Our purpose

Angela joined Heart of the City in March 2022 and is responsible for providing operational support across the team.

Angela has over 15 years’ experience of working within the not-for-profit and charity sector in office support roles. She previously worked as Office Manager for The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, a grant giving charity which runs an annual medical research award and makes smaller grants to charities that align with the Trust’s mission.

Angela studied Business Studies at Nottingham Trent University. She has two young boys who are the driving force behind her decision to try and live a more sustainable and environmentally conscious lifestyle.

Katie joined Heart of the City in November 2022 and is responsible for supporting the running of the Foundations for Responsible Business and Climate for SMEs programmes.  

Before this, Katie completed a Postgraduate Degree in Global Environment Politics and Society at the University of Edinburgh, which covered key aspects of environmental politics and climate change justice and responsibility. Her dissertation focused on the development of corporate social responsibility, sustainability and the ethical consumer within the fast fashion industry. 

In 2018, Katie took part in the graduate scheme Charityworks which is a leadership and development programme specifically for the charity sector. After this, she was the Training and Delivery Officer at StreetDoctors. 

Katie studied at Durham University and has an Undergraduate Degree in Human Geography, specialising in geopolitics and social geography. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, reading, baking and going to the theatre.  

Laura moved into her current role as Net Zero Programme Manager in June 2021 and is responsible for our climate action course, climate for SMES: 4 steps to action.

Laura joined Heart of the City in November 2019 as Operations Officer. Prior to that she worked in CSR at a construction firm where she helped develop responsible business plans within tenders and sites CSS plans.

Laura studied at the University of Nottingham and has a degree in Geography. In her spare time you’ll find her knee deep in arts and crafts. Her current new venture is candle making.

Maggie leads Heart of the City, an organisation that works with SMEs to help them to develop responsible business programmes which can range from climate action programmes, supporting their local community to reducing their environmental impact or promoting diversity and wellbeing in the workplace. Heart of the City is an independent charity which is housed by and supported by the City of London Corporation and since its inception twenty years ago, it has been at the forefront of helping small businesses to develop responsible business programmes.

Maggie was previously Executive Director for Europe for WEConnect International, a global organisation championing supplier diversity in procurement and helping majority owned women businesses to connect into the corporate supply chain. For over eight years, Maggie had lead responsibility for the organisation in Europe and her role involved developing corporate and public sector support as well as growing and supporting a network of c1,800 women-owned businesses across Europe.

Prior to this, Maggie ran an online job board, recruitment and networking forum for women working in the technology profession in the UK. Maggie remains informally involved with championing women in the technology profession and is a Freeman at the Information Technologists’ Company in the City of London.

In June 2019, Maggie was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of her services to women in business and technology.

Maria joined us in September 2023 as the events apprentice and is responsible for supporting us with all our events, bringing her passion for helping people to a larger scale after having worked in healthcare previously.

Maria studied at the University of Birmingham. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering at her local theatre in community outreach events, arts and crafts and visiting art galleries.

Natalie joined Heart of the City in March 2017 from RSA Group where she managed their community and charitable activities.

Natalie has 20 years of experience of working in the charity sector and responsible business roles.  Natalie spent four years at RSA leading their charitable and community activities, including an award winning partnership with School for Social Entrepreneurs. During her time at Lloyd’s of London, as secretary to Lloyd’s Charities Trust and managing Lloyd’s Community Programme activities, Natalie focused on developing strong charitable partnerships that supported their local communities and had strong charitable and business benefits.  In both roles, Natalie was also able to develop her experience of working on environmental, social mobility, D&I and wellbeing programmes.

Before her CSR roles, Natalie worked in the fundraising teams of Addaction and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Olivia joined Heart of the City having completed ‘On Purpose’, a year leadership course on social and environmental impact. During that time she worked with Big Society Capital, the UK’s leading social impact-led investor.

Prior to On Purpose, Olivia worked for the British Government at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, specialising in international development. She has worked in policy areas including Global Health, Social Protection and Improving Data in Developing Countries, and helped organise global conferences. In 2019, she was a diplomat based in Madrid working in the political section to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

Olivia studied at the University of York and has a degree in History, with a specialism in Peru in the 1980s; this sparked a love of all things Latin America. She is passionate about addressing inequality which led her to volunteer as a trustee of global children’s rights charity, Plan International UK since 2016. Closer to home, she volunteers as a befriender in her local council.

