London Mentors

When Alex Swallow moved to London he became an intern for two MPs and then took on his present role as an officer for a small national charity. Alex is also a Trustee for a charity in Islington, which is a challenging but very fulfilling role. He had been living in North London but moved to the East for the first time last autumn. Alex was so honoured to be accepted as a mentor for UpRising.

"In my life so far I have had so many opportunities opened up for me due to the good guidance and kind advice of other people. I can relate to the background of the mentees and I am excited about the fantastic impact I think they will make and indeed already are making in the world."

 

 

Alexander Stevenson co-founded RSe Consulting, a public sector consultancy specialising in Local Government.

He sold RSe Consulting to Tribal Group in 2008 and continued there for a year as a Director for Local Government specialising in supporting public sector organisations to work effectively in partnership and cut costs. Alexander is currently writing a book about the unique challenges faced by public sector managers and works with several start up organisations in areas including carbon off-setting, Chinese credit data and public sector cloud computing.

Prior to setting up RSe Consulting Alexander worked at the Financial Times Group in a number of roles.

 

 

 Amanda Levete is an architect. She was a partner in the seminal practice Future Systems for 20 years and together with Jan Kaplicky won the Stirling Prize in 1999. In 2009 Amanda launched her own practice AL_A. Current work includes a media campus for News Corporation in London, a 1.5 million sq ft hotel and shopping mall in Bangkok, a subway station in Naples in collaboration with artist Anish Kapoor and furniture for Established & Sons. She is a regular broadcaster, a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, writes a column for Building magazine and is a trustee of Artangel and the Young Foundation.  

To view an article in The Guardian about Amanda, please click here.

 

 

Amrita Jaijee has worked at Macquarie as an in-house lawyer for 4 years, where her key focus has been around real estate, infrastructure and general M&A.  Beyond this, she has also worked at Citibank as well as with a private practice with a London law firm. The majority of her work revolves principally in banking related law, and she is delighted to be involved in the mentoring of UpRisers.

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Stead was born in Leeds, educated at Leeds Grammar School and read Management Studies at Cambridge University. Upon graduation he worked for the world’s premier investment bank Goldman Sachs trading financial instruments and derivatives for almost a decade.   He worked extensively across Europe, North America and Asia living in London, Tokyo and New York.After heading a trading desk of over 30 people he decided to leave the City to pursue broader interests, qualifying as an Executive Coach and teaching Financial Investment Analysis at the Investment Property Forum and Cambridge University.

Subsequently he conceived and established his own environmental services business helping to reduce the carbon emissions from buildings. In a matter of months the organisation grew to over 120 employees becoming the largest independent supplier of Energy Certificates in the UK.

Andrew has since engaged his unique and diverse knowledge, expertise, and skills directly in subjects he has deep personal interest in – human well-being, economic and financial systems and leadership structures. 

 

 

Anoushka Healy is Group Managing Editor of The Times and Sunday Times. She was appointed to this new role in May 2011. Previously she was Managing Editor for The Times. Before working as Managing Editor she was Assistant Editor for Strategy & Development working on new product launches and redesigns for the newspaper.

Anoushka joined The Times in November 2002 as the Editorial Communications Director. The appointment created a new position, reporting directly to The Editor, which focused on the communications management of the editorial team in order to generate awareness and understanding of The Times in the UK and internationally.

Prior to joining The Times, Anoushka was Head of Corporate Communications at the Financial Times for seven years where, among other projects, she worked on investor relations for the FT’s parent company, Pearson PLC, the launch of the FT US edition and the launch of FT.com.

She has a degree in Modern languages.

