Northern Tech Awards 2024

Serial Entrepreneur

Serial entrepreneur, three-time founder and public board member. Presently Operating Partner at Exponent PE, Chair of GoCity and a NED at Flutter PLC. Formerly in Executive roles at Carlsberg Group until May 2021, where she was also Chief Digital Officer.”

Managing Director, HSBC Innovation Banking

Richard Faulkner is a managing director with HSBC Innovation Banking, where he is responsible for growth in the north of England and Scotland. Richard has more than 15 years of experience in technology banking, and he supports clients that include Matillion, Darktrace plc and Castore. Richard is committed to supporting HSBC Innovation Banking’s growth in the vibrant innovation sector and entrepreneurs leading high-growth, disruptive technology businesses.

CEO, Apprentify Group

Jonathan Fitchew is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of experience in the training and education sector. He is the founder and former CEO of Pareto Law, the UK’s largest sales training and recruitment company, which he grew from a start-up to a £30 million turnover business. He is also a founder shareholder of Venn Digital, a digital marketing agency, and Next Connex, a cloud hosting provider.
Currently, Jonathan is the group CEO of Apprentify Group, a leading training provider that offers apprenticeships and bootcamps in digital and sales skills. He joined the group in 2022 as executive chairman and became CEO in 2022. He is passionate about supporting future talent and helping businesses grow through learning and development. He is also involved in various charitable causes, such as raising funds for cancer research and supporting local communities.

Serial Investor

He is also a Non Executive Director of Ladbible Group plc and Flutter Entertainment plc, and an angel investor in a number of other start up and scale ups.

Richard was Chief Executive of Leeds based Sky Betting and Gaming from 2006 to 2018, during which time he grew the company from around 100 employees to over 1700. He led the company through its £800m spin out from Sky, and then on to its acquisition by The Stars Group for £3.4bn last year, before The Stars Group was in turn acquired by Flutter Entertainment plc.

Richard was Glassdoors Chief Executive of the Year for 2018. He holds an Engineering Degree from Oxford and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Serial Entrepreneur

Paul is leading Entrepreneur, CEO and investor in the video games and tech space. He has founded, led and sold four companies and has invested in many more. Paul is currently, CEO of ForthStar, a video games developer and publisher he co-founded in 2023.

Prior to Forthstar, Paul co-founded Playdemic, a free-to-play mobile games developer and publisher. Playdemic has enjoyed significant global success with its leading franchises reaching over 200m players and generating over $1.2Bn of sales. Playdemic’s biggest hit, Golf Clash, remains one of the Top Grossing mobile games in the world. Playdemic was acquired by Electronic Arts in June 2021 for $1.4Bn in cash.

Paul was briefly an investment banker before starting his first games company, BattleMail, in 1999. At its peak BattleMail had 1m active players, was pre-installed on 17m Mobile Phones. After the sale of BattleMail to (M)Forma, Paul went on to co-found Rockpool Games and over the next 5 years, with Paul as CEO, Rockpool grew to be one of Europe’s leading mobile game developers. Rockpool was acquired by Eidos/Square Enix in 2007.

Paul has also invested in a number of other games and technology businesses including Ironstone Partners (acquired by Eidos/Square Enix), Ideas Pad (acquired by Playdemic), Appatyze (acquired by Teddy Sagi’s private office), Revolut, Hardball Games, WithU, Nivo, Urban Zoo, LovedBy, Retro Games Ltd and Scene Group. Paul has a degree in Economics from Manchester University.

Managing Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Jane Haxby is the managing partner of the London office. Jane is the former European managing partner and prior to that, she was the co-head of our Global Corporate Practice Group, responsible for EMEA. She has over 25 years of experience advising public and private companies on all aspects of corporate finance generally with particular focus on mergers and acquisitions (including takeovers). Jane also advises on corporate governance, reorganizations and general corporate structuring.

Founder, Crisp

Adam started his first business, Dubit, in 1999 at the age of 15. He has since gone on to become one of Yorkshire’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Popular with teens across the UK, Dubit was not only one of the world’s first social media networks, it was also one of the
earliest firms to implement online safety tech – something that heavily shaped Adam’s career.

Adam went on to work with the UK government to develop the first online child protection laws and, in 2005, he founded Crisp – a company with online safety at its heart.

Crisp is a real-time risk intelligence company dedicated to protecting brands, assets and people from reputational damage, security threats and online harms. The company’s AI technology has been trained over 17 years to discover and track the risk signals embedded within digital chatter to be the leading expert in fast, actionable risk intelligence for Global Enterprises and Social Media Platforms.

Today Crisp protects over $6.5 trillion in combined market capitalization for over 1,000 brands.

The business was acquired by the US-based Kroll Group in 2022 and now has offices in both Leeds and Chicago.

