Alistair Brownlee MBE

Two Time Olympic Triathlon Champion

Two Time Olympic Triathlon Champion Alistair Brownlee MBE is one of Yorkshire’s most treasured Olympians. He became the first man to win successive Olympic triathlon titles at Rio 2016, which saw Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee retain the Olympic triathlon title he won on home soil at London 2012. Accompanying him on the podium on both occasions was his brother Jonathan.

Fusing his passion for sports performance, innovation and entrepreneurship Alistair has founded Koroibus ventures to provide the right conditions for brilliant start-ups by helping people reach their full potential. Through investment and creating opportunities for up and coming businesses he wants to make a difference, encourage and inspire as many people as possible to live healthy active lifestyles.

He has also co-founded Brownlee Foundation with brother Jonathan, their mission is to inspire children from all backgrounds to enjoy sport, encourage them to lead active lifestyles and benefit from the opportunities sport provides.

Michael Bateman

CEO, Zenzero

As an experienced executive within the technology sector Michael brings leadership, strategic insight and practical execution of acquisitive and organic growth to the Zenzero team. He is experienced in working within private-equity backed businesses to deliver commercial and technology outcomes across dispersed teams and geographies. As well as his time in Managed Service Providers such as Content+Cloud and Zenzero, Michael has previously worked at Deloitte, within a range of tech businesses and was a founding member of the UK G-Cloud team within HMG Cabinet Office; outside of work he can often be found on a spin bike.

Sasha Qadri

Presenter

Sasha Qadri is a dynamic presenter, moderator and event chair with a journalistic background. Having presented and reported the news at Sky News, Reuters, CNBC and Bloomberg, she brings her journalistic perspective into all her work. Sasha hosts international events, interviewing government ministers and CEOs on topics ranging from humanising AI to fintech disruption.

Sasha works across a wide spectrum of industries, from cybersecurity to fintech. She’s facilitated many conversations on the impact of technology, hosting flagship events at London Tech Week and London Fintech week. She was one of the main moderators at Leap 2024, interviewing AI expert Mo Gawdat and former NBA champion Rick Fox on his sustainable concrete business. Sasha has chaired large scale events around energy storage, sustainability and net zero ambition including the Carbon Trust Corporate Sustainability Summit.

Before working in TV, Sasha began her career in investment banking at UBS and has retained an avid interest in business and finance events, regularly hosting economic summits and working with financial institutions such as Lloyds Bank and the Treasury.
More recently, Sasha spent several years as a Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live, where she moderated high profile discussions at Bloomberg’s key business and technology events.

Sasha studied Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University and spent her gap year at The Sorbonne.

Rob Pierre

Investor, Advisor, Founder and Former CEO of Jellyfish

Rob Pierre is an investor, advisor, and one of the UK’s most successful media leaders. Rob co-founded digital marketing business Jellyfish in 2005 and as CEO, he grew the business to over 2000 employees, working across 28 global offices on clients including Google and Netflix. Jellyfish was acquired by The Brandtech Group in June 2023.

Today, Rob is passionate about helping ambitious businesses to achieve sustainable growth as well as sharing his experience of launching an operating system for the modern age. A business innovator, Rob introduced a unique organisational infrastructure at Jellyfish that disrupted norms both within and outside the media world. This involved the dismantling of the traditional pyramid hierarchy and the introduction of distributed accountability. As well as freeing the business to grow without limits, the operating system fostered the development of an equitable, progressive and diverse Culture.

Committed to supporting businesses and organisations that have a wider societal impact, Rob co-owns the Inside Out Project, the UK’s first clothing brand created, designed and hand produced by young ex-offenders and is a founding member of Impact X, a venture capital company, founded to support underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe. As well as being a long-standing trustee of mental health charity, The Lucy Rayner Foundation, Rob has also recently become a trustee of the Migration Museum. Rob is also the co-founder of technology company Infinity, an advisor and investor at ufurnish.com and the owner of Mber, a fine bar and restaurant in the City of London.

Rob is a contributor to the international speaker circuit, business and future of work podcasts, and national and industry press. In 2021, he appeared on the Channel 4 show ‘The Money Maker’ alongside entrepreneur, Eric Collins, who hosted the programme. Rob was awarded Media Leader of the Year at Campaign’s Media Week Awards in 2021 and featured in the Powerlist 2022, 2023 and 2024, a listing of the UK’s 100 most powerful black Britons. In 2024, Rob became a member of KPMG’s Black Leaders Network.

Robert Begbie

CEO, NatWest Commercial & Institutional and CEO NatWest Markets
Experience

Robert was appointed CEO of NatWest Commercial & Institutional in March 2024. He is also CEO of NatWest Markets which he has led since 2019.

The Commercial & Institutional franchise supports customers ranging from entrepreneurs and start-ups through to multi-nationals and financial institutions.

Robert has been with the Group for over 40 years and has extensive experience in treasury and capital markets. During his career, he has built successful capital markets businesses across fixed income, derivatives, asset management and cash markets and led teams in the UK, Europe, Asia and the US.

After spending 20 years in our Markets business, Robert joined Treasury in 2009 where he was instrumental in transforming the Group’s balance sheet. In 2017 Robert was appointed as Group Treasurer with responsibilities for all aspects of Treasury and the management of the bank’s balance sheet.

He holds an MBA from CASS Business School and is a former president of The Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (London Branch).

Dr. Roni Savage

CEO and Founder, Jomas Associates

Dr Roni Savage is CEO & Founder of Jomas Associates, an Engineering Company serving the Construction Industry since 2009. Named Most Influential Woman in Construction 2022, Roni, is a Honorary Fellow of Royal Institute of British Architects, a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of Institution of Civil Engineers, Chartered Geologist and SiLC (Specialist in Land Condition). A graduate of University of Portsmouth with a BEng(hons) in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, she also holds a Masters’ (with distinction) in Environmental Management from University of Exeter. She has worked on many major construction schemes, including the widening of the A406 and M25, as well as various buildings and structures across the UK. She has been involved in designing sustainable remediation solutions to enable the reclamation of several brownfield sites, which may have laid derelict otherwise. She was conferred with an honorary doctorate by University of Portsmouth in July 2023 for exceptional contribution to the construction industry.

Multi-award winner, and mum of three boys, Roni is a passionate diversity champion, speaking internationally on matters relating to diversity in business, engineering and construction. Roni is policy chair for construction for the federation of small businesses, with an advisory role to the UK government, and vice chair of YMCA SPG, a charity committed to empowering young people. She also sits on the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for the King’s Awards, and the UK government SME Business Council.

Brian Palmer

Founder, Tharsus

A mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, Brian founded Tharsus after roles in the automotive industry, including Nissan in his native North-East.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018. While in 2o24 recognised in The King’s New Year Honours with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his remarkable contributions to UK manufacturing and skills development in the North East.

As Founder, Brian is the custodian of our business and the parameters by which we operate. He is also Tharsus’ entrepreneur in chief, searching the world for the opportunities for partnerships and collaborations by which we’ll engineer progress and solve some of the toughest challenges faced by society.