 

Anthony Karibian grew up in Ethiopia and came to the UK in 1999.  He is an entrepreneur who recently set up bOnline providing cloud-based marketing technology to SMEs.  Previously, he was co-founder/chief executive of  XLN Telecom, UK's fastest growing telecom service provider.  He co-led the management buyout in 2008 and won the BVCA Private Equity-backed team of the year award (mid market).   Prior to XLN, he co-founded Euroffice which is now Europe's leading online office supplies company and recipient of numerous Tech Track awards.  "I often recruit and mentor young graduates.  Many have gone on to start their own business and that is probably the best part of my job."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basma Gaber is an architect and has worked as an Environmental Impact Assessment consultant and HS&E Specialist in Egypt and Germany. Before joining JICA UK, she completed her Masters degree in Environment & Sustainable Development at the Development Planning Unit, University College London. Her research concentrated on waste and water management, co-production of services and sustainable agriculture practices in urban and peri-urban areas.

 

 

Charlotte is an expert Adviser to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Before that  Charlotte was Policy Director at the CSJ. Prior to joining the CSJ I worked as an Access Officer for Oxford University

 

 

 

   

Charlotte Morton has a wealth of experience in the field of Digital with 7 years at Google under her belt and as such is a huge advocate of the Web. She has worked extensively with Public Sector clients such as the COI to help them build out Online propositions and now works closely with the UK's top Creative Agencies to navigate Google's sea of products and tools in order to create innovative campaigns with Digital at their heart. Prior to her time at Google, Charlotte helped set up the first educational radio station in a prison at HMP Wandsworth and lived and taught in Sri Lanka.

 

 

Christian Guy is Director of Policy at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think-tank founded by the Rt. Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP. He has led work on a number of CSJ publications including as editor of the 2011 first year report card on the Coalition Government, Building a Social Recovery?, author of the 2010 reports The Forgotten Age and the Green Paper on Criminal Justice and Addiction, and co-author of 2009's prison reform report Locked Up Potential with Jonathan Aitken.  As well as continued media engagement for the CSJ, he led the pre-general election implementation planning in 2010 for the CSJ’s criminal justice and addiction policy, and was speechwriter to Iain Duncan Smith. Christian is also Assistant Director of Jonathan Aitken's Westminster Forum.  Before joining the CSJ he worked as a Community Organiser and took a 12 month political internship in East London.

Courtney Glymph is Communications Executive, EMEA Corporate Philanthropy and Sponsorship, at J.P.Morgan

Originally from Great Neck, New York, Courtney graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 2006.  She began her career in Public Relations and Communications at BlissPR in New York City in 2006. 

In 2008, Courtney decided to explore an in-house communications and diversity role with PricewaterhouseCoopers.  While at PwC, Courtney worked closely with the HR and Diversity departments to implement the new initiative throughout the organisation’s domestic footprint. 

In 2009, Courtney enrolled at King’s College London to study for her MA in Cultural and Creative Industries.  She graduated with a Merit degree qualification and received a distinction for her dissertation.

Upon finishing her Masters degree, Courtney started work with J.P. Morgan in the EMEA Corporate Philanthropy and Sponsorship department.  In this role her remit is to increase the profile of the department’s philanthropic activities, both internally and externally, through various PR and Marketing channels.

 

Dela Foster set up and ran a central London restaurant called Bermondsey Kitchen which she sold in July 2011.  She has managed other hospitality businesses including Deliverance, and prior to that worked with young people on the New Deal at Groundwork UK.  Dela began her career as a strategy consultant, mostly in the retail sector.  

 

Dipo Oyewole

Dipo currently leads the Business Development group of FremantleMedia, a global media company. Prior to this, Dipo launched and ran (as Managing Director) an out-of-home TV business which operated the largest network of screens in public spaces at that time in the UK. Prior to that, Dipo spent 7 years as a strategy consultant, with organisations such as McKinsey and Company

 

 

 

Dominique Kleyn

After university Dominique joined the biotech industry in a range of roles, firstly in product development and later in commercial development. In 1999 Dominique transferred to academia and was instrumental in developing “third stream” activities to support entrepreneurship, innovation management and industrial relations at Imperial College London. In 2009 he became CEO of London Genetics Limited, one of the spin-out companies he helped to start. Dominique is currently working as a freelance consultant and a non-executive Director of the BioIndustry Association.

