Our people
The lab team
Nick is Director of Programmes and Campaigns at the Finance Innovation Lab, overseeing our work to grow alternative finance, shift mainstream finance and influence financial regulation, with a particular focus on community-building, strategy and communications.
Before joining the Lab in 2023, Nick worked at 350.org, leading campaigns on fossil fuel finance and supporting the growth of the climate justice movement in Europe. Prior to that, he worked at Oxfam, first in fundraising and then in Campaigns & Policy, where he campaigned on issues ranging from tax justice and economic inequality, to climate change, aid, and the war in Syria.
Sarah is an experienced charity finance professional, having trained in the commercial sector and moved to the third sector in 2013. She has worked for many small charities in paid and voluntary roles. She is a qualified accountant, tax adviser and has a Masters in charity accounting and financial management.
Jesse is CEO at the Finance Innovation Lab, leading the Lab’s work to build a financial system that serves people and planet.
Prior to joining the Lab, Jesse was Director of the Development Strategy and Finance Programme at ODI, an international think tank, where he led a research and policy team working on how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Prior to that, Jesse was Director of the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), a network of 50 European civil society organisations (CSOs) working for transformative changes to global and European policies, institutions and structures to ensure an environmentally sustainable financial and economic system that works to eradicate poverty and ensure human rights for all. Before that he was Coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, a watchdog of the World Bank and IMF, and worked for ActionAid UK on development finance policy. He has also worked for the Department for International Development (DFID) and various other non–governmental organisations, on both development finance and international environmental policy.
Jesse is chair of the board of trustees of Jubilee Debt Campaign, and a trustee of Tax Justice UK. He has a Masters in Finance and Economics from SOAS, a Masters in International Politics from Aberystwyth University, and a Bachelors degree in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from Leeds University.
Holly is Director of People, Resources and Operations at the Finance Innovation Lab, working with the COO to look after the internal processes which enable our team’s work.
Holly previously managed operations for a science education centre at Queen Mary University of London, and prior to that was Head of Operations and Income at Child.org, a global health charity. She also volunteers managing a team of stewards at Glastonbury Festival.
Holly is part-qualified as a management accountant with CIMA, holds an MSc in Poverty and Development from the University of Manchester, and an LLB in Law from the University of Sussex.
Yvonne is Operations Manager at the Finance Innovation Lab, providing administrative, operational and organisational support to the Lab’s team, events and programmes.
Yvonne started her career in education, teaching English, Drama and Classics, with a particular interest in pastoral care. Primarily working in schools undergoing significant change, she focused on how school systems and structures could be developed to give the best outcomes for all students. After five years as Deputy Head with responsibility for operations and compliance, Yvonne decided to explore a more creative career. She worked in floristry for seven years, and was responsible for planning and delivering events alongside flower design and arrangement.
Yvonne graduated from the University of Durham with a degree in Combined Arts (Classics and English) and holds a PGCE in secondary education. She is passionate about sport and has been a referee, captain and coach for her local rugby club, where she is now Honorary Secretary. In addition, Yvonne regularly volunteers at running and cycling events.
Marloes Nicholls is the Lab’s Head of Advocacy, overseeing our work to influence the government, with a current focus on the Pensions Review, the Financial Services and Markets Bill 2026-27, and the UK’s overall investment system.
Previously, Marloes led Finance For Our Future, the coalition of over 40 civil society organisations campaigning on the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. She also ran Lab Fellowship – a unique incubator for financial innovations that put social and environmental purpose at their heart – from 2016-2019, and she was included on the Women in Fintech Powerlist 2020 in recognition of her contribution to policy-making and regulation with respect to the rising use of technology in finance. During this period Marloes advised the Friends Provident Foundation and responsible lender Moneyline.
Before joining the Lab, she was Programme Manager and Researcher at the think tank Meteos, and co-founder and director of the campaign Move Your Money UK. She also worked at Oxfam on global campaigns and policy. As Vice-Chair of the Tenants and Residents Association of a large estate in East London, she helped to establish a community garden, cooking scheme, and regular street parties.
An economist by training, Marloes graduated from Nuffield College, University of Oxford, with a Masters of Philosophy in 2011 and received a first class bachelors in Philosophy and Economics from the University of Bristol in 2008.
