Our 2024 Speakers

Ian is a Partner at Analysys Mason, a specialist telecoms advisory firm, and is one of its leading experts in broadband with over 25 years’ experience in telecoms consulting. He has worked on telecoms projects for national and local government, regulators, operators, investors and end-user...

Markus’ work aims to produce rigorous recommendations for governments and AI companies. His research focuses on e.g. frontier AI regulation, responsible cutting-edge development, national security implications of AI, and compute governance. He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for a New American...

Elizabeth Anderson is CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, which aims to end digital poverty in the UK once and for all by 2030.  Leading the DPA programmatic and operational team, she focusses across advocacy, community building and delivery work, talking to schools, industry partners, government...

With a decade of experience in the fiber optics industry, Fabio has collaborated with clients across EMEA to develop innovative solutions. He has worked with leading companies like Corning, STL, and Datwyler, launching several products that serve all sections of the fiber network, including central ...

Neil is a highly experienced commercial and operational leader having nearly 20 years leadership experience in the Broadband/Telecoms sector, currently as the Managing Director of Consumer at KCOM. He held a number of senior leadership roles at Virgin Media, the most recent being Executive Director ...

I am an accomplished Entrepreneur known for exemplary project management skills and a passion for driving impactful change. With a successful track record in founding and managing two thriving companies, I bring extensive expertise in Operations Management, Governance, Service...

Daren Baythorpe is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at ITS.Appointed in 2018, Daren is a dynamic leader who drives the strategy, growth and direction of ITS. He has led the business to be the largest B2B wholesale full fibre provider in the UK, building innovative commercial models across public and...

Iqbal Singh Bedi, the CEO and Consulting Director at Intelligens Consulting, is a distinguished figure in the realm of telecommunications and smart city management. With over twenty-five years of profound experience, Iqbal has led and contributed to numerous pivotal projects both in the UK and...

Karen Blake is a leader in diversity, equity & inclusion, people change and digital skills. As co-CEO of the Tech Talent Charter, she leads a coalition of 800+ organizations, driving DE&I initiatives in the tech sector. Karen co-authors the TTC's annual Diversity in Tech report, which...

Currently Leading on the roll out of Full Fibre deployments across the West Midlands Combined Authority region and beyond. Supporting ISPs to deliver to as many commercially viable premises as possible through best practice and barrier removal. Bringing together both industry and Local Authorities...

Over many years Dejan's work has been focused on public and private sector collaboration, and shaping of propositions for development of telecommunications and data infrastructure at national, regional and local level. With technical background in engineering and strategic marketing, Dejan has...

With over two decades experience leading exceptional customer service teams, Dean joined Zen as Customer Experience Director three years ago. Prior to this he spent six years working in customer service roles at TalkTalk, having previously headed up the customer services division at Tesco...

v John Burton CEO and founder of Inside Connections Inside Connections Group was formed from the vision by our founder John Burton to create a group of business entities that would be built on the foundation of excellence, solid delivery and provision of opportunities for second chances. With...

Recognised as a leading expert on accessibility and digital inclusion, Robin Christopherson MBE of UK tech charity AbilityNet is a regular speaker raising awareness of the power and potential of technology to transform people's lives.Robin was a founding member of UK tech charity AbilityNet in...

Seedlegals' Angel Investor of the Year 2024. I specialise in technology development, investment and policy.

Susanne is a senior leader at Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, which is committed to enabling businesses to develop and commercialise ground-breaking innovations, from concept through start up to commercialisation, scale and growth. As Deputy Director for the Investment Ecosystem, Susanne...

Welcome to Peira Consulting. We are fully independent UK-based experienced consultants and industry leaders dedicated to providing business and technical consulting solutions for clients in the telecoms and adjacent digital sectors. Our credentials are solid and are cut from decades of experience...

Pat joined Cornerstone as CEO in January 2023. He started his career in the British Army, serving for 15 years in the Royal Signals in Telecommunications and Cyber Security and the Royal Engineers in various roles.After leaving the Army, Pat worked at British Airways leading the delivery of the BA...

Jordan Dargue, is a founder, senior executive, investor, NED and seasoned investment expert. Her boundless passion for innovation, coupled with a remarkable track record of achievements, positions her within the realms of growth and investment.Jordan's transformative influence is evident...

Dame Melanie Dawes joined Ofcom as an Executive Board Member and Chief Executive in March 2020.Prior to joining Ofcom, Melanie was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from 2015. She has held a range of senior roles across the Civil Service, working in...