Reshmi joined Heart of the City in September 2023 and is the Project Manager leading on our Minority Business Matters programme.

Reshmi is a human rights lawyer by training and has worked both internationally and in the UK’s third and corporate sectors.

Over the last 15 years, Reshmi has worked mainly in the ESG/CSR and grant funding space and is especially passionate about BAME women’s health related rights. She has a European Master’s in international Humanitarian Action and was an Erasmus scholar.

Reshmi lives in Hampshire and enjoys being involved as a trustee in her village parish’s community activities amongst other hobbies including travel and cooking.

Sophie joined Heart of the City as in May 2022. She’s responsible for supporting and growing our network of ambassadors and building strategic partnerships which help to scale our impact with SMEs.

Prior to this, Sophie spent over 15 years working in the non-profit sector, building relationships with public bodies, business, and other key stakeholders to secure investment in strategic impact areas including climate change, skills, economic regeneration, community cohesion and health and wellbeing.

In 2020 Sophie completed a Joint Master in Global Economic Governance and Public Affairs. Studying across Italy, Germany and France, with LUISS School of Government and Centre International de Formation Europeenne. The course focused how public and private institutions can realise the sustainable development agenda through governance for the common good. Her final published thesis was Ethical Governance for Data and Artificial Intelligence.

Stephen joined Heart of the City in September 2023 and is responsible for providing design and technical support to the team. He’s helping shape the experience for Heart of the City’s newest venture, Minority Business Matters.

Stephen is a User Experience consultant with several years’ experience working in the commercial sector. He joined LBi (later Digitas) in 2007, at one time the largest independent creative and marketing agency network in Europe. On leaving LBi he worked for The Guardian, Homebase and Argos. In 2018 he joined the nascent product team at Ascential, a global information and data insight company. While there he became increasingly involved with diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives, culminating in an ambitious proposal to offer ethnic minority businesses pro bono access to the company’s ecommerce platform and advisory functions.

Stephen has a fine art background which transmuted over time into a love of graphic and later web design. He built his first website in 1996 when the web was still in its infancy. For a number of years he designed and built websites for publications, arts bodies, individuals and independents. He studied Fine Art at Liverpool John Moores University. He enjoys gardening, is a parent governor at his children’s primary school and volunteers his time maintaining the school website.

Aedamar was elected Linklaters’ Senior Partner and Chair in May 2021 and is the first female Senior Partner in the firm’s 184 year history. In the five years leading up to this, Aedamar was the Global Head of Corporate, responsible for managing the firm’s corporate practice around the world. She currently chairs the Partnership Board and, before that, was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee for five years.

Aedamar is recognised as a leading public and private M&A lawyer. She leads Linklaters’ relationship with seven large international clients, including HSBC, Visa, Capita and Tate & Lyle, for whom she is a trusted Board adviser.

Diversity and inclusion is something that Aedamar is passionate about and she’s committed to progressing diversity of every type within Linklaters. She’s an active sponsor of the Linklaters Women’s Leadership Programme which aims to support the firm’s women in reaching senior leadership positions. Aedamar has also been recognised by Financial News as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance and 50 Most Influential Lawyers in 2022, City A.M.’s Power 100 Women List and as a Leading M&A lawyer in The Lawyer magazine Hot 100 ranking.

Aedamar is the Senior Independent Director of FTSE company James Fisher and Sons plc. She sits on the company’s audit, remuneration and nominations committees and is Chair of the Remuneration Committee. She’s also a member of the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Council.

Andreas H Luginbuehl is the Head of the UK Management Office and in this capacity runs the Office of the UK Chief Executive and UK Chief Operating Officer for UBS Group AG. Andreas is also the Operating Officer of UBS Investment Bank (IB) for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA). Andreas is responsible for overseeing the front-to-back control environment within the IB in CEEMEA and he plays a key role in the wide variety of bank wide operational efforts across the IB in CEEMEA as well as for UBS Group AG in the UK.

Andreas joined UBS in 2009 in Investment Banking and worked in Liability Management in Debt Capital Markets. Andreas was Head of Client Services in UBS Delta in Global Markets, advising institutional investors and corporate clients on multi-asset portfolio construction and risk management solutions. Andreas is a graduate of the University of Zurich from where he holds a Master’s Degree.

Andrew Bailey served as Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 July 2016 until taking up the role of Governor. As CEO of the FCA, Andrew Bailey was also a member of the Prudential Regulation Committee, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority.