A large part of Dominique’s career  has been spent guiding and supporting entrepreneurs keen to commercialise new ideas or technologies. In 2005 Dominique completed an MBA with a dissertation on partnering in life sciences.

 

 

Eliza Lam is a Manager at PwC in anti-money laundering.

Prior to PwC she worked in the business and security risks consultancy industry in the UK and Hong Kong specialising in corporate intelligence/due diligence. 

Eliza has been involved in a number of mentoring initiatives through the School of Social Entrepreneurs, TimeBank and Tomorrow's People and this is the second time she will be mentoring an Upriser.

She is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) with a Masters in Asian Politics with focus on social movements. She is a Hackney resident and is very interested in local civil society initiatives. 

Eliza Lam is a Manager at PwC in anti-money laundering.

Prior to PwC she worked in the business and security risks consultancy industry in the UK and Hong Kong specialising in corporate intelligence/due diligence. 

Eliza has been involved in a number of mentoring initiatives through the School of Social Entrepreneurs, TimeBank and Tomorrow's People and this is the second time she will be mentoring an Upriser.

She is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) with a Masters in Asian Politics with focus on social movements. She is a Hackney resident and is very interested in local civil society initiatives. 

 

Emily Pang was appointed Chief of Staff for the Royal Mail Group in April 2011. Emily was most recently at Canada Post where she was Executive Chief of Staff, Office of the President and CEO and the interim Lead Executive for Human Resources. Prior to that she worked at CIBC, a major Canadian bank. Her experience there spanned Executive Director, Business Management in the wholesale business; Senior Director, Investor and Financial Communications, Communications & Public Affairs; as well as positions in Finance and Taxation. Emily is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an Executive MBA, from the joint York University/Northwestern University, Kellogg-Schulich Program.

 

 

Erica Wax has an extensive professional experience in politics, non-profit organizations and the private sector.  Since moving to  Londonfrom the Unites States in 2009, she has been working free-lance on various projects with an international focus, and currently a global poverty one is just kicking off.   

Before moving to London,  Erica co-founded a policy and public affairs consulting practice and worked on a variety of projects ranging from marketing the City of Los Angeles’ conservation incentive programmes to organizing an international relations program for diplomats on behalf of a major US university. She has worked on international trade and development issues, global markets and investments and been a staffer on many political campaigns in the US.  Erica has a Masters of Public Policy from Harvard University ’s Kennedy School of Government, where she focused on International Trade and Development.  

 

 

For the past ten years Ethan Kline has been consulting to commercial clients in sectors including financial services, leisure and manufacturing with a particular focus on strategic communications and developing the evidence to support new initiatives, products or services. Prior to becoming a consultant he oversaw the European marketing for a leading Executive Search firm and before that Ethan spent 5 years at a literary agent in Washington DC.I began his career as a legal policy analyst for the Corporation for National Service, a public-private partnership that engages Americans in community service.

 

 

Fenner Austin is Director of Strategic Change, Business Restructure, Business Development and Entrepreneur at Lloyd Banking Group. Fenner is the current Head of Programme Delivery at Lloyds Banking Group. In the past he has been Programme Director at HBOS, a Senior Manager at Accenture and co-founded www.dinnerpoint.com.

 

 

 

 

Dr Fern Elsdon-Baker

Fern Elsdon-Baker is currently Director of the Belief in Dialogue Programme – which incorporates the Our Shared Europe project and the Our Shared Future project. Belief in Dialogue is a new British Council intercultural dialogue programme, which explores how people in the UK and internationally can live peacefully with diversity and difference in an increasingly pluralistic world. Fern currently serves on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Councils’ Science in Culture Advisory Group.

A passionate believer in the interactive communication of Science, History and Philosophy, in her spare time she is the recorder for the History of Science section for the British Science Association, which helps to organise events on subjects relating to history, philosophy and sociology of science for the British Science Festival. The British Science festival is one of Europe’s largest science festivals.

