Afam Onyema was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1979. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University and then attended Stanford Law School. While there, Afam co-founded the GEANCO Foundation (www.geanco.org) with his family. After graduating, Afam declined multiple lucrative corporate law firm offers in order to lead GEANCO full-time as CEO. GEANCO’s mission is to save and transform lives in Nigeria. GEANCO leads complex surgical missions. It runs an innovative program to fight anemia and builds modern, solar-powered maternal and family health clinics. Through its David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship for Girls, GEANCO provides tuition, healthcare, and social & mental health support to young female victims of terrorism in Nigeria. GEANCO’s high-profile supporters include Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Prince Harry & Meghan Markle, Charlize Theron, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Craig, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Daisy Ridley and Chris Rock. In 2020, Afam was named one of the Top Ten Most Influential Africans in the Diaspora.
Ariel Joseph is a VP of Current Programs at CBS, where she manages five multi-million dollar shows including THE EQUALIZER, GHOSTS, THE NEIGHBORHOOD, EVERBODY STILL HATES CHRIS, and WATSON. In her role, she helps deliver shows that are on time, on budget, and in the best creative shape possible. She continues to strive for representation in front of and behind the camera, and is consistently looking for diverse voices to bring into the CBS family. Ms. Joseph graduated from UC Berkeley with a Business degree and has completed the Executive Leadership Development Program for the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) Rising Leaders Program, and Colour Entertainment’s Advance Leadership Program. Ms. Joseph is a native Los Angeleno and enjoys cooking, baking, refurbishing furniture, quilting, and gardening. She loves a good jigsaw puzzle and curling up with her dogs while reading sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Bobby Seagull is a maths teacher, author & TV broadcaster. After a career as trader at investment banks Lehman Brothers & Nomura and qualifying as a PwC Chartered Accountant, Bobby switched trajectories as a teacher, a passion that started with an Eton College Sixth Form Scholarship. He writes for Financial Times and The Independent newspapers and has published two books: Monkman & Seagull Quiz Book and The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers. In 2017, Bobby rose to prominence after captaining his Cambridge team on BBC quiz show University Challenge. Bobby went onto host two series of BBC Two’s Monkman and Seagull’s Genius Guides and Channel 4’s quiz The Answer Trap. Bobby appears as a news analyst on BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, Channel 5 and Sky News. He has also featured on reality TV such as Netflix dating show Indian Matchmaking, winning Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted and BBC’s Pilgrimage to Portugal.
Dr. Pautz leads research and strategic planning for non/for-profit businesses, policy advisement and the arts. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Dance Studies from Temple University (’19), focusing on issues of secularism and embodiment in American civics and the public sphere, and a Master of Arts from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study (’10) with a focus in Anthropology and Religious Studies. She is the VP of Finance for Dance Studies Association, and the recipient of the Edrie Ferdun Scholarly Achievement Award for her work on the impact of the WIPO’s IP guidelines on subaltern cultural capital. Her scholarship has been published in American Psychologist Journal, the International Journal for Cultural Property, The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, the Society for Dance History Scholars and Compliance and Enforcement. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the African Burial Ground Memorial Foundation in New York City.
Carrie is CEO & founder of Growth Intelligence Specialist, Cruxy. In 12 yrs Carrie has worked on 100+ high growth tech firms. Carrie is obsessed with how data, tech and market specialism can drive growth. Carrie blends a strong network, geek obsession & pay it forward mantra. Carrie has spoken for BBC Business News, Sky News, The Investment Association. Carrie is a keen skier, doesn’t miss the gym and will always be up for an adventure. From working in Zambia to the Cresta Run, WSET 3 to Generative Art. Open minded and curious, Carrie is ready for BAP ’24.
Obioma Ugoala is an actor, author and activist Having originated roles in London West End productions of Hamilton, Frozen and Motown: The Musical as well working extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, story telling is at the heart of his work as both a creative and community organiser. It was this curiosity around stories and the narratives we tell each other about masculinity, race and sexuality that led him to write his first book The Problem With My Normal Penis: Myths of Race, Sex and Masculinity published by Simon & Schuster in 2022. He is currently working on his second book.
