This page outlines all of the speakers and industry experts who make up Creative Entrepreneur 2016.
Abdul Alim
Abdul is the co-founder of OfferMoments, a disruptive DOOH software company. He is an award-winning entrepreneur and visionary NED that brings a tech & marketing perspective to the board. Able to see and seize the opportunities that lie hidden inside businesses. A focus on finding the disruptive idea that exists within every business and exploiting it with marketing wizardry.
Andrew Brooks
Even on sunny days, a rarity in Manchester, England, photographer, digital artist and film-maker Andrew Brooks spends hours in a darkened studio striving to show us the bigger picture. Brooks’s latest work with the BBC investigates the power and awe in nature. His early experiences growing up in the Fens countryside established the foundation of this view and he cites artists from the Romantic era as re-igniting this lifelong passion (BBC Philharmonic Concert Series 2011-12).
Claud Williams
Managing Director and Founder of Dream Nation. Claud is a young entrepreneur, and visual artist. He graduated from Loughborough University in 2012 where he was co-founder of the entrepreneurial society. He started his first business at the age of 17 organising basketball tournaments in West London, then after falling in love with photography he decided to launch his second company focusing on media. At the age of 21, Claud co-founded Cosmic Inc. which is the parent company to a number of business ventures including the new media production company The Creative Circle. He is now MD of Dream Nation and is focused on equipping and inspiring people to become “Practical Dreamers”.
Dom Burch
Dom is the founder and MD of Why Social, a strategic marketing consultancy, and former senior director of marketing innovation and new revenue at Asda. Trained in PR, Dom has spent the last 17 years in a variety of comms roles at Asda, Direct Line and Green Flag including head of PR and head of social. Dom is proud to have been recognised as one of the leading figures in social media, PR and marketing in Europe. He was ranked 8th in The Drum’s Social Buzz Top 50 in 2015, which recognises the 50 most influential individuals in social media marketing, and was credited by the Holmes Report’s as being one of the top 25 innovators across the EMEA region.
Eleanor (Nell) Whitley
Nell as a reputation for driving forward award winning, ambitious work in a variety of forms – live events, art installations and digital media – her innovative collaborations with Marshmallow Laser Feast (where she is Executive Producer) demonstrate a unique vision for the future of creative experiences. She has produced the critically acclaimed In the Eyes of the Animal (mixed reality VR) and other works including; Laser Forest (art installation), The Measures Taken (performance), Treehugger(mixed reality VR) and Project Daedalus (R&D, tech innovation). She is focused on creating and implementing creative work which brings people together and reflects, comments and learns from differing aspects of society.
Geoff Thompson
Geoff Thompson is a leading youth activist and expert in sports development and politics with over 25 years experience in the bidding and hosting and legacy of major games and the positive impact of sport, arts, culture and digital technology in the social and human development of young people and communities globally. He is Founder and Executive Chair of the Youth Charter (www.youthcharter.co.uk), a UK registered charity and UN NGO. Geoff is a former five times World Karate Champion and was honoured in 1995 with an M.B.E. for his services to sport. Geoff is also a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater Manchester.
iSAT Health – Roger Kadama
iSAT Health specialises in the Integration and Communication between Smart Devices and Smart Device Applications (App’s), including cutting edge Nano Technology within e-Health and e-Textile Wearable Solutions. Research Collaboration with Manchester University, Salford Royal Hospital and now Salford University is providing an Innovation Platform which is delivering Digital Based Solutions to improve Patient Care and drive significant Cost Reduction.
Jamil Khalil
Jamil Khalil is the Founder & CEO of Wakelet, a fast growing social sharing web platform, which helps people, artists, bands, sports clubs, businesses and academic institutions to organise their online information so it is easier to find and share. Prior to Wakelet, Jamil was the Head of Sourcing and EADS co-ordination for Airbus’ Value Chain Visibility (VCV) and Auto-ID programme and oversaw the company’s Auto-ID Innovation Centre. Over the past three years, in parallel to a demanding role at Airbus and with very little resources, Jamil has put together a passionate team and raised over £1M from investors across the UK and the US including backing from the original publishers of Angry Birds.
