Speakers
Trevor Phillips
OBE, Writer & Broadcaster
Sir Trevor Phillips OBE, Writer & Broadcaster
Sir Trevor Phillips is a writer and television producer. He is co-founder of the data analytics consultancy Webber Phillips, and chairman of Green Park Interim and Executive Search. He is a Times columnist, shortlisted for Comment Writer of the Year in 2020.
Sir Trevor is chairman of the global freedom of expression campaign charity index on Censorship; a senior fellow at the Policy Exchange think tank; and a Vice-President of the Royal Television Society.
In addition, Sir Trevor is a non-executive director of the AIM-listed behavioural science consultancy Mind Gym. Sir Trevor was the president of the John Lewis Partnership Council until 2018, and founding chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Priscilla Igwe
Managing Director, The New Black Film Collective
Priscilla Igwe, Managing Director, The New Black Film Collective
Priscilla has spent the last decade in film exhibition within the Black media sector. She is currently the Managing Director of The New Black Film Collective (TNBFC) – a nationwide network of film exhibitors, educators and programmers of Black representation on screen. She has diversified the organisation into production, exhibition, distribution, education and PR.
Since 2011, Priscilla has established a regular film club, an annual Black History Month programme and worked on the last six BFI Blockbuster seasons. The aim is to become the UK’s top agency and resource for Black film and eventually operate on a global level.
In 2015, TNBFC became the first Black female-led organisation to distribute a film in the UK with Dear White People. The focus for TNBFC is on building a circuit of commercial and community cinemas that will curate a diverse range of titles from the African diaspora. This year she launched TNB XPO at Picturehouse Central which showcases Black excellence in film and high-end TV.
Natasha Shotunde
Co-founder & Chair, Black Barristers’ Network
Natasha Shotunde, Co-founder & Chair, Black Barristers’ Network
Natasha is an award-winning Barrister at Garden Court Chambers where her work encompases family law and human rights, as well as being instructed in the Covid-19 Inquiry, and previously the Dame Linda Dobbs Review and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. She is an elected member of the Bar Council, sitting on its Equality, Diversity and Social Mobility Committee and the Race Working Group. She also sits on the EDI Committee at the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.
In 2019, Natasha founded the Black Barristers’ Network (BBN) with Mavis Amonoo-Acquah to provide support, professionally and socially, and increase the visibility of Black Barristers within and outside the legal profession. BBN runs mentoring schemes for junior Black Barristers, collects data on their working lives, and engages with schools with talks about careers at the Bar, and is preparing a scheme to provide pupils an opportunity to visit one of the Inns of court. BBN won Best Network/Group at the Chambers Europe awards in 2021.
In 2019 Natasha was highlighted by MyLondon as one of ‘18 Inspirational Black Londoners Everyone in the Capital Should Know About’. In 2021 she received the Rising Star award at the UK Diversity Legal Awards and Highly Commended – Future Leader: Diversity and Inclusion at the Chambers UK Bar Awards in 2020 in recognition of her work in promoting racial equality at the Bar. In July 2022, Natasha was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Anglia Ruskin University
Femi Oluwole
Political Commentator
Femi Oluwole, Political Commentator
Femi is a political commentator with 350,000 followers on Twitter having risen to prominence during the Brexit campaigns. He is a law graduate who grew up across England, Scotland and Wales.
Femi worked in EU human rights in Brussels and Vienna for three years before returning to the UK to tackle Brexit and the direction that it has been taking the UK.
Femi co-founded a youth movement against Brexit called Our Future Our Choice which ran from January 2018 to December 2019 and appeared across Sky News, BBC News, and GMB. Femi makes regular appearances on Jeremy Vine and writes for the Independent.
Lola Young
Chancellor of the University of Nottingham
Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE. British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham
Lola Young been an independent Crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2004 and has founded and Co-Chairs All Party Parliamentary Groups on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, and Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights. Lola is now Co-Chair of the Foundation for Future London, Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, and a Non-Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing and Futerra.