Andrew previously held the role of Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA from 1 April 2013. While retaining his role as Executive Director of the Bank, Andrew joined the Financial Services Authority in April 2011 as Deputy Head of the Prudential Business Unit and Director of UK Banks and Building Societies. In July 2012, Andrew became Managing Director of the Prudential Business Unit, with responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks and insurance companies. Andrew was appointed as a voting member of the interim Financial Policy Committee at its June 2012 meeting.

Previously, Andrew worked at the Bank in a number of areas, most recently as Executive Director for Banking Services and Chief Cashier, as well as Head of the Bank’s Special Resolution Unit (SRU). Previous roles include Governor’s Private Secretary, and Head of the International Economic Analysis Division in Monetary Analysis.

Throughout his career Chris Hayward has worked in the construction, aviation, infrastructure and global events management sectors.

He is currently a Director at leading communications agency JBP, a Director at professional services consulting firm WSP in the UK and Director of Hayward Properties Limited.

He is a former Deputy Leader of Hertfordshire and Dorset County Councils.

As Policy Chairman, he will effectively operate as the political Leader of the City Corporation.

Bishop Sarah was a late ordinand who before ordination was Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health. She has continued her interest in the health service as a non-executive director at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust then at Salisbury NHS Foundation Hospital. She is currently chairing commissions on bereavement and health inequalities. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 for her contribution to nursing and midwifery.

The Rt Rev and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE was installed as the 133rd Bishop of London at St Paul’s Cathedral on 12 May 2018.

Georgia is Freshfields’ Senior Partner and has a background in internal and regulatory investigations, complex multi-jurisdictional litigation, and compliance advice in relation to anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and corruption and human rights.  Georgia has practiced for over 20 years in Sydney, London, Hong Kong and Singapore and she has worked on significant cross-border mandates across a range of jurisdictions in APAC, Africa and Central Asia.

Georgia was named an Innovative Leader in the Financial Times Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards 2020.  She is also a champion for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. She was named by the Financial Times and Yahoo! in the OUTstandingTop 50 LGBT+ Ally Executives lists in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 and by Stonewall as its Global Senior Champion in 2019.

Georgia is admitted to practice in Hong Kong, England & Wales and New South Wales, and she is a registered foreign lawyer in Singapore. She holds a first-class degree in law from the University of Sydney and a Master’s degree in international relations from Cambridge University, where she studied as a Chevening scholar.

Giles Shilson is an independent councillor for the Square Mile and the current Chair of Bridge House Estates, one of the largest charities in the UK. Established in the eleventh century, it owns and maintains five of London’s central bridges at no cost to the taxpayer and, over the past 27 years, its grantmaking arm (the City Bridge Trust) has given over £480,000,000 in grants to help tackle the causes of London’s poverty, inequality, need and disadvantage.

Giles’ background is in law, governance and administration. After a significant period at university studying Modern Languages, Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Law, he was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple and practised as a barrister until 2005. Between 2006 and 2011, he managed an SME in London and was subsequently appointed Court Secretary of the Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest regiment in the British Army. Giles now maintains a portfolio of Chief Executive and other senior appointments within the not-for-profit sector. Recent posts have included Chairman of the Board of the Barbican Centre, the largest multi-arts centre in Europe, and Vice-Chair of Council of Gresham College, London’s oldest higher education institution.

Jo is the founder of sustainability consultancy Green & Good Consulting.  She has been a sustainability leader for 15 years and works with businesses to implement strategy and catalyse climate action.  Her clients have included large global organisations such as BAE Systems and Allianz, as well as smaller fast growth businesses such as Moonpig Group and Clear Insurance.  Her background is within financial services leading sustainability functions at Aviva and Old Mutual.

She has a deep knowledge of human rights and climate change and has sat on the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission Working Group for Business and Human Rights and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative Working Group.

As well as a Council member for Heart of the City, Jo is a judge for the Better Society Awards, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a trustee for Street Trees for Living.

Laura is a member of PwC’s UK executive board and Chief People Officer, responsible for setting and delivering the People Strategy across the UK Firm. She is also a Partner within PwC’s People and Organisation Practice.

Prior to joining PwC in 2005, Laura was a Partner at BDO LLP where she set up and led the HR Consulting Practice. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a Certificate in General Management from Harvard Business School.