Liam Young
Liam Young is an architect who operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. He is a founder of the think tank Tomorrows Thoughts Today, a group whose work explores the possibilities of fantastic, speculative and imaginary urbanisms. He also co runs the ‘Unknown Fields Division’, a nomadic studio that travels on annual expeditions to the ends of the earth to investigate unreal and forgotten landscapes, alien terrains and industrial ecologies.
Liz Smart
Liz is a Salfordian born and bred currently working as the North West regional coordinator for Code Club. She is passionate about showing kids in the North West that a computer is more than the apps they use; its about designing a monster and making him dance in a tutu to Swan Lake, playing Frere Jacques on a banana piano (with the odd apple thrown in to spice things up) and anything their brilliant imaginations can think to make.
Louise is a Lecturer in Midwifery and the simulation lead for the Midwifery directorate within the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences. Louise is integrating simulation into all aspects of the midwifery course to ensure that student midwives are prepared for professional practice. Louise’s research involves exploring student midwives perceptions of real time simulation in emergency environments. Her main clinical experience lies within intrapartum care.
Mark Swift
Mark is Co-Founder and CEO of Wellbeing Enterprises CIC having established this with colleagues as the first health and wellbeing Community Interest Company in the UK. His specialist interests include developing social models of health care, tackling health inequalities and promoting population wellbeing. MArk is also an avid champion of social entrepreneurship and its potential to drive forward innovations in health and social care.
Matt Rogan
A Cambridge University graduate, Matt’s career began within a specialist strategy consultancy before moving to rights holders NBA and thereafter MTV. Matt co-founded Two Circles, a data driven sports agency, in 2011 which was acquired by WPP in 2015 to form a key part of their rights holder facing organisation ESP Properties. Matt is now Chairman of Two Circles and an Executive Director of ESP Properties, heavily involved in WPP’s broader strategy for sport. Matt is a regular speaker around the evolution of the business of sport and has written for Harvard Business Review as well as co-authoring ‘Britain and the Olympic Games: Past Present Legacy’.
Michael Cropper
Michael Cropper is the Managing Director of Lancashire based digital marketing agency Contrado Digital. He has experience working with national and multi-national brands in a wide range of industries, helping them achieve awesome results online. Contrado Digital has been shortlisted in the finals for 11 categories across 5 awards recently including the Chartered Institute of Marketing Northern Awards, the Prolific North Awards, the Red Rose Awards, The Bibas and The Hive Awards.
Rachel Wallach
Rachel is the founder and Director of DisruptDisability (formerly #HackOnWheels), which uses user innovation, open source design, digital fabrication and distributed manufacturing to enable anyone who needs a wheelchair to access one that is fully customized to their individual needs www.disruptdisability.org.
Molly Gavriel
Molly joined DisruptDisability as Head of Operations in July 2016, having previously worked in Local Government as a Project Manager and Strategic Advisor. As Head of Operations, she is responsible for managing DisruptDisability’s projects and building a community of wheelchair users, designers, engineers and makers to develop a library of open source designs.
Rosemary Frazer
Rosemary Frazer has over 20 years experience of working in the voluntary and public sector at a number of national organisations including the BBC, Mencap, RNIB and National Council for Voluntary Organisations focusing on influencing policy and campaigning on issues affecting disabled people’s independence and choices. She has used a wheelchair from early childhood and is passionate about putting disabled people in control of their lives and in recent years has been focusing on delivering campaigning and advocacy skills training to make sure disabled people’s issues are heard in the struggle for equality.
