BUSINESSLDN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Commercial Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Urban Planner, AtkinsRealis
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- Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company
Anita is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company - a global management consultancy. Anita leads the Consumer practice in the UK as well as the Apparel, Fashion, and Luxury practice in EMEA - serving clients both in retail and consumer businesses and is renowned for her understanding of the disruptions shaping the retail industry today.
Anita joins London First at a critical time as the capital continues to recover from the pandemic and looks ahead to strengthen its position as a pioneering city for domestic and international business.
Antonia has over 15 years' experience championing the interests of British businesses to governments at all levels. She began her career as a researcher in Parliament and then worked at the CBI, becoming their Principal Political Advisor. Following this she spent five years as Government Affairs Manager at Marks and Spencer, lobbying on behalf of the retailer on a broad range of issues at EU, UK, devolved and local level. Most recently Antonia was Account Director at political consultancy, Newington Communications, where she designed and implemented public affairs strategies for clients across a range of sectors.
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- Executive Principal and Chief Learning Officer, London South East Colleges
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- National Skills & Training Partnerships Manager, the Crown Estate
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- Strategic Partnership Manager, Ascentis
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- Director, West London Alliance
David was appointed to the Starling Bank board as Chair designate in June 2021 and commenced the Chair role in October 2021. Starling Bank has grown to be one of the leading and most innovative digital first disrupters to the banking market in the UK. It is widely recognised for the quality of its customer service to both retail and SME business customers.
On 31 May 2021 David completed 10 years serving as Global Deputy Chief Executive and prior to that UK and North West Europe Senior Partner and Chief Executive for Deloitte.
Deloitte operates in more than 150 countries, with approximately 312,000 professionals. He served on the Global Executive and led the Global Client and Business Executive, which had responsibility for overseeing, setting strategy and served as the decision-making body for overall Deloitte Client and Business matters. In addition to providing the leadership, management, and vision for the firm's Client and Business organizations, David also directed Deloitte's Alliances, Ecosystems, and Assets, Bold Plays, and Corporate Development strategy.
David was the Senior Partner and Chief Executive of Deloitte UK and Deloitte North West Europe for two elected terms spanning eight years. His career with Deloitte and predecessor firms spanned over 30 years and he led some of the firm's key business areas, including Tax, Consulting and Advisory Services. David also spent two years as Managing Partner for Talent, an area that continued to be an important focus for him.
David also sits on the Governing Council of University of Hertfordshire.
Job Titles:
- Director of Sustainability & Climate Change, WSP
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- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chief Operating Officer / Business Development
Dimitra is BusinessLDN Chief Operating Officer. She has 20 years' experience in international business management and strategy, leading private and non-for-profit strategic partnerships and business development teams, stakeholder management and board level participation.
In the past, she has held positions at Bloomberg, Accenture and the Corporate Executive Board (currently Gartner). Dimitra worked closely with the UN CEO Water Mandate, as a Corporate Water Disclosure Stakeholder Advisory Group member and is a member of the Greater London Authority Women in cleantech steering group. She has experience working in Europe, the US, and South-East Asia.
She received her Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of Crete in Greece. Dimitra holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College of London and an MBA from London Business School.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive, London Higher
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- Programme Director, Transport
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- Programme Director, People and Skills
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- Executive Assistant to CEO & LT, HR Coordinator
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- Executive Assistant & Working Groups Coordinator
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- CEO, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
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- Vice Chair, Morgan Stanley
Gillian became Vice Chair U.K. Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley in October 2023. She was previously a Senior Advisor of Credit Suisse and has 25 years of experience advising boards on a range of challenges including corporate strategy, acquisition support, takeover defence, and all aspects of corporate finance. She held a variety of roles at Credit Suisse including Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and Head of Telecoms, Media, and Technology. Gillian is also a member of the Salesforce Europe, Middle East and Africa Advisory Board and a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Treasury of Severn Trent PLC.
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- Project Manager, Transport for London
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- Programme Director, Planning and Development
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- Senior Independent Director
- Chief Executive of Grainger Plc
Helen Gordon is Chief Executive of Grainger plc the UK's largest listed residential landlord. Helen was appointed Chief Executive of Grainger in January 2016 from RBS where she had been Global Head of Real Estate Asset Management since October 2011. Prior to that Helen was Director of Legal and General Property, responsible for the Main Life Fund and c.8 smaller Funds, and Group Property Director of Railtrack and Managing Director of John Laing Developments.
