

Miguel is not only a Costa Rican brand ambassador, but also an ambassador for technology and how brands can use it to overcome business challenges. While the industry continues to talk about the exciting opportunities that AI opens up for business, Miguel has been instrumental in making sure AnalogFolk does less talking and more building for A-list brands.

Under Miguel’s leadership, AnalogFolk’s R&D team adopted a new strategy of embedding specialists in client teams in 2019. Thanks to this new strategy, £2.6m in revenue can now be attributed to R&D and the projection for 2020 is a further doubling of R&D attributed revenues.

Multi-founder Mike Grindy seems to have an amazing ability to identify gaps in the market and create truly unique services to fill them. From Passion Digital’s Google Ad Grants management background and his eco-friendly waste management business Junkwize to his latest venture Dropless, Mike has used his digital agency as a seedbed for a number of groundbreaking initiatives.

Over the last 18 months, Mike has developed Dropless: a tech-enabled, on-demand, waterless car washing service that helps businesses and customers significantly reduce water consumption and emissions. The innovative brand is helping to revolutionise a dated industry with ethical, eco-friendly solutions and now has 5,000 regular customers, 60 business contracts, integrations into major car manufacturers and plans for UK expansion.

Twitter: m_grindy

Mike and his team produce work that is inspiring and recognised by colleagues, clients and followers from around the world. This work builds the reputation of Uniform and sets the agency apart. His inventions range from Solo, a facial recognition radio to Track – an AR and AI-driven app. They work to address problems with interesting solutions that surprise and delight. For Mike, there’s always a new project in the works, and a new technology to hack. His team is so intrinsic to the Uniform offer – it makes the company unique in our positioning. Mike has ensured that his team is as curious, passionate and excited as he is.

With almost four-years’ industry experience already under her belt at the age of 24, Nancy is a driving force within Nomensa’s in-house marketing team, transforming in-person experiences for the strategic UX agency that carefully aligns with its digital customer experience.

Working alongside b2b, b2c and third sector organisations including TomTom, Alzheimer’s Society, Phillips, and more, Nancy helps to successfully shape unique in-person experiences that align with Nomensa’s innovative ethos of ‘humanising technology’ with accessibility at the forefront.

Liaising with delegates and speakers pre, during and post-event to nurture relationships, grow the community, bolster revenue and continue the collaboration, she’s firmly secured her place at one of Europe’s most respected UX agencies, helping to support its £8million fee income.

Twitter: @nancyline

Together with Rachel Bronstein, within the first year of their first full-time jobs, they had identified the need for, planned, and launched Beyond Her – a network for junior women within their company. In a society where women have too often been conditioned to take a back seat and ask for permission, they decided to stop waiting and drive the change forward themselves.

Their mission is twofold:
1. Empower junior women to feel less like imposters and more like instigators in the workplace.
2. Create space for all colleagues to take part in the conversation.
Through workshops, socials and events, they have addressed topics such as unconscious bias, imposter syndrome and personal brand-building and continue to champion the talents of junior women.

Every agency needs a Nate in their team. Someone to drive technical innovation forward, educate others, and demystify complex concepts. No matter the scale or challenge of the project, Nate is there to expertly guide his team and clients to ensure we choose the best technology and deliver solutions of the highest calibre. A natural teacher, Nate’s ability to share and demonstrate breaks down traditional barriers that can exist within technology, ensuring people of all levels are able to understand and use the latest technical innovations to their full potential.

Twitter: @nimrodnate

Quite simply, Nick has quickly established himself within the business and, by proactively spotting problems and fixing them, he has delivered value. He has established himself as someone trusted by the team and is central to our culture. His performance to date is impressive for someone so young and he has navigated a growing agency to position himself for multiple opportunities. Agencies need people like Nick to function and so he deserves this nomination.

Twitter: @madewithReason

Nina has contributed significantly to the growth of Ogilvy’s digital offering – constantly pushing us to deliver more and promoting our best in class digital capabilities. The breadth and depth of Ogilvy means she needs all the energy (that she is so famous for ) – and in 2019 we reaped the rewards of this by winning some truly amazing new clients including Instagram, The Post Office and Coke.

Twitter: @ninajas

Insta: @ninajasinski

Owen is a student at Abbots Lea School in Liverpool. Owen has been part of BIMA’s Digital Day for 2 years running. He was part of the winning team in 2018, winning the Vodafone Challenge. He is passionate, engaging, confident, creative and would make a a big difference to anyone employing him in the digital and tech space.

Econsultancy was founded 20 years ago on a simple but powerful idea – to nurture and connect a community of like-minded, digital pioneers. Bringing together fresh thinking, best practice and learnings from a wide range of digital thinkers and activators. Paul has stayed true to this original insight but reinvented it for his clients for the 2020s. Modern Marketers are drowning. Cognitive overload means that learning essential new skills is pushed to the end of an ever increasing to do list. Paul has introduced and deployed a new learning concept that helps teams be inspired and equipped whenever and wherever they want. Giving them access to curated, relevant resources that are easy to find, easy to consume and easy to apply. Delivering this success to large, complex, global organisations with multiple stakeholders has required Paul to deliver project management and client service of the very highest caliber. The highest proof being that 100% of clients have renewed the ‘learning as a service’ in year 2.

To deliver this success, Paul has led, coached, nurtured, cajoled and learned from a highly motivated and talented team of project managers, consultants, researchers, analysts and account managers across two global hubs in New York and London.

Twitter:

Paul has driven positive change in both our consumer insight and measurement and effectiveness offerings. He’s a key player in scaling our R&I offering globally and has been instrumental in developing our agency thought leadership. He’s taken client satisfaction scores to 90+% globally. He is a trusted mentor for junior members of the R&I team around the world, and a respected colleague by his peers.

Twitter: @PaullieG

Insta:
paullieg83

Pete has worked on a number of pioneering projects that fuse future technology with storytelling and creative design, including working on projects in augmented and mixed reality. Pete is also involved in a number of activities aimed at developing the Immersive Experience sector, particularly in the North West UK. This includes organisation events, conferences, workshops and training for the sector as well as developing new industry relevant curriculum with Universities, that includes the world’s first Masters level course in Immersive Arts.

Twitter: @petewoodbridge

Together with Natasha Da Rosa Lau, within the first year of their first full-time jobs, they had identified the need for, planned, and launched Beyond Her – a network for junior women within their company. In a society where women have too often been conditioned to take a back seat and ask for permission, they decided to stop waiting and drive the change forward themselves.

Their mission is twofold:
1. Empower junior women to feel less like imposters and more like instigators in the workplace.
2. Create space for all colleagues to take part in the conversation.
Through workshops, socials and events, they have addressed topics such as unconscious bias, imposter syndrome and personal brand-building and continue to champion the talents of junior women.