She is also on the council and programmes committee for the British Society for the History of Science. Founded in 1947, the BSHS is Britain’s largest learned society devoted to the history of science, technology and medicine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francine Bennett is currently Operations Director of Ask.com, and before that worked at Google. She started her career in public sector consulting in the UK, and is a mathematician by training. 

She is also the Chair of Trustees at Off Centre, a charity which has been providing advice, information, and counselling to young people in Hackney since 1974. She is passionate about giving talented young people access to the same opportunities that she has had. 

 

 

Greg McCulloch is UK Managing Director at Interxion, a leading pan-European provider of co-location and associated managed services. As Managing Director, Greg McCulloch plays a critical role in all aspects of Interxion’s UK business, covering everything from expansion strategies to technology implementations, product development and customer, partner and supplier relationships. He has exceptional depth of experience in the data centre and telecommunications industry, with a successful track record in developing some of the largest and most innovative data centres in Europe.

Before moving to Interxion, Greg was Executive Director for Sentrum where he played a significant role in the development of the business, spearheading a series of key expansion projects within the UK. Prior to working for Sentrum, Greg took on a number of senior management and development roles at some of the world’s leading data centre, construction and telecommunication companies. 

Hannah Gregory

I am a civil servant and have worked at the Home Office since 2003.  I started my career as a Civil Service Fast Streamer, working in crime and policing, including working as the private secretary to two government ministers.  For the past four years I have worked for the UK Border Agency in various roles, including overseeing a major organisational change programme and running a team of 200 staff delivering immigration services in North and East London.

I am particularly interested in the localism agenda from a public service perspective as much of my work over the past 4 years has focused on large scale de-centralisation of immigration services.  This has included building much stronger links with other public services and charities at a local level.

 

 

Hannah Pawlby is a Projects Manager with Freud Communication, Hannah is currently directing the London unlimited account. Since she took up the post in July 2006 she has worked on the British Gas Energy Efficiency campaign developing communication strategies.

From September 2004 to May 2006 Hannah was a Special Adviser to Rt Hon Charles Clarke, as Secretary of State for Education until December 2004 and as Home Secretary until May 2006.

Acting as the Home Secretary’s official spokesperson, Hannah developed the media strategy after the July 2005 attacks in London and took on the role of director of strategic communications, and the media strategies behind the successful passage of the ID cards Bill and Controlling our Borders, a 5 year strategy for Immigration and Asylum. She was also involved in the development of a political strategy for the Education department and Home Office in the run-up to the 2005 general election.

Hannah was Deputy Director of Progress from 2001-02 and has a BSc in Psychology from University of Southampton and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics.

 

 Harriet Spicer is a lay member of the Judicial Appointments Commission and co-runs Working Edge, providing mentoring and professional support to groups, individuals and organizations. She is a Governor of the London School of Economics and a mentor for the Government Equalities Office, the Young Foundation Uprisers and the CYPL Social Work Academy.

Harriet was Chairman and Commissioner at the National Lottery Commission and had a long career in publishing as a founder director then Managing Director of Virago Press.

She worked as Executive Chair at The Friendly Almshouses in Brixton and has undertaken other voluntary work over the years.

 

 

Imogen Haddon currently works as an in-house lawyer at The Independent, Independent on Sunday and i newspapers, having been the Managing Editor of those papers for the last 5 years.  In her current role, Imogen advises on all media law issues, including libel, privacy and intellectual property issues as well as ethical standards.  As the Managing Editor, Imogen advised on editorial strategy, including the launch of i, the first national newspaper to be launched in 25 years and oversaw editorial spend in what was undoubtedly challenging times for newspapers.  Before working at The Independent, Imogen worked as a  lawyer for city firm Allen & Overy in their corporate department.  

Imogen is currently Acting Chair of the copyright working group of the European Newspaper Publishers' Association based in Brussels, having completed a copyright law diploma last year.
 