Lord Clement-Jones was made CBE for political services in 1988 and a life peer in 1998. Until July 2004 he was the Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson and thereafter until 2010 Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Lords and is the current House of Lords Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Digital. He’s the former Chair of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence which sat from 2017-18 and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI.

He is a founding member of the OECD Parliamentary Group on AI and a member of the Council of Europe’s Ad-hoc Committee on AI (CAHAI). He’s a former member of the House of Lords Select Committees on Communications (2011-15) the Built Environment (2015-16) and Risk Assessment and Planning (2020-21). He was a member of the Joint Select Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill (2021-22). He’s Deputy Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China and Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Music, The Future of Work, Digital Regulation and Responsibility, Ticket Abuse, Performers Alliance, Writers, Ovarian Cancer, PICTFOR and Indonesia.

He’s a Consultant of global law firm DLA Piper where previous positions include London Managing Partner (2011-16), Head of UK Government Affairs, Chair of China and Middle East Desks, International Business Relations Partner and Co-Chair of Global Government Relations. He’s Chair of The Ombudsman Services Limited, the not-for-profit, independent ombudsman service providing dispute resolution for communications, energy, property and copyright industries. He’s Chair of Council of Queen Mary University of London and President of Ambitious about Autism, an autism education charity and school for children with autism and other communication disorders. Full details are on Lord Clement-Jones’ website.

Melissa is a Partner at international law firm Clifford Chance. She is Joint Head of Clifford Chance’s Corporate practice in London and a member of the firm’s London leadership group. Melissa is a passionate supporter of the Mindful Business Charter, which works towards removing unnecessary workplace stress and promoting better mental health and wellbeing in the legal community. She’s also an advocate for greater diversity and inclusion at Clifford Chance, and is a member of their gender pay gap working group.

Michael Davison is Deputy CEO of Hogan Lovells. For close to 30 years, he’s been helping clients avoid disputes and from 2014 to 2020 he was the sole head of the firm’s global Litigation, Arbitration and Employment practice, comprising 200 partners and 800 lawyers across 45+ offices. Michael also sits as an arbitrator, acts as a mediator, and lectures on arbitration topics.

A keen advocate for diversity and inclusion at Hogan Lovells, Michael is the executive sponsor the firm’s Race and Ethnicity at Hogan Lovells (REAHL) Network. Michael is also dedicated to Hogan Lovells’ pro bono programme and has been involved in partnerships with the Royal British Legion to provide legal advice, representation and emotional support to veterans and bereaved Service families to pursue their cases. He’s also currently assisting the Justice for Jasmine families whose relatives died when residents in care homes in South Wales.

Michael also holds a strong interest in the use of technology including AI to support the firm’s clients and is leading a number of projects in this area leading the firm’s data strategy and developing alternative service delivery models.

As well as being a council member at Heart of the City, Michael is also the Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the City of London Lawyers Society.

Nicola is Chief Operating Officer UK & Ireland at Deutsche Bank. In this role Nicola is responsible for managing the operation of Deutsche Bank’s matrix organisation in the region, with a focus on ensuring the business divisions and infrastructure functions in the region maintain an effective control environment.

Prior to this Nicola was the head of UK Regulatory Management at Deutsche Bank. In this role she had responsibility for managing Deutsche Bank’s relationship with both the FCA and PRA, working with stakeholders across all Deutsche Bank businesses and functions. Prior to moving to manage DB’s relationship with the UK regulators Nicola had a 15 year career in Corporate Finance, 10 of which in Deutsche Bank’s Natural Resourced Group with a focus on Utility and Metals & Mining clients.

Paul holds the role of CEO of Macquarie Group for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), along with Head of Commodities and Global Markets, EMEA.

Paul has been Head of Commodities and Global Markets, EMEA since 2007, where he manages a team of more than 790 professionals in 12 offices across EMEA, providing clients with an integrated, end-to-end offering across global markets including commodities, equity derivatives, fixed income, and foreign exchange.

In April 2019, Paul became regional CEO for Macquarie Group in EMEA. Prior to these roles, Paul set up and managed the Macquarie Financial Products Joint Venture with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), based in the Middle East.

Peter Harrison joined Schroders in March 2013 and became Group Chief Executive in April 2016. Prior to his current role he was Global Head of Investment.

Before joining Schroders, Peter was Chairman and CEO of investment boutique RWC Partners. He began his career at Schroders, and later spent time at JP Morgan, and as Group Chief Investment Officer of Deutsche Asset Management.