Rebecca is a force of nature with a can-do attitude with bags of passion and enthusiasm to always do the best possible job getting the results in record time. She is a true industry veteran who has a wealth of knowledge and experience having worked with some of the UK’s best known brands at some of the best agencies. Rebecca is passionate about nurturing talent and promoting social mobility to enable equal opportunities are at the heart of agency hiring and development plans.
Outside of work Rebecca is passionate about contributing to wider society and has been instrumental in delivering a range of heritage projects bringing buildings back into use putting them at the heart of communities.

Twitter: @rebecca_crook

Insta:
@becksinbrighton

Rebecca is a worthy nominee due to her relentless drive to put users at the heart of Citizens Advice services, which help the most vulnerable people in society. Rebecca and her team use their industry-leading expertise in user-centered design and agile to address complex problems like housing, welfare benefits, employment and debt. They’ve shown they can respond quickly to major events like Brexit and the rollout of Universal Credit. Rebecca is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and this runs through her team and their work. Rebecca is a trustee of Democracy Club and National Ugly Mugs, a member of City Hall’s Smart London Board, and trains digital and design leaders in how to create change in their organisations.

Twitter: @rebeccakemp

A rising star on Cedar Communications largest account, Renée Lo plays a pivotal role as the Account Manager responsible for managing the planning, process and production of the widest read consumer magazine in the UK. Renée uses her strengths as a level headed and collaborative problem-solver to effectively co-ordinate Cedar’s Tesco Magazine team and external stakeholders. She has dedicated everything and then some to get the job done brilliantly, and her knowledge and passion around her role is evident in every day to day interaction she has on the account. Renée has embraced two of Cedar’s most important values ‘Do what scares you’ and ‘Be real’, seeing her flourish at Cedar and in the eyes of the client.

Insta: Cedar Communications

Richard is one of the most genuine and inspiring people I have ever met. On a personal level he is kind and compassionate. On a professional level he is the best there is, his passion for his job is beyond infectious.

I’ve seen him speak at an event and have an audience entirely enthralled, whilst sharing a wealth of knowledge that can only be gained from a hugely successful career, and that others would try and charge a fortune for.

He continues to inspire me and I’m sure many other people. We can all learn a lot of from him.

Twitter:@wearebrightful

Richard has been absolutely integral to the creation and development of Potato’s creative technology venture Fictioneers, which will mark a new departure in mixed reality, immersive storytelling.
Over the past 12 months, Richard has been responsible for: developing the approach; creating the methodology; determining the technical and design choices; recruiting the team; facilitating the culture and ensuring the effective operation of our three joint venture partners to deliver our first project, together with our creative partner Aardman.
Richard has been brilliant at creating excitement and interest among multiple external parties, as well as the Fictioneers team, where he has built a productive, design-led culture.
He has demonstrated innovative leadership every step of the way and has been critical to the ambitious development of the project, as well as developing future commercial opportunities and a viable, investable business.

Bob was  the first interviewee to not show me a single piece of graphic design but demonstrated his enthusiasm and ability to think and is one of the best hires i’ve ever made. It’s this boldness that’s required to make an indelible sharpie mark on the global whiteboard. I’ve been pushing for 5 years to find an idea that he can’t produce and haven’t come across one yet.

Insta: @yes.robertlloyd

Not only is Robert a visionary in the application of storytelling to real-world problems, he is also a great leader – seldom taking credit for his company’s achievements and preferring instead to praise and nurture his dedicated team.

Twitter: @robpratten

Insta:
@robdapanda

In her two years at AKQA, Rosie has been hugely impactful across the agency and beyond. She brings spark to the briefs she works on, mentors others, and has made a name for herself in the agency. Where she really uses her platform, though, is in her passion for diversifying our industry. Not only has she begun to shift our agency culture to celebrate more openness and diversity, through mentoring projects and charity support, but she consults and supports social impact projects in her spare time. She has used her mentoring, strategy and branding skills to aid founders of two businesses which support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through their education, and into the industry.

Twitter: @rosiecrosss

Insta:
@rosiecrocs

As above really! He’s empowering change in the recruitment industry and in turn is empowering change in multiple other industries as Hidden grows. He doesn’t just pay lip service to the latest buzz words he lives by what he does.

Twitter: @Ross_Hidden

Insta:@H_ddenHQ

Rowan sets the standard for what it means to be a modern strategist.

Through driving innovation internally to adopting new ideation practices with brands and industry leaders, she has inspired others and taken teams on transformational journeys that lead to better outcomes.

Twitter: @Rowan_Kby

Sam lives and breathes Just After Midnight. He’s a visionary CEO, but also knows how to reach the vision. He has a clear plan of where the business needs to be year on year and what needs to be done holistically to achieve these goals.

Sam recognises that the business is only as good as its individuals. In the last 18 months he developed a strong, diverse, global team, with the right mix of skill-sets and personalities required to achieve great things. His open communication and flat company culture ensures the team are fully incorporated into the company’s vision and the results can be seen in the quality of the projects delivered, excellent customer services and team of happy employees.

Sam’s roles in digital health combined with his clinical experience make him a tech trailblazer in the public sector. His unique perspective has enabled him to deliver digital change both vertically and horizontally across the NHS.

Aware of the need to design digital services with a citizen-centric approach to improve utility, value and the patient experience, Sam champions a new approach to digital transformation with a focus on users, their needs and improved outcomes.

Sam’s wealth of experience in digital transformation, data-driven healthcare and post-digital technologies led to his latest appointment as Global Clinical & Digital Adviser for the Department for International Trade (DIT). Sam now advises healthcare organisations and governments on digital transformation on a global scale.

Twitter: @healthyopinion

Sarah is a unique talent who can combine strategy with execution, economics with creative and data with gut feel. Sarah has a long-standing record for delivering business growth across all stages of business – start-ups to hypergrowth brands, established businesses to turnaround companies. She also has invaluable experience across most major sectors – sport, beauty, tech and finance to property and food.

There aren’t many true generalists who can tackle strategy across the board and combine with execution that care as much about her client’s business results as Sarah does. Sarah also influences the way those around her work, always challenging the status quo and building capability in those around her.

Twitter: @sarah_batters

Insta: @sarahbatters

In just 14 months, Sarah has taken Artefact from a new player in the digital marketing and data consulting space to a fully-fledged challenger agency.

After winning more than £2m in new business billings in her first full year, Sarah has established Artefact as a genuine alternative for brands looking for a data-driven digital agency outside of the big six.