Kay is Head of Movement Building and Campaigns with Sam. Prior to joining the Lab, Kay was leading the work of TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities) in North Wales, the UK’s oldest community organising charity. Kay was at TCC for ten years, and after returning from maternity leave, started a job-share of co-leadership with Sam. At TCC Kay supported a range of diverse communities in running successful campaigns, ranging from the local to the national.
Kay graduated from the University of Warwick with a BA (Hons) in Theatre and Performance Studies, also studying Politics and British Sign Language. After graduating, Kay worked with Oxfam and then the British Red Cross. More recently, Kay completed ILM (leadership and management) level 5. For six years Kay was a non-executive director at Friends of the Earth, and is now the Chair of RECLAIM, a charity based in Manchester which powers working-class young people. Kay also works as a freelance consultant, and is currently working with funder The Fore.
Sam is Head of Movement Building and Campaigns with Kay, developing our campaign to rapidly scale up the ecosystem of organisations that put social and environmental purpose at the centre of their mission.
Sam has most recently been the Lead Organiser, with Kay, at TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities). They collectively secured funding which enabled the expansion of the staff team, grew the membership, led the campaign that committed the Welsh Government to pilot adding an extra £1 to the free school meal allowance for secondary school pupils so they could also buy breakfast, and trained people from diverse backgrounds in community organising. For six years prior to that Sam coordinated projects with North Wales Women’s Centre, particularly focused on supporting women into education and employment, and the centre’s counselling service. She spent two and a half years supporting policy development for the Liverpool City Region, with a focus on housing. This followed almost three years as a Community Organiser with TCC, where she led co-led campaigns on the living wage, Fairtrade and waste.
An active member of her local Friends of the Earth group, Sam has most recently been involved in saving a community garden from development and organising people to respond to the Local Development Plan.
Sam holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Glasgow, a PGDip in Environmental Policy from The Open University and an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management, with PGDip in Marketing and Fundraising from The Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School.
David Fagleman is Advocacy Associate at the Lab, currently working on our Transforming Data programme, with a specific focus on Lifting the Lid on Fintech.
David has worked in financial services since 2015 when he joined Cash Services UK. He became Head of Policy and Research and was part of the transfer to UK Finance in 2019. Prior to this, he worked at the innovation foundation Nesta, the Westminster-based think tank ResPublica and for Rachel Reeves MP. He co-founded Enryo in 2020, an independent consultancy designed to support the financial services industry as it navigates times of change.
Mark Hemingway is Media Associate at the Lab, working to amplify the voice for social and environmental justice in financial reform debates.
Mark has over 35 years’ PR experience, including as Head of Communications for multi-national banks such as HSBC and HBOS. He has advised extensively on reputation and crisis management, media relations and corporate campaigning throughout his career.
He has also been heavily involved in third sector work, including a period as chair of the campaigning charity, Empty Homes.
Daniel Stanley is an independent Strategy & Messaging Consultant, and Associate Director of nonprofit research initiative the Future Narratives Lab, which carries out projects to understand the underlying cultural models that act as barriers to social & political change.
Over the last decade he has worked with campaigns, coalitions, foundations and political parties in the UK and globally to develop strategies for broadening the appeal of alternative social and economic propositions, including seven years leading digital mobilisation agency Small Axe. He writes and lectures on strategic communications, cultural psychology, narrative and identity.
He is Associate Director at strategic communications consultancy Cohere Partners, and member of co-operative infrastructure development body Stir to Action.
Trustees
Alice is Managing Director of Three Fin Consulting. She has worked with the UN, charities and financial service providers for over a decade to create a fairer and more sustainable financial sector.
She began her career at Lloyd’s of London, before shifting her focus to social and environmental issues within the financial sector. As Research and Innovation Officer at the International Labour Organization’s Impact Insurance Facility, Alice worked with insurers to introduce new inclusive products. She since set-up the consulting firm Three Fin Consulting, and has led campaigns for the financial sector to address climate and social issues on behalf of UN organizations and charities.
Alice is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Executive Master in Development Policy and Practice, and holds a Diploma from the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Thobeka Ngcobo, a qualified chartered accountant, holds a position as a Manager in CFO advisory at Deloitte UK. Presently, her responsibilities involve offering assistance to finance teams in various areas such as audit, reporting, controls, performance improvement, strategy, and transformation.