Chloe Gibbs is an economist on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame. From 2022-2023, she served in the White House on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers handling issues related to women in the workforce, education, and child and family policy. She studies the economic returns to investments in children and families with a particular focus on education programs and policies. Her research has been cited by National Public Radio, Newsweek, TIME, U.S. News, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal and supported by the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Education, and U.S. Department of Labor. Chloe lives in South Bend, Indiana with her husband Shea, their four children, ranging in age from 5 to 14 and currently involved in every possible after school activity, Willow the dog, and the newest addition, Humphrey the hamster. When not shuttling kids, she likes to play tennis and arrange flowers.
Primarily, I am an Academic Clinical Fellow in cardiology at St George’s Hospital in London. This role combines clinical training as a cardiologist with an honorary academic appointment where I conduct research into the transformation of healthcare services, technology, and policy. Having recently returned to the NHS from living in New York City, I couldn’t quite bear to part ways with industry and so also continue to do part-time global healthcare & life sciences strategy consulting. Previously, I have held a teaching lectureship at the University of Oxford, interned at a medtech startup on the East Coast, and worked in policy positions in NHS England and other national arms-length bodies. All in all, I am a self-confessed healthcare & life sciences nerd. I enjoy leveraging the breadth of my experiences from across the ecosystem to seek truly inter-disciplinary and innovative solutions to health’s biggest challenges.
Daniel is a mackem from Sunderland now living in Luxembourg. Daniel is the Senior Investigator for NATO's Support and Procurement Agency, leading the fight against Fraud and Corruption for the Alliance. Daniel loves to travel, explore new cultures, learn new languages and discover new ideas.
Delighted to be attending my first BAP event and look forward to meeting all of you.
Eric is an economist and math puzzler serving as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. He is the Treasury’s Chief Economist, leading an amazing team that helps formulate and analyze domestic and international economic policies for the Biden-Harris Administration. Before joining Treasury, he was a climate investor and writer. He splits time between New York and DC with his wife and dog, Pepper.
Dr. George E. Bogden is a practicing attorney, researcher, and writer on international affairs. He obtained a doctoral degree in International Relations from the University of Oxford, as a Clarendon Scholar. His dissertation fieldwork in Kosovo was conducted during his tenure as a Fulbright Public Policy Fellow. Before training in law, Dr. Bogden helped establish a research hub at the Hudson Institute as its first Associate Director. He subsequently clerked at the U.S. Court of International Trade, followed by fellowships at Columbia Law School, Bard College, the German Marshall Fund, and the Kennan Institute. His research has been featured in the Washington Post and his commentary has appeared in The Atlantic, Newsweek, War on the Rocks, The Wall Street Journal, Lawfare, The Hill, The National Interest, and The Kyiv Independent, among other publications. Dr. Bogden is a Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission and a CFR Term Member.
I am a journalist, author and BBC Radio producer. At the BBC I lead a small team making political documentaries and podcasts, and was formerly editor of BBC election night results programmes - covering numerous UK and US elections, as well as the Brexit referendum. Previously working in politics, I've written four books, most recently 'The Ex Men' about the afterlives of former presidents and prime ministers.
A Classical Concert Pianist/Entrepreneur/Dive Master/Conservatioist/Academic Writer specialising in William Blake. Honoured by Her Majesty the Late Queen Elizabeth II and Musical America's Top 30 Professionals In The Arts my latest solo album has just been released with Sony Music Entertainment and I am currently reside in New York City.
Originally from Essex, Hinesh currently lives in his adopted hometown of London. In his free time he sings in a pop choir and enjoys hiking, running, squash, hosting, languages, and fanciful travel plans. Work-wise, he joined the diplomatic service directly from studies at Oxford and Sciences Po Paris. He has focused his career on fragile contexts and on Europe, with a number of postings. In Kathmandu he worked with the international community to support the peace process, particularly on transitional justice. In Amman he led the UK's stability support to Jordan in the wake of the Syria crisis. He has also delivered aid programmes in Cairo and worked in Athens and New York. In London he has worked on the Cyprus peace process, Latin America, and now on reinvigorating the UK's bilateral relationships in Europe.