With 26 years of experience in Outside Plant Networks, Jose Luis Gonzalez has been supporting FTTH roll-outs across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Particularly in the last 15 years and through his role with CommScope, Jose Luis has been involved with more than 20 major roll outs in the...

I am Head of Fibre Deployment for Voneus, delivering gigabit services to rural communities across the UK.I have over 17 years of experience across the telecommunications sector, including Engineering, Network Operations, Infrastructure Build, Project and Programme Management including PMO.I'm a ...

Kenneth is the CEO of Tomorrow Street (a Joint Venture between Vodafone and Technoport focused on scaling late stage startups across Vodafone’s global ecosystem) and is the Managing Director of Vodafone Connectivity Trading & Products (responsible for Vodafone’s roaming and voice connectivity...

Irene Graham OBE Irene is the founding CEO and a board director of the ScaleUp Institute, a private sector, not-for-profit company focused on making the UK the best place in the world to scale up a business. She is a former senior banker at Standard Chartered where she held both European and...

His focus is on fundraising for AbilityNet and driving community partnerships. Alongside this Chris has vast experience devising and delivering training, from introducing technology to staying safer online. Alongside this he is an active Tech Volunteer supporting numerous older and disabled people...

Matthew Guinan is Global Application Marketing Manager at Dura-Line. With over 12 years of industry experience, Matthew is a subject matter expert in optical fibre cable networks and has published several white papers on cable and conduit infrastructure. Matthew previously held the positions of...

Richard is a globally recognized thought leader and senior executive with 30+ years of experience. With a distinguished international career steering ground-breaking projects in Telecommunications with NOKIA, EV infrastructure with GRIDSERVE, renewable energy, and global business set up and...

Global Head of Telecommunications & Consumer Technology Mohammed Hamza is a principal research analyst in the Kagan media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. He leads the global fixed and mobile telecommunications and consumer technology research teams. His primary focus...

Ben Harries is a Policy Director at Ofcom. He is currently leading the Telecoms Access Review 2026, which will set the regulations that will apply to the UK fixed telecoms markets from 2026 until 2031. Prior to his current role, Ben was an Economics Director at Ofcom. He has worked on a wide range ...

With almost 30 years in telecoms, Matt has held positions with Vendor, Service Provider, and Operator. An early career grounded in project and programme delivery before moving into management in service delivery, infrastructure design, deployment, and software development.  A Business Unit...

Stefan Hartung Director, Global Technical Sales     Stefan Hartung is a highly regarded wireless technology expert with decades of experience in research and development, field engineering and customer engagement.   Prior to joining Tarana in 2021, he had held director positions at SIAE...

With over 25 years telecoms experience, Shane has held various Senior Engineering & Design roles in Energis and Cable & Wireless from 2000 – 2007. Joining eir in 2007, he held a number of senior pre-sales and commercial roles before becoming General Manager for the NI business. Shane Joined ...

The Chief Sales and Commercial Officer at Cornerstone, Jamie drives the ambition for the business to be the guardian of all digital infrastructure for wireless customers, enterprises, government partnerships and communities across the UK.Formerly Managing Director at Boldyn Networks UK he was...

Gillis is a Civil Servant, working in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as the Head of Telecoms Modernisation Team. 

Marcel has work most of his working live in the telecom industry. Initially following his MSc in Telecommunications Systems Design Marcel joined in BT's Laboratories developing innovative transmission standards and satellite HD standards. Marcel then joined Energis to develop the data products...

Janette is an Executive of the Digital Health and Care Innovation centre in Scotland (funded by Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council), with previous leadership roles in major multimillion pound transformation and innovation R&D backed programmes over the last decade. With over 20...

Sonya Iovieno is Head of Venture & Growth Banking at HSBC Innovation Banking UK. She is passionate about supporting VC-backed, high-growth innovation companies. Partnering with founders and their teams from Series A up to IPO, Sonya and her team provide debt capital and financial services to...

Kate Jones is the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Regulatory Cooperation Forum (www.drcf.org.uk).  Kate leads this innovative team, working to increase and deepen coordination between regulators of online services and technology for the benefit of both businesses and their customers. Before ...

Jivesh Juneja is the Director of Customer Journey at Nissan, specializing in digital transformation and data analytics. A proud Mumbaikar with an MBA from INSEAD, Jivesh has dedicated over 15 years to enhancing digital customer experiences. His notable achievement includes launching Nissan’s first...

Dr Abdalla Kablan; Serial entrepreneur, investor,  and award winning technologist.   Dr. Abdalla Kablan is a London based multi exit British serial tech entrepreneur, investor, and award winning technology expert. He has a PhD in Computational Intelligence and Finance from the University of...