Investment Director, LDC

Richard is an Investment Director based in the North West and works side-by-side with management teams looking to grow their business with the support of a private equity partner. Since joining LDC in 2013, Richard has supported on some of the region’s most successful technology growth stories and currently sits on the board of technology companies CTI, WCCTV and Love Energy Savings.
LDC has a successful track record in the technology sector. Since 2012, we have invested over £780m into more than 35 fast growing technology businesses.
Across the North, we have regional offices in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh and our people all live and work in their local areas, building trusted relationships with the business and advisory communities.
We’re proud to be a premium sponsor of the 2024 Northern Tech Awards

Co-founder, MPP Global

Paul is the co-founder of MPP Global and was CEO for 20 years until its acquisition by AIM-listed Aptitude Software in October 2021. MPP Global is the award-winning international provider of the cloud-based subscription management and billing SaaS platform, eSuite. Paul led the business from cradle to sale; including its angel funding and bootstrapped early growth phase, various strategy pivots, a series B fundraise and international expansion before its recent trade sale.

At exit, MPP Global had grown to over 100 employees plus offshore development teams and £9m ARR. As CEO, Paul became an all-rounder with an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong background in all areas of growing an international software company, including finance and metrics, sales, marketing, product and software engineering. Paul continues to work with passionate and entrepreneurial founders of exciting and high growth SaaS, Software and Fintech companies.

Head of Investments, University of Strathclyde

Dr Poonam Malik is an entrepreneurial business strategist, Life Sciences leader and an investor in Innovation. Dr Malik is Head of Investments at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow – accountable for strategic leadership of University’s enhanced Investment ambition into new ventures and its portfolio of start-ups, spinouts and spinin companies.

A GlobalScot, Poonam, is a Scottish Enterprise (SE) Board member and is also the Sustainability, NetZero, Climate Transformation and equitable opportunities Champion on the SE board. She is Chairperson and Co-Founder, Board Director of Microplate Dx Ltd, a multi-award winning MedTech Company. Poonam brings 25+ years expertise from technology, enterprise, research & innovation, governance, health industry and business sectors, globally.

Dr Malik was recently appointed Co-Chair, by Scottish Government, to lead on First Minister’s ‘New Deal for Business Group (NDBG)’ representing business and industry- co-sharing the role with the ScotGov, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy.

Poonam is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) and the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB). She sits on many National Committees, advises policymakers and is recipient of several awards. She holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences/Virology from the University of Glasgow, UK, an MBA (with Distinction) in ‘Strategy and Leadership’ from the University of Edinburgh Business School, a Masters (MSc) degree in Biotechnology and a Bachelors (BSc) in Chemistry & Zoology from India.

Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, musicMagpie Plc

Steve Oliver is the co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of musicMagpie Plc. Founded in 2007 (in Steve’s converted Stockport garage), focusing originally on the purchase and re-sale of pre-owned CDs (hence the name) DVDs and Games, musicMagpie has successfully pivoted over time to become the UK’s leading mobile phone recycler with consumer technology now their dominant product category. The Group has also been trading in the US since 2013 under the ‘decluttr’ brand, with its operational base in Atlanta, Georgia and is also the world’s biggest seller in the history of both eBay and Amazon
The business has a simple mission statement and that is to be the service to use that is “Smart for You, Smart for the Planet” whether buying or selling, with sustainability absolutely at the heart of its consumer and now corporate recycling model. The Group became a publicly limited company with their £208m market cap AIM flotation on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021.
Steve is also Chair of the Stockport Economic Alliance and passionately supports and promotes both the business and charitable communities across the Stockport Borough. He is also one of the founding trustees of Egg – Engage, Grow, Go, a newly registered UK Charity providing innovate solutions to support the homeless community of initially Stockport but ultimately nationwide.

Co-founder, Country Attire

An Angel investor, digital marketing and online retailing expert, Jenny has been involved in ecommerce since leaving university, forming her first company in 1999. Following success with her self-designed products Jenny grew this business until it transformed Country Attire in 2006, a multi award-winning heritage clothing, footwear and accessory e-tailer. Country Attire featured twice on the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 listing of Britain’s fastest growing private companies.

Jenny has been interviewed for her opinions by many trade publications and the Sunday Times, also as an expert ecommerce commentator by BBC Radio Four, Radio 5 Live and BBC Television News. Following her successful exit she ran the overall marketing department for the £100m turnover group that acquired the business. More recently she has been mentoring and advising several high growth ecommerce businesses, as well as Angel investing in many exciting start-ups in a wide variety of different industries. Jenny is a founder member and sits on the Board of the new Manchester Angels network; she is also co-founder of another exciting ecommerce project launching in early 2024.

Avisha Patel is a Senior Vice President at HSBC Innovation Banking, leading the Frontier Technology vertical within the Venture & Growth Team. In her role as a Relationship Manager, Avisha works closely with venture-backed companies to identity and implement global banking services and tailored financing solutions to accelerate the growth ambitions of some of the most innovative and transformative UK and European companies!