James “Jimmy†Loomis serves as United Kingdom Country Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Jimmy previously served as Embassy Port Louis’s Political-Military Officer, where he led reporting and initiatives to counter PRC influence in Mauritius. Prior roles include serving as a Global Engagement Officer and Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of State’s Office of China Coordination and as Senior Defense & Foreign Policy Advisor to Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy. A proud native of St. Louis, Missouri, at 18, Jimmy became his state’s youngest elected official when elected to represent a district of 35,000 residents, a distinction he held for five years. Jimmy holds degrees from the London School of Economics, Peking University, and Washington University in St. Louis. He and is a recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and was named one of Out in National Security’s National Security LGBT+ New Voices for 2021.
Jonathan Coates is a Producer and Journalist specialising in technology, travel, and music. He has been a senior producer at the BBC for the last 9 years, where he has worked on a wide range of programmes from ‘Click’ the BBC's flagship technology TV programme, to Newsnight, Panorama, the Six and Ten News, The Travel Show, Today on Radio 4, Witness History on the World Service, and podcasts for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. As an avid classical musician, and having previously worked in the classical music record industry, he continues this love by making music documentaries and films and has the unusual accolade of having made one of the most-watched choral music videos on YouTube.
Judy is an author and management consultant, motivated by uplifting others and encouraging belonging in the spaces she occupies. At McKinsey, she supports public sector bodies on critical national priorities, private sector firms on strategy/performance and social sector organisations on maximising their impact. She is also an active contributor to McKinsey’s thought leadership on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on both sides of the Atlantic, driving research for several publications – including 'Ethnocultural minorities in Europe: An untapped growth opportunity' and the multi-year “Women in the Workplaceâ€. Before McKinsey, she was one of ten delegates invited to join the TOMODACHI-Mitsui & Co. Leadership Program, a bicultural exchange for creative thinkers and driven doers invested in the future of U.S.-Japan relations. She received an MA Honours in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She enjoys cooking (particularly Haitian cuisine), travel and dance.
Kat was able to scale and sell her first company, which she started out of her college dorm room. After winning 22 of 23 pitches she applied for, she founded Power To Pitch, to help founders build a winning pitch, deck & fundraising strategy to help them get funded faster. Her programming focuses on supporting pre-seed to series A founders in the CPG, Tech, and Health sectors in securing funding.
Kate, Founder and CEO of UMBRA International Group, is a Chartered Security Professional with extensive expertise in Private and Family Offices and the security sector. She has pioneered the concept of a Secure Lifestyle, emphasising the link between health and wellbeing & risk resilience. With 15 years as an Executive Assistant to HNW clients, Kate underwent SIA Close Protection Training, and in 2015, she founded UMBRA, which has grown into a globally recognised business in its sector. She holds two Charity Trustee roles, one focused on supporting gender impact projects and another which is security sector specific. For both she leads on projects that aim to have a significant impact in supporting the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) UK governement agenda. She also sits on the British Army's Gender Advisory Committee.
Katie Joseff is passionate about large scale levers of change that increase collective flourishing. She is a misinformation researcher, policymaker, and co-founder of TeddyBot, Inc. Her BA and MA are from Stanford University, where she studied social neuroscience, international security, and media. Katie’s research has focused on political disinformation; election manipulation; psychological biases underlying propaganda; QAnon; AI propaganda; and, data targeting, among other topics. She was the senior researcher of the Propaganda Research Lab at UT Austin and research manager of the Digital Intelligence Lab at IFTF. As the misinformation/disinformation specialist at Common Sense Media, she advocated for updated regulations. She led Integrity and Authenticity for TikTok, US/CA, for 2.5 years— leading policy and strategy to combat misinformation and led the US 2022 election response. Currently, she is the CEO and co-founder of TeddyBot, Inc., developing ethical, highly personalized AI companions that enhance the lives of older adults.
