Membership

 CHIEF DISRUPTOR LIVE
 
Enabling Business Transformation at Scale
Reimagining Leadership, Technology and Ways of Working to Deliver Organisation-Wide Change
 
 Thursday 2 November 2023︱08.30-18.00︱8 Eastcheap, London EC3M 1AE
 
Nic Granger

Nic Granger

Director of Corporate (Digital, Data and Technology), North Sea Transition Authority

With a business information systems degree and an MBA from Warwick Business School, Nic has built her career around data, analysis, process improvement, and leadership in transformation programs within digital, data & technology, and finance. Having worked globally and in the UK across various sectors, including healthcare, local and central government, Nic currently leads a diverse, award-winning team. Their focus is on delivering data, information, and digital solutions to support strategic decisions, encompassing areas like digital transformation, data policy, digital services, IT, and finance.

Nic's notable achievements include leading a team that introduced the National Data Repository in the UK, promoting open industry data utilization for innovative technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. This initiative contributes to the search for carbon storage sites and supports offshore windfarm applications. Furthermore, she serves as the Chair of the Offshore Energy Digital and Data Strategy Taskforce and has launched the Digitalising Offshore Energy Systems strategy to unify the offshore energy sectors digitally. In recognition of her accomplishments, Nic was a 2021 finalist for the DigiLeaders Digital Leader of the Year and featured in the 2022 ComputerWeekly list of Most Influential Women in UK Tech. In addition to her professional roles, Nic is a non-executive charity trustee of Falklands Conservation (UK) and actively participates in committees and groups related to risk, audit, finance, and data management within BCS, Chartered Institute for IT. She has also held past non-executive positions, including Chair for the Tech Board at ICAEW, non-executive directorships in a development corporation, and involvement in multiple pension funds.

Angela MacOscar-1

Angela MacOscar

Head of Innovation, Northumbria Water Group Limited

Dr. Angela MacOscar, a PhD physical chemist, serves as the Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water. With a strong passion for innovation, she excels in fostering an innovation culture within businesses. Angela is known for crafting effective processes and strategies that yield purpose-driven innovation outcomes. Drawing from her extensive cross-sector expertise, she has a proven track record of driving product and commercial innovations across various fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories, including managing the front-end innovation pipeline for a billion-dollar franchise. Angela is a strategic thinker who embraces unconventional solutions, promoting collaboration and simplifying complexity to bring focus to the table.

Nitish Upadhyaya-1

Nitish Upadhyaya

Director of Behavioural Insights, Ropes & Gray

Steven Zuanella

Steven Zuanella

Group Chief Digital & Innovation Officer, Generali  

Experienced FTSE 100 board level Digital Transformation leader, skilled in accelerating growth, business transformation & increasing profitability. Strong strategic & operational capability, with a proven record in creating value & improving customer experience. Challenges & enables the transformation journey to a “digital first” business.

Sophia Aluko -1

Sophia Aluko

Transformation Delivery Director, Barclays

Sofy Richards -1

Sofy Richards

Chief Operating Officer, Dentons

Sofy Richards, currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer for Sovereign Advisory at Dentons, brings a wealth of experience gained across various sectors and business scales. Her journey has taken her from start-ups to global enterprises with over 100,000 employees, spanning the UK public sector, telecoms, and professional services. Sofy's recent accomplishments include graduating with Distinction from her Executive MBA program at the University of Warwick, with a specialization in strategic leadership. Notably, she managed this feat while navigating house moves, career transitions, and the responsibilities of parenthood during the challenging times of the pandemic.

In early 2022, Sofy embarked on her role at Dentons, where she assumed the position of Chief Operating Officer for Sovereign Advisory. In this capacity, she leads a team providing crucial legal counsel to emerging market governments, state-owned entities, financial institutions, energy-sector clients, and sovereign wealth funds. Their expertise covers a wide range of legal matters, including green and blue bond issuance, public debt, international trade, and foreign investment, extending beyond the traditional legal landscape. Sofy's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is evident as a member of the Dentons Global Inclusion Advisory Council, actively participating in DEI initiatives both within the European region and on a global scale. Noteworthy achievements from her recent career include the remarkable feat of scaling a professional services start-up from a revenue of £200,000 to exceeding £8 million in less than 12 months, crafting a multi-brand digital strategy, and playing a pivotal role in the leadership team responsible for implementing significant digital and cultural transformations within a global telecommunications provider.
James Fullarton

James Fullarton

VP Commercial IT, Smith & Nephew

James Fullarton, the Vice President of Commercial IT at Smith & Nephew, is a seasoned leader with a strong background in business and technology transformation. With the ability to seamlessly connect strategy, architecture, delivery, and operations, he excels in delivering optimal outcomes for clients and customers, ensuring the success of projects and initiatives. James's expertise lies in navigating the intricate intersection of business and technology to drive forward innovation and facilitate the achievement of strategic objectives.
Leon

Leon Gauhman

Chief Strategy and Product Officer, Elsewhen

Leon Gauhman, the Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Elsewhen, possesses a notable track record of serving prominent clients, including industry giants such as Spotify, Google, Microsoft, and Mastercard. His overarching mission revolves around empowering leaders to adopt a pioneering approach to design and technology, ultimately driving positive impact for their organizations.