Ezechi Britton
Code Untapped CEO
Ezechi Britton MBE
Code Untapped CEO
Impact X Founding Member, Principal & CTO in Residence
A tech founder with over 15 years experience in FinTech. Ez’s journey has taken him from Software Developer to Co-Founder and CTO to Venture Capital
He is currently a Founding Member, Principal and CTO in Residence at Impact X Capital Partners LLP a venture fund focused on supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs
He is the Co-Founder of Code Untapped, a digital skills accelerator that helps companies find innovative product solutions by giving them access to diverse and underrepresented technologists through their innovation labs events
He is a former Co-Founder of Neyber a multi-award-winning Fintech firm focused on financial wellbeing, where he was the founding CTO and held numerous roles during his tenure including brand ambassador and NED
Ez also advises a number of boards. He is an advisor to the board of UKITL (UK IT Leaders Network), Albany Group and the Venture Studio from Crisis who invest in, support and create ventures to end homelessness. Ez is also on the steering committee for Spring the centre of excellence for the Water industry.
In January 2022 Ez was named on the New Year’s honours list for 2022 to receive an MBE for services to Diversity and to Young people primarily through his work with Code Untapped and Impact X Capital Partners LLP
In November 2019 he was named VC of the Year by Inclusive Tech Alliance
Flavilla Fongang
Entrepreneur
Flavilla Fongang is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, and an international multilingual keynote speaker. She is the founder of 3 Colours Rule, an award-winning branding and marketing agency specialising in the technology sector. Flavilla was awarded the “She’s Mercedes” businesswoman award by Mercedes Benz among women such as Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook. She is the author of “99 Strategies to get customers”. She is also the founder of Global Tech Advocates – Black Women in Tech, one of the fastest-growing and largest communities of black women in tech. She published in October 2021 “The Voices In The Shadow”. A book that features stories of black women in tech and is distributed to secondary schools for FREE across the UK and Ireland. She is a judge at the AWS Software Startups Awards 2022 and The Drum Awards. Flavilla Fongang is a recognised leader in marketing as she created the D.A.C. system and The Beyond Marketing Approach which have helped numerous brands successfully grow their business. She is the author of “99 Strategies to get customers” with a 5-star rating on Amazing. Flavilla is the chosen brand advisor for BBC and provides actionable brand strategy advice.
Computer Weekly named her among the top 2 most influential women in tech in the UK. She is an Entrepreneurship Expert with the Entrepreneurship Centre for Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
She has been a keynote speaker for the most prestigious international events, such as AdWeek, HubSpot, DMWF, MozCon, AdWorld, Upgrade100, CTA, MarTech and many more.
She also delivered corporate talks for the following companies: Facebook, Toyota, Zoom, Levi’s, Microsoft, Deloitte and many more
Renee Hunt
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Renee Hunt
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Compare the Market, the leading Price Comparison FinTech in Europe
Renee has been part of the tech industry for over 30 years and has built her career delivering high quality software engineering in commercial organisations.
Renee earned a Bachelor’s degree from Penn State University, she holds an MBA from
the University of Texas at Austin and is a veteran of the US Army Signal Corps.
In her career, she has been fortunate enough to work with amazing organisations like:
Ford Motor Company, Vodafone, Deloitte, NICE, Oxford University, Sky and now ComparetheMarket (the one with the Meerkats!).
She has a passion for building and leading high-performance teams. Renee is an excellent motivator, coach, and mentor, who has a strong track record of developing leaders.
Renee is now focused on FinTech for Good with an amazing team of engineers, product managers and other business partners at Compare the Market.
Together they will take the brand that everyone loves and make financial decision-making a breeze for everyone.
Renee has many interests her favourites are cooking, sport, sci fi, fashion, Women-in-STEM, art, music and opera, taking her passion a step further by vice chairing for OperaNorth, the largest regional opera company in the UK.
Renee has been a supporter of West Ham United Football Club for over 20 years. She loves to travel and all things orange.
Renee now lives with her husband Michael in London.
Will Njobvu
TV & radio broadcaster
Will Njobvu is a TV & radio broadcaster who hosts radio shows on Capital XTRA and regularly works with ITV. He started off his career working behind the scenes as a freelance broadcast journalist and producer with ITN & Sky News. He eventually worked his way in front of camera when he started co-hosting on Channel 5’s flagship morning show Jeremy Vine. He then went on to present ITV2’s entertainment news bulletin FYI Daily.
In 2021, Will hosted The Masked Singer UK’s first companion show Unmasked for ITV2 & ITV Hub. He also occasionally hosts the Entertainment News slot on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Will is also regularly booked to appear as a celebrity guest on various entertainment panel chat shows including Love Island Aftersun on ITV2, The Apprentice: You’re Fired on BBC Two and more.