Helen was appointed to the BusinessLDN Board in 2022. Helen is also Senior Independent Director on the Board of Derwent London and is currently Vice Chair and a Board Director of the European Public Real Estate Association. Helen is Past President of the British Property Federation and was a member of the Government's Urban Centre Recovery Taskforce for post Covid recovery. Helen has held a number of non-exec positions and Government appointments including the Board of Covent Garden Market Authority and Board of British Waterways.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Manager
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Director, Setax Training & Consultancy
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- Programme Director of Sustainability
Ioanna has extensive experience in the subject of Climate Change and Sustainable Development both through her policy-focused position at the Greater London Authority (GLA) and as a Principal Energy Consultant for AECOM. She has an in-depth understanding of sustainability as a whole having been involved in projects including net-zero carbon delivery, building in-use energy performance and reporting, heat decarbonisation, fabric energy efficiency, whole life carbon emissions, carbon offsetting and pricing, low carbon and renewable energy supply and a range of other sustainability areas.
At BusinessLDN, Ioanna is the Programme Director of Sustainability leading on policy development, advocacy and communications around sustainability to drive green growth while maximising job opportunities in London.
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- CEO, Grosvenor Property UK
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- Programme Director, Leadership Exchange / Communications and Campaigns
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- Director, Initially London
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- Director, Central London Forward
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- Global Cities Director, Arcadis
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- Chief Executive
- Member of the Leadership Team
John Dickie is the Chief Executive at BusinessLDN. Formerly the organisation's Director of Strategy and Policy, he was responsible for the business membership organisation's public policy development and its member management team. A former Deputy Leader of Camden Council in London, John was a member of the current Mayor of London's London Finance Commission, the previous Mayor's Infrastructure Delivery Board and is a member of the King's College Commission on London.
His previous senior roles include Head of Corporate Affairs at the BBC, Regulatory Affairs Director at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association and Managing Director of consultancy Prima Europe, later GPC London, where he provided political and policy advice to major international businesses. John started his career at Swiss Bank Corporation International and has degrees from Oxford University and the London Business School.
Job Titles:
- Programme Director, Infrastructure
As Programme Director, Infrastructure John leads BusinessLDN's engagement with our members in the infrastructure space, covering utilities, telecoms, engineering, construction and related consultancy sectors. This includes developing thought leadership on the major infrastructure challenges facing the capital and proposed solutions and ensuring that BusinessLDN has a seat at the table where strategic infrastructure decisions are being made. John has eleven years' experience in policy, public affairs and government engagement roles in the capital, including time as Head of Policy at the Global Infrastructure Investor Association and spells at High Speed Two Limited and Transport for London.
Job Titles:
- Policy Delivery Director, Research and Impact
Jonathan is Director, Place at BusinessLDN. His work focuses on London's built environment, leading a team that covers housing, planning, development and infrastructure.
Prior to joining BusinessLDN, Jonathan worked for a leading trade association, think tank and member of Parliament.
Job Titles:
- CEO & Principal, West London College
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- Deputy Head of UCL Careers, UCL
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- Senior Program Manager EMEA, AWS Re / Start, AWS
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- Non - Executive Director
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
Lesley-Ann spent two decades in investment banking building and leading structured interbank businesses. She was a managing director of Morgan Stanley and left to lend her commercial skills to Government. She spent seven years in the Cabinet Office where she headed large scale programmes delivering significant value to the tax payer.
On leaving Government, Lesley-Ann has embarked on a NED career. She has been appointed to the boards of St James's Place plc (FTSE 100) and Workspace Group plc (FTSE 250).
Lesley-Ann is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and holds an MBA from CASS business school.
Job Titles:
- Group Chief Strategy Officer, London South East Colleges
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- Member of the Leadership Team
- Business Development Support Executive
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- Policy Delivery Director, Membership
Mark is Membership Director, leading our cross-organisational member retention and engagement strategy. He also leads the policy work of our People Team, including skills, immigration, employment, inclusion and diversity and education, as well as the Leadership Exchange. His team has account management responsibility for our members in the education, financial services, legal services, health, and hospitality sectors.
Mark works to ensure London business has access to the talent it needs, by working with members and stakeholders on high profile and integrated policy and campaigning activity, including ReNew London and previously our successful London Skills Commission and #Full Strength coalition. He has built an extensive network across business, education, policy and government.
He works closely with the Greater London Authority including his role on the Mayor's Anchor's Institution Charter skills sub group. He is also a member of the London Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network run by the Department for Education, the Home Office's National Advisory Group and the London Higher Board.