Nathan Hall
Nathan is Business Director of Formula Salford. After being involved with the project since March, we have worked to build a strong business side to FS. As Business Director I have been involved heavily with the management of the business side as well as the on the ground objectives such as sponsorship, developing outreach and delivering at Silverstone 2016, where the Business Presentation finished 5th place in the competition.
Richard Ayers
Richard is the founder and CEO of Seven League – Europe’s leading digital media consultancy with a specialism in sport. Clients include FC Barcelona, UEFA, UFC, O2, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Juventus, Premier League, Green Bay Packers, Major League Soccer and the England and Wales Cricket Board. In November 2011, Richard was named “Individual of the Year” at UK industry awards the DADIs for his work as Head of Digital at Man City and in May 2012 the Club’s digital service beat The Guardian and TalkSport to win the Sports Industry Awards ‘Sport Website of the Year’.
Robin McNicholas
Co-founder and Creative Director of Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), Robin has been involved in many varied and large-scale installations, video mapping projects, VR experiences and performances. Spanning a cross section of the arts including contemporary dance, film and live music. Collaborators include: The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Rambert Dance Company, London Sinfonietta, U2 and Aphex Twin. Touring installations include; Treehugger, Laser Forest, In the Eyes of the Animal and Chameleon.
Sally Hancock
Managing Partner of Y Sport and widely regarded as one of the thought leaders in the sponsorship world, and instrumental in driving a greater strategic and accountable approach within the industry. Sally was named one of the Most Influential Women in Sport by the Independent on Sunday in 2015.
Sally Horrox
Sally is an expert in sports strategy, and the commercial and professional development of women’s sport. With Sally Hancock, she recently launched Y Sport, a new sports and sponsorship consultancy. Creating more paid, professional roles for women in sport and business is a passion and a priority. Sally has executive and non-executive board experience and first worked as a lawyer before moving into sport. This included 10 years as an owner manager of a niche legal consultancy which grew rapidly and then sold to a Plc. Sally is currently a non-executive director of England Netball and chairs the Vitality Netball Superleague Board. She is also an advisor to The FA and recent successes include the creation the FA Women’s Super League with BT Sport,
Luciana Carvalho Se
Learner, maker, systems thinker, innovator & technology enthusiast, Luciana currently heads Business Development & Partnerships for SportTech smartphone/wearables app Racefully and is a VR, AR and Women in VR Evangelist.Combining 4+ years’ experience in startups, digital marketing, web development and operational management, she’s driven by big ideas, a global mindset & empowering tech entrepreneurs in London, SF, Lisbon & Manchester – especially next generation #ladyhackers.
Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones works within immersive technologies, including VR and AR and uses these for storytelling. The focus is on creating experiential stories that help to understand what it is like to not just be somewhere else, but be someone else. Sarah is a former television journalist and is based at Coventry University.
Wasim Ahmed
Wasim Ahmed, from the University of Sheffield, is a PhD researcher in the Information School, and Research Associate at the Management School. Wasim is also a social media consultant, a part of Connected Action Consulting, and has advised security research teams, crisis communication intuitions, and companies ranked within the top 100 on the Fortune Global 500 list. Wasim often speaks at social media events, and is a regular contributor to the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) Impact blog.
Vikas Shah
Professor Vikas S. Shah is an award-winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator who has built businesses in diverse sectors around the world for almost 20 years. He is also a consultant and advisor to numerous entrepreneurs, business and organisations globally.He is also a respected speaker, and multi-award winning writer. In his journal, ‘Thought Economics” he has interviewed many of the world’s most influential thinkers including Sir Richard Branson, Buzz Aldrin, Maya Angelou, Noam Chomsky and more than 12 Nobel Laureates in economics, sciences and peace building.
University of Salford
Dr Ali Dehghantanha
Dr Ali is a Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Salford. He has 10+ years of intensive experience in cyber security research, forensics investigation, malware analysis, penetration testing, and incident handling.