Peter is a member of the UK Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce, a member of the Board of Directors of FCLT Global and the Advisory Boards of venture capital firm Antler, Harvard University Impact Board, CityUK, CFA UK, the Investment Association and the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange. He was previously Chair of the Investment Association, sat on the Takeover Panel and the Prime Minister’s Financial and Professional Services’ Business Council. Peter is widely engaged in improving inclusion and diversity across financial institutions. He has an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bath.

Prem is an Advisor to the Hinduja Group, focusing on green finance investments, fintech bank acquisitions and real estate projects of national importance.

As an Alderman since 2017, Prem supports the Lord Mayor as he promotes the financial and professional services sector. As a school governor, he retains an enthusiasm for helping young people reach their full potential.

Prem enjoyed a 15-year career at Deutsche Bank in Tokyo and London, specialising in derivatives trading, having worked in institutional sales and trading with Goldman Sachs on Wall Street.

Coming from humble beginnings, Prem earned his bachelor’s degree from ITT (India) and an MBA from UCLA. He has also completed executive education from Chicago Booth. Find out more about Prem.

Sushil is Chair of the Heart of the City. He is also a Governor of Greenwich University and a trustee of the British Council, where he chairs the Commercial Board.

He is a senior business leader and advisor, focused on international business, technology-led transformation and education. With over 30 years’ prior experience at Accenture, Sushil has led business units in EMEA (based in London) and Asia Pacific (based in Hong Kong) and launched fintech accelerators in Hong Kong and Dubai.

Sushil graduated in engineering from Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was previously a trustee of the Princes’ Teaching Institute (PTI) and on the board of TheCityUK.

Michael Mainelli was elected as Lord Mayor of the City of London on 29 September 2023 and took office on 10 November 2023. He previously served Sheriff of the City of London from 2019-2021, being granted an extraordinary second year in that office, the first time since 1228, in order to provide continuity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin, Michael gained his PhD at London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor. Originally a research scientist in aerospace (rocket science) and graphics in the USA and Switzerland, he created the first commercial digital maps of the world in Cambridge.

He has served as Alderman for Broad Street since 2013; President of Broad Street Ward Club; member of Lime Street and Farringdon Ward Clubs; Trustee of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Lord Mayor’s Show, Lord Mayor’s 800th Anniversary Awards Trust, and Morden College; Professor & Life Fellow of Gresham College and Fellow of Goodenough College; Honorary Fellow of King’s College London; Council Member for City & Guilds.

His wife, Elisabeth, is from Bavaria. Elisabeth trained in hotel management and has worked in Germany and London, where she became a personal assistant to the managing partner of a large accountancy firm. They married in 1996 and have three children.

Michael’s hobbies include skiing, woodcarving, diving, dicing with bagpipes, racing sailboats, and dabbling in German, Italian, and French, but even worse Mandarin. He has written over 60 journal articles, 250 business articles and a few books. His humorous novel, Clean Business Cuisine: Now and Z/Yen, written with Ian Harris, was a Sunday Times Book of the Week in 2000.

Tom is the UK Clients and Sectors Partner for DLA Piper, a worldwide group with more than 2,700 lawyers, where he’s worked for over 26 years. Tom also leads the firm’s Life Sciences M&A initiative.

Zahir is a London Office Senior Partner and Vice Chairman of Deloitte. He’s spent most of his 30 year career leading the firm’s relationships with Global Systemically Important Financial Institutions. He’s passionate about the City of London to support innovation, sustainable finance, inclusion and diversity, social mobility, job creation and long-term economic growth.

He currently serves Deloitte’s global financial services clients, University of Oxford, HMT, City of London Corporation and has worked extensively in overseas markets, including Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Dubai, Karachi, Zurich, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels and Oslo. He strongly believes in providing a better future and opportunity to children through his role on the Development Board of Place2Be – a charity which enhances the wellbeing and prospects of children and their families and helping SMEs become responsible businesses through his role on the Council of the Heart of the City.

Zahir is married to Sarah and has two children. He likes spending time in Cornwall and Lahore.

Carmen brings over 15 years of digital marketing, brand and corporate communications experience to our board. Currently the Digital Marketing Lead at Cynergy Bank, Carmen has designed and delivered award-winning websites, apps, brand and digital marketing strategies for organisations including Cazenove Capital, M&S, RSA Insurance Group, Arup and Save the Children UK. Carmen continues to build and maintain a broad network of industry experts and influencers.