Timothy Campbell
Marketing director of Thezishi.com
Tim is a passionate and recognised advocate of inclusion. With a focus on Education, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship, he established a ground-breaking charitable foundation, currently chairs an outstanding school board and regularly speaks on these topics at conferences and after dinner events internationally. This has led him to his most recent activity as Regional Head of Africa for the best Proprietary Trading company in 2020, OSTC Group, Diversity and Inclusion strategic adviser for global talent acquisition company AMS and today Mareketing Dirctor for Finacnial Services edcuation company TheZISHI.com. Tim has also come full circle having been appointed as the latest advisor to Lord Alan Sugar on the BBC One show The Apprentice, which he won in 2005, sitting alongside Baroness Karren Brady.
Having been awarded an MBE in 2012 for his services to Enterprise Culture, Tim currently splits his time between family, advising a global talent acquisition business’s strategic Diversity and Inclusion efforts, his own consultancy, mentoring and investments in the leisure and A.I. sector. He received the award after supporting the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, with his drive to increase the number of corporations recruiting apprentices from underrepresented communities across the capital and leading Bright Ideas Trust, his own foundation, to raise over £3m and support over 750 start-ups from underserved groups.
More recently, as a Liveryman and Freeman of the City of London, Tim has prioritised his work in the education sector by joining the City of London Corporation’s Education Board and championing Apprenticeships, as well as the social impact that companies have on their communities via his active support of the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards. Outside of this work, Tim is a member of several extensive networks, including the Livery Companies (particularly the Haberdashers and the Grocers), London Business School, British-American Project and the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Tim is also a member of the Government’s Windrush Commemoration Committee
Tim is a commercially aware, business savvy and conscientious leader with a record of successfully supporting the government’s now labelled ‘Levelling Up’ agenda having been a selected small business and social enterprise advisor. Tim is a strategic thinker who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get involved in tactical delivery in order to increase value.
Tim is married to his teenage sweetheart, has two children and is a keen fitness enthusiast who is either running, riding, lifting or trying to keep up with the next generation of Muay Thai boxers.
Scarlette Douglas
Actor & host
Scarlette Douglas started her professional career in musical theatre and after eight years of performing in the West End, UK and the world over, she knew it was time to venture into a new form of entertainment.
Scarlette landed her first presenting job in 2015 for Channel 4’s longest running daytime programme, ‘A Place in the Sun’ and in January 2020, presented her own prime time travel show, also on Channel 4 entitled, ‘Holiday Secrets… is Last Minute Best?’ Scarlette has reported for BBC One’s ‘Points of View’ and ‘The One Show’, co hosted on ‘The Jeremy Vine Show’, featured on numerous celebrity led Channel 5 programmes, has hosted various live events and has been a radio host for Heart Radio.
In July 2020, she landed her own, brand new, prime time property show for HGVT UK titled, ‘My Dream Derelict Home in the Sun’, fronted Channel 4’s Black to Front episode of ‘Love it or list it’ with her brother Stuart in the September and, along with him and George Clarke, was part of a brand new, competitive property format, ‘Flipping Fast’, that aired earlier this year (2022). Since then, Scarlette and Stuart have taken the UK TV property world by storm and developed and fronted their own show for Channel 4, ‘Worst House on the Street’; produced by Southshore Productions. Thanks to all of this and more, Scarlette is fast becoming one of the most trusted property experts in television and is not only keen to continue working in front of camera, but has also set up a production company to develop ideas behind it.
Tom Ilube
CEO and founder of Cybersecurity plc
Tom Ilube CBE is CEO and founder of London based Crossword Cybersecurity plc, a Non Executive Director of FTSE100 company WPP, the world’s largest advertising group and the Chair of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). Previously he was on the Board of the BBC and Managing Director of Consumer Markets at Callcredit Information Group, founder/CEO of Garlik, a venture capital-backed identity protection company, sold to Experian and Chief Information Officer of Egg plc, the pioneering British internet bank. His career included Goldman Sachs, PwC and the London Stock Exchange. Tom led Crossword in its successful admission to AIM, the growth market of the London Stock Exchange, in December 2018.
