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.

Grace joined Heart of the City in August 2018 and is responsible for all communications and marketing activities.

Grace previously worked at the Funding Network (TFN), an everyday philanthropy network providing small grants to non profits through live crowdfunding events. She was responsible for delivering communications at TFN as well as managing individual and corporate memberships. Prior to this role, Grace previously worked at the Start Up Loans Company, where she manged client relations and complaints.

Grace studied at the University of Nottingham and has a degree in French, Politics and History. She is a founding trustee of Hackney Wicked Women, a Women’s Institute group in Hackney Wick.

Gul-Reza joined the Heart of the City in March 2022 and is responsible for managing our internal systems.

Gul-Reza further runs a start-up ‘SteamPoint’ which works to deliver companywide physical wellbeing services through their cloud-based software solution. Prior to this he worked for a German software company, helping other companies to improve their operations.

Gul-Reza studied Law at City, University of London after which he completed his MSc in Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and is currently completing his PGCert in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. In his spare time, you can find him at the gym, stuck in a book or fiddling with new tech.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ian is Chief Executive Officer of Sapphire Systems, having headed a management buyout in 1993.

Sapphire provide ERP and accounting software solutions to SME organisations. They are based in the UK, USA, Australia and Mumbai and implement products worldwide. Sapphire is a former member of Heart of the City’s SME Programme

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.

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.

Susan is passionate about purpose-led businesses, diversity and inclusion, innovation and sustainability. Susan has worked at the global law firm, Hogan Lovells, for more than thirty years.  She is an antitrust lawyer, led the firm’s global antitrust practice for many years, before becoming the Managing Partner for the UK and Africa and a member of the firm’s global executive. Susan is now the firm’s first Global Managing Partner for Diversity & Inclusion and Responsible Business. She leads on diversity & inclusion, wellbeing, pro bono legal work, community volunteering and sustainability for the firm,  as well as collaborating with the firm’s clients and other partners in these areas.

As well as being one of our council members, Susan is Chair of 50:50 Parliament, which helps women progress in politics, a Non-executive Director of the City Mental Health Alliance, a member of the Business in the Community leadership team on climate action and a member of the Advisory Board of the Thomson Reuters “Transforming Women’s Leadership in Law” programme.

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.

Alderman Nicholas Lyons was elected as the next Lord Mayor of the City of London on 29 September 2022, taking office as the 694th Lord Mayor on 11 November 2022. He previously served as Sheriff of the City of London in 2021-22 and in that capacity supported the then Lord Mayor, undertaking numerous engagements and activities at home and abroad.

Nicholas is currently taking a sabbatical from being Chairman of Phoenix Group Holdings, the largest player in the UK retirement and long term savings industry and a FTSE 100 company. Phoenix is the largest asset-owner signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment in the UK. Last year when he became Sheriff, he stepped down from the group board of BUPA where he had chaired their new Sustainability Committee exploring the link between human health and bio-diversity. He sits on the boards of Convex Group, a specialty insurance underwriter and Miller Insurance Services, a London market insurance broker. He is a member of the Leadership Council of The CityUK, the Advisory Board of the International Business & Diplomatic Exchange, the Association of British Insurers and the Chartered Insurance Institute

Nicholas will champion his Financing our Future theme – promoting a resilient, resourceful, and responsible City. It will focus on fueling the growth economy by deploying capital and expertise to supercharge economic growth nationwide and advancing our global competitiveness. Financing our Future will seek to drive growth and investment especially in the areas of long-term infrastructure lending, green and sustainable financing, boosting the early-stage growth economy by mobilising private savings and pension funds, and attracting international asset owners to have more of their money managed by asset managers in the UK. All of which will be underpinned by a commitment to financial inclusion for all.

His philanthropic activities have revolved around education, children’s hospice care and the arts. This included being a Governor at The King’s School, Canterbury, Saint Columba’s College in Dublin, St Dunstan‘s College in Catford and King Edward’s, Witley in Surrey. With his focus on education, Nick has introduced National Numeracy to the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and intends to convene a conference to lead a national discussion about how to address the twin challenges of financial literacy and financial inclusion.