As a graduate of the Heart of the City’s Foundations for Responsible Business programme, and now as an alumni member, Fiona brings her personal experience and perspective as an SME to our board of trustees.

As Practice Director at David Miller Architects (DMA) she has put responsible business at the heart of their practice. By supporting the communities where they work, attracting diverse new talent to the construction industry and actively committing to Net Zero, DMA shows that size is not a barrier and that SMEs can make a real difference. As a result DMA and their team have thrived whilst enjoying helping others.

Fiona sits on the boards of Westminster Business Council and The Fitzrovia Partnership BID who also encourage responsible business. She is particularly proud that DMA’s social value creation, especially their work experience programme, has been recognised with a prestigious City of London Lord Mayor’s Dragon Award and a Westminster City Council Lion Award.

Joanne co-founded Globacap, a UK regulated fintech driving the evolution of capital markets by making processes frictionless through automation. The business now operates globally, deploying tech for large institutions such as Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The platform has hosted over 60 primary placements, settled £135m secondary liquidity, and digitised over £10bn of private securities.

Prior to Globacap, Joanne independently advised private equity funds’ portfolio companies on operational improvement and profitability enhancement, and has held a number of senior roles in transformation at large corporates.

Joanne trained as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG, where she spent seven years in both Audit and Transaction Advisory. She also holds an MBA from London Business School.

Keith is an elected Member of the City of London Corporation and is widely involved in leading on youth, education, climate action, environment and broader policy agendas.

He is Deputy Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee, Chairman of its Port Health and Environment Committee, and Chairman of Communications and Corporate Affairs Committee.

Keith is passionate about advancing the interests of young people and about skills and education.  He is a Governor of three Bermondsey Academies as well as a Governor at the City of London School and chairs Partnership for Young London which advances and influences London, Regional and central government on youth policy.

Keith is also a member of the Board of the Green Finance Institute and Chairman of the City of London BIDs Strategic Partnership, as well as a Trustee of Heart of the City.  A Member of the City of London Gresham Committee and Director of the Central Foundation Schools of London and Trustee of Housing for the Homeless Central Fund.

As a Chartered Banker and former Director of Communications at NatWest Group he has a great deal of experience of working at a senior level in the City of London’s dynamic financial services industry.

Martin is group sustainability director at AXA, leading the sustainability outcomes across the group. He previously held roles with Siemens in London and New York in urban development and sustainability, and has been involved in building strategies and developing pathways for organizations to achieve ESG improvement as well as roles in energy purchasing and green funds. Prior to this, he was the Deputy Mayor of London for Energy & Environment to the former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, responsible for policy in water, waste, air quality, energy, climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity. He was also the executive director for the design and delivery of the City’s environmental programmes.

As managing director of Cambridge Management & Research he worked for the Energy Saving Trust and the Institute for Sustainability, and was also special advisor to the C40 Cities Group chaired by Michael R Bloomberg during his time as Mayor of New York.

An engineer, he built his career working with organisations as a consultant to structure their projects and programmes. Martin has two published books – “Better Cities, Better Life” and “Smart Cities – Cities in the Digital Age” and his “The Climate City” from Wiley publishing, which involves contributions from 30 experts in the sustainable city sector.

Strategist, advisor and futures thinker, Nick Turner is the founder and Managing Partner of Stratforma, an advisory boutique that offers counsel to senior decision makers at multi-national organisations. Nick is the product of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, having served as a Managing Director and head of Strategy at Morgan Stanley, after a number of years spent in the high-technology industry in California. As a strategy consultant, Nick was the Co-President of scenario planning and experiential learning pioneers Global Business Network (GBN) and a Senior Partner of Michael Porter’s Monitor Group. Nick is a visiting lecturer in strategy, scenario planning and innovation at leading business schools, including London (LBS), Imperial College and INSEAD. Nick is also a trustee of the educational charity, Ambition Institute. He previously served as a Board Member of the Mayor of London’s Enterprise Panel (LEP), The London Skills and Employment Board (LSEB) and chaired the London Employer Coalition (LEC).

Rob is the Bank of England’s Agent for Greater London, since May 2018. He joined the bank in 1998, and for twelve years supported the Monetary Policy Committee as an economist and then senior manager.  Between 2010 and 2012 he represented the UK on the board of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. When he returned he worked in our press office, and most recently, supported our Financial Policy Committee by running a team monitoring developments in the UK banking sector.

