Conference Facilitators

Kate Adie

People used to joke that if you find yourself in the same place as Adie you should get out immediately. As Chief News Reporter she broadcast from the front line in the Gulf War and riots in Tiananmen Square. Kate talks about Britain’s home front, and when women started going to football matches.

Henry Ajder

Henry works at the frontier of the generative AI and synthetic media revolution. He presented the BBC documentary series The Future will be Synthesised, and advises organisations on the challenges and opportunities new technologies present.

Ayo Akinwolere

Ayo became one of four people of colour with a swimming world record, when he swam in one of the deepest stretches of water on earth. The former Blue Peter presenter has written for the Daily Telegraph, BBC Sport and the Independent, and appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, the Great British Bake Off and Celebrity Pointless. After moving into sports and current affairs, Ayo co-created the production company Milk First Productions, which aims to tell diverse stories and amplify diverse voices.

Dr Nighat Arif

Dr Nighat is a GP specialising in women’s health and family planning. She is a medical educator and provides teaching to local trainee GPs as well as at national and international conferences. Nighat was nominated for the National Bevan Prize for Health and Wellbeing to acknowledge her commitment to advancing wellbeing in her community. She has worked to raise awareness on menopause and women’s healthcare in Black and Asian women, and presented her clinical work at the Menopause in the Workplace Parliamentary committee hearing. Nighat...

Vanessa Baffoe

Vanessa is a Journalist and Presenter at Sky News. She has previously worked at BBC News and ITV News. She also hosts and moderates International Women’s Day for all of Sky’s platforms.

Dr Victoria Baines

Having worked in law enforcement and cybersecurity, Victoria joined the social media giant in a leading role to connect the business to government and security agencies. A leading thinker on trust and safety in the digital world, she looks at everything from the how, why and who of fake news to what AI could do for privacy, the myths and realities of cybercrime to what invading someone’s space in virtual reality might mean.

Clare Balding

Clare is the First Lady of TV sport. The ex-champion jockey fronts Royal Ascot, the Olympics, and the BBC's Wimbledon coverage. After dinner Clare shares highs and lows, and takes guests behind the latest back page headlines. She is also adept at live Q&A with sporting heroes.

Cally Beaton

After joining the board of ITV, setting up her own company and serving as SVP in charge of International Sales at media giant Viacom, Cally has also started a parallel career in comedy. She brings humour and energy to workplace insights ranging from how to foster a creative, positive environment to how to inspire and lead through change.

Jason Bradbury

Labelling himself a ‘first generation geek,’ Jason is fixated with tech and all things web-related. And as David Walliams’ one-time stand-up partner he’s also a very entertaining performer. After looking at past technological breakthroughs, Jason explains why the next ten years could see as much progress as the last millennium. Using his own inventions (a robot and a glove phone), he shows how computers will become so integral that we cease to treat them as objects.

Alastair Campbell

Alastair ran Labour’s communications for ten years, in and out of government. Alongside co-hosting The Rest is Politics podcast, he advises on both political and organisational strategy, as well as working extensively with charities and campaigning around mental health. He’s written a slew of books including Winners, drawing inspiration from high achievers in sport, business and politics. In presentations Alastair explains what to do when you come under pressure: “Challenge your basic assumptions, put yourselves in your opponent’s shoes, devise a tight plan from t...

Pippa Crerar

An award-winning journalist who has covered Westminster and international politics for more than two decades, Pippa also exposed the election betting, Partygate and Barnard Castle scandals. She co-hosts ITV's flagship political debate programme, and is Political Editor of The Guardian, before which she was Political Editor of the Daily Mirror, and City Hall Editor at the Evening Standard.

Lyse Doucet

One of the BBC’s most widely respected journalists, Lyse has covered some of the most tumultuous events around the world, from the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan to the Arab Spring uprisings and the war in Ukraine. Despite the conflict and terror, she’s an unshakeable optimist, seeing the humanity and unity of people in the toughest of circumstances. She analyses the political and social uncertainty the world faces, and considers the nature of risk. She also reveals the lighter side to reporting from some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Mariella Frostrup

Mariella has moved from film review to Panorama and writing about menopause. She has also served as agony aunt on The Observer and has interviewed luminaries of stage, book and screen from Oliver Stone to Kermit the Frog.

Misha Glenny

After reporting on the Balkan wars and the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, Misha worked with and advised EU and US governments. He remains an expert on Central and Eastern Europe and an acclaimed writer on global crime, most notably in his book McMafia, which was adapted into a hit BBC drama.

Robert Guest

Robert is The Economist’s Deputy Editor. Previously he was US editor, business editor, Washington correspondent and Lexington columnist covering American news and politics.

Timandra Harkness

Science writer, broadcaster, comedian and co-host of Radio 4’s FutureProofing series, Timandra examines the effects of all areas of technology. She is the author of Big Data: does size matter? and has written for Wired, the Guardian and the Telegraph.

Baroness Ayesha Hazarika

Having moved from the civil service to comedy to Harriet Harman’s Chief of Staff and now back to comedy, Ayesha has gone from writing policy and speeches to writing jokes and commentary pieces. With a combination of humour and insight she looks at politics, the operation of government, what goes on behind the scenes of Westminster and what might happen next.

Leo Johnson

Combining consulting, research, and presenting BBC programmes including Future Proofing and Hacking Capitalism, Leo explores change and how we respond to it. He argues that disruptive events from pandemics to new technologies give us the opportunity (even the duty) to consider, with a new perspective, environmental, social and capital imbalances. In doing so, leaders will often understand the imperative to change strategy, but will also experience the intense difficulty of realising transformation. Leo delivers a practical understanding of why change is hard and what to do about it.

Soumaya Keynes

Soumaya is Economics Columnist at the FT, and analyses monetary and fiscal policy. She was previously Britain Economics Editor and co-host of the Money Talks podcast at The Economic, and a Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal studies.

Priya Lakhani

Alongside leading CENTURY Tech, the award-winning education company that aids the implementation of AI and machine learning in classrooms, Priya is part of the AI Decoded team on BBC News, and advises businesses and leaders in a variety of sectors on the impact of AI, how to adapt to disruption, and how to build an innovation culture.

Amy Lewin

Amy was the first employee at Sifted and has played an instrumental role in building and developing the new media brand. She covers fintech, foodtech, generative AI, climate tech, and diversity initiatives, and is particularly knowledgeable on Europe’s venture capital industry.

Gabby Logan

The one-time gymnast has written for The Times and performed standup for Sports Relief alongside her more regular roles hosting football, rugby, athletics and Olympics coverage. She also fronts Match of the Day, and co-hosts the Sports Agents podcast.