A commercial, transformation and major project professional that's trusted with complex infrastructure delivery, business transformation and scale up. Highly experienced in both corporate, central government and entrepreneurial environments. Specialist in digital infrastructure, having...

Darryl is a seasoned professional with an extensive background in the telecommunications industry, boasting over three decades of technical and commercial expertise. Throughout his career, Darryl has played a pivotal role in various telecoms domains, including Fixed, Mobile, Government...

“Colin Kirkpatrick, Solutions Director at Emtelle, brings over 30+ years of unparalleled experience in pre-connectorised, blown fibre cable, and ducted network solutions. As a highly respected leader in developing passive network infrastructure solutions for global network operators, Colin has...

Daniel Krzystek joined Digital Barriers in April 2023 and is responsible for growth of strategic channel partners. In his current role, he oversees the development of sales and marketing strategies with the objective of helping organisations unlock the full potential of live video over cellular and ...

Stephan works with clients in government and private industry consortia all around the world, advising on the creation and the acceleration of tech and innovation clusters and the development of related policy. Prior to his role at Startup Genome, Stephan headed up the International Consulting...

With more than 20 years of experience in the telecoms industry, Steve Leighton is now an Advisor to Voneus, having founded the company and acting as its CEO for 13 years.  Voneus is the champion of gigabit broadband for rural communities and alongside its extensive fibre to the premises network is...

Linda Ligios is Head of Innovation - Ecosystem Building at Digital Catapult where she leads and oversees the strategy and teams focused on cultivating technology-centric innovation ecosystems, designing and delivering national and regional scaling programmes to propel the adoption of advanced...

Oliver is a Principal and has been at Analysys Mason for over six years. In that time he has built up expertise across transaction support, fibre deployment strategy and business planning. Oliver has managed multiple commercial and technical due diligences of fixed and wireless operators across the ...

Claudia has been a Senior Partner at Tomorrow Street since 2020. Before joining the team, she worked at Vodafone's headquarters in Paddington, London, where she led an international team focused on workplace innovation. With over 15 years of experience, Claudia has worked in various countries...

Alastair is responsible for Quantexa’s Telco and Enterprise business. He brings a background of over 25 years in the Telco Media industry. Alastair has worked for Quantexa for 3 years and prior to this has worked for a variety of Consulting/SI and telecoms operators. Throughout his career he has...

A dedicated professional with a strong background in economic development and business growth, I am currently serving as the Digital Renewal Manager, focusing on building a thriving, robust digital economy for Ayrshire. I excel at bringing the right people together to solve key challenges. I have...

With over 35 years of communications infrastructure experience, Greg has founded and helped grow fibre companies across five European countries. Part of the founding team of Esat Telecom in Ireland which later sold to BT for over €1bn, Greg went on to help found Versatel Telecom NV, joining the...

Lee’s role as CEO is to drive continued growth and value for Neos Networks, ensuring it continues to be a leading telecoms and digital infrastructure provider for UK businesses. Lee has spent nearly 25 years in privately funded technology businesses. Prior to joining Neos Networks, Lee held many...

Tom Nugent is the Newsletter Editor at Sifted, the FT-backed publication covering European tech, startups and VC. 

Currently Jenny is the Information and Digital Technology Director at Related Argent, the developer behind some of Britain’s most successful mixed-use places, including the King’s Cross Estate in Central London and the development of Brent Cross Town in North London. Jenny has also held IT and...

Dr Gideon Ogunniye is a Senior Research Fellow at PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP), UCL, specialising in AI and IoT ethics, privacy and cybersecurity. He is a member of the BSI committee...

Laura O’Neill is the Digital Transformation Manager at Belfast Harbour, spearheading efforts to become a Smart Port and World Leading Regional Port. With an MSc in Mathematics from Queens University, she blends her analytical prowess with strategic vision. Laura oversees Project...

Jon has spent 20 years in the IT/Telecoms industry, more specifically 14 years at Airband Community Internet. Roles at Airband have including Technical Sales, Project Management, Network and Service Management and more recently, heading up the FWA strategy for Airband under the role ‘Chief...

David Pritchard is Solutions Architect at Dura-Line. With over 40 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, David has engineered and built fibre networks across the globe, including the first FTTH networks in Saudi Arabia. A subject matter expert in network materials, he has also held...

Clive is a Senior Partner at Cambridge Management Consulting with a focus on the technology, media and telecoms sector (TMT).  He has extensive experience in the industry from his time at BT and AT&T, having held executive positions in strategy, transformation, and product management. Clive has ...