With more than 5 years experience as an auditor, she has previously worked at the Auditor General South Africa and EY UK. Her expertise encompasses extensive knowledge of international accounting and auditing standards, forecast and budgeting and assurance. Thobeka exhibits a strong dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion within the workplace and she has championed initiatives in her previous roles.
Deborah is Director of External Affairs & Development at the capital’s independent think tank, Centre for London, where she leads the communications, events and fundraising teams to promote and secure support for the Centre’s work.
Prior to this, Deborah was co-Director of Tend Consulting, a strategy and organisational development consultancy, supporting charities working on sustainable finance, economic and environmental justice, and public policy. Before this, she was Director of Fundraising & Communications at responsible investment campaigning organisation, ShareAction, and Fundraising Manager at international sustainability non-profit, Forum for the Future.
Earlier in her career, Deborah raised funds and awareness for social welfare and homelessness charities including Catch22, Broadway Homelessness & Support and St Mungo’s, following a brief stint in brand agencies. Deborah is driven by a long-standing commitment to supporting system change organisations working towards a just, fair and sustainable future.
David spent his early career in strategy consulting with McKinsey & Company and subsequently in finance with Lloyds Banking Group. He left the city and, via OnPurpose, joined UnLtd (The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs) to support mission led businesses deliver societal change. David is passionate about the role that entrepreneurs can have in driving positive impact, whether at a local, community or a systemic level.
As a Director of UnLtd, his role focuses on tackling the systemic barriers social entrepreneurs face when starting and growing their social businesses. David leads UnLtd’s major strategic partnership work, including partnerships with the likes of Comic Relief and eBay, oversees how UnLtd delivers the most inclusive and impactful support to entrepreneurs they work with, and in recent years has set up managed UnLtd’s social investment funds.
Louise is Head of the Good Work Programme at ShareAction, overseeing campaigns that use the power of investors to challenge harmful labour practices and push companies to provide decent work. In her previous role at ShareAction she worked with two communities of practice of charities and universities, supporting them – as responsible asset owners – to align their investments with their mission and values.
Prior to this, Louise worked for a number of charities and campaigning groups tackling human rights and environmental harm in global supply chains, including CAFOD, the Corporate Justice Coalition and Anti-Slavery International. She started her career campaigning on tax justice, firstly for Christian Aid and then for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, calling for financial transaction taxes to fund public services in the wake of the financial crash. She has worked in a variety of policy, advocacy and network coordination roles.
Nuria Molina is Deputy Director for European Affairs at the Gates Foundation. Before joining the Gates Foundation Nuria was Director of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at ActionAid UK, and Director of Policy and Research at Save the Children UK. In both these positions she was responsible for research and policy development on a broad range of areas covering development finance and development economics, poverty and inequality, women’s rights and the role of the private sector in development. At Save the Children, Nuria created an econometric research programme on the effects of inequality on child well-being. At ActionAid, she led public engagement and campaigns, launching Fearless, a new mass engagement campaign on women’s rights. Prior to joining Save the Children, Nuria was the Executive Director for the European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD). In this capacity she led EURODAD’s research and advocacy on development finance, including aid effectiveness, debt management, fiscal policy and private sector in development. Other functions have included Policy and Development Adviser for the European Anti-Poverty Network and working for the UN Financing for Development Office in New York.
Tom is a communications and public affairs professional who has worked across politics, think tanks and the labour movement. He is currently Head of Communications and Political Advocacy for Prospect, a politically independent trade union representing 160,000 members across the public and private sectors, he also worked for Prospect earlier in his career as a Senior Political Officer. Previously Tom was Director of Campaigns and Advocacy at the Economic Change Unit, where he focused on how to build campaigns, communications, and political strategies for advancing progressive economic policies in the UK. At ECU he set up the Invest in Britain campaign to change the UK’s fiscal rules to enable a higher level of public investment. Tom began his career working in parliament for more than five years in a variety of political roles.
Tom holds a BA in History from Cambridge University and a MSc in Democracy and Comparative Politics from University College London. His interests lie in the intersection of politics and economics, and especially on how economic ideas can be communicated to a variety of political audiences. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Persuasion UK, a public opinion organisation.
