Advisor, Investor and Entrepreneur

Justin Cooke is an advisor, investor and entrepreneur with over 

25 years’ experience in media, marketing and tech. With a 

strong track-record of scaling-up businesses, he successfully 

founded the global digital agency, Fortune Cookie, which he 

grew to 250 people and $30 million in revenue before selling to 

WPP in 2012. Previously on the board of FutureLearn, the digital learning company from Open University, he is former Vice Chair of Unicef UK, former Chair of The Drum, and former Chair of the British Interactive Media Association, and currently a member of the British Museum's Digital Advisory Board. Since 2015, Justin has been a venture partner at Northzone, recently ranked the world’s 5th best performing venture capital investor. Recent unicorns to come out of the Northzone portfolio include Hopin, Kahoot!, Tier, Trustpilot, Personio and Klarna. Other investments and directorships in Justin’s portfolio include Attest, Blippar, ClubSpark, CyberDuck, Digital Theatre, ScreenCloud, The Edit Cloud, and Learning with Experts. Graduating with a degree in Drama from the University of Manchester, Justin has been listed in the Wired Top 100, rated the UK's second most influential person in digital by Econsultancy, inducted into the British Digital Hall of Fame, and Business Insider ranked him as one of the “coolest tech investors in the UK”. He lives in Royal Tunbridge Wells, England with his wife and 3 children.

Director of Higher Education
at Springpod

Emma has worked in Higher Education for over 18 years and joined Springpod as Director of Higher Education in September 2022. In her role she works closely with universities to ensure they are able to achieve their student recruitment needs with a range of opportunities from both Springpod and her years of experience. She was previously the Director of Communications and Events at the University of Leicester and before that, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Bradford.

Founder and President of Education Institution Partnership and Sustainability Incubator

Colin is a thoughtful leader, an engaged listener, and a creator with intention who has built armies of advocates all over the world. Colin has been the face and the voice of private schools, institutes, colleges, universities, and associations. Colin connects, collaborates, and communicates with all levels of stakeholders from students to Presidents with empathy and optimism.

Colin has more than 25 years of management experience in operations, student recruitment, international student marketing, and admissions in the language study, K-12, and post-secondary sectors (public and private). Through this broad lens, he views education holistically and sees complimentary and collaborative opportunities connected by the student experience.

There is so much more we can offer students today, and Colin encourages everyone to join him in implementing meaningful change to better prepare students for their futures.

Senior Researcher at Fondazione Bruno Kessler Trento Italy

Antonio is a senior researcher on motivational digital systems applied in fields as personalized and playful education and sustainable mobility.

Head of Learning Technology, MEI (Mathematics. Education. Innovation. A UK Maths charity).

After a twenty-year career as a high school maths teacher in the UK and NZ, Andy joined MEI in April 2001 as Head of Learning Technology. Throughout his teaching career, he was a tech adopter in his classroom and became EdTech lead at two schools. He was a Google Certified Educator Level 2 and a Certified Google Trainer as well as a Microsoft Certified Educator. At MEI, his main responsibility is running Integral, MEI's online learning platform for A-level Maths and Further Maths. Andy is a co-host of a successful podcast for maths educationalists called Digging For The Why and is always looking for innovation in education that can make a pedagogical difference.

CEO

Anthony resides in Johannesburg and is currently employed by The Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management as an Executive of Organisational Development after he was promoted from a Growth & Sustainability Manager (People, Leadership & Organizational Development) role. Anthony also serves as Da Vinci Business School’s Staff Relations Officer, as well as the Interim Skills Development Facilitator and Chairperson of the Da Vinci & FoodBev Learnership & Education Trust. He also serves on the boards of Chief Learning Officer as a Business Intelligence Board Member, MS Tech, and is the current Chairperson of the board for Khonexia.

Marketing and Content Strategist, Digital Engagement Expert

Michelle is a multi-award-winning strategist with a decade of experience in communications, digital engagement, website development, marketing, and social media across the non-profit sector. She has an MA (Distinction) from Bournemouth University in Multimedia Journalism and is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council.
With years of experience and a deep understanding of the digital landscape, Michelle has become a trusted advisor to numerous organisations seeking to meaningfully engage with hard to reach-groups, including the Children’s Commissioner for England in Westminster, and Centre for Girls charity in northern Thailand.
Michelle founded the IMO (in my opinion) project at the Children's Commissioner's Office, the first peer-led digital platform for children in foster care in the UK, designed to amplify their voices and change the narrative of the care system. She also produced the multi-award winning IMO Podcast, which gives a voice to the diverse experiences that make up the care population.

Tech Lead of Search Experience at DoorDash New Verticals

​Natasha leads the Search Experience at DoorDash New Verticals, a division focused on convenience and grocery shopping. She has designed and developed some of the core search features, such as search filters (+12M USD GMV), autocomplete, and synonym support (+7M USD GMV), for a better user experience.

Natasha has created an end-to-end infrastructure to support data ingestion and aid search on the DoorDash app. She has also led the development of core search relevance metrics, which have been adopted as a company-wide standard metric. Natasha leads design discussions and provides advisory support on searches to different teams within DoorDash.