Katie King is the CEO of BioOrbit, a company building a pharmaceuticals factory in microgravity to revolutionise cancer treatment. BioOrbit aims to bring a paradigm shift to the administration route of cancer treatments. Much like diabetics self-inject with solutions of crystalline insulin, through crystallising antibodies in microgravity, subcutaneous derivatives of anticancer treatments can be formulated, enabling cancer sufferers to self-inject at home. Katie completed her PhD in nanomedicine at the University of Cambridge in 2022, has worked at NASA, AstraZeneca and spent several years as an RAF volunteer reservist. She is a strong believer that science in a microgravity environment can be used to accelerate healthcare and drug development on Earth, and recently won the ‘Innovator Award 2024’ at Everywoman in Tech Awards and Codex World Top 50 Innovators ‘Top Female Innovator’. Outside of BioOrbit, you can find Katie laughing loudly, staring at the sky wishing she was flying or playing the guitar badly…
Kurt Davis Jr. is a British American Project 2024 Delegate, an advisor, and philanthropist. He advises companies, their directors and officers as well as creditors on a range of transactions, including debt and equity financings, financial restructurings, and M&A. Currently with Alvarez & Marsal, Kurt has worked at various investment banks and private equity firms. Kurt is a member of Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies, and Bretton Woods Committee. He has served on numerous boards and was selected as a Young Leader for the U.S.-Spain Council, Council for the U.S. and Italy, French American Foundation, and American-Turkish Society as well as German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow and Atlantic Council Millennium Fellow. Kurt holds a BA in Political & Social Thought (Distinguished Major), BA in Foreign Affairs, and Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia, and MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Liam has worked within the private equity industry (including KKR, 3i, and Agilitas) and directly with private companies for the last 18 years. He has worked across the UK, Europe, USA and some emerging markets (especially East Africa Community, and SE Asia). Liam is particularly interested in working with businesses to reignite stalled growth or manage succession issues. He lives in London and holds a MA in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge.
Lisa is the Founder of ALTUS-WRX, supporting British and European businesses grow in the US. Having lived in warmer climates such as Malaysia Lisa realized that she didnt have to endure cold winters anymore so made her way to Miami beach, where she has lived for the last 7.5 years! With a background in global talent and HR she has used this knowledge to help successfully grow international businesses in the US. She also serves on the board of the British American Business Council in Miami, and has become an integral part of the South Florida tech ecosystem.
Marilyn W. Moedinger, AIA, is a licensed Architect and founder of Runcible Studios, an architecture and design firm based in Boston, MA and Lancaster, PA. Working her way up from construction laborer, she is on a quest to understand and participate in all aspects of our built environment. She is a real estate investor and operator, and has been an adjunct professor teaching courses from building science to housing policy to ethics in practice to construction. She has traveled to five continents on a research fellowship studying climate mediation in vernacular architecture, worked as a newsbutcher on a steam railroad, and volunteered at an animal shelter. She currently serves on the board of Northeastern Law School’s NuLawLab. She holds a BS in Architecture, a BA in History, and a M.Arch from the University of Virginia, and currently resides as the 9th consecutive generation on her family farm in Pennsylvania.
Marvin Rees was the first person of Black African heritage elected as mayor of any major European city, serving as Mayor of Bristol from 2016 to 2024. His tenure was marked by a blend of political and social leadership, earning him numerous awards and an international reputation for his impactful governance. His leadership is rooted in his personal journey. Growing up as a mixed-race son of a single white mother in 1970s Britain, he faced racism and stigma. This shaped his commitment to social justice, racial equality, and poverty alleviation. His lived experiences drive his advocacy for inclusive policies and social mobility, ensuring that opportunities are accessible to all. Marvin has been a strong proponent of the potential of urbanization to address global challenges. He delivered a TED Talk in 2022 on the critical role cities play in combating climate change.