With more than 100 people in the UK – and more than 1,000 around the world – Sarah is winning hearts and minds in the UK by convincing brands that Artefact is big enough to matter but small enough to care.

The future looks bright for Artefact and even brighter for Sarah De Martin.

Simon has dedicated himself to making real change. Every initiative he undertakes has real meaning and although he seeks no personal recognition for his achievements, he would be wholly deserving of a position in BIMA’s Top 100 for influencing the future of our industry and opening it out to so many.

Twitter: @simondevereux

Insta:
@simondev

I know of nobody who combines her passion for social justice and with solving core tech problems to such effect. Digital is faced with its unique ‘last mile challenge’ where young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with drive, determination and smarts can’t crack into the industry for lack of coding skills. These skills are often delivered in expensive bootcamps that further close off this career choice. Siobhan has spearheaded programmes that solve this problem at scale and we’re already seeing the impact in London.

Over the last year, Snezh has been pushing the boundaries of service design applications at Cancer Research UK by bringing her expertise and skillset into complex technical projects. She has opened new ways of looking at problems and influenced stakeholders across the charity. Through her thoughtful application of human-centred design approaches to technology-driven questions, Snezh is helping us create a framework for re-thinking what we offer our users and how we could make it better, and therefore, she’s paving the way to transform our organisation – all the while working in the open through blog posts and events, mentoring more junior team members, and being an inspiring role model!

Twitter: @snezh_halacheva

Twitter: @themssophie

Insta:
@letsdostuffs

Stefan has helped to drive the creative side of our business forward and been a huge part of our growth over the past year or so.

We’ve reached a new level of creative output and this only feels like the start. Stefan is a key component of bringing our company vision to life through our clients and their work, defending happiness across the globe.

There is a buzz about the agency and exciting times ahead.

Twitter: @stefdarogue

Insta @stef_da_rogue

Steve has spent over 19 years in the creative industries, with the last decade predominantly in senior digital positions. During this time, he has worked with many leading brands and organisations including RBS, the Fringe Festival, T in the Park, Ford, Audi and Ferrari.

At After Digital, Steve is our Head of Consulting and focuses on Digital Evolution projects with our clients; assisting them in driving transformational change in their businesses. His Digital Transformation workshops take him all over the globe, most recently, from Canada to Dubai. In the past 12 months, Steve has delivered digital transformation roadmaps to large organisations, including; Gazprom, University of Buckingham and EDF Energy Group.

Twitter: @steveplummer8

It’s been a busy year for Tariq, which ended on a high with him being featured in the Financial Times ‘Top 100 Most Influential BAME Technology Leaders’ as well as being awarded ‘Best Technical Innovation’ at Drum DADIs.

As lead for a tribe of multiple product squads at Coty, Tariq has been at the forefront of digital innovation delivering business results with progressive technologies such as AR, AI and headless architectures.

He’s also a regular speaker and judge at industry events and has had thoughts published in a number of national publications including eConsultancy, City AM, Campaign, The Drum, MediaPost US, Marketing Week, HuffPost, WARC and Management Today

Twitter: @MisterTKhan

Tazz has built her entire career educating the ecosystem on the importance of humanity in tech, and any new opportunity she has to spread that message further, you bet she does. She is the Founder of InvestWell; a community dedicated to re-educating investors on the importance of mental health when it comes to startups, a Venture Scout at Backed VC, and has also recently joined the humanity-led digital product agency, Digital Detox.

Twitter: @tazzgault
Insta: @tazzgault

Tom used a distressing personal experience as an opportunity to not only better himself and aid someone close, but to reach and assist thousands with communication difficulties across the world, giving them a voice.

Leaning on his years of experience in product management, he has followed best practice in the development of a product from its inception to maturity, and has delivered an app relied upon by hundreds of people on a daily basis.

Having worked tirelessly to identify and meet the needs of My Voice users, the outstanding user experience he has single-handedly created has earned his platform the support of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), who list My Voice as an officially recommended communication aid.

Twitter: @tomfelixford
Insta: @tomfelixford

Victoria has proven to be a successful and driven entrepreneur, developing two award-winning businesses that continue to grow throughout the UK. oneHR was born out of a desire to digitalise HR through innovation, using client feedback and years of HR expertise to create a platform that will continue to adapt, change and grow with new technological advances and the ever-changing business climate. Victoria is driven to innovate by the desire to aid businesses in managing and supporting their greatest asset, their people.

Twitter: @vbrownhpc

Insta: onehr_

Since being given her Chief Happiness Officer role, Vicky has worked tirelessly to bring a wider sense of purpose to each of Loom’s employees. By speaking to everyone individually and proactively looking after their social, personal and professional needs, Vicky has made sure that employees can fulfil their professional and personal goals. In turn, this makes their jobs more fulfilling, meaningful and enjoyable.

Vicky’s personal dedication to doing good in and out of the office (she volunteers every Saturday at a dog rescue centre amongst other good deeds) is what made her the ideal candidate for the role. Undoubtedly, her work within this role is challenging and changing the idea of how digital agency life should be – for the better.

Insta: @victorialouisehockley

Viv has almost 10 years of experience in advertising and talent management and has managed top influencers at Gleam futures in London including household names such as Zoella, Tanya Burr, Pixiwoo and the Saccone Jolys. She has managed multi faceted branded sponsorships with famous brands such as Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, Nike, Waitrose, Amazon, Natwest and Real Techniques. As well as publishing awards winning books such as ‘faces’ by pixiwoo, the third best selling makeup book of all time. She has bought all of this experience back to the north west and is pioneering the benefits of this type of marketing across a much wider range of industries and companies. She is building a company that is out to prove that influencer marketing can be used in so many ways across so many different types of industries and across all sizes.

Twitter: @beeinfluenceuk

Insta:
@beeinfluenceuk

Founding partner and CEO of Anything is Possible, Sam has held board roles at VCCP Media and iCrossing before founding aip to change agency life and the media industry for better.

A former winner of Media Week’s Rising star award and BIMA 100 inductee, Sam has worked across many clients leading performance marketing and media strategies for the likes of Apple,
EDF, The Economist, News UK, LEGO and L’Oreal.

Alex is CEO of youth-led creative network Livity. Livity exists to create a more positive future for young people – tackling big social issues, launching careers and working at the frontiers of popular culture. A social enterprise and purpose led business before either term existed Livity won BIMA’s Entrepreneurial Business and Grand Prix in 2017. Alex is a Pioneer’s Post WISE Woman, Hospital 100 and inaugural IPA Woman of Tomorrow.