Alexandria is Deputy Director of Campaigns at Global Witness, leading high-impact advocacy and corporate accountability investigations to end the climate emergency. She is a technical adviser to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment’s Spring nature stewardship initiative.
Previously, Alexandria led the Royal United Services Institute’s finance and organised environmental crime research programme and served as Deputy Chair of the Strategic Hub for Organised Crime Research (SHOC). She has conducted research fieldwork across Europe and Africa, and has presented by invitation to the UK Parliament, the Financial Action Task Force, the European Parliament and the OECD, among others.
Alexandria is co-author of Ports, Crime and Security: Governing and Policing Seaports in a Changing World, published by Bristol University Press in 2021.
She holds a BA in War Studies and an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London
Simon is a leader in the charity sector with 30 years’ experience working to tackle inequality, poverty and injustice at home and overseas. For the last 15 years, Simon has focused on advocating for change, developing expertise in how to make change happen through insider and outsider approaches. He has run global campaigns on climate change and food security and UK focused advocacy on nutrition, aid and humanitarian response. As a Director of Advocacy, Simon has represented the UK development sector in major media outlets, with the UK Government at Ministerial level, and been an expert witness at Parliamentary committees.
Simon is interested in systemic change and in providing strategic support to organisations working towards a fairer and more sustainable future. As a freelance consultant, Simon provides strategic advice, facilitation and coaching to help people develop impactful strategies, design, deliver and evaluate effective advocacy, and be better leaders. He also established a forum to introduce international NGO leaders to ‘new economic’ ideas.
Simon holds an MPhil and BA in African Studies from the University of Birmingham, is an EMCC trained coach, and sits on the Care International UK Board Impact and Transformation Committee.
Caolan is a values-led policy and public affairs leader with extensive experience within political and wider policy areas across the UK. Passionate about engagement and driving policy change, he believes in the role of Finance Innovation Lab as a catalyst for building a better financial system. Caolan is currently working within financial services, leading on areas such as long-term saving, investment and championing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies across the sector.
Senior Fellows
Senior Fellowship recognises individuals who have made a significant contribution towards a more sustainable financial system, and who have shown ongoing support for the work of the Finance Innovation Lab.
Our Senior Fellows are a diverse group of trailblazing thinkers, doers, creators and campaigners, whose achievements have helped move us towards a more democratic, sustainable, just and resilient financial system. They continue to champion and contribute to our work, partnering on our events and advising on our projects.
We’re extremely proud to be associated with our Senior Fellows. The Senior Fellows group is expanded on an annual basis. Members of the Lab community who would like to nominate themselves to be considered as new Senior Fellows are welcome to do so by emailing community@financeinnovationlab.org.
Bertrand is CEO of ChangeSquare, a corporate finance firm for sustainable investing, aiming to enhance the lives of people and planet by creating more avenues through which capital can flow into high growth impact ventures and impact funds across Africa, Asia, and Europe, and addressing the UN SDGs.
He is an investment expert, with specific expertise in designing and implementing innovative financial products and working with the social and environmental sectors. He has 15 years’ experience in the City, with Deutsche Bank in the Strategic Equity Transactions Group. He was part of a team that structured equity-related transactions for the bank’s corporate, private and strategic European clients, specialising in monetisation strategies, equity financing, employee incentives, M&A derivatives, and share buy-backs.
Bertrand holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Bristol and a M.Sc. in Management Science and Operational Research.
Christine Berry is an independent researcher and writer based in Manchester, focusing on economic systems change with a particular specialism in the financial system.
Christine is co-author of People Get Ready!, a book exploring how social movements can prepare to help generate transformative change under a radical government. Her work has been covered in the Economist, the Evening Standard and the Guardian, which described her as ‘one of the central figures’ in the new left economics. She is a Trustee of Rethinking Economics, a Fellow of the Next System Project and a Commissioning Editor of Renewal journal. Christine has previously worked for the New Economics Foundation and served as a founding trustee of the Lab until 2018.
Fran is Positive Money’s Executive Director. Positive Money is a research and campaigning organisation which aims to democratise money and banking, so that it works for society and not against it.