Tom is Chair of the education charity, African Gifted Foundation and launched the African Science Academy, the first girls’ science and technology school on the continent and was Founding Chair of Hammersmith Academy . Tom is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford, as well as being awarded Honorary Doctorates by City, University of London, the University of Wolverhampton, University of Benin,Nigeria and the University of Portsmouth. He was named as Britain’s most influential Black person in 2017 and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to Technology and Philanthropy.
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah
executive director of Kaleidoscope
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah is the nucleus of the award-winning celebration and protest that is UK Black Pride. Widely known as Lady Phyll – partly due to her decision to reject an MBE in the New Year’s Honours’ list to protest Britain’s role in formulating anti-LGBTQI+ penal codes across its empire – she is also the executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust, an organisation working to uphold the human rights of LGBTQI+ people around the world; a community builder and organiser; an Albert Kennedy Trust patron, and a public speaker focusing on race, gender, sexuality and class. She’s regularly called upon to advise nascent LGBTQI+ organisations around the world to help leaders create cogent organising strategies, establish robust partnership networks and work effectively in service of the LGBTQI+ community.
NB If Phyll’s bio needs to be shortened, please use what’s in bold
- Phyll’s surname is pronounced “Oh-poe-koo-JIM-ah”
- Phyll’s pronouns are she/her
- She should generally be referred to as Lady Phyll, or Phyll after the first introduction
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE
Arithmetician and CEO of Stemettes
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE is a prodigy in every sense of the word. Aged 11, she was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing, and was just 20 years old when she received her Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford.
In 2013, Anne-Marie co-founded Stemettes, an award-winning social initiative dedicated to inspiring and promoting the next generation of young women in the STEM sectors. Since its inception 10 years ago, it has exposed more than 60,000 girls across Europe to her vision for a more diverse and balanced science and tech community.
A recognised and respected thought-leader, Anne-Marie is the temporary Arithmetician on Channel 4’s Countdown, the world’s longest running game show and hosts the highly popular Women Tech Charge podcast. Her latest book She’s In CTRL was published by Transworld in September 2022.
Anne-Marie has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Open University, Glasgow Caledonian University, Kent University, Bristol University and Coventry University as well as an Honorary Fellowship at Keble College,
Oxford & Visiting Professorship at Sunderland University. In 2017, she was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to young women and STEM sectors.
Dom Scott
managing director
Dom Scott, managing director, Lifetime Connect
Dom Scott is the managing director of a UK wide mortgage and financial planning business, who is naturally driven to deliver high business quality standards. He is also a board member of 360 DotNet a leading technology provider.
As an avid believer in supporting the next generation, he is a board trustee of Making the Leap, one of the largest Social Mobility charities in the UK. In addition to this he enjoys working with young people through one-to-one mentoring and actively supports initiatives to bring fresh talent into the industry. He also sits on the board of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries where he collaborates with other business leaders to improve how the sector works for all stakeholders.
Ayo Gabriel
Executive Director at Goldman Sachs
Ayo Gabriel is an Executive Director in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. He works as a Private Wealth Advisor covering ultra-high net worth clients across EMEA. He joined GS after working for several years at Thomson Reuters, as a specialist in financial pricing and enterprise solutions, servicing large financial institutions and leading international sales initiatives across Northern Europe. He is passionate about diversity efforts and sits on several councils and committees focused on championing diversity initiatives.
Ayo has completed an MBA at London Business School and previously graduated from Queen Mary, University of London with an honours degree in Economics, Mathematics and Statistics. He was awarded the CFA Charterholder designation in 2017.
Emma Joy Obanye
Entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and tech geek
Emma Joy Obanye is an entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and tech geek from Hackney and has spent the last 18 years building products and leading teams in tech for both corporates and startups.
On a mission to increase diversity, equity and inclusion within the UK tech startup ecosystem, Emma leads Capital Enterprise’s ‘OneTech’ initiative as Managing Director. As well as an advisory group member of Lambeth Council’s mission to support diverse talent and open up the creative workplace through Elevate.
An entrepreneur herself, Emma does this whilst splitting her time between her new venture The Startup Game (a board game).
Emma previously co-founded and exited the award-winning, music-focused loyalty and influencer platform BuddyBounce. Emma was recognised by the Inclusive Boards and Financial Times as one of The UK’s top 100 black and minority ethnic leaders.