Alexandra has achieved industry-wide recognition in her use of content and technology to transform the perceptions of a traditional brand in her role at Wimbledon, building an award-winning digital and communications strategy that is at the heart of the long-term future of the brand. Through the combination of a content-first, platform second approach, a data-led audience strategy, and placing value on consistent innovation as well as continuous evolution, Alexandra has led Wimbledon to become one of the most well-respected digital brands in sport. A BIMA 100 2018, she is also an alumni of the WEF Young Global Shapers and two-time Drum Digerati.

If you’ve not met Andy before he could arguably beBritain’s most energetic tech entrepreneur. He is founder and CEO of Angel Solutions, a Liverpool based software agency established in 1999. This Ringmaster and his team of 50 (and growing) create innovative products out of an award winning circus themed office! Andy was in the 2018 BIMA 100, is the Chair of BIMA Liverpool and is a regular speaker at both local and national events. Andy now spends most of his time working across the city region on projects that invest in young people and mentors other businesses & aspiring entrepreneurs

Judging: Strategists & Consultants

As Managing Director, EMEA, Ogilvy Consulting and Chief Consulting Officer, Ogilvy UK, Ann leads the strategic consulting team in the UK and in Europe, based in London. Ann develops marketing, digital and CRM strategies for brands in financial services, technology, and FMCG, working with clients such as TD Ameritrade, American Express, SAP, Cisco, Unilever, and Nestlé. Ann also established Customer Experience Planning as a discipline in Ogilvy Paris where she worked with clients like IBM, Nestlé and Louis Vuitton. She has embraced the complexity of modern marketing throughout her career, co-creating Ogilvy’s proprietary Customer Engagement Planning methodology and IP. Prior to joining Ogilvy Consulting, Ann worked for what is now Kantar Consulting/Futures, developing and using qualitative and quantitative consumer research to inform long-term marketing and brand strategy scenarios for clients including Lloyds TSB. Following this she worked in brand and advertising planning for JWT and in Digital Media at Mindshare. Ann holds an MBA from Université Pierre Mendès-France (Grenoble II).

Anna Rafferty is Global Director: Digital Marketing, Digital Studios at BBC Studios.  She is tasked with running the digital marketing portfolio, leading the company’s short-form and social content production unit BBCS Digital Studios which makes digital-first video, audio, AR and AI content, driving the corporation’s reputation for digital innovation and editorially seeking and developing new IP, with the intention of launching new global brands.

She joined BBC Studios from Pottermore, J.K. Rowling’s digital entertainment company where she was Director of Product, Content and Creative and part of the launch teams for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts’ franchise.  Prior to Pottermore, Rafferty spent 11 years at Penguin Books where she was Digital and Audio MD.  She is on the board of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Ravensbourne Media Advisory Board and is Chair of digital arts and heritage charity Culture24, which programs and runs the Otherworld festival and the Museum Crush website.

Judging: Strategists & Consultants

Anne manages technology strategy at Cancer Research UK as part of a 300+ strong team. She recently lead the development of a new tech strategy for the charity taking an iterative and collaborative approach to the work to make sure it’s done with people, not to them.

Before joining CRUK she spent a number of years in various digital publishing and content strategy roles at global organisations in the B2B and consumer goods sectors.

Anne became part of the BIMA 100 in 2019 and received a special mention in the Strategists & Consultants category.

Judging: CEOs & Leaders

Carl is a digital industry pioneer with over two decades’ experience in creating new products, state-of-the-art platforms and leading scalable growth strategies for businesses across the globe.

As co-founder & chief operating officer at Somo, Carl has scaled the business globally, generating strong business performance for global clients such as Audi, HSBC, Vodafone, Groupon, Zynga, and BP.

Carl has extensive and uniquely diverse knowledge of the digital sector, ranging from technical challenges and feasibility assessment to the commercial opportunities and strategies for brands to succeed in an increasingly mobile world. He has advised and worked with the leaders of over sixty of the world’s biggest brands on their digital transformation journey to ensure they can meet the rising customer expectations and create a radical differentiation that places them at the forefront of the industry.

He has been named the Most Influential Person in Mobile in The Drum’s Mobile Top 50, selected as one of the 20 Most Influential People in Mobile by Business Insider and honoured with the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 Best Management Team Award.

In addition, Carl is an active investor, board member and advisor to a number of successful technology start-ups including Swiftkey (sold to Microsoft), Howsy (disrupting real-estate), Homelyfe (redefining insurance), Brewbroker (craft beer marketplace), Airspace (drone security), Careology (health tech) and others.

Prior to founding Somo, Carl was a co-founder at Overture Europe, the company to pioneer the multi-billion dollar pay-per-click advertising industry into Europe. As CTO, he was integral in leading the business to success in fifteen European countries, and its eventual sale to Yahoo! for $1.63 billion in 2003. A leader in search and social networking, he was headhunted to Silicon Valley where he created the Yahoo! One Search mobile platform, working with some of the world’s largest mobile brands. Previously, Carl was responsible for running real-time systems such as aircraft parking, flight information and security at seven British airports including London’s Heathrow Airport.

As Strategy Director at SHARE Creative, Carla is responsible for bridging the gap between the data and creative and is known for placing consumers at the heart of any project.

With 10 years’ experience in various research, data and analytic roles,  Carla has helped deliver integrated campaigns and build bespoke data products across a variety of sectors and FTSE 350 brands spanning healthcare, automotive, FMCG, financial and lifestyle with clients including Sky, FCA, Southern Comfort, The North Face and Vans to name a few.

Carla has recently been featured in an inspirational piece for wearethecity.com as an identifited woman leader in Tech.

When she’s not at work she can be found salsa-ing around or spending time with her family.

Judging: Creatives & Designers

Carlo joined Rufus Leonard as Executive Creative Director in 2015, with over 20 years working at working at award-winning creative agencies such as Landor, Fitch, LambieNairn and Identica.

At Rufus he leads a team of over 15 cross-discipline creatives to create extraordinary digital experiences that make a meaningful difference to clients’ customers. In 2019 Rufus was recognised as Digital Experience Agency of the year at the DXA Awards, and scooped 5 golds at the Transform Awards including ‘Best rebrand of a digital property’. In addition to leading his team and clients in seeking inspirational creative solutions, Carlo is an acclaimed regular guest speaker on branding at Regents University, London Educational Institution and has been lecturing at this leading institution since 2009.

Chris graduated industrial design majoring in 3D animation focusing on leading innovative digital transformations including the World’s first interactive TV service for HomeChoice, launching BUPA’s first website, setting up the Andersen Consulting digital practise, finally creating his own service design consultancy, WAE which he sold in 2016 to Globant.

Chris now splits his time between supporting businesses who are preparing for an exit, and as an advisor investor to start ups in tech, media and healthcare.