Before joining DoorDash, Natasha worked at Amazon AWS with the Generic Pollers team. Here, she created a platform to onboard customers' streaming clusters like Kafka and RabbitMQ with AWS Lambda. This enabled multiple significant customers, including McDonald's and OkCupid, to onboard AWS Lambda, generating an overall GMV of +100M USD within the first month of its launch.

Prior to that role, she worked as a full-stack engineer at Nextag Inc., which owned multiple comparison shopping e-commerce websites used by consumers to find the best prices for the products they were looking for. At Nextag, she designed and implemented complex products and features end-to-end to enhance the websites and migrate services to AWS.

Head of Digital at Alpha Plus Group

Thomas is a senior school leader with over 20 years of experience in schools supporting and implementing the digital transformation journey. As a frequent contributor to conferences, workshops and industry events, he has been at the forefront of developments within education. He has worked with senior management, teachers and pupils to create a digital ecosystem that allowed everybody to excel through good use of EdTech. He led his previous school to be awarded the Microsoft Showcase School for four consecutive years with all teaching staff members qualifying as Microsoft Innovative Educators. The use of assistive technology is of particular interest to Thomas. He championed the use of technology in public examinations for a number of years. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society the Arts and the Chartered College of Teaching.

Senior Lecturer

Experienced Lecturer with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in training, research, human resource development and entrepreneurship. As a senior lecturer in Human Resource Management, she is responsible for delivering curriculum, conducting research, and providing academic and professional guidance to students. In addition to her academic work, she is committed to making a positive impact on the community through various collaborations with government agencies, industrial players, and alumni. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Human Resource Management at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.

​Community Manager and Content Creator at FCB Africa

Siyanda is an accomplished creative and student of life. Seasoned in Marketing and Social Media, she is a graduate with a Photography Diploma from CPUT, Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies from Harvard and a number of integrated certifications from accomplished leaders in business and innovation. Passionate about bringing young people to the forefront and inspiring change through inclusion and representation. Siyanda has remained a remarkable example in his career field and is emerging to be one the most valued personalities of all time.

​Computer Science Teacher

Chimwemwe Shaba holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing and boasts extensive experience teaching international curricula to students at both primary and secondary school levels. With Microsoft, Google, and Cambridge certifications, he has a strong foundation in educational technology and innovative teaching methodologies.

Chimwemwe's students have achieved remarkable accomplishments, resulting in their schools being the only representatives from Africa to secure top 10 positions in a prestigious International Coding competition in both 2021 and 2022.

Furthermore, he has achieved a flawless 100% pass rate in the Computer Studies National Exams conducted in 2016 and 2017. These exceptional achievements, coupled with his unwavering dedication, earned him recognition and the opportunity to serve as a marker for the Computer Studies National Exams.

Co-Founder & CEO of Babbu

Babbu is the UK’s first online platform designed to support, reassure and empower parents and their children in the first critical few years. Driven by a simple but ambitious vision: a world in which no child is left behind.

Proven founder; over the last decade Charlie has built multiple businesses from startups to globally recognised, award-winning brands. As a passionate and driven leader, she has grown teams across numerous markets including; London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.

Prior to Babbu, Charlie owned and managed Cuckooz Nest – a totally flexible, PAYG nursery with onsite workspace, designed to make childcare more affordable for parents whilst also allowing them to be present during the first 1,001 days.

A mother of one, advocate for change within the Early Years sector, and a UN Delegate on the Commission on the Status of Women, Charlie regularly contributes to the media on the topic of gender equality, working parents, child development and how technology can help close the attainment gap.

Mathematics teacher, EdTech advisor, entrepreneur, digital education evangelist

Balazs Koren is a distinguished figure in the realm of digital education, with a rich blend of practical and entrepreneurial experience. As a mathematics teacher and teacher trainer at ELTE University, Balazs empowers future educators with the tools of digital education. As the head of the ProSuli program at Yettel Hungary, he champions the innovative use of technology, encouraging teachers to integrate EdTech solutions into their curricula. Balazs' commitment to advancing educational methods is further demonstrated by his valuable contributions to GeoGebra. His former role as the Head of Education and Founder of VR-AR Education displays his entrepreneurial spirit and profound knowledge of the EdTech landscape. Balazs started preparing teams for robotics competitions and later became a judge, too. He has been judging and coaching WRO, FLL and FGC competitions at international and local levels for more than 8 years. 

​Director of International Strategy at Global University Systems Canada

Bernardo was born in Bogota, Colombia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising & Marketing. He originally arrived in Canada as an international student in 1996 and later he co-founded of one of the most prestigious and largest private English schools for international students in Canada. Now Bernardo is the Director of International Strategy for Global University Systems Canada. Bernardo has a passion for helping people, especially other immigrants, which is why since his early years in Canada he has served at different non-profit organisations. He has been a recipient of national and international recognitions such as “New Pioneer Award” by Skills for Change, the “Ten Most Influential Hispanics in Canada” by the Hispanic Business Alliance, the “Award of Excellence” by Colombia en el Exterior and is also the recipient of the “Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award” by the Canadian Immigrant Magazine and The Royal Bank of Canada. He is also a certified coach, teacher and speaker of the John Maxwell Organization. His passion is to intentionally add value to people and help SMBs and SMEs during their startup period.