 

 

Jacqueline Korn Glasser has been an authors agent for most of her life, running  David Higham Associates, selling writers work to newspapers, magazines and to British and American publishers.   In 2003 she became a Voluntary Appropriate Adult for Westminster which entailed being present at a police station when a juvenile or someone who was mentally vulnerable was arrested, to give support and ensure he/she was being treated fairly and understood the procedure.  After further training in 2009 she became a member of Westminster Youth Offending Team's Panel, dealing with first time offenders who come onto the Restorative Justice Progamme. 

She believes it is important that young people be encouraged to realize their potential.  In dealing with staff at DHA,  wherever possible she would promote from within where the opportunity arose.   She has a son and a daughter in their thirties and has tried to bring them up to believe many things are possible with enough determination.

 

 

Jamila Yusufali Moved to London from Australia 8 months ago. She Was born and raised in Sydney Australia, and has been working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers whilst receiving her Chartered Accountancy qualification. Currently she is working intheInternal Audit department for Northern Trust, a large asset management firm.

Beyond her work life, Jamilais part ofthesocial committee for the division and  partakes in the annual volunteer days on behalf of the company.

 

 

 

Dr Jeffrey Bailey is Deputy Director at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), and also oversees the Centre's current policy work in social cohesion, with a particular focus on ethnic diversity and social mobility. 

Prior to the CSJ he taught at the University of Cambridge, where he remains an Affiliated Lecturer. He has been a consultant with the Cambridge Interfaith Programme, worked on religious conflict with the Clinton Global Initiative's annual conference, and published on these topics in various books and journals, including most recently the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

He previously studied at Duke University in the United States, and spent several years living and working in the inner-city of Washington, DC.

 

 

Dr Jenny Amery is  a public health physician by training, and a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health . 

Early in her career she lived and worked in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America for 9 years,  focusing on the health of poor women and children, and community development. Dr Amery led  DFID's work on health in Latin America, then India,  and was regional adviser for S Asia  based in Delhi,  prior to taking up the post as Head of Profession Health in early 2009.
 

 

 

Jeremy Miles is Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs at NBC Universal International. Prior to that he was a partner at a City law firm and has also been a legal adviser to social housing providers and to local government. He is a founder trustee of an online charity – See the Difference - which offers an innovative online platform for charitable giving, working both with the biggest national charities and small local concerns. He is also a trustee of the social justice think-tank The Bevan Foundation, a school governor and a trustee of Wesley's Chapel in London. He was a parliamentary candidate at the 2010 general election.

 

 

Joe Sunderland is a Principal Consultant with GHK Consulting Ltd., an independent and employee-owned public policy consultancy firm.  Joe has over thirteen years of extensive and varied experience as an economist and policy specialist gained in economic regulation, economic consulting, government and academia.  Joe’s policy expertise extends across a range of sectors and he benefits from extensive experience at the coalface of policy making including over six years at the centre of Government in Whitehall (including time spent in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury) during which time Joe worked with Whitehall departments to help drive through changes in Government policy.

 

 

John Cassy is Director of Sky 3D at BSkyB, the UK's leading pay-TV provider. Sky 3D, which launched a year ago with a groundbreaking broadcast of the Ryder Cup golf tournament, is the world's leading 3DTV channel offering a mix of top sports events, movies, natural history, documentaries, music and arts. John previously grew Sky Arts into the UK's leading cultural television offering and established partnerships with organisations including Hay Festival, the English National Opera, Anthony Gormley's Fourth Plinth project and several music festivals. Before joining Sky, John worked as a journalist at the Guardian and Express newspapers.

 

Jude Bunting is a barrister, specialising in human rights and equality law.  He believes strongly in standing up for the under-privileged and under-represented, and in holding state bodies to account.