Avisha brings over 13 years of experience in Relationship Banking, holding a range on positions within Corporate Coverage teams, and with the last 4 years dedicated to serving the Technology sector. Known for fostering long-term relationships built on expertise and trust, Avisha is passionate for driving growth and success across the Frontier Technology verticals.

Portfolio Director – North, Cazenove Capital

With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Simon has been helping high-net-worth and ultra-high net-worth families to achieve their long-term financial objectives for many years. He continues to do so in his current role as Portfolio Director at Cazenove Capital, and Heads up the offices across the Northern regions.

He joined Cazenove Capital from UBS where he was the Regional Head for North West of England. Before that Simon spent most of his working life at Lloyds Banking Group in a range of wealth management roles. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI).

Co-founder, Delta DNA

A consistent theme in Mark’s career has been turning data and analytics into better business decisions. Initially working in retail location consultancy and then leading database marketing agency Marketing Databasics to an exit with the Indicia Group. He co-founded deltaDNA in 2010 and brought analytics and player management into the games industry for the first time leading it to an acquisition by Unity Technologies in 2019. His current role is running Marketing for the Unity Gaming Services platform.”

Executive Director, Turing Innovation Catalyst

Liz is a long time tech ecosystem supporter, advisor and advocate. She has supported businesses large and small, nationally and internationally to grow, innovate and evolve for over 20 years. As Executive Director at the newly established Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester (TIC), Liz is focused on building a new not for profit that will catalyse an AI ecosystem across Greater Manchester, and will use AI to grow careers, businesses and the city economy. Over the next 2 years TIC will be delivering AI accelerators, Venture Builders, Skills programmes as well as a whole host of events and activities to drive the AI ecosystem forward.

Prior to TIC Liz was part of the Executive Board at Tech Nation, responsible for supporting a National Community of 4500+ scaleups; delivery of international programmes; the Global Tech Talent Visa programme; all non-grant revenue; and strategic partnerships. In her Non-Exec Director and Advisory board roles Liz works with a number of tech sector focused organisations.

Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Andrea Cropley has more than 25 years’ experience as a corporate finance lawyer in London and the North of England. Her experience includes advising on takeovers, flotations, M&A, venture capital, private equity and joint ventures for a wide range of public and private companies, financial institutions and entrepreneurs. Andrea has particular experience in the financial services, healthcare, technology and manufacturing sectors.

Head of Innovation, Bruntwood SciTech – Leeds & Manchester
Deb Hetherington is an award winning facilitator of business support and growth consultancy with over 10 years experience supporting startup and scaling businesses. As Head of Innovation for Bruntwood SciTech in Leeds and Manchester, Deb leads the design and delivery of innovation services and business support to a wide range of disruptive digital and tech startups and scale ups at the ‘home of tech’ Platform in Leeds and at Manchester Science Park, Citylabs and Circle Square.

Deb has a particular interest in Data & AI led innovation, and the potential implications these rapidly advancing technologies are likely to have on both business and society alike. She is an Associate at Leeds Beckett University and plays an integral role in connecting young businesses with knowledge transfer based innovation filtered through academic institutions. Deb is also one of the Directors of Leeds Digital Festival, an open platform tech event based in Leeds with thousands of attendees from across the globe both virtually and physically.

Deb’s passion for diversity within the digital space resulted in co-founding the community led organisation WILD, which aims to educate and encourage more diverse groups into digital roles to ensure the digital workforce is truly representative of society. Deb is also on the boards of Leeds City Council Digital and Leeds Tech and a member of the steering groups for Leeds BID and the Leeds LEP innovation team.

Associate, GP Bullhound
Joe is an Associate at GP Bullhound. Post joining in 2022, he has worked on a range of buy-side and sell-side transactions, whilst actively working in the Northern tech ecosystem to help earlier stage start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Joe is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, having previously worked at BDO LLP & Mazars LLP in both audit and corporate finance practices, respectively.

Associate, GP Bullhound

Evgeny serves as an Associate at GP Bullhound. Over the span of his tenure, Evgeny successfully executed global M&A and Fundraising transactions valued at over £1bn.
Prior to joining GP Bullhound, Evgeny was a successful entrepreneur in retail & hospitality sectors.
Evgeny holds an MSc in Analytics and Decision Sciences from the University of Leeds.

At Apprentify, we pride ourselves on our Digital and Technical apprenticeship offerings. We have a unique approach to finding, recruiting, and training the best apprenticeship talent from start to finish. We have taken our time to develop specialist programmes to advance careers and develop teams.

Not only do we offer apprenticeships, but we also have a variety of short courses ranging from coding and data analytics, all the way to Leadership Training. www.apprentify.com