Judging: Students & Apprentices

Claire is Commercial Projects Manager at Kingston School of Art, Kingston University where she is leading a pioneering new project to build a student-fuelled creative agency. She has over ten years experience of working in the education sector running commercially-funded projects, events and training. Her specialism is connecting industry and client needs to in-house capabilities – pulling together diverse teams to deliver on a brief and drive innovation.

Most recently Claire has worked with Veolia and KSA students to deliver a life size light sculpture of a polar bear to the West End and is currently engaged in a project with Kingston First to wrap vacant shop units with student’s artwork. The initiative, “Studio KT1” aims to increase student employability, encourage collaboration between disciplines and develop new products and services.

Fiercely determined to get students in places they wouldn’t normally be and be recognised and rewarded for their work – she has an expansive client list including Barclays, Samsung, Mozilla, Marks and Spencer, Co-op, Deutsche Bank, Camelot and The Royal Collection. Watch this space!

Judging: Strategists & Consultants

Cynan has a 20 year track record of providing insight, critical thinking and strategic direction across customer experience and digital transformation programmes in organisations as diverse as start-ups, FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 enterprises. He has recently moved to Chaucer, one of the top 50 Management Consulting firms in the UK, where he leads Services and Innovation.

Judging: Client Services & Project Management

Dan is a Managing Partner, jointly responsible for leading Karmarama’s Creative Product division. Joining the mobile first agency formerly known as Nice in 2013 prior to their acquisition by Karmarama, he was instrumental in shaping their Agile Product software development services, quadrupling the size of the creative product business. A Creative agency with market leading mobile and cross platform experience division drew the attention of the industry and soon Dan and his Karmarama team became an exciting new addition to the Accenture Interactive family, setting the trend for numerous Creative capability acquisitions thereafter.

After securing funding in 2005 he started his own social network platform, before working in several start ups and Joint Ventures; launching award winning Java applications for Nokia before embracing the iPhone revolution and helping brands such as Vodafone, Diageo and DHL take to mobile. Today, Dan’s remit is to drive the use of technology to deliver progressive experiences; combining human insight and data with brand creative and tech driven design. Projects of note include launching a Stroke application for Boehringer Ingelheim’s ‘Angels’ Initiative’ to reduce patient diagnosis times and limit long-term damage on the brain, as well as addressing how technology can support the visually impaired on behalf of Guide Dogs for the Blind. His role in the agency’s success story saw his rise to Managing Partner last summer, co-running Karmarama’s product design and build capability.

Dan has recently collected Dadis awards for Best Recruitment Website, App or Campaign for The British Army, as well as an Innovation in Mobility award for work with AstraZeneca in their Oncology research division. He has written for a number of publications including The Drum, published thought leadership pieces on Native Experiences and is a regular BIMA speaker.

Judging: Champions For Change

Recognised within the BIMA 100 as someone shaping the British digital industry, Dan has consistently delivered award winning brand and marketing strategies to global brand and charity clients, leads Well Good’s growth and is Strategy Director for the one of the South of England’s first BCorp accredited digital agencies, Studio Republic.

He is an influential mental health campaigner and Ambassador for the charity Mind, working to improve wellness provision in the workplace, particularly in the digital industry.

Judging: Creatives & Designers

In her role as the creative solutions lead at Spotify UK, Emma Hopkins applies strategy and skills in visual media to a tech landscape where audio and data come first. Her work currently focuses on the interplay between audio and visual elements. But looking back on her previous roles, she describes her CV as particularly “millennial” – referring to her job at Twitter, where she worked as “emoji specialist” – creating custom emojis for trending hashtags. Emma fills us in on the work culture at Spotify, and some of the creative challenges she’s faced in her career so far.

Appointed as Managing Director in 2016, Ete has led AnalogFolk towards a period of unprecedented growth and creative excellence, which saw AnalogFolk placed 29th in Econsultancy’s top 100 digital agencies 2017, and one of the ‘top four’ creative agencies; recognised in The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, winning The Drum’s ‘Content Marketing Agency of the Year’ and a runner-up for Campaign ‘Digital Innovation Agency Of The Year’.

A Drum Digerati “Top 100 people in UK Digital” 2017 and 2018 Alumni, Ete was recognised in the BIMA 100 in 2017 (‘Champion for Good’) and in 2018 (‘Leaders and Visionaries), as well as Creative Pool’s ‘Top 100 Influencers’ 2018 and Campaign Magazines ‘Top 10 Trailblazers’ in 2017 and 2018.

Judging: Tech For Good

Euan Blair is the Cofounder & CEO of WhiteHat, a tech startup building an outstanding alternative to university. WhiteHat matches school leavers to career-focused apprenticeships at some of the UK’s most exciting companies, from Google and Facebook, to BP and Warner Bros. WhiteHat’s mission is to accelerate incredible careers and develop a diverse group of future leaders through their innovative apprenticeship programmes.

Prior to founding WhiteHat, Euan was the UK CEO of Sarina Russo Group, an employment and training provider with more than 1,500 staff worldwide and a turnover exceeding £100 million.

Before joining Sarina Russo Group, Euan worked at Morgan Stanley where he helped raise funding of more than $60Bn for FTSE 100 companies.

Euan started his career working for the US Congress House of Rules and Homeland Security Committees in Washington DC.

Euan holds a BA in Ancient History from the University of Bristol and an MA in International Relations from Yale University. He is a long suffering supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

Judging: Tech For Good

Judging: Creatives & Designers

As VP, Executive Creative Director, Ferdi oversees Critical Mass’ creative output across the London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo offices. As part of Critical Mass’ global creative council, he partners closely with client and agency teams to ensure industry-leading and sound deliverables that meet business objectives. His digital pedigree spans 15 years including senior positions at Reading Room and PwC. He evangelises creativity across all facets of business, having delivered award-winning, inspirational and innovative creative solutions for blue chip companies across Europe and government agencies in London and Singapore, with his work published in several leading publications. No one at Critical Mass epitomises the marriage of world-class creative brilliance and a fun-loving spirit more than Ferdi, which will become apparent within five minutes of meeting him.

Judging: Client Services & Project Management

Gemma Oldfield is Head of Digital Project Management at global creative communications agency DRPG. She has been with the group since starting as Digital Project Manager in 2014 and has been an integral part of getting the 60+ strong digital team to where they are today – 2019 Digital Agency of the Year at the Digital Impact Awards.

Her passion lies in building exceptional client relationships and empowering her project teams to do the same, working together to achieve their vision “to lead and inspire our industry through innovation and collaboration.”