Dr Yvonne Thompson CBE|DL
Founder President of Wintradeglobal
Dr Yvonne Thompson CBE|DL
Known as a game changer, activist, public inspirer, and coach, with 39 years’ experience in Communications, advising corporates and public sector clients alike; championing equality across industries, Dr Thompson advocates to ensure that women and minorities have access to the opportunities they deserve.
Having started many firsts in the UK Black community including the first black owned PR company, the first legal black owned radio station “Choice FM” and the UK’s first black women in business network, she found her passion in work and life – supporting women and minority owned businesses.
Through her long career she has sat on over 22 boards, and has a lot to say about women’s journeys into the board room. She decided to record this in her Amazon Best Seller book on leadership, “7 Traits of Highly Successful Women On Boards” where she featured many women’s stories and experiences, so others can learn from it. This book promotes greater gender diversity in companies with its insightful look into what it takes for to be successful on a board and in leadership. These lessons are for both men and women.
Dr Thompson founded WinTrade Global Network (Women In Trade), a Women-led global trade network that supports thousands of women. The annual summit and awards celebrates “womenomics” to profile over 1,000 females in business every year!
She created the organization with one goal: To empower female entrepreneurs around the globe by fostering connections via networking, inspiring, educating.
Through her work with the Parker Review, she continues to champion gender diversity with the intersectionality of race by inspiring and promoting equality in the board room across the globe.
During Lockdown she pivoted the network online to become the weekly WinTrade Global Talks and Masterclasses Masterpieces. During the lockdown months the Talks & Masterclasses have become a weekly injection of business inspiration and has hosted over 150 speakers, continues to empower and network thousands of attendees from all walks of life through motivational speakers on topics such as leadership skills, and money management strategies that are relevant to promote female financial freedom.
For her work in the Entrepreneurship, Global Diversity and Equality arena Dr Thompson was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with a CBE in 2003. She also holds two honorary doctorates as well 4 fellowships from the some of UKs most high-profile universities!
Dr Thompson is currently the Founder President of Wintradeglobal Women In Business Network, she chairs OKRE.org a charity which is supported by and based at the Wellcome Trust, is proud to be taking up the mantle of Chair at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) and February 2022, was invested as a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London.
“For me it has already had an extra ordinary start to 2022, being accepted for the role of Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) as of the 6th January 2022.
I am honoured to be trusted with this most prestigious position of leadership responsibility as the custodian of the UK’s Black Historical Archives, housed at its iconic home of 1 Windrush Square, in Brixton, nurturing, and growing the concept by founders Len Garrison and Dawn Hill CBE, who’s trusted hands has brought the organsiation this far, and has now passed the baton to me.
I am also looking forward to working with the board of Trustees, old and new, to deliver the new strategic vision for the oldest black owned and run institutions of its kind in the UK.
Working with the new MD Lisa Anderson, my priorities are to grow and make the organisations fiscally competitive, ensure that the BCA is top of mind when thinking about Black Historical information, advice, guidance and education, widen participation to welcome all interested audiences, and convert new ones, move the BCA onto a national and global stage sharing the tenet of the BCA through educating and collaborating and being coopetitive with peer organisations across the world, for the next 400 years!”
Simone Pound
Director of Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
Simone Pound is Director of Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at the Professional footballers Association (PFA).
She joined the PFA in 2000 as a Commercial Executive and supported the first women’s professional team and has continued to advocate for women’s football and equality for women in football ever since.
She has written guidance, tool kits and education programmes for Anti-Racism, Anti-Bullying, Tackling Homophobia, Sexual Consent and EDI workshops that have been delivered to over 4,000 professional footballers and 92 football clubs including parents, coaches, and boards. The Players EDI Workshop was cited as Outstanding by Ofsted.
Simone is an Ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card and sits on the Kick It Out Board as a Trustee. She is a Non-Executive Director for the Professional Cricketers Association and sits on the international players union FIFPROs EDI Steering Committee. In 2019 she was announced as one of Nelson Mandela’s Women of the World.
Simone has been instrumental is tackling the online abuse of professional footballers working with social media platforms, government, CPS, police and players to work towards its eradiction.
Dean Forbes
CEO of Forterro
Dean Forbes is one of the UK’s most successful transformational tech leaders.
