Hosted by:

Sam Booth

Chief Executive, pro-manchester

At pro-manchester, Sam has been an integral part of its growth from a small, effective membership network to a sophisticated business development organisation. A firm part of the Manchester business community, Sam is a familiar face to most, constantly and efficiently working to bring businesses together in the city region. 

As chief executive, Sam is responsible for the organisation’s corporate engagement as well managing all existing key partnerships and member relationships. Whilst providing support to her team, Sam manages the day-to-day running and strategic direction of the business. 

Sam also sits on the board of trustees for Forever Manchester, a charity that supports community activity across Greater Manchester. As well as sitting on the City of Trees Executive Advisory Group and the Greater Manchester Organisational Representatives Group. 

Speakers:

Kate Rosenshire

Cloud Solution Architect Manager, Data & AI, Financial Services and Insurance, Microsoft

​Kate leads the Data and AI Cloud Solution Architect team for the Financial Services Microsoft UK. Prior to joining Microsoft, she worked in companies focused on applying behavioural analytics to augment decision making for insurance companies, financial institutions and governments. Kate comes from a science background in neurobiological genetic engineering, where she focused on leveraging genetic data to predict behavioural patterns.
She holds a MSc in Molecular Biology from Bar Ilan University and a MBA from Tel Aviv University.

David Duffy

Chief Executive Officer, CYBG

CYBG is a holding company that owns Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, Virgin Money and the app-based banking platform B.

David joined CYBG in June 2015 as CEO having previously held a number of senior roles in the international banking industry including the position of Chief Executive Officer of Allied Irish Banks. David was also previously Chief Executive Officer of Standard Bank International covering Asia, Latin America, the UK and Europe. He was also previously Head of Global Wholesale Banking Network of ING Group and President and Chief Executive Officer of the ING franchises in the US and Latin America. Prior to that, he worked with Goldman Sachs International in various senior positions including Head of Human Resources Europe.

In 2018 David was appointed by the UK Government to serve as a Government Envoy for FinTech. David's primary objectives in this role are to serve as an advocate for the Fintech industry, to ensure the UK’s FinTech sector develops across all regions and to encourage greater collaboration between FinTechs, banks and other financial services firms.

Garry Prior

Director of Product, The Hut Group

Garry Prior has been in and around the technology industry for more than 20 years, largely in product management and leadership roles.  Highlights include 9 years at O2, where he was product manager for a number of services during the early growth of smartphones, apps and mobile data, and also launching Rackspace’s cloud hosting products in UK and EMEA.  After a couple of years in fintech at Barclays, Garry is now Director of Product for the THG Ingenuity platform at The Hut Group.  Garry is a firm believer that great products only come about through the intersection of technology, business processes, customer support and user experience.  Or as he is frequently heard to say – “It only works if it all works”.

Beckie Taylor

Founder, Tech Returners

Beckie is an Ambassador for Tech and Women in Leadership, and the Co-founder of Women in Technology Northern Chapter. In 2017, she launched Tech Returners,  to empower returners and enable their opportunities in tech, by providing development and creating accessible routes into businesses through continual training and technology, resulting in more diverse and inclusive workforces. This work has seen the project shortlisted in the Northern Power Women awards for Innovation 2018 and for e-skills Initiative of the year at the Women in IT award 2019 for its practical guidance, and personal development coaching.

Also, Beckie has recently launched a Tech Future Female Leaders programme where female tech leaders Develop themselves to Succeed to then Inspire others through being role models.

Beckie has also been shortlisted in the Women in IT Awards 2017 Advocate of the Year and Voted on of the Top 30 women in tech for Greater Manchester 2018.

Caroline Canty

Communications Manager, Apadmi

Caroline is obsessed with digital communication. She joined Apadmi from the Co-op, and she’s responsible for all digital content, customer and media relations. She’s most recently led a collaboration between Apadmi & The Drum, combining Amazon Alexa with traditional print media. She’s a champion of voice technology and how this emerging platform can help brands grow.

Niels Pedersen

Manchester Metropolitan University

​Niels Pedersen is Programme Leader of the MSc Financial Technology programme at Manchester Metropolitan University, England’s first post-graduate FinTech course.  As a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), Niels has worked at PwC and the Financial Services Authority before coming to academia.

Paul Knight

Partner, Mills & Reeve

Paul heads up the team of commercial, IP and IT lawyers in Mills & Reeve’s Manchester office. He has a particular interest in how technology is going to transform our lives - he chaired a discussion about self-driving vehicles in Manchester a couple of years ago, appeared on Sky News discussing their impact on driving tests, and can't wait to commute to work in a fully autonomous car!
 

Dr Ilaria Gori

Head of Research, Digital Bridge

Dr Ilaria Gori has a PhD in Robotics, Cognition and Interaction Technologies from the Italian Institute of Technology. She has been a Visiting Scholar in the Center for Computer Vision Research at the University of Texas. She specialises in developing robust machine learning applications for solving real-world computer vision tasks.

Joe Flanagan

Project Manager- Autonomous shuttle bus, University of Salford

​After graduating in chemistry, Joe spent his early career in the steel industry carrying out manufacturing development of technical ceramics for use in extreme and high temperature environments. Following this, Joe then moved into consultancy, working for clients in the high temperature process industries on a wide variety of assignments in the steel, glass and ceramics industries developing and implementing energy and environmental management programmes. Clients included Pilkington, General Motors and Tata Steel.

After a spell at the NW regional Development Agency where he was programme lead for energy and environmental technologies, he joined the University of Salford in 2012 as a Business Development Manager working to increase the University’s commercial income through academic consultancy and product testing services. 

​Since October 2018 he has also project managed the commissioning of the recently acquired fully autonomous Navya shuttle bus. 