Prof. Andy Miah
Andy is Chair in Science Communication & Digital Media at the University of Salford. He is also Global Director for the Centre for Policy and Emerging Technologies, Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, USA and Fellow at FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, UK. Andy has published over 150 academic articles in refereed journals, books, magazines, and national media press on the subjects of cyberculture, medicine, technology, and sport. Andy is regularly involved with the media including BBC’s Newsnight and Start the Week with Andrew Marr, ABC’s’ The 7:30 Review and CBC’s The Hour. Andy also writes for the Huffington Post, Wired, Washington Post, The Guardian, and the Times.
Amanda Miller
Amanda is a Lecturer in Nursing and the Clinical simulation development and innovation lead within the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences. Much of Amanda’s teaching and research involves the use of simulation in nurse education. Amanda has been a registered Children’s nurse since 1997 and has worked in practice in a variety of settings. Her main area of practice is Children’s Accident and Emergency and the child in the community setting.
Prof. Ben Light
Professor of Digital Media / Associate Dean – Research and Innovation, School of Arts and Media. Neil has 20 years’ experience of information technology and digital media. During this time, he developed an international research profile alongside performing significant research leadership roles and contributing to teaching and learning activity.Ben has have interests in the use and non uses of digital media, digital methods, gender and sexuality.
Bernard Seddon
Bernard is a Specialist Simulation Technician at the University of Salford working in the Simulation Suites alongside Lee Forde controlling the human patient simulators.
Lee Forde
Lee is a Specialist Simulation Technician at the University of Salford. Lee has worked at the University in numerous roles since 2009 He works in the Simulation Suites alongside Bernard Seddon controlling the human patient simulators and working with students to ensure they get the best experience using the suites.
Neil Withnell
Neil is Associate Dean for Academic Enhancement for the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences. Following a career in Mental Health Nursing since 1985, Neil joined the University of Salford in July 2002 as a Lecturer Practitioner in Mental Health Nursing before becoming Associate Dean Academic Enhancement in 2014. Neil’s academic interests focus around acute mental health care, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Family Interventions, physical health care in mental health and technology enhanced learning. Neil has been instrumental in the development of the brand new simulation suites within the School which allow health and social care students learn in a safe and supportive environment.
Salford Business School
Salford Business School has won a number of notable awards recently, including the prestigious Times Higher Education Business School of the Year Award in recognition of our innovation in postgraduate teaching and learning, our advances in industry collaboration and our expertise in digital business. A number of award winning staff from Salford Business School’s centres of Digital, Social and Sports business facilitate this event.
Dr. Marie Griffiths
Reader and Director of the Centre for Digital Business, her main teaching focus is upon the role of digital technologies in the business setting specialises in the convergence of the ‘real’ and digital worlds and the social influences of technology. She researches in the area of commercial and societal implications of technological change.
Prof. Simon Chadwick
Simon is Editor of ‘Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal’, is a former Editor of the ‘International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship’, and has authored and published more than 600 articles, conference papers and books on sport. Simon has worked with numerous organisations involved in sport including Mastercard, FC Barcelona, the International Tennis Federation, Atletico Madrid, UEFA, the Qatar Olympic Committee, Michelin Motorsport, Tottenham Hotspur, International Centre for Sport Security, Sport Business Group, Euro League Basketball, The Economist and the British Council. In addition, Chadwick’s views on sport are regularly covered by the media; he has been quoted more than 10,000 times in publications across the world including in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, Time, the Financial Times, the Economist and Bloomberg Business Week. Simon owns and edits The Scorecard.
Dr. Aleksej Heinze
Senior Lecturer in Information Systems, Co-Director Centre for Digital Business, Head of Advisory Board at SEMTA. Researcher in: SEO, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing working on mastersindigitalmarketing.org.
Alex Fenton
Alex is an award winning digital developer, teacher and mentor and has been balancing the creative and entrepreneurial since 1997. Alex is lecturer in digital business at Salford Business School and the producer and founder of Creative Entrepreneur – Next Generation and the Creative Hive showcase platform.