Jude grew up in Belfast, but is now a proud resident of Bethnal Green.  He loves euphoria-tinged future bass music and baking delicious cakes.  He is passionate about making sure that the young people of East London have access to the same opportunities as he did and is consistently inspired by the young leaders he has met through the UpRising programme.

 

 

 Karin Christiansen is an international development economist and public policy professional who has worked in a wide number of developing and developed country context. She is also the Director of Publish What You Fund, a global campaign on aid transparency.

 

 

 

 

 

Lorna Gavin is head of corporate responsibility at Wragge & Co. Prior to this role Lorna was a corporate lawyer and latterly a partner in the firm.  Lorna has been with the firm for 19 years.

 

 

Louise Engleman is an experienced Learning and Development Consultant with 20 years experience of working with private, public and voluntary sectors delivering learning programmes across all aspects of communication and management.  Following ten years of managing and running the Institute of Charity Fundraising's training programme, she worked for 4 years in the private sector with TUI (Thomson Holidays).  Within Thomson, she designed and delivered a range of learning programmes including an organisation-wide mentoring programme, and helped to mentor her mentoring trainees.  She has successfully run her own consultancy since 2004 working with clients including Glaxo SmithKline, City & Guilds, Reuters News Agency, Home Office, RBS, 3663 and Carlsberg.   She has set up and run Outplacement programmes for the London Chamber of Commerce, Allied Lyons (as it then was) and Defra.   Her specialist areas include public speaking, influencing, career coaching, change management and assertiveness.  She has recently trained as a mediator.

 
Louise served as a trustee and Deputy Chair of the London Action Trust (a charity relating to preventing ex-offenders re-offending) for 10 years.  She also undertakes voluntary work relating to her local community. 
 
UpRising mentoring is of interest to me as I actively seek as wide a portfolio of activity as possible within my working life, which, where possible, includes voluntary as well as paid work.   I have extensive experience working with graduate and ex graduates, (an age group I very much enjoy working with), another reason for seeking involvement with you.

 

Magnus Goodlad is Head of Environmental Technology at Hermes GPE. Prior to this he was Chief Operating Officer at IP Group plc, an intellectual property commercialisation specialist and qualified as a solicitor with Slaughter and May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Cooksley is a Partner at an international strategy consulting and venturing firm, Cairneagle Associates. He works with senior company directors helping them develop and implement their business strategies, and also spends time creating, building and financing new ventures or business opportunities. Hence he divides his time between advising CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies, and helping budding entrepreneurs. His expertise covers many industries, particularly healthcare, telecoms, technology and banking, and he regularly speaks at conferences on issues relating to climate change and renewable energy. 

 

 

 

Oliver Yaros is a solicitor and a Senior Associate in the London office of international law firm Mayer Brown, who specialises in advising clients on a range of intellectual property, IT, outsourcing, e-commerce and privacy matters.  Oliver grew up in Ilford in the London Borough of Redbridge, going to local Beal High School before graduating in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  Coming from a family with strong East End roots and believing in working towards making opportunities available to all parts of society, he is proud to be a part of the UpRising programme.

 

 

Peter Maxmin

Peter Maxmin is the Director for the Bing and responsible for Microsoft’s online network in the UK. Peter has an extensive background in digital business. He joined Microsoft in 2005 heading up marketing for Microsoft Advertising and subsequently became the business lead for MSN, Live Search and Windows Live across across Europe. Prior to joining Microsoft Peter was Head of Marketing for the Financial Times newspaper and FT.com working on projects including introducing a subscription model to the web site and launching an investor news start-up. 