Fran studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and went on to complete a PhD researching carbon dioxide storage. Fran became interested in economics and money creation after realising that the huge environmental and inequality crises we face could not easily be fixed without re-thinking how the current economic system works, and how to redesign it. Fran has worked at various global organisations including the United Nations, Greenpeace and BP.
Dr Gemma Bone Dodds FRSA is an innovation and systems change specialist who concentrates on economic transformation for people and planet. She is founder and director of All In Agency, a research and systems change agency dedicated to transforming the economy to serve the needs of society and the environment.
Gemma has a PhD in diverse economies, which she carried out in collaboration with the Finance Innovation Lab between 2012 and 2016. She has authored a number of high-impact papers on banking and finance including Banking for the Common Good: Laying the foundations for safe, sustainable, stakeholder banking in Scotland, A Bank for the North East and the Green Finance Certificate.
Diane has almost 20 years’ experience in Community Finance and was the CEO of Moneyline, a leading not-for-profit CDFI on a mission to transform the way low-income households access fair and affordable financial products. Diane built a customer-focused brand delivering innovative products, grounded in the insight of the communities they serve. Her work and leadership raised the bar for what people expect of financial services in the UK for everyone.
Diane is an Alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme and has also studied at Harvard Business School, completing their Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management programme and a US study tour of credit unions and micro-lenders.
Diane has extensive social sector lending knowledge. She has been a member of various advisory groups for research into financial inclusion and the availability of affordable credit for the financially excluded, including working with JP Morgan, the Centre for Social Justice, the Finance Innovation Lab, the End High-Cost Credit Alliance, and the Cabinet Office.
Martin is one of the UK’s leading media advisers to the retail financial services industry. As a founding member of the Virgin Direct (now Virgin Money) management team, he was the product designer for the ground-breaking firm before managing its highly successful PR function, winning the MORI annual journalist poll for best press office for three years running.
After 7 years at Virgin, he left to become a freelance PR and lobbying adviser to other brands competing by offering a genuinely better customer proposition. Martin was pivotal in getting the now legendary Zopa taken seriously and embraced by the press and broadcast media, before handing over to others after 6 years as the pioneering P2P lender’s adviser. His recent and current clients include leading names in the alternative finance movement – including Abundance, Seedrs, SyndicateRoom and Landbay – along with influential bodies including the Pensions Policy Institute, The Fairbanking Foundation and Positive Money.
Bruce Davis is co-founder and joint Managing Director of Abundance, the first regulated debt crowdfunding company in the UK. He is an anthropologist with a creative drive that helped create the world’s first peer to peer lender Zopa in 2004, as well as products and innovations for most of the UK leading banks and building societies. Bruce is a founding director of the UK Crowdfunding Association and Visiting Research Fellow at the Bauman Institute, Leeds University.
Bruce gained an MA from the University of Cambridge and has since worked for companies large and small on branding, innovation and research. He has worked in many countries around the world, developing insights into the social life of money and its impact on everyday life.
Bruce was previously Non-Executive Director of the Move Your Money campaign and was previously a trustee of The Finance Innovation Lab.
Simon Deane-Johns is a consultant solicitor in the UK and Ireland, specialising in fintech regulatory and commercial work, including payment services, P2P lending, consumer credit and data services, as well as e-commerce marketplaces and IT.
He has advised on the launch of many innovative start-ups, including Zopa, Prodigy Finance, Abundance, Crowdbnk (now Code Investing), Proplend, Fitzrovia Finance, and the Rooster Card, and advises on cryptocurrencies and other applications of distributed ledger technology.
Simon previously consulted at Amazon and WorldPay, led legal teams at GE Capital and Earthport, advised on the creation of the P2P Finance Association and in 2012 co-organised the P2P Finance Policy Summit for UK and EU officials and crowdfunding industry representatives with the Finance Innovation Lab.
Simon also chairs the Advisory Board of the Society for Computers and Law and blogs regularly on fintech developments.
http://sdj-thefineprint.blogspot.com/
Anna is a specialist in economic systems change, a leadership coach, and an advocate for social and environmental justice.
She is Senior Advisor at the Economic Change Unit, a non-profit organisation working for a more resilient, secure and just economy and Senior Associate at Cohere Partners, a strategy & communications consultancy for organisations looking to shape the future of business, society, technology and culture. Until April 2020, Anna was CEO at the Finance Innovation Lab.
