Heather Beardmore
- Director, Halpenfield
Heather graduated in Computer Science and then began a career in the IT industry working for some of the top computer software vendors in the world. Initially entering the profession as a computer programmer Heather rose to the position of Professional Services Director. She built professional services teams from zero eventually managing a team of 120 consultants both in the UK and internationally. In 2004 Heather started Halpenfield Ltd, a specialist BI & Analytics company. Halpenfield delivers data driven solutions on premise or in the cloud to businesses in the UK, EMEA and USA.
David Cleevely CBE FREng, FIET is the Chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. He is the founder and former Chairman of telecoms consultancy Analysys (acquired by Datatec International in 2004). In 1998, he co-founded the web based antibody company Abcam (ABC.L) with Jonathan Milner and was Chairman until November 2009. He has co-founded several other companies and is Chairman of two of them, including the award winning restaurant “Bocca di Lupo” and its gelateria subsidiary, Gelupo. He has been a director of two quoted companies. He has been active in promoting Cambridge. He was a prime mover behind Cambridge Network, co-founder of Cambridge Wireless, co-founder and Chairman of Cambridge Angels, Founding Director of the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge and Vice Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Commission. Other policy work has included membership of the IET Communications Policy Panel, the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board and the Enterprise Committee and the National Engineering Policy Group at the Royal Academy of Engineering. From 2001 to 2008 he was a member of the Ministry of Defence Board overseeing information systems and services (DES-ISS, formerly the Defence Communications Services Agency). In addition to Raspberry Pi, his charitable work includes the Cambridge Science Centre, which he helped set up and fund in 2013 and continues as Chair. After being sponsored to study Cybernetics at Reading by Post Office Telecommunications, he joined their Long Range Studies Division. A PhD at Cambridge was then followed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IET. He was elected a Fellow Commoner of Queens College, Cambridge in 2013 and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall in 2015. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2013.
Akriti Dokania
- Early Stage Investor, Octopus Ventures
Akriti joined Octopus in 2018, with a focus on deep tech businesses within the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning software, B2B Enterprise Software, Cyber Security and next generation automation. Having worked internationally, UK, US and India, Akriti understands how to build a business. She is a computer science engineer by background and worked as a Product Manager with Windows and in the User Experience team at Windows Edge. Prior to this, Akriti built a B2B Business in India, with a focus on accounting in the retail space. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and completed an MBA at the London Business School. Whilst completing her MBA, Akriti worked with the Amazon Alexa team to help launch Alexa in new territories. She also worked at Forward Partners as a pre-seed/seed stage investor.
Poppy Gustafsson
- CEO, Darktrace
Poppy is a co-founder of Darktrace, which under her leadership has reached a $1.65 billion valuation in under five years and was named Europe’s ‘Fastest Growing Super Scale-up’ by Tech Tour. Poppy is a qualified chartered accountant and previously served as the company’s CFO. Prior roles also include financial controller positions in the technology and venture capital sectors. She was named City A.M.’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2017.
Ward is an experienced CEO, Director and Chairman of technology and services firms. His interests range from the not-for-profit hackspace, Makespace, to business development and corporate governance for firms like AbedGraham Healthcare Strategies. Makespace is Cambridge’s community inventing shed that supports Cambridge business with prototyping facilities and where both professionals and kids train in a variety of STEM subjects. From its base in London, AbedGraham provides cybersecurity and healthcare IT advice, project management and bid support for the NHS, the European Commission and vendors in the UK, EU and US. Ward has lead several start-ups achieving medical device approvals, successful product launches, licensing deals and an exit to an AIM listed PLC (AIM:DMTR). He is an Institute of Directors certified director and active investor in companies above as well as others such as Syndicate Room.
Ward was a co-founder and CEO of an early stage medical device company focused on using 3D reconstructions to identify and track respiratory disease. He was also CEO of Ionscope, a bio-nanometrics instrument maker, and OpenIOLabs a laboratory IoT firm.
As an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge Judge Business school he lectures on doing business across borders and mentors international masters students.
Ward has experience in advising multinational aerospace, life sciences and services businesses across North America, Europe, and Asia on a broad range of topics, including corporate strategy, sales and marketing, market access, and R&D strategy.
Mike Price
- Chair and Owner, MPA
Mike Price qualified as an accountant some 25 years ago. Mike built his career around his passions; technology, working in finance and general management, though his career with Deloitte was cut short when he was hit by joy riders, resulting in spinal injuries which made a 'normal' job near impossible. So, in 2007 Mike founded Michael Price Associates (MPA).
In the 13 years since, Mike has grown MPA to a company of 75 staff that works with over 800 businesses across the UK. Situated in Milton Keynes, MPA works to support innovative businesses of all sizes, tailoring their services to best meet the needs of their clients. In his spare time, Mike is a triathlon enthusiast. His latest challenge is to set a new world record for the most half Ironman events completed in 12 months.
Toby is a Partner at Bailey Fisher and leads the Technology Practice. In this role he works with founders, C-suite executives, Chair/NEDs and investors into growth technology businesses, building boards and leadership teams for clients from start-ups to corporates. His particular area of focus is later stage scale ups.
He has specialised in executive search for 18 years. Prior to working in the technology sector, he spent 10 years within Investment Banking, focusing on Market, Credit and Operational Risk.
Toby initially led Bailey Fisher’s Technology Practice from 2012-2017 and returned to the business in 2019 as a shareholder following a management buy out. In the interim, he spent 2 years in an operational role in a growth technology company as it continued its global expansion.
Toby graduated from Nottingham Trent University and spent 2 years living and working in New Zealand before returning to London where he worked in both global and boutique executive search firms. Toby lives in Cambridge with his wife and son.