James has over a decade of experience in the telecoms industry during which time he has worked as an analyst, consultant, and policy advisor. He has broad knowledge and experience across spectrum, digital policy, M&A, and operator strategy.  Prior to joining Assembly, James was a lead analyst...

Prof. Simon Saunders - Independent Telecoms AdvisorPhD CEng FREng FIET FITP Prof. Simon Saunders is an advisor and researcher with deep industry and academic background in communication systems technology. He is chair of the UKTIN Expert Working Group on Wireless Networking Technologies  an...

Kirsty Scott is the Senior Business Engagement Manager at The Scotland 5G Centre since July 2022.  In her current role at The Centre, she collaborates with public and private sectors in 5G applications through R&D testing and helping SMEs develop technology roadmaps through Advanced Wireless...

Dr. Dorian Selz is co-founder and CEO of Squirro, an AI company. Before that he founded the Swiss search platform local.ch and made it the market leader in four years. Previously he was a partner and COO at Namics, the largest e-business consultancy in Switzerland & Germany.He holds a PhD from...

Sarah Shepherd heads up the recently established Digital Phone Switchover function which is housed within techUK. The Digital Phone Switchover has been set up by Communications Providers and network operators to identify where common challenges to the IP migration program can be best resolved...

Phil Siveter is the CEO of Nokia UK& Ireland, having joined Nokia in 2017. He brought with him 20 years of leadership experience in telecoms and ICT. Phil is focused on advancing Nokia’s world-class portfolio and managing partnerships and alliances in the UK&I.Prior to Nokia, Phil worked at ...

Sally-Anne is Chief Revenue Officer and a founding member at Ogi, Wales’s foremost alternative choice telecoms company. With over 25 years’ experience of driving commercial growth for leading brands including Centrica and Sky, Sally-Anne steers Ogi’s commercial operations, including...

Ian is the Head of the UK telecommunications Innovation Network (UKTIN) which is an organisation that promotes collaboration and information sharing within the telecommunications sector in the UK.  It facilitates many collaboration events, seeks and provides technical resources for industry...

Name: Tony Smith               Job Title: Director of Network Delivery, Gigaclear During his 35 years as a telecoms professional, Tony Smith has overseen the strategic planning and execution of telecommunications networks at BT, Openreach and, most recently, Gigaclear. He has extensive experience ...

Sanchita Sur is the Founder and CEO of Emplay, which uses AI to automate business decisions and actions. She is an author, speaker, and thought leader on AI in business. Previously, she was a management consultant at KPMG and Capgemini and has advised C-level executives across various sectors. She...

I lead the development of essential and workforce digital skills in Dorset. My background is in corporate communications and teaching; we tell the human stories of the people and businesses we help through our innovative projects which try to address all the barriers to getting online. We...

Tim Vaesen is the Commercial Director of United Autosports. His career has taken him worldwide, from the UK to the USA, working with global brands, including Toyota and Lexus. He recently sat on the board of directors at the Dutch-based European Business Development Group before joining United...

Mark has over 24 years’ experience in the fixed-line and wireless telecoms industry, specifically in the design, deployment and development of FTTH solutions. During this time, he has worked with market leading organisations, including incumbent operators and AltNets, delivering innovative FTTH...

Dr Blesson Varghese is a Reader in Computer Science at the University of St Andrews and directs the Edge Computing Hub funded by Rakuten Mobile Inc., Japan. He leads research on edge machine learning within the recently established UKRI National Edge AI Hub. He has previously held a Royal Society...

Ian Vernon is a constant learner who aims to create a better world for the future through technology. His career started with the World Bank in secured IT systems and progressed to implement the first generation of cellular technologies before mobile networks were digital. He is AWTG’s Chief...

Jonathan is Head of Infrastructure Policy at Logistics UK and leads on road, rail policy and planning. His main focus is engagement with members and key stakeholders relating to infrastructure and cities to hear their views, identify their key priorities and influence decision making on these...

Paul is Chief Business Officer at Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and places.  Paul is also chair of Smart Cities World’s Advisory Board, a Board member of UK5G, and has recently joined the Open & Agile Smart Cities & Communities Board. He...

Colin leads digital innovation at Dorset Council, a large unitary authority in South West England. A former journalist with many years’ experience as a local government and NHS Head of Communications, Colin led the multi award-winning 5G RuralDorset project. He is passionate about cycling, live...

Oliver Woolley. CEO and Co-founder Envestors. Makes his own sourdough in Putney and keeps wicket for local cricket team (where he has never caught someone out). Envestors is a FCA regulated digital investment platform connecting entrepreneurs with investors.  Envestors has a network of 400 funds...