Anna is a trustee of the New Economics Foundation, an Associate of the Institute for Social Banking, and a Fellow of the RSA. She holds an MSc in Global Ethics and has written for a wide range of publications including the Guardian, Stir to Action, Pioneers Post and the New Statesman. She has also featured in the Women in Social Enterprise 100, Women in Fintech Powerlist, and Brummel Magazine’s Inspirational Women in the City.
Tony has progressed from a conventional finance career in investment banking and accountancy to researching and promoting sustainable finance policies, before turning back to practice as Managing Director of Sustainability at the British Business Bank. He is also an advisor to Lion Trust Asset Management’s Sustainable Futures Funds.
Previously, he co-created a regional mutual banking model, South West Mutual, which successfully navigated the initial stages of the banking licence application process. Before that he worked in policy research as Director of Economics at the RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) leading a programme on evolving a more creative, inclusive and sustainable economy, and as Associate Director of Finance and Economics at the New Economics Foundation. He is co-author of many books and reports including Where Does Money Come From?, People Powered Prosperity and Reforming RBS: Local banking for the public good. He has contributed to programmes including BBC Newsnight and Today, and written for the Guardian, Sunday Times and others. Tony is a Fellow of the ICAEW and started his career with PwC before moving into equity capital markets at Barclays and Credit Suisse.
Since co-founding britishairways.com in 1994, Julia has led a series of start ups in the digital and environmental sectors, and invested a combination of her time and money in a portfolio of sustainable businesses, including Loco2, and Trillion Fund, a loan-based crowdfunding platform offering triple bottom line returns of people, planet and profit.
Julia co-founded the UK Crowdfunding Association in 2012, and has successfully campaigned to make finance more democratic and accessible to regular investors, under the banner #wealthisnotaskillset. She is a member of Innovate 50 in the UK, CF 50 in the States, and previously served a two-year Non-Executive Director role on the Move Your Money campaign.
Malcolm is a social banker and disruptive thinker with a background in international wholesale banking, including export, trade and Islamic finance, the third sector and values based banking.
Malcolm developed the concept of a bank for charity and piloted a loan fund, Investors in Society, in the mid 1990s, before becoming founding Chief Executive of The Charity Bank in 2002, then the world’s only registered general charity and authorised bank. Malcolm took the bank to profitability before standing down in 2012. He joined the Institute for Social Banking to deliver the international summer schools in 2013 and 2014, where he co-developed the first citizens’ response to the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System.
Nonhlanhla Makuyana (they/them) is a Zimbabwean-born, UK-based community economist, educator, and community organiser. They are a co-director at Decolonising Economics, where they work to cultivate a Black and People of Colour-led solidarity economy movement.
Nonhlanhla’s research focuses on past, present, and future Afrikan and Afro-diasporic economies rooted in liberation. They are the curator of Medicine: Lessons in Black Economic Interdependence, an oral history archival project exploring how the African oral tradition can help communicate the relationships, tools, and skills essential to historic and contemporary movements for Black British economic self-determination.
Their work aims to make community economics accessible to marginalised communities and, through political education, to shift resources, wealth, and power to transform local economies. Through training hundreds of community organisers, organisations, and groups, Nonhlanhla developed The Necessity Paths Framework, which represents the informal routes marginalised communities use to meet their needs when the capitalist system fails them, drawing inspiration from pluralist economies.
Reema Patel is Head of Engagement and a founding team member of the Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research body with a mission to ensure data and AI work for people and society.
She is an experienced policy professional who has led various citizen engagement initiatives on complex and controversial policy areas in the UK, including the RSA’s Economic Council, which successfully worked with and influenced the Bank of England’s public engagement strategy.
Reema has also consulted for a variety of international organisations, including the Danish Board of Technology Foundation and Nextdoor.com, a San Francisco based technology social media start-up. She serves on the advisory board to Scope’s Big Hack programme, as well as on NESTA’s Participatory Futures programme. She is a Fellow of the RSA, founding trustee of a community run library, and a local councillor.
Faith is a strategic adviser to industry, government and regulators on fintech, Open Banking, Open Finance and Smart Data.