Michal Oprzadek is a Managing Director with Baker Hughes, focused on industrial power opportunities globally. He is based in Washington, DC and leads project development and origination strategy. Michal has over 20 years of experience across developed and emerging markets with emphasis on power, renewables, oil and gas, and infrastructure. Before joining Baker Hughes, Michal was a Senior Vice President with AlphaStruxure, a development, investment, and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector. Prior to AlphaStruxure, Michal spent nine years with GE, holding corporate and regional leadership roles in the United States, Canada, and Russia. Before GE, Michal spent seven years with Siemens in corporate strategy and management consulting roles across Germany, Australia, and China, covering industrial automation, power & gas, and telecommunication segments.
Moises Mendoza is a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, currently based at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, where he is a Political Advisor. In the UN Security Council Moises’ portfolios include Children and Armed Conflict and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence as well as Women and Youth Peace, and Security and LGBTI+ issues. Previously, he was a special assistant to U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Moises previously served in Matamoros, Mexico, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Washington D.C. as a Consular Officer, Central America Desk Officer, and a Watch Officer in the Department’s emergency operations center. He speaks German and Spanish and holds master’s degrees from the Hertie School of Governance and Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. He is also an emergency medical technician and CPR trainer.
Mursal Hedayat MBE is the Founder and CEO of Chatterbox, an online language learning platform that harnesses the talents of refugees and professionals overcoming adversity. Herself a refugee from Afghanistan who arrived in the UK age three, Mursal was motivated by her mother’s struggle with underemployment despite being a qualified engineer. This experience shaped Chatterbox, which has grown into a global tech company offering professionals who have overcome adversity the chance to regain employment by teaching their native languages. This model not only addresses social inequalities but also provides cutting-edge language training. The platform, powered by AI, is used by employees of major global companies. Mursal was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year's Honours for her contributions to social enterprise, technology, and the economy.
Rachael is an award-winning journalist who’s spent a decade working in UK radio and television. Her on-the-ground reporting has covered everything from terror attacks, Grenfell, the death of the Queen and Boris Johnson’s resignation. While her investigative work has exposed agenda-setting stories that really matter to people’s lives: from leading the way on the cladding crisis, to people smuggling, a sting on sex-for-rent landlords and widespread sexual harassment in the ambulance service. She grew up in Stafford in the Midlands, although spent two years with her family living in Muscat, Oman. She studied a masters in Broadcast Journalism at Sheffield, before starting her career in commercial radio at Global in the East of England, and eventually becoming a Home News Correspondent at Sky News in 2023.
Former Diplomat | U.S. Embassy London Expert in Economic Affairs, Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Accomplished leader with a proven track record in driving societal and environmental change through sustainability reporting, particularly in Impact and Climate transition. Recognized for steering impactful projects and fostering cross-sector partnerships, with awards including the U.S. Embassy London’s Meritorious Ambassador’s Honor Award. As Partnership Director at The Inside Out Project, I empower ex-offenders through sustainable fashion, while as Founder of BounceBack Global Shift, I mentor young women in STEAM across the U.S., UK, and Africa. Passionate about climate resilience, I focus on building global collaboration for a sustainable future.
Reema Jadeja-Reed FRSA is an academic, journalist and philanthropist involved in track ii diplomacy for over a decade and a half. She is a Fellow at UCL's Institute for Strategy, Resilience and Security (ISRS), co-founder and deputy director of The Pericles Foundation and founding team member and executive producer at Sofar Sounds. Reema is a Fellow at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and life member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). She is a Peace Award recipient conferred by Mahatama Gandhi’s university Gujarat Vidyapith for her humanitarian work in South Asia. Reema writes for Law & Liberty. She previously contributed to Rolling Stone Magazine and was editor and producer at the MOBO Awards. She holds a degree in Commerce specialising in Economics and a master’s degree in Defence and Strategic Studies.