 

Peter Wilson-Smith is a strategic communications consultant with Quiller Consultants, advising a range of clients in the financial, business and educational fields. Previously he had a long career in journalism, working on daily and weekly newspapers as well as television and radio. He was a founder and Editor-in-Chief of Financial News, spent five years at the BBC as a business reporter and before that worked on The Independent on Sunday, The Independent, the Daily Telegraph and The Times. Peter is chairman of the Oxford School of Drama and a trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

 

 

Phil Wilson – Chief Psychologist and Chief Assessor, Civil Service Fast Stream

Phil leads the design and development of the Civil Service Fast Stream graduate talent management programme – focusing particularly on assessment techniques, diversity, social mobility, coaching and targeted internships. Prior to this role he was Head of Occupational Psychology at London Fire Brigade, as well as Acting Head of Occupational Psychology for Greater Manchester Police, and also a consultant at SHL and RAS working for a range of industries. He has presented at numerous professional conferences, undertaken a variety of media activities  and chaired national work psychology committees.

 

Preth Rao joined the LGO a couple of weeks ago on 23rd November so everything is still quite new. She previously worked at the Equality and Human Rights Commission where she lead the policy team looking at local government, housing and communities’ policy. Before this she worked at the Commission for Racial Equality as well as the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham. She has always been interested in public policy and the public sector at large and recently completed an MSc in Social Policy at the London School of Economics whilst working at the EHR. In her dissertation she looked at choice and vulnerability, an interesting but somewhat problematic concept.

In her spare time she sings in a local choir, volunteer and campaign on issues she feels passionate about and tries to discover more of London, particularly vegetarian restaurants, small music venues and second hand clothes shops. she ventures to to get back to the North West as often as possible to see her parents and older sister. SHe also love travelling here and abroad, and has been to India, Iceland and South Africa and Swaziland recently.  

 

 

Robert Wilton is a diplomat and writer. He's worked in a number of Departments of the British Government over the last fifteen years, including a stint as Private Secretary to three successive UK Secretaries of State for Defence, and has specialised increasingly in the Balkans. He was advisor to two Prime Ministers of Kosovo in the period leading up to the country's independence, and he has now returned there as head of policy for the international office monitoring and advising the Kosovo Government. He's co-founder of The Ideas Partnership, an NGO stimulating and supporting projects in education, culture and the environment. 

His short stories, and his analytical articles on the history and politics of south-eastern Europe, have appeared here and there. The Emperor's Gold, the first of a series of historical espionage thrillers, was published in summer 2011. He likes old books and old films, does a bit of gig rowing and poetry translating, and divides his time between Kosovo and Cornwall.

 

 

Seema Malhotra FRSA is co-founder and Director of the Fabian Womens Network and a former National Chair of the Fabian Society. By profession Seema is a freelance business and public services adviser and formerly worked with leading firms Accenture and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Her key areas of interest include strategy, board facilitation and programme/project management. She has worked with a range of government departments in the UK including Revenues and Customs, Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, as well as with industry. in 2009-10 she led the cross-Government programme Increasing Diversity in Public Appointments working with Whitehall, headhunters, business and community groups. She is currently beginning a project with Common Purpose looking at the issue of women on boards.

 

At 28 Shane Greer is the Chief Executive of Biteback Media and President of Political World Communications LLC. The companies publish Total Politics magazine in the UK, Campaigns & Elections magazine in the US and Canada, Campaigns & Elections Mexico and Campaigns & Elections Argentina. In addition, Biteback and PWC run political events and conferences in London, Washington DC, Toronto and Dominican Republic and Mexico.

Shane appears regularly on television and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, Daily Politics, BBC Breakfast, BBC World Service, Channel 4 News, CNN, Al Jazeera, and BBC Radio. He is a paper reviewer for both Sky News and the BBC.

Shane has published two books. The most recent of which, So You Want to be a Politician is an essential read for first time candidates, sitting politicians, anyone intending to run an effective campaign and anyone interested in the art and science of political campaigning.

In 2011 Shane was recognised by the Business magazine Square Mile as one of the Top 30 people under the age of 30 in London. Shane is a school governor, with added interest including business theory, reading and walking. 