She has core project management skills at the heart of all her work, continually striving for improvement and ensuring customer experience is the priority across all global partners. She takes clients on a journey throughout projects she manages to engage them in a strong delivery process to ensure key objectives are met.

Gemma started her career in the digital industry at Wolverhampton University where, having gained a 1st class degree in Design for Multimedia she went on to receive a Masters in Digital Visual and Communications.

With a background in digital marketing and product development, Giulia currently leads a team of digital change agents at Cancer Research UK, and is the driving force behind the charity’s transformation journey. She’s embedded a hub and spoke model which devolves digital skills into the organisation through cross-functional agile teams. She works tirelessly to influence and educate, and frequently shares her experience with other charities. Giulia’s impact has helped Cancer Research UK becoming a sector-leading digital organisation and user-centric, lean and agile in everything they do.

Giulia is also a champion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and a passionate advocate for women in technology.

Gregor’s worked in Client Service for nearly 20 years and his experience spans the gamut of agencies. Starting out on the graduate scheme of TBWAGGT Gregor’s risen through the ranks at agencies such as Tribal DDB, DDB London, RMG Connect, Wunderman, Sapient Razorfish and has recently taken on the role of Managing Director, Digitas UK.

In his MD role, Gregor has responsibility for Client Services, Delivery and Operations and is constantly striving to help make work that delivers tangible business performance for Digitas clients including Sky, Formula 1, HSBC, Honda and GSK.

Gregor was recently appointed to the role of Chair of the Client Services Council for BIMA and is looking to help re-establish the beleaguered role of Client service in today’s agency landscape. Out of work, Gregor can be found at the bottom of a wine glass – studying it apparently – or on the golf course.

Judging: CEOs & Leaders

Guy Wieynk is Global CEO of AnalogFolk, the independent global digital creative agency, overseeing the network’s 350 people across London, New York, Portland, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney. With a proven track record in international growth Guy was appointed in 2019 to oversee the international expansion, champion global client needs and launch new service lines.

Prior to joining AnalogFolk, Wieynk launched Serum Consulting, a creative consultancy specialising in proposition development and digital transformation services. The business was acquired by AnalogFolk at the time of Wieynk’s appointment and continues as part of the network’s consulting capabilities.

Wieynk has over 25 years of experience scaling future focused agencies and helping brands leverage digital channels and technology to deliver tangible business results. From 2015 to 2019, Wieynk was CEO of Publicis Worldwide UK and Western Europe, where he led the transformation of the UK’s broad client offering, during which the business won some of its biggest clients from the last decade. He oversaw the agency transformation, cementing its place as the largest creative agency within Publicis Communications, whilst also acting as the Global Lead for the Heineken business.

During his tenure, he also led the collaborative offering between Publicis Communications, Publicis Media and Publicis Sapient to deliver Publicis Inside, a business model that brings technology, media and data capabilities together.

Before joining Publicis Groupe, Wieynk spent 17 years at AKQA building the agency globally. While he was International VP, the agency trebled in revenue, opened five new offices and won over 300 major awards, including 18 ‘Agency of the Year’ titles.

Judging: Rising Stars

James Hogwood is an award winning creative director and the creative partner at Livity, where he oversees work for clients including PlayStation, Netflix, Sky, Nike, Audible, the RAF, Facebook and more. In his career James aims to balance making people want things, with making the things people want; building standout digital products and experiences alongside crafted brand storytelling. At Livity, his focus is on bringing brands together with youth culture to create compelling stories, disruptive products and deeply resonant cultural moments.

Judging: Tech Trailblazers

James has been involved in building innovative digital products for almost 20 years. He specializes in delivering award-winning Content Management and Customer Portal platforms in the Banking, Insurance and Financial Services sectors, as well as Consumer-focused digital experiences. Having worked for many leading Digital agencies and boutique platform development houses he joined MullenLowe Group in 2016 to lead the internal Digital Transformation & Innovation team working across the business on innovative ways to help the business and staff to realise the benefits of Digital Transformation.

Jillian is the Head of Digital for UK & I at Atos, and a member of the board of Trustees at Eduserv. Over the last 20 years she has worked in Digital Transformation in Digital Agencies, Consultancies and SIs and has worked with many markets including CPG, Retail, Sport and Financial Services to bring together business transformation and new digital technologies to help clients do things differently.  Her practice at Atos includes all the buzz words from AI to IoT and everything in between.

Judging: Marketing Directors and CMOs

Kara Segedin has spent the last eight years working in digital content and social media. She began her career as a reporter in NZ before moving to the UK and taking on digital editorial roles in the travel industry. She is currently the Digital Portfolio Manager for Factual at BBC Studios, responsible for managing digital publishing across social media, websites, newsletter and podcasts. She was the digital lead for the award-winning Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II campaigns taking home trophies at the Webby, Lovie and BIMA Awards.

Judging: Tech Trailblazers

As Technology Director for Reason, Karl provides technology strategy and execution to help companies realise their products in a digital world effectively and with efficiency.

Karl has been helping shape the technology direction for products in many sectors during his time designing and architecting web, mobile and enterprise products over the last 15 years. His experience includes leading the technology strategy and delivery of key projects for some of the world’s leading organisations within their sector including UBS, Burberry and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Judging: Tech Trailblazers

Katerina has several years in the creative industry with a strong background in digital technologies where she strives to deliver beautifully-crafted brand experience for clients, with a focus on user-centered design, across any touchpoint or channel.

Katerina has worked for several agencies including Ogilvy, BBDO, McCann Erickson and Saatchi & Saatchi.

Currently Associate Creative Director for Kin & Carta Connect, in London, Katerina builds innovative digital experiences for clients such as Expedia, Heathrow, ClubMed, Bank of Montreal and Unilever.

She believes in the effectiveness of creativity, combined with today’s technology to create innovative, human-centric solutions that help shape brands and their customer experiences.

Katerina champions inclusion and diversity and helps drive it with the D&I team across the business. Committed to giving back to her industry she also shares her skills and time by mentoring for Women in Tech as well as hosting workshops as a facilitator and ambassador for #IamRemarkable, an initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to speak openly about their accomplishments in the workplace and beyond, thereby breaking modesty norms and glass ceilings.

Judging:  Tech for Good

Kieron is VP, Experience Design at Huge, a global experience agency. At heart Kieron is an Interaction Designer. He designs how people interact with brands, products, services and experiences to get something done. His job at Huge is simple – make things people love.

He is an advocate of design-led change in large organisations, is passionate about growing design teams and believes unconditionally in design’s power to improve people’s lives.

In addition to leading Experience Design at Huge London, alongside BIMA Kieron judges work for Creativepool and the MUX awards. Prior to Huge he worked for Sapient Razorfish for 8 years in the UK, USA and Middle East.

