Latest - Business Sector: Financial and legal services

Lisa Powis

Lisa Powis was enthralled by IT when at 11 she saw her father use an early computer in his insurance business. Since then she has been an advocate of the use of IT in business. She has tried to use IT in all of her roles in the insurance sector, sometimes asking IT to do more than it could given her enthusiasm. Powis is one of the users of IT who have pushed IT’s boundaries and challenged IT suppliers to give business what it needs. She is now launching a crowd-funded investment platform for companies developing IT of the insurance sector.

Dr Stephen Castell

Dr Stephen Castell has worked in all four corners of the IT industry.  He was worked on the computing side and in telecommunications.   He has worked as a user implementing complex systems and as a vendor of information products and services.  He spent years advising UK venture capitalists on what were and what were not the best companies to invest in.  Finally he has spent decades as an expert witness in numerous legal disputes between vendors and users when the IT system supplied did not fit the expectations of the buyers.  This gives him a unique insight into the failures of IT.

Sir John Chisholm

Sir John Chisholm started his IT career in management roles at early software and systems companies like Scicon, CAP Scientific, and Sema. In 1991 he became Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, later rebranded as QinetiQ. He is perhaps best known for this role in leading QinetiQ to become an internationally successful technology services company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. He became Chairman of QinetiQ in the same year.

Andrew Stott

Andrew is an international thought leader in open data. Most recently, between 2004 and 2010, as Deputy Chief Information Officer and then Director of Digital Engagement at the Cabinet Office, he delivered the globally leading data.gov.uk, in which a large number of government datasets were made available online for the first time. He has led UK Digital Engagement programmes, and is now an expert adviser, speaker and consultant on open data and e-government, both in the UK and worldwide.

Andy Ayim

Andy Ayim moves in the world of venture capital, tech start-ups, and product development. In 2010 Andy, along with his brother, Kwabz and a few friends set up Mixtape Madness, a passion project to create a central location online for people to listen to UK hip-hop and grime music.

He is currently Managing Director of the London Accelerator at Backstage Capital, that looks for investment opportunities with companies founded by those from under-represented groups, including women, people of colour, and the LGBT community.

In 2018 Andy was named in the Financial Times as one of the top ten most influential black and minority ethnic tech leaders in the UK.

Sir Rod Aldridge

Leading social and business entrepreneur and founder of Capita Group

In 1987 Sir Rod Aldridge OBE created Capita as an independent firm (breaking away from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) running contracts for local authorities and central government. It is now the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the UK.

On retirement from Capita in 2006, Rod established the Aldridge Foundation and became one of the first sponsors of the government’s Academy Programme.

The Foundation works in challenging communities and has so far unlocked £300m government funding to build new academies.