Prior to BusinessLDN, he was a retail property consultant for eight years, developing asset management strategies for blue chip property companies, and spent four years in local government providing policy advice and training programmes to councillors as well as leading on community engagement activity.
Mark joined BusinessLDN from the Association of Colleges where he ran the London region.
Job Titles:
- UK Chief Executive Officer, WSP
Mark was appointed Mace's Chief Executive in January 2013, and has overseen the company's revenue growth from £1bn to almost £2bn. He has consistently championed change within our industry. He is passionate about improving Health, Safety and Wellbeing standards across the construction industry and finding better ways of delivering major programmes and projects and modernising the industry to meet its growth opportunities, whilst ensuring Mace is more productive, more efficient and a responsible company.
Mark gained his early experience in the commercial sector, later moving on to projects with BAA. He was the Deputy Programme Director for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, reported as the best ever delivered venue in the history of the modern Olympics.
In 2017 Mark became a member of the Construction Leadership Council, responsible for leading the Skills workstream and working closely with a reformed CITB. He is also on the Board of London First, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and is a trustee of LandAid.
Job Titles:
- London Area Director, Association of Colleges
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- Senior Communications Manager
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- Director of Competitiveness
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- Chief Operating Officer, Generation
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- Deputy Chief Executive
- Member of the Leadership Team
Muniya Barua is Deputy Chief Executive at BusinessLDN. She leads our Policy, Campaigns and Communications team, with responsibility for our impact, influencing, thought leadership work and membership. She supports our CEO John Dickie in the running of the business and has responsibility for developing the overall business strategy. She was previously Managing Director of Policy and Strategy, and before that she ran our Corporate Affairs team.
Before she joined BusinessLDN, Muniya's previous senior roles include as Managing Director of Corporate Affairs at the award-winning public and communications agency Newington Communications and at the business lobby group, the CBI, where she held the roles of Director of Corporate Communications and Head of News.
Muniya began her career as a business reporter at the Liverpool Daily Post before going on to produce news bulletins for ITV News London, CNN and the BBC.
Muniya is an independent governor at London Metropolitan University and also sits on its finance and resources committee. She was previously a trustee at the Campaign for Better Transport.
Job Titles:
- General Manager, UK & Ireland at WeWork
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- Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal
Nneka is a Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal, where she leads the UK's Wealth Management Performance Improvement practice. She was previously Chief Operating Officer at a wealth management business and prior to this, Nneka spent almost 10 years in Management Consulting at Deloitte and Accenture. A passionate champion of improving social mobility, Nneka is a mentor with the Social Mobility Foundation. She previously mentored with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Amos Bursary, and she is a supporter of Women of Colour Global Network (WOCGN), Women of the Future Future and Inspiring the Future.
Pamela is the former Chair of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, having held a variety of roles in the firm including London Senior Office Partner and Head of Financial Institutions. A highly-regarded financial services lawyer with more than 35 years' experience she was influential in developing a new tax-transparent UK fund structure which has helped maintain the competitiveness of the £12 bn UK investment fund industry. Eversheds Sutherland won the ‘Navigating and Influencing Regulation' award for Pamela's work.
Job Titles:
- Partner and Vice Chair, KPMG
Richard has spent the last 20 years at KPMG, where he heads the Financial Services Indirect Tax Practice and advises clients in the financial services sector. He engages and consults with UK tax authorities, HM Treasury, and the European Commission on the impact of VAT legislation and policy on the financial services sector. He previously headed up KPMG's Challenger Banking practice supporting challenger banks with navigating the tax and regulatory arrangements in place. A strong champion for mentoring and coaching young black people, Richard also chairs the Race Diversity Board for Business in the Community, is the partner sponsor for the Afro-Caribbean Network, and set up the Black Leaders Network.
Job Titles:
- Web & Marketing Manager
- Web & Marketing Manager / Operations
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- Chief Executive, London HQ and Primera Corporation
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- Director of Communications and Campaigns
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- Director, Planning & Development
- Planner
Sarah is an experienced planner with twenty years' experience working in the private sector in London. The majority of her career has been within planning consultancy, however she also spent six years working for a major developer, which provided invaluable insight into the commercial and construction aspects of development. She has a deep understanding of development management and planning policy, together with specialist experience in housing, urban regeneration, urban design and heritage planning.