Rickey Bevington is an Emmy award winning journalist, President of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and Executive in Residence at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business. Georgia Trend named her among its “Georgia 500: The State’s Most Influential Leaders†of 2023. Prior to joining the Council, Bevington spent two decades as a decorated television and radio correspondent and anchor. Named 2019’s "Best On Air Personality" by the Georgia Association of Broadcasters, Bevington was the longtime Atlanta-based host of NPR’s news magazine “All Things Considered†on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Bevington is Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She sits on the Board of Visitors of Agnes Scott College and on Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' Women of Atlanta Advisory Council. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a degree in Comparative Literature.
Ridhi Tariyal, BS, Georgia Tech; MBA, Harvard University; SM, MIT; Blavatnik Fellow; Ferolyn Fellow, is CEO and co-Founder of NextGen Jane. At NextGen Jane, Ridhi has driven the development of a novel menstrual data platform characterizing uterine biology at a molecular level. In this effort, she has raised capital, established an IP position, and developed a team to create both novel hardware and software to change how women access care. Before NGJ, Ridhi worked at the Broad Institute and at Bristol Myers Squibb.
RJ Casey spent his earlier years in special operations units for the Department of Defense and other government agencies with combat tours on four continents. After over 35 years of service, RJ continues working on projects and missions for Special Operations, Personnel Recovery, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response. That foundation has led RJ to several other industries and adventures from being the first member of SpaceX's Astronaut Rescue and Recovery Team to co-founding Brigands Co and Four Branches Bourbon. In the film industry, RJ is most known for his work on Extraction 2 (2023), Dunkirk (2017), and Inception (2010). Still curious? Visit @RJCasey1 on Instagram or look him up on IMDb and LinkedIn for more. Honestly, RJ's just happy to still be above ground and extremely honored to be among you!
Sal is a British-Nigerian entrepreneur and founder of QTA, a London-based partnerships company that has helped startups drive over $200m in commercial revenue. He is also the Chair of the UK Partnerships Network, a network of over 1,000 UK-based partnership professionals, and Xoogler, the Ex-Google network, where he hosts Demo Days, Growth Summits, and Networking Events for over 15,000 former Google and Deepmind employees. Sal is also the founder of the health tech charity DOGO, which transforms donations into free healthcare for urgent cases across Africa, secured by their digital transparency layer. The charity has delivered over 2,000 free medical treatments and recently won the London Business School Launchpad Accelerator prize.
I am a consultant oncologist specialising in the management of lung and brain tumours, and practising in Cheltenham where I chair the hospital’s Law & Ethics Group. I’m a writer, too: essays for the Lancet; poetry, some published; and a novel, ‘Histories’. And I’m Director of Medicine Unboxed, a project I founded in 2009, which, through a series of events and conversations, all illuminated by the arts, engages medical and general audiences around our collective responsibility of care in the world. The view offered is that, despite scientific progress, medicine and society face huge moral, political and social challenges, and that these call for a deeper encounter with humanity, with its fragility and its duty in turn to others and to a fragile world. I run occasional slow marathons but otherwise plummet through days and hours, caught always off guard somewhere between grief and enchantment.
Stella was born and raised in Greece and moved to the UK to study law, but she stayed for the politics. Post-graduation, she was an organiser in the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign in Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and New York before returning to the UK to work as a speechwriter for Labour Frontbenchers in the British Parliament. She left Parliament during the pandemic to lobby for British NGOs. She is a regular political commentator on TV and radio and a writer (her substack is called ‘the human carbohydrate’). She dabbles in stand-up comedy when the mood strikes.
Taniel spent 10 years in the arts, receiving two MAs, before her LLM. She is an NGO advocate, an advisor (United Nations, UK parliament), on matters related to weapons technology, peace-building and international law. At the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, she researches integrated risks of autonomous weapons, cyber, nuclear and outer-space threats.Taniel spent nearly seven years as UK International Representative for WILPF (Trade, Economics and Disarmament Affairs). With ICAN (which was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize 2017), she contributed to the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons adoption. As Technology Developers Coordinator of the UK Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, she frequently provides briefings highlighting technological issues of AI unpredictability and law. Taniel is contributing-editor to European Women's Lobby's Feminist Economics Working Group papers, She is advisor to ByLine Times and Transparency Taskforce.