At Elsewhen, Leon spearheads three distinct service offerings: Digital Strategy, Digital Transformation, and Product Design, all of which are pivotal in facilitating business growth and innovation. Additionally, he actively contributes his insights and expertise to renowned publications such as Sifted, Venturebeat, City AM, and Fintech Futures, sharing his knowledge with a wider audience. Beyond his professional endeavors, Leon is deeply passionate about leveraging his extensive experience in engineering and product development to invest in promising early-stage founders, thereby nurturing and supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators.

Oliver Cronk

Oliver Cronk

Technology Director, Scott Logic

Oliver Cronk, currently serving as the Technology Director at Scott Logic, boasts over two decades of experience as a distinguished IT architecture and DevOps leader. His career has encompassed a diverse range of roles within the energy, government, telecommunications, banking, and professional services sectors. 

Before joining Tanium, Oliver's professional journey led him to Deloitte, where he dedicated three years as the Chief Architect for Risk Advisory. In this role, he played a pivotal role in steering innovation, digital transformation, and architectural solutions across a spectrum of risk areas for clients. Oliver's extensive expertise extends to leading the architecture of on-premises, private cloud, Azure, Office 365, and AWS initiatives. He is the driving force behind the Tanium Reference Architecture for IT Operations and Cyber capabilities.

A seasoned speaker and advisor, Oliver consistently shares his insights on Innovation, Architecture, and DevOps with industry professionals. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Essex and has been recognized as a BCS Chartered IT Professional since 2012, exemplifying his commitment to professional excellence in the field of information technology.

Colin Eberhardt-1

Colin Eberhardt

Chief Technology Officer, Scott Logic

Ben Cooper

Ben Cooper

Regional Vice President of Sales, Unravel 

Tim Green

Tim Green

Deputy Director Research and Insight, UK Health Security Agency 

James Morgan-1

James Morgan

Chief Data Officer, The Crown Estate 

Kassie Siwo-Gasa-1

Kassie Siwo-Gasa

Head of Digital Marketing, Digital Platforms, and Data Enablement, Legal & General Investment Management 

Caroline Monfrais Wipro-1

Caroline Monfrais

Head of Domain & Consulting Europe, Wipro  

With extensive experience in using technology to drive strategic transformation, Caroline has developed several innovation and co-creation methodologies to advise CXOs on disruptive changes impacting their business models. She has been recognized as one of the UK’s ‘Top Women in Tech’ by the Mayor of London and at Mobile World Congress. 

Prior to joining Wipro, Caroline was Chief Strategy Officer & Market Innovation Leader for EMEA at FTI Consulting. Before FTI, she worked at EY where she led complex performance improvement and transformation engagements. She also served as EY’s global head of strategy and innovation for global industry, where she created the EY Industry Convergence Lab™. 

Caroline is a published author and contributor to the World Economic Forum. She has been the UK business representative for the first UN consultation on business and human rights, in partnership with Harvard Business School, and has a Master’s from Institut Superieur du Commerce (ISC) and a Maîtrise in Philosophy & Ethics from La Sorbonne Paris.

Anna Soisalo

Anna Soisalo

Executive Director, Strategy & Product Europe, UsTwo 

Anna is a Design, strategy, and innovation executive. Prior to ustwo she was the Executive Director at Smart Design and also led the digital business design practice at DigitasLBi.
Anna’s work spans a range of industries, including Pharma, FMCG, luxury and FS. She is passionate about fostering growth through transformative products, experiences and business models. Anna has deep experience building, scaling and improving commercial performance of products, teams and businesses across global markets, working with start-ups, SMEs and corporates.

Azeem Akhtar

Azeem Akhtar

Field CTO – International Lead, BT Business 

Azeem is an award-winning, highly driven Chief Technology Officer delivering thought leadership to senior multinational executives on digital transformation to meet their desired business outcomes. 

He is a technically proficient and commercially astute problem solver who advises clients on how cutting-edge technologies can make them more scalable, flexible, agile, and cost-effective, whilst enhancing customer experience. Azeem has a track record of inspiring leadership, strategic thinking, and excellent stakeholder management to deliver significant global wins in competitive and challenging conditions. 

As chairman, in a non-executive capacity, he has overseen Active Essex become the most successful Active Partnership in England and secured record funding, in addition to serving on the board of Sport England.
Matt Phillips -1

Matt Philips

Chief Operating Officer, Scott Logic 

Matt has overall responsibility for Operations at Scott Logic. His experience, built up over more than 20 years in the IT industry, spans change management, programme and project management, vendor management, outsourcing, application lifecycle management, solution architecture, systems integration and bespoke application development. A father of three who once owned a Michelin starred restaurant, Matt is a keen cyclist and remains an enthusiastic cook.