In a 20-year-career marked by many high points, he has successfully transformed several tech firms, building them into success stories for investors by delivering over $2bn in exit transactions. This makes him one of very few CEOs in Europe to have achieved such value creation across multiple transactions.
He has been named one of the UK’s 50 most ambitious business leaders by Lloyds Banking Group and The Daily Telegraph. He was also named in the J.P.Morgan sponsored Powerlist 2021 and 2022 as one of the 100 most influential Black people in the UK.
Dean currently serves as CEO of Forterro, a European focused software company, which under Deans leadership achieved the aspiration Tech Unicorn status when it was acquired by Partners Group for €1bn in February 2022. Dean is also a Partner at Private Equity firm, Corten Capital as well as being Chairman of his foundation, Forbes Family Group who provide support and opportunities to young people from communities similar to where Dean grew up.
Kike Oniwinde Agoro
Founder and CEO of BYP Network
Kike Oniwinde Agoro Biography:
Kike Oniwinde Agoro, is the Founder and CEO of BYP Network, a platform that connects black professionals to each other and corporations. She is a BSc Economics graduate of The University of Nottingham, University of Florida MSc scholar, and an ex-Great Britain javelin thrower.
After gaining work experience in investment banking, Kike then worked in Business Development at a fast-growing financial technology for two years because she realised ‘tech is the future’. Her motivation for starting BYP Network was to “change the Black narrative” and the platform has since grown to over 150,000 members and over 1000 corporate clients including Facebook, Burberry and Goldman Sachs. BYP members have been upskilled through mentorship, thought-leadership events and industry specific insight along with an
enhanced network. Kike’s proudest moments include the annual BYP Network Leadership Conference attended by thousands of Black professionals as well as the BYP $1m crowdfund that saw 1200 community investors.
Kike is a Forbes 30 under 30, Maserati Top 100 Most Innovative Founders and a Computer Weekly UK Top 50 woman in Technology. She is on the board of the London Chambers of Commerce Black Business Association, Getting on Boards and is a London Tech Ambassador. Kike is a proud wife and mother to her daughter, Yetunde, who was named after her mum that passed away 7 months before her birth.
Lord Dr. Michael Hastings
Scarisbrick CBE
Lord Dr. Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE is an Independent Peer in the House of Lords and has had a fulfilling career across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, working within education, philanthropy, and business to support and develop communities around the world. He is Chair of SOAS, University of London and the recent Chancellor of Regent’s University London. He remains the Professor of Leadership at the Stephen L. Covey Institute at the University of Utah. He is a Non-Executive Director at Saxton Bampfylde, the Executive Search firm and is Chair of the London Chamber of Commerce Black Business Association & a director/trustee of the new National Education Institute.
He is also a Vice President at UNICEF UK and a trustee for the Africa Philanthropy Foundation. Lord Hastings is the former Head of Public Affairs at the BBC and was their first head of Corporate Social Responsibility. He also served as the Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG and is a former Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation and subsequently a Governor of the Vodafone/Safaricom M-PESA Academy in Nairobi for 800 of Kenya’s poorest children.
Lord Hastings began his career as a teacher in 1980 having graduated in Theology from the London School of Theology in 1979 and then Westminster College Oxford in Education in 1980 & then from 1986 worked across government agencies on policies to build racial equality, workforce development, and safer and more effective crime prevention strategies moving to live UK wide TV broadcasting in 1990 & then Head of Public Affairs for the BBC in 1996.
He was conferred with a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 2014 in recognition for his leadership at KPMG, the BBC and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility and in 2019 was the first ever recipient of the Stephen R Covey Leadership Award for a life built on principles and pragmatic delivery.
MLavontelle
producer and DJ
MLavontelle is an award nominated presenter, producer and DJ; online, on television and on radio. Her current portfolio includes producing the Weekend Breakfast Show on talkTV, Hosting a monthly networking event called The Story So Far and interviewing the hottest UK talent on LdnLuxEntertainment. She’s best known for her past signature shows online, namely, Sugarscape News, #MLavontellePresents, #TheHotlistUK, a music chart show on Link Up TV during lockdown called as well as presenting on popular radio stations, hosting awards shows and public events.
