Women of Silicon Roundabout, 7-8 December 2020, ExCeL London
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Col Dame Kelly Holmes (MBE mil) is one of Britain’s most recognizable and admired athletes. She has won Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European medals, and added the ultimate sporting trophy to her cabinet at the Athens Olympic Games – Double Olympic Gold.
Kelly, however is not only known for her medals and records, but also for her gutsy, committed approach to athletics and her ability to overcome injury and illness in order to still stay at the top of her discipline. Her strength and courage has won her many fans both within the sport and outside of it.
She started her athletics career as a promising athlete as a junior and won the 1,500m at the English Schools Championships, but chose to give up her early athletics career in favour of a career in the army. She signed up a few months before her 18th Birthday and over the next 9 years worked her way quickly up the ranks until she was a Sergeant. She joined with the aim of making the rank of Officer, but once she started to run again, initially for the forces, and started to win major titles she faced a really tough decision – army or running?
In 1997 she took a massive step and left the army, making athletics her focus and career. Her desire to be the best demands that she gives100%, something she does in everything she takes on. She has the fundamental element for success – the ability to be focused. She was awarded the MBE in 1998 for services to the British Army and was honoured by the Queen in the 2005 New Year’s honours with a Damehood.
Kelly won Olympic Gold in the 800m and 1500m races at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, becoming the first woman ever and the first Briton in over 80 years to do so.
Kelly retired from competition in the autumn of 2005 but remains heavily involved in the sport. Among her many activities Kelly has also written her autobiography, ‘Black, White & Gold’, appeared in the Celebrity TV Series ‘Dancing on Ice’, and has been appointed by the government as the first National School Sport Champion. She founded the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in 2008 with a vision to get young lives back on track using the unique skills of world class athletes to engage, enable and empower young people.
In 2018 she was appointed Honorary Colonel of The Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment, becoming the first person to ever be attached to a regular unit which was signed off by the Queen.
In 2019 Kelly released a new book calledRunning Life: Mindset, Fitness& Nutrition for Positive Wellbeing – an inspirational and attainable guide to how mindfulness, exercise anddietinterlink to transform your overall wellbeing. It was awarded Sports Health and Fitness Book of theYear at The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2019.
Kelly speaks passionately on employee wellbeing and mental health, motivation, inspiration, sports, entrepreneurship and diversity & inclusion.
Lucy Hawking uses story-telling to help audiences understand and engage with science. Lucy is the creator of the George Greenby books, a series of adventure stories which use dramatic story-telling to explain complex science to young audiences. Lucy has collaborated with several distinguished scientists on the George Greenby series, including her well-known father, the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Translated into 40 different languages the books have each met with rave reviews. Lucy is currently working with Canadian animation studio DHX media to develop the series into an animated television series.
Previously, Lucy worked as a journalist in London and New York. She subsequently moved into publishing with two comedy novels for adults: “Jaded” (2004) and “Run for Your Life” (2005). While working on the George series, Lucy spent a year as Distinguished Writer in residence at the Origins Project, ASU where she was also Visiting International Scholar at the Institute of Humanities Research. Lucy is a trustee of the Autism Research Trust which supports the work of Cambridge neuroscientist Simon Baron Cohen and his team, investigating the causes of autism. She has many other charitable interests and seeks to support people and their families with autism and Motor Neurone Disease. In 2015, Lucy was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in recognition of the work she has done in explaining science to a young audience. In the same year she was awarded the UNSW medal for Science Communication. Lucy won the Sapio Prize for popularising science in 2008.
Lucy is one of few people worldwide whose childhood has been made into an Oscar winning movie. She is played in the film Theory of Everything by young actress Rafaela Chapman. On July 16th 2015, Lucy was awarded an honorary doctorate of sciences by Queen Mary University of London. Dr Lucy Hawking was delighted by the great honour, given to her for her work in making science accessible and entertaining for a young audience.
Advocate for diversity and inclusion in all its forms. Passionate about redressing the gender balance via advisory positions at @BigYGroup, @accelerate-Her and the @girlguiding association. "If we are to thrive in a digital future, we must ensure that we have all of our voices heard when it comes to designing technology. If we do not, we risk creating a world which is for the few and not for the many."
In 2016 she entered the @Computerweekly Hall of Fame after being voted Computer Weekly's Most Influential Woman in IT 2015; she was listed on Debretts 2016 500 People of Influence and named in Europe’s Inspiring Fifty most inspiring female role models for 2017. She was presented with the 2017 Catherine Variety award for Science and Technology and the 2018 Women in Tech Award for Advocate of the Year acknowledging her contribution to diversity. Awarded the Digital and Technology Award at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2019. Listen to her life and music choices on Desert Island Discs podcast March 2019. Jacqueline was awarded CBE for Services to International Trade in Technology in the Queen's New Year Honours list 2018.
She is happily married to Roger Andre.