Neill Smith

Neill Smith

Head of Infrastructure, The Scottish Government 

Neill is a seasoned expert in Cloud, Virtualisation, and Linux technologies, currently serving as the Head of Infrastructure at The Scottish Government ARE Directorate. With a proven track record of leadership, Neill excels in guiding diverse technical teams.  He has strong hands-on technical knowledge whilst being highly proficient in Cloud, Virtualisation and DevOps technologies.  Neill is also a distinguished public speaker. He has shared his insights and knowledge at prestigious technical conferences, including AWS re:Invent, VMware Explore, and the Gartner Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Summit.

Benjamin S

Benjamin Sawyer

Head of Operational Improvement, Oxford Education  

Nathan Tasker

Nathan Tasker

Director of Product Management, Thames Water 

Will Bissett

Will Bisset

Global Process Owner, CX, Dunnhumby 

Fear is often a natural reaction to change.  What can leaders and change practitioners do to successfully work through that fear in themselves and others? 

Ben Sawyer served for 16-years in the British Army, much of it as a bomb disposal officer.  He has personally rendered safe improvised explosive devices on multiple operational tours across Iraq and Afghanistan and led teams in high-stakes combat environments where fear was a constant factor.  Ben has transferred the lessons he learnt managing fear in himself and his teams in combat situations to leading change in civilian organizations.

 

How to combat fear as a reaction to change

• What exactly is fear and where does it root from?

• How can leaders and change practitioners work through fear in themselves and their teams?

• How can lessons learnt by British Army bomb disposal teams in Iraq and Afghanistan help mitigate issues connected to fear of change and instil a culture of resilience?

Lila

Lila Warren

Global Head of Retail Academy, Pret A Manger  

Lila Warren is an impact driven and accomplished leader in the Learning and Development industry, serving as the Global Head of Retail Academy at Pret a Manger. With an extensive background in retail and a passion for fostering high levels of employee engagement, Lila has made significant contributions to the growth and success of the organization's learning culture.

With over 2 decades of experience, Lila has spearheaded innovative training and development programs that have elevated the skills and knowledge of front line employees and developed leadership programmes to support the organisation’s strategic goals. Under Lila’s leadership, the Pret Academies across the globe have become a hub of excellence, equipping Learning and Development teams with the expertise needed to support employees performance.

Lila’s commitment to fostering talent extends beyond the retail industry. She is a dedicated advocate for wellbeing and an experienced Therapist.

With a visionary approach to Learning and Development and a deep understanding of human behaviours, Lila continues to optimise future trends by preparing the next generation of leaders for success.

Bogdan

Bogdan Grigorescu

Senior Technical Lead Architecture, Ebay 

A technologist with extensive experience across industries, Bogdan has led specialist teams in implementing automation through AI at scale, delivering and operating enterprise platforms across geographies. He has a track record in achieving superior customer experiences and delivering significant cost efficiencies by leveraging AI and machine learning technologies worldwide. In addition he has a background in electronics and telecommunication engineering. 

Dastan Shukanayev

Dastan Shukanayev

Senior in Payments, Technology and Strategy, Marks & Spencer  

Dastan is an internationally accomplished leader with a proactive mindset and diverse expertise in technology, foresight, strategic investment, and digital business model transformation. Known for delivering multi-national successful projects and products across 10+ countries, he excels in problem-solving and possesses strong analytical, negotiation, and interpersonal skills. Fluent in multiple languages, Dastan has worked in various industries including banking, fintech, agriculture, e-commerce, ICT, higher education, oil and gas, and asset management. With a passion for innovation, he is interested in digital transformation, robotics, AI, quantum computing, and actively follows climate change initiatives. A professional alpinist and a mountain tourism instructor, Dastan undertakes challenging expeditions, showcasing his determination and leadership abilities.

 
Mike Yorwerth

Mike Yorwerth

Chief Operating Officer, Kraken Energies  

Henrink

Henrik Kiertzner

Head of IT Operations (Cyber Security and Infrastructure), National Grid 

Henrik joined the National Trust two years ago, after a long post-Service career largely in the consultancy space, advising clients worldwide in the security, defence and intelligence sectors on security and resilience issues. Before then, he served a full 25-year career in the British Army as an intelligence specialist. He has particular interests in diversity and inclusion, sustainability and ethical operations
Ian Skelly

Ian Skelly

Head of Engineering, Tesco Bank 

Damian is one of the most notable technologists within international sport, an expert in Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning and one of the Top 100 most influential people in data and analytics over a 25 year career in Technology across a range of sectors including Defence, Telecoms, FMCG, Sports, Media, Financial Services and Financial Regulation.

Previously, Damian was the Head of IT at the England and Wales Cricket Board where his team pioneered the use of cloud technology, big data and analytics, and artificial intelligence to grow the game, deliver fantastic customer experience and improve athletic performance. Damian tenuously claims responsibility for England winning the 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup and the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Before Damian realised that his future lay in information technology, he ran pubs, climbed mountains and starred as a body double for Tom Cruise in Hollywood movies.