Although MLavontelle is best known for presenting, she has credible experience as a Radio Producer, freelance voiceover artist and interviewer. Over the years, Mosique Lavontelle has become widely known as an advocate for both Blood Donation and Sickle Cell Awareness as a proactive black blood donor and using her platform effectively to spread awareness. With an NCTJ accredited degree in journalism and years of experience in the business, MLavontelle is a brand that continues to ring bells in the UK entertainment industry.
David Carrigan
Director of Diversity
David is the Group Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Sky.
He joined Sky from Live Nation/Ticketmaster, where as Director of Diversity he worked across 40 international markets.
Previously he was the Head of Equality Strategy at Citizen’s Advice, headed Legal Affairs at the Commission for Racial Equality, and lead National Policy at the Housing Corporation/Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
David has also held advisory roles to the College of Policing and served as a Board member for a Human Rights Charity.
David was the first member of his family to complete his secondary education and worked as an apprentice Gas Engineer after leaving school. He was fortunate to be able to study at night school before attending the University of Nottingham. He is an alumni of Druids Health and is a proud Brummie. He is married with two daughters and lives in Surrey.
Sian Keane
Chief People Officer at Farfetch
As Chief People Officer, Sian sets the strategy for FARFETCH’s People and Office Management functions. Sian is a member of our Executive Board and partners with leaders across all our global offices. Since joining FARFETCH in December 2012, Sian has guided the company’s global people strategy and the implementation of the FARFETCH values, while also leading our People and Office Teams. Sian is the Executive sponsor of the company’s Anti-Discrimination Committee and Co-Executive sponsor of our Diversity & Inclusion agenda. Sian has more than 25 years of experience in a broad range of people-related roles including recruitment, HR, diversity and executive leadership. She is a Senderwood Fellow with Local Globe, Founding Member of the Fashion Minority Alliance and Advisor to early-stage companies. Sian holds a BSc (hons), is an Associate Member of the CIPD and Level A&B qualified in psychometric assessment.
Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Actor
From Blockbusters to the prime time small screen, Hakeem Kae-Kazim has made his impact in the world of entertainment and has worked alongside many industry greats. This talented actor gained international notoriety for his wonderful portrayal of George Rutugunda in the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda, which led to leading roles in the TNT movie Librarian 2; opposite Noah Wyle, and The Triangle opposite Eric Stoltz and Sam Neill. Enjoying playing feisty and exciting characters, Hakeem’s list of impressive credits include Pirates of the Caribbean III, Lost, Cane with Jimmy Smits, Law & Order: SVU with Mariska Hargitay, The Triangle with Sam Neill, The Librarian with Gabrielle Anwar, X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Hugh Jackman, The 4th Kind alongside Milla Jovovich and Darfur with Billy Zane.
Hakeem is often recognized for his recurring role as Colonel Dubaku, through which he wowed audiences with his stunning performance in 24’s’ Season 7, and in the prequel movie Redemption. Hakeem both produced and starred in Black November with Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger, as well as the award-winning film Man on Ground and Last Flight to Abuja. Hakeem’s recent films include Half of a Yellow Sun and A Chance of Rain
His distinctive voice has also been shared in many popular video games including Halo, Call of Duty and The Bourne Conspiracy. Hakeem is well loved for his TV work, which recently has included many primetime shows including Human Target, Criminal Minds, NAVY NCIS, Law and Order, Cobert Affairs, Strike Back and Gotham. He also starred as Mr. Scott in Michael Bay’s exciting series Black Sails, which was commissioned for a third series, also starring as The Prophet, in NBC’s Dominion, and as Samson, in the exciting miniseries Roots.
In the BBC/Netflix drama Troy – Fall of a City, Hakeem starred as Zeus and voiced the role of Krogan on the Disney Channel’s hit series How to Train Your Dragon. Hakeem’s recent films include 24 Hours to Live and the drama Serenity, starring Mathew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. He also appeared in the US drama Forty North and joined the remake of the classic TV series Dynasty starring as the Colby Patriarch.
Hakeem recently filmed the much-awaited feature King Kong v Godzilla playing Admiral Wilcox, Mambo in Riding with Sugar, Zimbabwean revolutionary Robert Mugabe in MUGABE and Joseph Damba in the TV series Deep State II.
In his latest work Kae-Kazim can be seen starring as Etienne Joubert in Dangerous Liaisons and Detective Ross in The Channel. Tiger in Amazon’s Anansi Boys and Gavin in Death in Paradise.