 

 

 Sheena Matthews

Sheena has a proven track record in both innovative and practical solutions to organisational change. She has worked at national and international levels in some 30 countries. Sheena gained her change management and organisational development experience in the profit and not for profit sectors in multinational and national organisations in support of major cultural and business change. She founded what works ltd in 2005

 

 

Sheila Ableman is a literary agent, having formed her own company, Sheila Ableman Literary Agency, in 2000. Sheila began her career as an editorial assistant at Victor Gollancz publishers in 1977 and then jointed BBC Books  in 1979 as  a junior commissioning  editor, becoming within a few years editorial director and  then the  head of the editorial department, where she remained until 2000.

 

 

Stephen Bediako 

 

Stephen Bediako is the Founder and Strategy Director at The Social Innovation Partnership (TSIP). Stephen is an innovator and strategist with 7 years of professional experience (policy, strategy, public sector, private sector and voluntary sector). He currently leads TSIP’s work on youth, violence, and partnership building. He works with charities and social enterprises to build capacity, develop income streams, and implement evaluations. He supports the GLA on implementing Project Oracle and leads an evaluation for five Pupil Referral Units (PRU’s) investing in parent advocacy in London. He recently delivered a project evaluating work with women leaving prison and led an evaluation of London’s Capital Conflict Management service and evaluated social projects for Birmingham City Council.

Stephen has worked with close to 20 local authorities on strategic change projects covering: crime, disorder, adult services, children’s services, and customer access. Prior to TSIP, Stephen worked at Tribal, Deloitte and iMPOWER consulting on strategy and operational change projects. His clients included: local authorities, central government departments and private sector companies such as News International, SABMiller, BAT, and the Energy Savings Trust. Before this, Stephen worked in the Houses of Parliament, for the Home Office and volunteered in Africa with Afford/VSO (training business owners in customer service, business plan writing, and marketing skills). He currently volunteers as a school governor in Brixton. Stephen has a 1st Class Politics and History degree from the University of Brunel and a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics. He is PRINCE2 certified, Lean Six Sigma trained and a mentor to young social entrepreneurs at the Young Foundation. 

 

Vidhya  Alakeson is the Director of Research and Strategy at the Resolution Foundation, a research and policy organisation that works to improve the lives of Britain’s 11 million people on low-to-middle incomes. She also works part-time as an independent health policy consultant, focusing on issues related to personalisation, with clients in the UK, US and Australia. Prior to returning to London in 2010, Vidhya spent three and a half years in Washington D.C, initially as a Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy conducting independent, comparative research and then working for the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the US Department of Health and Human Services covering issues such as early years, behavioural health, health reform and housing.Before moving to the USA, Vidhya was a Senior Policy Advisor at HM Treasury and at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit working on policy for children, young people and families. Before that, she spent six years working at several leading think tanks, including the Social Market Foundation and Policy Network. Vidhya has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford and a Masters from the London School of Economics. Her interests include life chances and social mobility, policy for children and families, health and social care and wider public service reform.

 

 Valentina Recla has worked for J.P.Morgan’s Investment Banking Risk Management division since 2004. Her current focus is the restructuring of distressed debt and derivative exposures of the Bank. Valentina moved to London from New York City in 2009 and have lived in Islington ever since.

Community engagement is one of her main areas of interest outside of work. In addition to being involved in various volunteer initiatives at J.P.Morgan (including in partnership with The Young Foundation), Valentina was a member of the New York Junior League from 2005 to 2008 (Domestic Violence Focus Area) and a member of the Junior League of London in 2009. She also served as volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York’s Mentoring in the Workplace Program.

Additionally, Valentina is very interested in social innovation and social enterprise and has been involved as a volunteer in a couple of projects in this area. 

Vikash Gupta is a Vice President at Barclays Wealth. He was born in a remote town in India, and completed his engineering degree in Bangalore. Vikash has also done a Masters in Business Administration from Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, USA.

He has worked in North America, Europe and Africa in the fields of technology, Merger and Acquisition and strategic consulting.

He is delighted to be a part of UpRising mentorship programme and looks forward to sharing his experiences and learning from his mentee.

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