In his 18+ year career at agencies and consultancies he has had the opportunity to apply his skills to some of the world’s leading brands including Ferrari, Selfridges, British Airways, Amex, Warner Bros., Verizon and RBS/NatWest.

Judging: Tech Trailblazers

Kim Lawrie is an ex-Creative Director in recovery.

One of only a handful of female creative technologists in the industry, Kim’s first ten years in advertising taught her about the role creative tech should play, and the next few taught her how to get it there.

Along the way she has co-founded the world’s first tech incubator focusing on refugee women and girls, sat on the BIMA Tech Council and tinkered with tech on behalf of many of the world’s largest brands while heading up the Creative Technology team at ENGINE.

Kim is also committed to sharing her time and skills with those who could benefit from them; mentoring new starters in the tech industry, giving impact coaching, and working with social enterprises and young non-profits.

Judging: Students & Apprentices

Professor Lawrence Zeegen is Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Enterprise at Ravensbourne University London, leading the Institute for Creativity and Technology in the new Design District on the Greenwich Peninsula.

The Institute for Creativity and Technology encompasses GradSchool; a postgraduate suite of courses across design and media disciplines, CreativeLab; an in-house design and production studio, the Research Office; a hub of funded research projects across artificial intelligence, virtual and mixed realities, smart cities and wearable tech and Incubation+; an incubator for fifty tech start-ups.

Lawrence has lectured internationally in over 20 countries. His design clients include major international newspapers, magazines, book publishers, design studios and advertising agencies. He is the author of nine published books on graphic arts, including Fifty Years of Illustration and Ladybird by Design and is contributor to numerous publications.

Lawrence is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Design Council Sounding Board, trustee of both the De Le Warr Pavilion and the Creative Conscious Awards and a former trustee of D&AD. Lawrence has twice been appointed to the Executive Board of ico-D, the International Council of Design.

Judging: Client Services and Project Management

Judging: Entrepreneurs & Visionaries

Lindsay Herbert is an IBM Inventor, as well as the Global Chief Innovation Officer for IBM Garage GBS. In addition to creating innovations for IBM itself, Lindsay works with Garage teams around the world to devise and deliver real innovations that grow revenue and deliver lasting impacts for major organizations across every sector.

Her most recent invention is the IBM Instant Checkout, a revolutionary innovation for retail. This ground-breaking technology has resulted in international media coverage, including BBC World News and a segment on BBC Click.

Lindsay is also the author of Digital Transformation, a Bloomsbury business book that has received international praise for its practical framework on how to drive major change through innovation at enterprise scale.

In addition to her role as co-chair for the BIMA Tech Council, Lindsay is a Governor for the Museum of London, appointed by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to help inform the Museum’s own digital transformation journey.

A sought-after innovation speaker, Herbert’s core message is that real digital transformation is about learning to become more adaptive to change itself. Success comes from the ability to react to the small and early signs of change, leveraging data, technology and new ways of working along the way.

Judging: Marketing Directors & CMOs

Matthew has been a CMO and a CDO.  He is experienced in dealing with digital retailing, performance marketing and building brands.  He started life training as a chartered accountant and was terrible at it. He subsequently worked in advertising where he worked on the Royal Mail account trying to stop people sending emails and grew personal mail.

Always one for taking the interesting route he set up his own e-commerce business moving it from one room in the house to four until he had to move out!  He has developed a strong understanding of marketing, its strategy and how to run e-commerce operations. Recently he helped Eurostar reorganise their marketing function, repitch their media account and balance its marketing to be more focused on upper funnel brand building rather than just performance digital campaigns.

Judging: CEOs & Leaders

Mike’s career spans over thirty years and has focused on the opportunities created by the convergence of technology, marketing and the transformative capabilities of digital. In 2016 Mike retired as Managing Director at Sapient where he led the UK business from a start-up in 1998 to be recognised as the top digital agency by 2013. Over this period Mike played many different roles including UK MD, VP European Expansion and Global Business Development lead. He was also a member of the Global Leadership team that was responsible for setting and executing the company’s strategy. In 2015 the company was acquired by Publicis as its ‘jewel in the crown’ at a valuation of $3.7bn.

Mike currently enjoys a portfolio of interests with a particular focus on Tayburn, the leading Scottish agency, where he is Chairman.

Mike also serves as a Trustee of the Carnegie Dunfermline and Hero Fund Trust, as well as being a Trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust. He lives in Dunfermline with his wife, Louise, has two children and will often be found on the golf course when not doing something useful.

Judging: Champions For Change

Nancy Rowe is a passionate and committed Inclusion and Diversity champion within a region of 4,000 employees with extensive strategy, leadership and change management experience. Her experience spans a period of 20 years working in digital agencies in client facing, strategy, research and insight roles.Her inclusion journey began through her involvement with the Publicis Groupe wide women’s network VivaWomen!, which she Co-Chaired for four years, before transitioning into leading Inclusion and Diversity Across the Publicis Sapient International business full time. She has been a member of the BIMA Diversity Council since 2017 and has led a number of events and initiatives designed to shine a light on the benefits of diverse teams and creating inclusive workplace cultures. Working for a leader among Digital Business Transformation Accelerators (Forrester, 2019) Nancy’s interest lies at the heart of unlocking minority representation in technology enabled businesses.

Judging: Marketing Directors & CMOs

With over 20 years in marketing, Paul is a leading expert in digital marketing. He oversees award-winning agency Sagittarius and often lectures and consults within the industry on digital and marketing related subjects and has a particular interest and skills in the travel and tourism sectors. Paul consults nationally and internationally, helping brands improve acquisition and retention through personalisation, segmentation and digital transformation.

Judging: Stuudents & Apprentices

Peter is the co-founder and CEO of the award-winning agency Ngoar who partner with both agencies and brands to create groundbreaking, fully integrated, digital experiences across all platforms.

Peter has worked in the digital arena for almost 25 years at the leading edge of development and creative solutions. He has agency experience in a wide range of industry sectors from banking, fintech, services pharma and healthcare to technology, telecoms, consumer goods and retail.

A well-respected thought leader and pioneer in the digital landscape he offers invaluable strategic insight into all aspects of digital ecosystems from present challenges and opportunities to future trends.

Collaboration, innovation and trust lie at the centre of Peter’s business philosophy, and he believes in harnessing the power of enterprise technology to achieve this.

He is a highly respected mentor with a well-deserved reputation for fostering and encouraging new talent.