Nicholas is married to Felicity who was until recently the Chair of Trustees of Tapping House, the Norfolk Hospice. She is a Liveryman of the Musicians’ Company, a sailor, kayaker and singer. They have four children, Oliver, Charles, India and Alistair, two (soon to be three) daughters-in-law, one son-in-law and four grandchildren and counting. They spend their weekends in North Norfolk, their home for the last 20 years. Nicholas is a keen golfer and was recently Captain of The Royal West Norfolk Golf Club. He still plays golf for the Norfolk Seniors County team when they are desperate

Tiina Lee is Chief Executive Officer, UK & Ireland at Deutsche Bank. She is responsible for all Deutsche’s activities in the region and she is the Chair of the UKI Executive Committee and DBAG London Branch Board. She has held a number of roles running trading and capital markets businesses, she has advised European financial institutions on the debt and equity capital markets and was Head of UK Strategy before being appointed UK Chief Operating Officer. Tiina served as Head of Equities & FIC, UK and Deputy CEO, UKI prior to her appointment as CEO in 2018. She began her 30 year career in investment banking at Hill Samuel Bank and Lehman Brothers.

She serves on the Leadership Council of TheCityUK and the Board of UK Finance. She is also a Trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation and of Donmar Warehouse Projects.

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 head of digital marketing at Cazenove Capital (part of the Schroders Group), Carmen has designed and delivered award-winning websites, apps, brand and digital marketing strategies for organisations including 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.

Grace is the Programme Director for the City of London Corporation’s Climate Action Strategy. She leads the organisation’s work on climate action, both in reducing emissions and meeting their Net Zero targets and in increasing the City of London’s resilience to extreme weather events. Grace joined the City of London Corporation in 2010 and has experience in leading projects and developing strategies in community engagement, change and transformation, and responsible business. Grace served as the City of London Corporation’s Head of Responsible Business form 2017-2019. Before joining the City of London Corporation, Grace worked in biodiversity conservation – heading up programmes both in the UK and abroad.

Grace is passionate about engaging people in environmental issues that affect their everyday lives. Her early career focused on engaging under-represented groups and young people on conservation issues – and she uses these experiences and learning to frame her work and insights.

Grace acts as the main point of contact between the City of London Corporation and the Heart of the City – working together to ensure the successful delivery of the Climate for SMEs programme.

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 Head of Sustainability and Environmental Initiatives for Siemens Financial Services. He works with businesses, states and cities to support them in achieving environmental, social and economic goals. He 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 organizations as a consultant to structure their projects and programs.

He has two published books – “Better Cities, Better Life” and “Smart Cities – Cities in the Digital Age” and his forthcoming book “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).

Rachel Engel has been the Head of the Macquarie Group Foundation in the EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) region for the past twelve years managing the grants programme in region, the 50^th Anniversary Award, COVID response fund, staff matching and employee engagement across 14+ offices. Rachel came from IBM where she led the Employee Volunteering programme the EMEA region. She has spent the past 25 years working in various roles in both the charity and corporate sectors focusing on shared value and corporate community investment. She was a founder member of Pride@Macquarie in EMEA and continues to be an active member on the steering group. Previous roles include AOL UK, East London Business Alliance and Bridges.org (tech for good non-profit based in South Africa).

Rachel began her career in the arts (theatre production) and is currently Vice Chair of the arts and homelessness charity Streetwise Opera. She is also a trustee for the Sudborough Foundation.

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.

Anish Shah is Vice President of EMEA Community Affairs at Morgan Stanley. He oversees the Firm’s support for charities across the region, and programmes that encourage and recognise employee giving and volunteering.

Charles Joly is Director of Responsible Business at global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. Charles has over 15 years’ experience delivering Environmental Social and Governance performance both as a consultant and in-house practitioner.

He has led the development and implementation of award-winning sustainability and CSR programmes for diverse high-profile organisations with global scope including the National Health Service, the Bank of England, and the London School of Economics.

Charles is covering parental leave for Emma Cooke. 

Jan Phayre (MA) is the Head of CSR at Sapphire Systems and has been volunteering for years in various organisations. She became involved in CSR in 2010 when Sapphire Systems joined the Newcomers Programme. Since then, under Jan’s CSR leadership Sapphire have run workshops for over 180 children from Southwark, raised over £17,000 for charity and have given over 100 days volunteering. Sapphire was awarded a Lord Mayor’s Dragon award in 2010 for in the Heart of the City category for Best New Community Programme.

Kate has been at Slaughter and May for nine years and has a wide ranging role: from responsible business communications and reporting, to SDG mapping and the firm’s commitment to the UN Global Compact, through to the development of strategic community investment projects and leading charity partnerships. She began working in the world of CSR in 2006 and within a couple of years moved in-house to deliver CSR programmes in law firms. Outside of the day job, Kate is the vice-chair of governors at her son’s 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.