She is focused on creating products and services consumers get genuine value from and love using. Faith is a Non-Executive Director for Fair4All Finance, promoting financial inclusion through the distribution of dormant assets, the Payment Systems Regulator, and the Current Account Switch Service at Pay.UK. She also advises the Lending Standards Board on the implementation of the Authorised Push Payment Scams Code. Previously she was the Independent Consumer Representative on the Open Banking Implementation Entity Steering Group, a member of the FCA‘s Financial Services Consumer Panel, and led the Data Right Working Group for the FCA’s Open Finance Advisory Group. During an earlier part of her career she established Toynbee Hall‘s financial inclusion services. She is a 2010 Clore Social Fellow.
Karl is the founder of iSumio, which creates software for organisations to calculate their effect on people and planet, such as carbon footprint and labour conditions. Executive Director of EngagedX, which specialises in providing consultancy, thought leadership, advocacy and policy work. Karl works internationally across private, public, and social sectors. Experienced entrepreneur, leader, and executive. Lectures part-time at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Karl’s previous engagements include a 12 month assignment as Head of Research and Knowledge for the UNDP SDG Impact Finance initiative (UNSIF), where he led research to improve the analytical framework for social impact investing; member of Groupe d’Experts de la Commission sur l’Entrepreneuriat Social (GECES) of the European Commission to advise on its Social Business Initiative; part of the OECD expert group on social impact investing. Currently Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab; and Adviser to several organisations.
Karl has been invited by civil society organisations, academia, governments and the media across Europe, Asia and USA to speak on social impact investing. He has guest lectured at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; advised HM Treasury on EU social investment regulations; was invited to submit evidence for alternative finance to the UK’s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards; been asked by the UK Cabinet Office to represent the UK on social investment at EU level; and was invited by US Secretary of State to be a plenary panellist at the Global Impact Economy Forum in 2012.
Karl holds an MBA specialising in entrepreneurship and project management, writing his dissertation on data interoperability standards and collaboration principles in the building design industry. He started his career as an architect and project manager for multidisciplinary design teams, and development leader for public and private sector construction projects. He was the founding Chair of Friends of the Crystal Palace Subway, a community-led initiative to reopen a historic community asset to the public, and hosted HRH the Duke of Gloucester visiting in 2013.
Brett is a journalist, campaigner and the author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money.
He works on financial reform, alternative currencies, P2P economic systems, corporate transparency and economic advocacy campaigns with a wide variety of NGOs, artists and student groups. This has included ActionAid, Global Justice Now, OpenOil and the Move Your Money campaign. He has written for publications including The Guardian, New Scientist, Wired Magazine and CNN.com, and provides commentary on financial reform and crypto-currencies on media channels such as BBC, Arte and VPRO. He also helps facilitate a course on power and design at the University of the Arts London, and facilitates workshops on alternative finance with The London School of Financial Arts. He is an advisory board member of the Brixton Pound community currency.
James Vaccaro is a sustainability strategist applying systems thinking to business model innovation and sustainable finance.
As CEO of RePattern, James supports organisations and their stakeholders in collective business model design processes; convening people to form new patterns of relationship which can enable flows of finance for sustainability progress. He advises organisations catalysing regenerative agriculture transition and nature restoration. James also acts as Chief Catalyst of the Climate Safe Lending Network, a global multi-stakeholder collaboration to accelerate climate action in banking. He was previously Director of Strategy for Triodos Bank, Europe’s leading positive impact financial institution. He previously managed the Triodos investment business (corporate finance, venture capital and infrastructure funds) and held board positions in a range of leading environmental and social businesses.
James is a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership (CISL). He was a founding developer of the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, and sits on the advisory panel for GFANZ (the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero) and the UK’s Transition Plan Taskforce. James is a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab, a director of Regen, an advisor for climate start-up accelerator Carbon13, and advisor to the Club of Rome’s finance impact hub, and Horizon Europe funded research project Naturescapes
Emma is the founder and CEO of All Street, a provider of in-depth, independent, expert analysis on crowdfunding investments. An economist by trade, Emma is dedicated to enabling everyone to get involved in the new financial system that crowdfunding is creating. She brings significant experience in financial services across corporate banking and asset management, an MBA degree from Oxford University and two Masters of Science. She believes in the power of shared knowledge to transform the alternative finance space.