Melanie Ellyard Tolley

Aptamer

Mel has experience of working with ‘start up’ companies as well as blue chip companies such as Financial Times, Thomson Reuters and HSBC Asset Management. Her industry experience is diverse ranging from Finance and Telecommunications to Healthcare. She is a seasoned negotiator with a proven track record of delivering effective results. Mel is currently working…

Keynote: Lee Strafford

Lee is the visionary and entrepreneurial leader who architected the success of PlusNet as its co-founder and CEO from 1997 to 2007, leading it from start-up, through IPO and finally to exit by sale for £67m to BT in 2007. All this was achieved by ensuring focus was maintained on very strong financial and customer…

Elaine Warburton OBE

QuantuMDx

Elaine is an entrepreneur with over 25 years’ healthcare and biotechnology experience. With an eclectic background in nursing, genetics, accounting and running hospitals, she currently heads up pioneering British biotech QuantuMDx Group. QuantuMDx is developing a low cost handheld molecular lab with inbuilt DNA sequencing to address humanitarian health challenges and detect & track emerging…

Lewis Bowen

Geco Industries

Geco Industries, incorporated the same day as my last exam in university, was set up to make alternative energy affordable and accessible. Fuel4, manufactured in Sheffield, was the first exciting product from Geco Industries and in its first year secured an exclusivity deal with the fastest growing and largest outdoors retailer, Go Outdoors. Created to…

Rowena Johnson

BugBrush

Rowena is the inventor and founder of BugBrush – a unique infant toothbrush designed to tackle the soaring rates of early childhood tooth decay, by empowering babies to safely and effectively clean their own teeth. In the last 8 years, Rowena has worked with 5 different business advisors, 3 prototyping and design companies, 2 patent…

Andy Green

Andy Green PR

Andy is a leading UK and international expert in brand storytelling and creativity to transform your thinking, doing and communications. Andy has been voted Outstanding PR Practitioner of the Year by members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. Andy is the author of 7 books which have been translated into 8 languages and works…

Michelle Mook

Pro Development

Michelle is the founder and managing director of Pro-Development (UK) Limited based near York providing support in all aspects of engagement and people development. With over 20 years of experience of improving performance through people consultancy, training, coaching and team/leadership development, she founded Pro-Development to help the growth of small to medium sized businesses in…

Goncalo de Vasconcelos

Syndicate Room

Goncalo is co-founder and CEO of SyndicateRoom. SyndicateRoom gives its members access to the same investment opportunities that experienced business angels are investing in. Goncalo is a serial entrepreneur with a strong background in business angel investment and equity crowdfunding and he is one of the best-networked people in the business angel industry. His passion…

Ailsa Pemberton

Blacks Solicitors

Ailsa is a specialist Intellectual Property Lawyer with 15 years practising experience. Ailsa started out in the litigious side of IP, being involved in several high profile reported cases. She has since moved primarily into non-contentious IP focussing on the identification, protection and exploitation of IP. Ailsa holds a diploma in Intellectual Property Law and…

David Raffo

Design Council

David’s background encompasses design practice, design and business management and academic teaching and research. Trained in both craft design and engineering at Manchester he worked in the UK, Europe and America before founding Raffo Design, a multi-award winning, research led product design consultancy with partners and clients worldwide. Clients include, JCB, Unilever, Ideal Standard, and…

Norman Peterson

GrowthFunders

Norman is the co-founder and CEO of GrowthFunders. GrowthFunders is an online co-investment platform that allows individual investors to invest on the same terms alongside business angels and VC’s. Throughout his career, Norman has been involved in raising capital for both SMEs and PLCs. Norman is also an active investor, with his most…

Sam Cockerill

Libertine FPE

Sam Cockerill is the founder of Libertine FPE which is developing and commercialising free piston and linear generator technology. Prior to founding Libertine Sam was an independent management & technical consultant to the renewable energy industry & public sector. Sam is a non-executive director of Providence Holdings, a £50m turnover agricultural producer and processor. Sam…

Marcus Romer

Pilot Theatre

Marcus has directed many productions all over the world - including Buenos Aires, Beijing, Bermuda, Bratislava, Budapest and other cities not only beginning with’B’ Most recently he adapted and directed the new movie for Universal Pictures - ‘The Knife That Killed Me’ with Kit Monkman With Pilot he co-created the epic Blood + Chocolate outdoor…

The Investment Competition Finalists

Dominic Colenso

In Flow Training

A specialist in communication and leadership, Dominic has been delivering training and one to one coaching in the private and public sectors for the last ten years. He is the Managing Director at In Flow Training Ltd. Beginning his career as an actor, Dominic worked extensively on stage and screen before going on to train…

Gaynor Dykes

GrowthAccelerator (part of the Business Growth Service)

Gaynor Dykes is a Regional Manager for GrowthAccelerator (now part of the Business Growth Service), a government backed service that has supported over 20,000 growing businesses throughout England to date and helped provide access to over £100m of external finance from across the UK funding market. Prior to joining GrowthAccelerator in 2012, Gaynor’s career progression…

James Taylor

Roaring Mouse

James Taylor of Roaring Mouse, who has consulted to some of the biggest and most innovative technology companies on both sides of the Atlantic, will share how outstanding organisations have tapped into the power of their networks to accelerate growth, and how firms of all size can communicate more effectively to establish ecosystems that can…

David Norris

York St John University Business School

David Norris is Head of Department for Leadership, Accounting and Marketing at YorkSt JohnBusinessSchool. Before working at YorkSt JohnUniversity, David worked at TeessideUniversity for over 7 years, where he was Subject Group Leader for Marketing and Strategy. Prior to working in academia David developed his own marketing consultancy firm and worked with a range of…