Lead Product Designer at Databricks

Ridhima is an award-winning product designer with over 8 years of experience designing products for SAAS and cloud companies such as Databricks, Amazon, Tableau, and Juniper. Her work has reached millions of users worldwide, making a tangible impact on their daily lives.

Currently, she leads design for Machine Learning and AI at Databricks. Her primary focus lies in creating user-friendly tools that simplify the world of ML and democratize its accessibility. She is deeply passionate about breaking down complex domains and making them easily understandable for people from all walks of life.

Ridhina has also had the honour of speaking at various conferences, sharing insights on design, and mentoring young designers and start-ups to successfully build design teams from the ground up.

As a judge in this prestigious competition, she would bring her extensive expertise and discerning eye for innovative and impactful design for SAAS and cloud companies and help judge companies for their focus on great user experience and solving problems for their customers.

Director of Education, Learning.com

With more than 20 years in education as a classroom (K-2), tech apps (K-5) and GT (K-5) teacher, district administrator for instructional technology (K-12), professional development trainer, education services manager, instructional design manager, and product owner, Kelli has a passion for understanding how we learn. Dr Erwin keeps her focus on the science behind learning, best practices for pedagogy and andragogy and best practices for delivering virtual and in-person learning opportunities. Her current focus is in the K-12 learning space.

​Student Affairs Professional, Adult Learning And Higher Education, Access to Education Advocate, Certified Career Coach

​A lifelong learner, higher education professional and Student Success Counselor, Liz, currently manages a caseload of nearly 500 students in online bachelor's and master's degree programs utilizing the Appreciative Advising framework. A first-generation college student, Liz, is an advocate for access to education and enjoys that her current work allows her to serve a diverse population of online learners. Online degree programs bring both options and flexibility to support workplace success and career mobility for students. In addition to her current role assisting students in online degree programs for CSU Global, she serves as a course facilitator for the Appreciative Advising online course through the Office of Appreciative Education at Florida Atlantic University.

Head of Acquisition EPICODE

Biagio is an expert in lead acquisition for schools and universities. In 2016 he started his career in this field with Rome Business School, a project by Planeta Formación y Universidades, one of the largest European groups in the industry. After two years as Marketing Manager for Quasar Institute for Advanced Design he’s now Head of Acquisition at EPICODE, a career accelerator based in Italy.

​Managing Director of Andela Rwanda

Mike Ndimurukundo is the Managing Director at Andela Rwanda, a role he has been in for the past three years. Prior to this, he was the Senior Manager of the Developer Community, where he spearheaded unique, data-driven initiatives and scalable programs.

Mike has 16 years of experience driving organizational growth, leveraging expertise across tech, ed-tech, entrepreneurship, and business. He has a passion for technology, entrepreneurship, Ed-Tech, and how this can be leveraged to empower Africans.

​Cambridge CEM Product Manager

Alaa, an AIPPM-certified Product Manager and global marketing professional, possesses a wealth of experience overseeing all aspects of product lifecycle and management, as well as shaping marketing strategy, spanning over fourteen years. With a remarkable track record in leading successful product and service launches and commercialization, Alaa demonstrates a keen interest in digital product management, leveraging forensic assessment of data and business intelligence to define and articulate valuable insights.

What sets Alaa apart is their ability to adeptly handle multiple concurrent projects, from ideation to implementation, drawing upon a unique blend of creativity, commercial acumen, and critical thinking. He prioritises the establishment and nurturing of trust-based relationships with both peers and external stakeholders. Alaa is known for their collaborative nature, actively seeking to bridge functional, organisational, and jurisdictional boundaries in order to define a shared purpose, lead teams, and achieve collective objectives.

Presently, Alaa serves as a Product Manager for Primary assessment products at Cambridge CEM. His role encompasses a deep passion for delivering exceptional user experiences, underpinned by a strong dedication to accessibility. Alaa ensures that the products He oversee not only meet but exceed user expectations, catering to a diverse range of individuals.

Executive Director of Lunah Education Center NGO

Executive Director of Lunah Education Center NGO, ICT teacher for high school, Teacher's trainer of British Council for Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and Microbit use.

CEO and Founder of Artists In Business

Alexis Fedor is a performance artist and writer, and the founder of Artists In Business, an online education platform designed to help artists of all disciplines create businesses online with their art. She is a specialist in Cross-Cultural Dance and Theater, with a focus on Classical Indian Dance and Theater, a member of the Writers Guild of America East, and a digital marketing consultant.

​Design Strategist

Sarah Ramaiah is a Ph.D. Candidate in Instructional Leadership program with a concentration in Instructional Technology at The University of Alabama and holds a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and Technology from Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. She works as a Curriculum Design Strategist for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Her research interests are innovative educational programming for professional adults which includes micro learning, educational technology and web apps (ICT), and innovative learning strategies for enduring learning among professional adults, and patient education. Thought Leader and specialization in Medical Ed Tech. Primary developer of the copyrighted ASRM Mullerian Anomalies prototype.