Judging: Entrepreneurs & Visionaries

Rachel is the Design Studio Partner for Globant. She has 20 years of knowledge, expertise and award-winning experience in digital and UX by unearthing customers insights that transform strategic thinking and developing breakthrough solutions. Rachel is a specialist in qualitative and quantitative global research and has extensive experience to create and deploy new initiatives and methodologies that connect with consumers on all levels and diverse range of project typologies.

She believes passionately that understanding human behaviour is the foundation from which great ideas are created, products succeed and brands are future-proofed.

Rachel has worked both client side and consultancy, gaining her experience with a number of blue-chip companies including Nestle and Samsung Design Europe. As UX Research Manager at Samsung, she created strategic approaches to monetise and introduce new user experiences across multiple platforms and global business units.

Judging: Tech For Good

Rosie has been a Strategist at AKQA for two years. She is experienced in brand strategy, and having spent time both client and agency-side, has worked across industries from financial services to luxury jewellery.

Her main passion is helping make brands culturally relevant in fresh and interesting ways, leveraging technology to do so. Rosie is excited to help judge the Tech for Good category at the BIMA100 Awards. In an industry where ‘purpose’ marketing has proliferated and been hotly debated, she is interested in how brands might use technology to do good in more authentic and meaningful ways.

Judging: Strategists & Consultants

Sara has more than 10 years experience in brand strategy, integrated marketing and digital media. A recent London transplant from New York City, she has worked to drive growth and innovation across agencies, brands and non-profits, including leading digital transformation projects at Time Magazine, The Oprah Media Group and Harvard Medical School.

She currently works as Senior Manager of Creative Strategy for the Ford and Chivas Regal accounts at Imagination.

She is passionate about supporting influential individuals to achieve their ambitions: she has held leadership roles in New York Women in Communications, providing mentorship to young women in communications fields, and the Ashoka Foundation, providing funding and consultation for early-stage social entrepreneurs.

Judging: Students and Apprentices

Shelley Quinn is UK Managing Director of Red Badger, an independent digital product and innovation consultancy helping large companies succeed with digital transformation. Red Badger has partnered with businesses including Tesco, HSBC, Sky, Financial Times, BBC, BMW, Fortnum & Mason, Santander, Nando’s and MHRA. Badgers empower their clients to deliver high-quality digital products, working together to build internal capabilities.

Shelley joined Red Badger in 2015. With her 20 year experience in digital product and business transformation, she has helped grow the company from 30 to 130 Badgers. She has played a vital role in driving the consultancy’s business strategy, creating an autonomous team structure and bringing a cross-functional business leadership model to life. Pragmatic, focused and driven by quality, Shelley is a respected leader by Badgers and clients alike.

A mother of two young children, Shelley lives in London with her family. In her spare time, you’ll find her at her daughter’s ballet classes, or taking trips to the city’s many museums with her son. Hailing from New Zealand, she’ll seize any opportunity to bask in the sunshine, hop on a boat, or support the All Blacks.

Judging: Rising Stars

A former designer of footwear, eyewear and children’s toys, now a designer of creative and measurable digital strategies. Working across sectors from travel to finance, retail and energy

Judging: Champions For Change

As Head of Advertising Learning & Development for award winning content creation studios The Mill, and MPC, Simon oversees a global training curriculum for studios across London, New York, LA and Chicago. With over 14 years creative industry experience having previously worked as part of talent and learning teams in commercial radio, television and visual effects Simon dedicates his time to both his L&D role and as the founder and director of creative industry inclusion movement ACCESS:VFX. The ACCESS:VFX collective has a current UK-wide and global membership of 38 award-winning visual effects, animation and games studios, and 19 industry and educational institutions with chapters in the UK, New York, Chicago and Montreal. A:VFX run a popular global e-mentoring programme that connects aspiring and diverse talent to industry professionals, a global LGBTQI+ network Q-VFX, a wide-range of action based recruitment events, training bootcamps and a bi-weekly podcast.

Judging: Creatives & Designers

Simon is Chief Experience Officer at Isobar and works across the EMEA region, to champion the transformative power of digital with a focus on game-changing creative experiences. He advocates how brands needs to change, to match customer behaviour and expectations for a more sustainable future. In addition to his creative leader role, he sees the benefit of AI/ML across the entire creative process, and how it is an important part to delivering positive change through augmented humanity. His work has been recognised internationally, scooping many awards and is a regular jury member on numerous award shows. He is also co-founder of CANNT, the world’s festival of creativity, and takes an active role in giving back to the industry, to help new talent.

Judging: Champions For Change

Judging: Entrepreneurs & Visionaries

Tazz is an entrepreneur, investor, Marketing Director and ex-journalist, currently heading up marketing strategy at purpose-led agency, Digital Detox. With three businesses under her belt, most notably as Co-Founder of the leading blockchain for business accelerator, StateZero Labs, she has spent half her career in startups, and the other half supporting and investing in them. As an advocate for showing vulnerability, she is also the Founder of InvestWell; a group of leading VCs committed to putting humanity back into investment when it comes to mental health, and a Venture Scout at Backed VC.

Judging: Client Services and Project Management

Tom has over 20 years agency experience working with Clients to develop award-winning creative campaigns across integrated, digital and social.  Starting life as a Junior Account Executive, Tom has worked his way through the ranks of Client Service to Managing Director.  In his current role as Chief Client Officer at We are social Officer, he is a member of the Executive Leadership Team and oversees the Client Service teams to ensure the development of long term strategic partnerships with Clients.

Judging: Rising Stars

Warren is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer at experience design consultancy, ELSE. For over 20 years he has held senior user experience/service design roles at companies such as Universal Music, LBi, Framfab, Oyster Partners, PA Consulting and Yell. Warren is a Design Business Association Mentor, a long-time guest lecturer/course advisor at Brunel University, Cambridge and Imperial and also international Judge for the Taiwan Innovation Awards. Last year he made the BIMA Top 100.

At ELSE, as well as having overall responsibility for the direction of the company, Warren stays involved with client work by leading ELSE’s Experience Strategy and User Experience teams. ELSE works predominantly on new product and service innovation and includes UBS, Shell, Nivea and O2 in its client list. ELSE also works closely with select start-ups and fledgeling businesses, most notably WeFarm — an SMS based messaging/knowledge service that connects coffee farmers in developing countries.

With a strong focus on creating an innovative company culture and work/life balance, in 2018, ELSE implemented a 4-day week, and as a result have seen productivity in both client work, personal projects and R&D, all increase.

Judging: Entrepreneurs & Visionaries

Will Harvey is Digital innovation Manger for GB and Ireland, He sits as part of the Culture, Media & Futures Team, assuring that Diageo stays at the forefront of all things digital.

He is also one of the directors at Innovation Social and has previously worked at both VCCP and Ogilvy looking to find the balance between Creativity and Technology