Richard Dron
Richard specialises in action research that delivers solutions to live industry problems. Professionally he has worked as a digital project manager encompassing solution architecture, project facilitation, web development and online social media presence. He is also a member of the award winning centre for digital business within the business school. His research and consultancy relates to the use of disruptive technologies within diverse business contexts.
At the event, there are several “roving mentors” who are present to network with delegates and in particular, the students present. They are there to look out for you to see if you can have a chat and to use their experience to help you in some way. This might be introducing you to a contact or giving some advice for your career. There will also be two official speed networking sessions outside the Digital Performance lab at 12.30pm – 1.00pm and 2.45pm – 3.30pm. Roving mentors will also be present at these, offering advice and guidance where they can.
Naomi Timperley
Naomi is a whirlwind of energy who has the ability to motivate, inspire and lead others in any environment. A tenacious and hard-working entrepreneur who is socially conscious and works in an inclusive way. Well respected by others, not just in her field, striving to be a natural connector with large network both offline and online. Naomi was named in ‘The Maserati 100’ 2015 – a definitive list of Britain’s most successful business leaders actively supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs – Maserati and the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE). Naomi runs Coo Digital as well as Tech North Advocates with Volker Hirsch – Tech North Advocates is a network of tech & digital entrepreneurs, leaders, investors & experts who support tech startups & growth businesses to find new investment, talent and growth in the North of England. She is also a mentor, speaker, trainer and connector.
Adam Mitcheson
Adam is CEO & Founder of my2be which connects students and professionals with mentors and information to help them with their career choices and progression. After graduating with a BSc in Business Management Studies in 2008 Adam found himself working in the financial sector by accident rather than design after initially struggling with his career choices. It was his own experience with a Mentor that helped him gain a better understanding of his career path and options that lead to the initial idea for my2be. Adam left banking in November 2015 to concentrate on my2be full time.
Bertie Millis
Bertie is Virtual Umbrella’s Managing Director. He’s happiest when introducing people to VR for the first time and testing out new technology. He also writes for Infinity Leap, is passionate on helping people start their own businesses making him a perfect roving mentor!
Paul Gammond & Debora Barbosa – Racefields
Paul and Debora represent Racefields who are set up to help you build a successful crowdfunding pitch from start to finish. Paul is a Director of the company following a successful career in both the banking and short term bridging market and brings a wealth of knowledge to the business. Debora is a Salford Business School student working on placement for Racefields on the social media platforms to ensure new businesses reach as many potential clients and investors as possible throughout the country.
Prof Paul Coyle
In 2013, following a 27 year career in Higher Education, Paul founded his consultancy, Prof Paul Coyle, which supports universities that have a strategic commitment to becoming more entrepreneurial. Supporting universities in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the UK, Paul works with students, academics, HE leaders, university-business-collaboration teams and start-ups. He also works in partnership with Europe’s University Industry Innovation Network, as Director of Executive Education. Drawing on his international experience of HE, Paul enjoys supporting people in their own entrepreneurial journeys, happy to share the challenges he has faced, and the learning he has gained, in setting up his own business.
Chris Townsend
After graduating from Professional Sound & Video Technology at Salford in 2015 Chris is now Head of Creative at Invasion Marketing, with clients such as AmeriCamp, Camp Thailand and Invasion Weekend Breaks Chris does a lot of filming in South East Asia, North America and Europe specialising in online content.
Tina Judic
Originally from the North-West, Tina is MD of the award wining London based agency Found. She leads a fantastically talented team of passionate digital specialists who are driven by results and discovery. It is Tina’s mission to lead teams to achieve new and dynamic dimensions of performance for clients whilst supporting them in their development every step of the way. A regular for top digital awards for Found and individually, Tina is helping to shape the future path of digital and will be on hand as a roving mentor.