Between 1990 and 1998 Rob worked as an economist and forecaster at HM Treasury, British Telecom and Manchester University. He also taught English in Japan for a year.

Sushil is Chair of the Heart of the City. He is also a Governor of Greenwich University and a trustee of the British Council, where he chairs the Commercial Board.

He is a senior business leader and advisor, focused on international business, technology-led transformation and education. With over 30 years’ prior experience at Accenture, Sushil has led business units in EMEA (based in London) and Asia Pacific (based in Hong Kong) and launched fintech accelerators in Hong Kong and Dubai.

Sushil graduated in engineering from Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was previously a trustee of the Princes’ Teaching Institute (PTI) and on the board of TheCityUK.

Suzanne Scatliffe is Global Sustainability Director at AXA XL, where she leads the global sustainability strategy and programs.

Suzanne has 17 years’ experience in CSR and sustainability roles in the insurance, technology, and education sectors, and is a certified Sustainability Practitioner (IEMA) and Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS).

She served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) UK from 2018-2021 and volunteers as a Heart of the City Mentor, helping small businesses in the UK develop CSR and Sustainability initiatives.

Taraneh leads on Group Government Relations for Barclays, focusing on major policy, legislative and reputational developments, and issues such as prudential regulation, sustainability and D&I.  She has spent most of her career focusing on SME policy and until recently headed up Government Relations for Business and Corporate Banking. She also managed Barclays’ regional Comms and Public Affairs team.

Taraneh represents Barclays in discussions with policymakers and politicians at international and national levels and advises the firm’s senior management on the potential impact of legislation and public policy. This involves designing and executing campaigns focused and working with stakeholders across government. In addition, Taraneh is the wellbeing lead for her 600+ person function.

Taraneh joined Barclays in 2010 from Burson-Marsteller, a political consultancy where she worked in a variety of accounts across multiple sectors. She started her career working in the UK Parliament as a researcher to Glenda Jackson MP.

She graduated with a Masters in Diplomacy and a BA (Hons) in European Politics from the University of Nottingham.

Nurole connects tens of thousands of leaders across more than 100 countries to roles that match their interests. Whether a public company chair, a private equity CEO or a chief digital officer, Nurole enables individuals to put themselves forward, and recommend others, for career defining positions with iconic public and private companies, as well as exciting VC-backed start-ups and pro-bono roles in government and not-for-profit organisations.

Anna Farquharson is Head of Social Value at global facilities management company, ISS Facility Services, where she’s responsible for the implementation of ISS UK’s social value strategy.

Anna is an experienced social value professional, having previously worked at one of the UK’s leading social value measurement organisations. Here she supported several local authorities to embed social value in their procurement processes, which involved extensive engagement with SMEs to support them in developing their capabilities to tender for contracts with social value requirements.

Charles Joly is Associate Director of Sustainability at Wellcome, a global charitable foundation improving health for everyone by funding research, leading policy and advocacy campaigns, and building global partnerships, and with an aim of fostering a healthier, happier, world. Charles is coordinating Wellcome’s approach to corporate sustainability, including the delivery of its challenging net zero by 2030 target for scope 1 and 2 UK emissions.

Charles is a sustainability strategist with over 15 years’ experience delivering a pioneering approach to sustainability, fast-tracking ESG and reputational performance for high-profile organisations. He has led the development and implementation of award-winning sustainability and CSR programmes for the National Health Service, the Bank of England, the London School of Economics, and Herbert Smith Freehills.

Emma is the Director of Responsible Business at Herbert Smith Freehills, leading across a range of responsible business aspects globally. She’s led the firm’s responsible business strategy since 2013, and drives the its current priorities; climate change, human rights and social impact. She has over 15 years’ experience delivering Environmental, Social and Governance performance as an in-house practitioner and a brief stint as a consultant. Emma is passionate about the role businesses can play in driving change that creates an impact, making a real difference to people and places. She’s a trained coach and has completed her MBA with Cranfield Business School.

Nimi Gabrie is a Senior Architect at Formation Architects and co-leads “Formation Community” the responsible business group at the practice, alongside her day job. Formation Architects enrolled onto the Heart of the City foundations for responsible business programme in 2016 and won the Heat of the City Award at the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards (2019) for businesses that were achieving excellence in social impact. Nimi has first-hand knowledge of responsible business in SME’s with a focus on fundraising efforts, her experience extends to community outreach projects, sustainability in the workplace and employee wellbeing.