Tom is currently Rector of St. Giles in the Fields, an Anglican parish church in-between Soho and Covent Garden in Central London. Alongside his public ministry Tom also serves in the British Army as Padre to The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in Knightsbridge. Tom has a dog, Ambrose and enjoys long-distance cycling in his spare time.
Tim is co-founder and CEO of Hope for Justice and Slave-Free Alliance. HfJ is an international charity working to bring an end to modern slavery and human trafficking offering an effective proven model that is replicable, scalable, and award-winning. The charity’s vision is to live in a world free from slavery and its work across five continents and 7 countries is focused on preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives and reforming society through community engagement and outreach; investigation and rescue; survivor support and advocacy; community prevention and anti-trafficking education; residential and non-residential aftercare and transitional care; family reintegration; training; campaigning and policy work; and business engagement via our SFA division. Tim created and launched Slave-Free Alliance, which partners with more than 100 organisations (including 14 current or recent FTSE 100 companies) to protect their supply chains against modern slavery. Tim has a background in Banking, Finance and Technology.
Tom is a renowned campaigner, a Mercury Prize-winning musician and the Chair of the Ivors Academy. His campaigning has led a global conversation around rights and equity in music. Founding the #BrokenRecord campaign, he brought about a parliamentary inquiry into the music industry. A Parliamentary Bill followed, a CMA study of the music industry and the campaign resulted in thousands of musicians having their historic debt cancelled. There is now a Government-led process to investigate industry interventions. Tom sits on the PRS Council, is a director of UK Music, works with the HBF Charity for victims of trafficking and torture, and stood as a Labour candidate in the 2024 General Election. A founding member of Gomez, he has made music for television, film and theatre and is presently commissioned to write a stage musical.
Trent Tresch works in bridging the gap between traditional aerospace and new-space innovation. As the Founding Director of the University of Arizona’s Center for Human Space Exploration he works with his colleagues at the Biosphere 2 to operate the world’s highest fidelity hermetically sealed research habitat known as (SAM), the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars. He teaches spacesuit operations and spacecraft egress to professionals of all backgrounds, while also designing and flight-testing space exploration technologies. As a pilot, he has been responsible for both crewed and uncrewed high altitude, near space balloon systems. As a researcher and author, he has published on human performance in extreme environments and the use of scuba diving for analog astronautics.
Dr. V’s #1 passion is brain science and her superpower is tricking people into getting excited about learning. “Why do we dream?… How much brain power do we use?… Where does personality come from?†As a neuroscience professor, researcher, and co-founder/president of Brain Waves Rhode Island (educational non-profit), her mission is to make neuroscience fun, empower people with knowledge, and inspire the next generation of brainiacs. A Fulbright scholar (Norway ‘06), Dr. V grew up in Puerto Rico with Swederican roots, danced her way through college (Bachelor of Fine Arts, UF ‘06), pipetted her way through graduate school in Ireland (UCC ‘13), and found her calling for science outreach as a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University (‘17). She has a few awards, including a Next Generation Award from the Society for Neuroscience, a Women in Business Award, a few competitive research grants, and several teaching recognitions. Recently she’s been featured in local TV segments about brain science. She lives in the Ocean State with her Irish kids and Irish husband and enjoys good restaurants, racing sprint triathlons, wearing ball gowns, and training her pets (two gerbils and a dog). A recent knee surgery won’t keep her from hitting the dance floor at the Black Tie Gala.
Environmental campaigner leading one of the UK's most well-known campaigning organisations, where before now spent many years on ships campaigning for healthy oceans. Author of a book on plastic pollution. Trustee of an LGBT rights organisation. When not working, generally found either running long distances or enjoying London's cultural offerings.