Pat Cavanagh

Senior Software Engineer, Apadmi

Pat’s passion for mobile development has seen him craft award-winning and life-saving native apps for Argos and the NHS. He’s extended that passion to voice and now leads Apadmi’s technical voice projects, helping guide and advise customers on how best to implement this new technology throughout their business, as well as working alongside Amazon to share his knowledge with the North-West developer community.

Paul Mason

Secarma

Paul is an ethical hacker and an experienced educator. He has trained many different groups from primary and secondary pupils, head teachers and government officials. Paul advises on policy and compliance, conducts research, presents at international conferences and advises the police and Scottish government on cyber matters.

Zee Somji

People Programme Manager - Tech, The Hut Group

Zee is passionate about hiring the world's best talent & nurturing a passionate high performance culture that creates lasting competitive advantage. But most importantly, he is passionate about hunting for talent, engaging with talent, developing talent and partnering with talent.

Built on a foundation of industry-leading technology, a world-class team and a scientific approach to building global brands, The Hut Group are fast becoming the world’s most important online retail organisation.

They are in the early stages of a once in a lifetime journey that will see the Group become the biggest Internet company to ever emerge from Britain, reaching global scale.

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Ilona Alcock

Sector Group Manager, pro-manchester

Ilona runs the sector group programme at pro-manchester to support the 12 key growth industries in the city. She is an enthusiastic networker, both online and offline, with a passion for personal development.

Having competed internationally in public speaking and debating, Ilona has hosted numerous high-profile events, including the North West Charity Awards and the Ten Outstanding Young Persons honouree ceremonies. Keen to give back to her community, she runs public speaking and networking training courses for young people across the UK and Ireland. 

Previous roles include: Employer Liaison Consultant at the University of Salford; Operations Director at Diced Limited; and Commercial Litigation Solicitor at DLA Piper. Alongside her day jobs, Ilona is a JCI senator and was 2014 President of JCI Sheffield. 

​Simon Carter

IT Director, Together

Simon is currently IT Director for Together Financial Services, leading a transformation over the last five years of the IT applications and infrastructure, digitising processes, integrating partners and enabling the deployment of advanced analytics. Prior to this Simon has led IT and Business change at RAC and Lex Vehicle Leasing, and spent some years in independent CIO advisory services. 

With a passion for using innovative digital technologies to drive a transformation in business performance, Simon is proud to have played his part in enabling Together to more than double the size of its business in the five years that he has been a part of the leadership team.

Simon holds an MA in Physics from Oxford University and is an alumnus of London Business School. 

James Touzel

Head of Digital and Innovation, Partner, TLT LLP

As head of TLT's Digital sector, James leads the development of the firm's services to organisations in the technology, media and telecoms sectors. James leads the firm's transformation agenda driving change more rapidly in the way the firm delivers legal services and products to clients. This includes the Future Law initiative and TLT LegalSifter, which are new solutions to client challenges in areas across LegalTech, near-legal consulting and contracts.  He is also known for his work with digital businesses and other organisations in the creative sector, handling research and development collaborations, social media and content licensing arrangements. James is a trustee of Watershed Media Centre and a director of iShed CIC - a community interest company set up to promote collaborations across the media & technology sectors. James is independently recognised as an expert in the field of Information Technology by Chambers UK, a guide to the legal profession.

David Gardner

Fintech, Partner, TLT LLP

David is an authority on IT, outsourcing and technology-driven procurement, with a particular focus on clients in financial services and the technology sector. David regularly acts as lead advisor for customer and suppliers to deliver complex and strategic technology projects, collaborations and commercial contracts of all shapes and sizes. He is ranked as a leading individual in both Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, the independent guides to the legal profession. David is a published author and speaker who is regularly sought out for his industry insights, including recent articles and speaking slots for Lawyer Monthly, Information Age, Banking Technology and the Building Societies Association. In November 2018 David has co-authored a ground-breaking research report on Open Banking, which is shaping the future of financial services.  

Anthony Morrow

Founder/Chief Executive, Open Money

Anthony is chief executive and co-founder of OpenMoney, passionate about making financial advice accessible and affordable to everyone.

He has considerable experience of the financial services industry, most recently as founding partner of discretionary fund manager Tatton Asset Management. Previously, he was a consultant at both Arthur Anderson and KPMG, specialising in regulatory, performance and strategic issues for the life and pensions sector. 

Sam Barton

Head of Customer Experience, Open Money

Sam has worked in the digital space for over 20 years and is currently leading the customer-centric developments at fast paced, ambitious fin-tech company OpenMoney, who are using technology to change the financial advice landscape.

Prior to this he was at Shop Direct, where he was responsible for various aspects of the digital experience, playing a central role in company’s transformation from a catalogue business into a digital retailer.

Mark Robinson

Insurance Broker, Finch Insurance

Mark Robinson is an Insurance Broker specialising in the Technology, Financial Risk and Online Gambling sectors. He works closely with companies to understand their risk profile and ensure exposure to loss is mitigated via a range of specialist insurance products.
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Mark has worked with major Blue Chip organisations across Europe to design and develop specialist insurance policies tailored to their individual needs. These have included Cyber/Data Insurance programs, specialised Fraud cover for payment institutions and Cryptocurrency insurance products.

Anna Dick

CTO, Hiring Hub

With a passion for technical innovation and software delivery, Anna’s career began within the frenetic world of digital agencies before she went “corporate” in 2006, joining Moneysupermarket.

​The pursuit of technical progress within a fast-growth environment suited Anna, who found similar homes at On The Beach and Hotels4u, where she did what she enjoys most: building tech teams that continuously challenge and experiment with leaner ways of working. In recent years, Anna worked on large scale transformation projects for the BBC and Co-op, before being headhunted by Hiring Hub thanks to her technical prowess and world class leadership skills.