Listed as one of the UK's Top Most Influential Women in Tech & an international multi-award winner for her services to Diversity & Inclusion in industry, Sheree (@nirushika) is the Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Monzo; Board-Appointed Global Ambassador, Women Who Code; Contributor, Forbes.
Sheree is a global Diversity & Inclusion leader, having worked in many regions providing leadership and training to C-suite/Executive leadership to develop fully formed focused diversity and inclusion strategies. She has created tailored data driven strategies through engaging all employees, including C-suite, which has enabled authentic change. Sheree has what has been described as “infectious confidence with expertise in the diversity and inclusion space”, which leads to the ability to ensure people, of all levels, understand the business benefit of diversity and inclusion whilst becoming champions, in their own roles.
As a passionate advocate for gaining/retaining women in the industry, she launched & led the award-winning U.K. expansion of Women Who Code (womenwhocode.com), since 2013.
As an industry leader, she has spoken at many global events, conferences and leadership sessions and is regularly profiled for her work. Sheree & her work have been featured in many publications, such as Forbes, FastCompany, Evening Standard, HuffPost, Business Post, Marie Claire, Wired, ComputerWeekly, The Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, Newsletter & many more. Links are provided below.
The aim of her career is ensuring people are aware of the fantastic opportunities the industry has to offer & make certain that all humans are able to benefit from these & reach their full career potential.
Kriti has experience managing global Machine Learning and Digital products in regulated industries and has been leading chatbot projects for various social causes, from productivity to inequality to domestic abuse, in over 25 countries. Included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 for advancements in AI and the Recode 100 List of Key Influencers in Technology in 2017, Kriti was also invited as a Civic Leader to the Obama Foundation Summit for her work in ethical technology. She recently gave expert testimony on AI Policy to the UK Parliament in the House of Lords.
Prior to founding AI for Good, Kriti was the VP of Artificial Intelligence at FTSE 100 companies including Barclays and Sage. Kriti was also appointed a United Nations Young Leader at the General Assembly in 2018 and is an adviser to the UN Technology Innovation Labs.
While much of Silicon Valley worry about doomsday scenarios where AI will take over human civilization, Kriti Sharma has a different kind of concern: What happens if disadvantaged groups don’t have a say in the technology we’re creating?
Debbie Forster MBE is an award-winning figure in the areas of diversity, tech and education.She is a coach, portfolio consultant and CEO for the Tech Talent Charter, an industry collective driving greater inclusion and diversity in the UK tech workforce. Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) named her Woman of the Year for 2016 and she was awarded an MBE in 2017 for “Services to Digital Technology and Tech Development”. She was awarded Women in IT Awards Diversity Leader of the Year 2019 and Computer Weekly also named her Most Influential Woman in UK IT for 2019.
Sara Murray (MA Oxon) is a serial technology entrepreneur, having founded Ninah Consulting, which she sold to French Communications Group – Publicis and Inspop, which owns the brand Confused.com – now a multi-billion pound UK listed business.
Sara then founded and runs Buddi, the first wearable-as-a-service company, which operates in health and criminal justice markets, delivering to Government customers on five continents. Sara was a UK Entrepreneur of the Year winner, a governing board member of Innovate UK (the UK Government’s Innovation Agency) and a development council member of the National Portrait Gallery.
She is currently the Senior Independent Director of Boohoo.com plc, the multi-billion pound online fast fashion group, and sits on the Council of Imperial College London. She was awarded an OBE for services to Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours 2012 and is a qualified helicopter pilot.
Richard Davies is the Chief Executive Officer for Banking at Revolut, having joined in July 2019. He is responsible for Revolut’s banking entities around the world, alongside a number of group functions.
Revolut is a radically better digital bank account that includes a debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments. We are on a mission to build a fair and frictionless platform to use and manage money around the world. Our platform allows users to transfer, exchange, and spend money at great value rates with a multi currency card that is accepted everywhere.
Prior roles include:
Richard has a MA Economics and M.Phil Development Economics from Trinity Hall Cambridge.
Anne Marie has been Chief Operating Officer at Ocado Technology since 2014, looking after Infrastructure and Operations, organisational development, and general management. She joined the organisation in 2001, and became Head of Ocado Technology Poland in 2012. That gave her the opportunity to set up our first development office from scratch outside the UK. Before joining Ocado, Anne Marie worked in Boston, US as a Software Development Manager for Staples Inc.
As a leader in the Chief Technology Office for investment banking, Rini has been responsible for delivering many innovative technology programmes including Cloud, artificial intelligence and biometric authentication. A founding member of the UBS BAME employee network, she has helped to increase the network’s membership to nearly 1,000, and manages all external networking and engagements to actively promote BAME representation in the organisation. She is a board member for BritBangla and is credited for her contribution on diversity as part of the newly-launched Good Work Standard by the London Mayor’s office. Rini represents UBS at the Lord Mayor’s Appeal for City corporations chaired by Dame Fiona Woolf, and is one of the top 100 Muslim women ‘changing the script’ under Baroness Uddin’s initiative to promote Muslim women in the UK.
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