At BusinessLDN, Sarah leads on all our planning policy advocacy and represented our members throughout the London Plan examination in public. She works closely with the GLA and London Boroughs to bring together the public and private sectors to help foster a positive planning climate for development in the capital. She also leads on our high streets, industrial and logistics, and public realm work.
Sarah has a BA(hons) Degree in Urban Development and Policy from the University of the West of England and a MA Degree in Town Planning from the University of Westminster. She is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Programme Director, Member Engagement
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- Vice - Chancellor & President, King 's College London
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- CEO, Battersea Power Station
Ian currently chairs Flint Global and Police Now, is a Board member of BusinessLDN, and undertakes several mentoring roles.
He was Chair and Senior Partner of PwC UK from 2008 to 2016, and a member of PwC's Global Network Leadership Team and EMEA Leader. When he retired from PwC in 2016, Ian took the role of Chair of Capita plc from January 2017 to May 2022. Ian was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours list for services to professional services and voluntary service. Ian is married with four children.
He lists his interests as family, sport and theatre and is a keen West Bromwich Albion fan.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Founder and Chairman of Boutique Technology Merchant Bank, Restoration Partners
Ken is Founder and Chairman of boutique technology merchant bank, Restoration Partners. Ken's technology career spans over 40 years commencing with IBM and then as a senior executive at Wang Laboratories working in the UK, Belgium and the USA.
He has considerable public company Board-level experience on both sides of the Atlantic. The first British-born black man to be appointed as a Director of a FTSE 100 company (Reuters) he has also served on the Boards of Open Text, Thomson Reuters, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and several AIM-listed businesses. Today he chairs a portfolio of high potential technology businesses including Inogesis (home to the Virtual Technology Cluster), Interswitch (Nigeria's leading payments company) and Proxymity - (digital investor communications platform) Interswitch.
Ken is equally committed to public service and has been an NHS Trust Director, an inaugural member of regulators, Postal Service Commission and IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standard Authority); and a Governor of the Peabody Trust. He is the founder of the Aleto Foundation; President of Thames Reach (for which he received an OBE in 2010); Chairman of Shaw Trust; and President of London Youth. In 2015 Her Majesty the Queen, appointed him as her Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London. He was knighted in 2018 for services to business and philanthropy and in 2021 he was appointed High Bailiff and Searcher of the Sanctuary at Westminster Abbey and a Trustee of the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund. On January 1 st 2023, Ken became Chair of BusinessLDN (formerly known as London First.)
He captures his motivations in his official motto - ‘Do well. Do good."
Job Titles:
- Head of Strategy, Policy, and Relationships, Greater London Authority
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- Programme Director, Housing
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- Managing Director
- Formerly Partner at McKinsey & Company
- Managing Director, Amazon Web Services, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Tanuja Randery is Managing Director at Amazon Web Services, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
She specialises in commercial transformations in the technology, telecoms and advanced industries sectors.
Tanuja is formerly partner at McKinsey & Company, the management consulting firm.
Tanuja has both a strategy and operations background, having served as CEO in multiple B2 B technology & telecom companies, including most recently as CEO, UK & Ireland for Schneider Electric, the global energy management firm.
Tanuja also brings an investment mindset from her time in private equity where she served as an Operating Executive with Apax Partners. She has extensive Board experience and is a Non-Executive Director with two public boards: Proximus Group, the Belgian telecommunications company and Zensar Technology Services, a global IT services firm listed in India.
Tanuja is a champion of diversity and founded PowerWomen network in 2015, a network for senior executive women in London. She was awarded the Top 50 Champion for Women in Business award in 2017 and 2018 by FT/HERoes.
Prior to Schneider and Apax, Tanuja spent over 10 years in telecommunications at Colt Technology Services, a leading pan-European telecoms provider, and at BT Global Services, as President of Strategy & Transformation.
Prior to joining Colt, Tanuja led the Strategy function at EMC Corporation in Massachusetts, USA and was instrumental in a number of key software acquisitions.
Tanuja started her career at McKinsey & Co. specializing in technology growth strategy. She graduated from Boston University with an MBA and has an undergraduate degree in Economics.
She is an international citizen - born and raised in India, lived in the US for 16 years, Belgium for three years, and now lives in the UK with her husband and son. Tanuja enjoys travel, jazz music, sushi explorations with her son and being chief taster for her husband's culinary exploits.
Job Titles:
- Founder & CEO at Skills Builder Partners
Tom Ravenscroft, Founder & CEO at Skills Builder Partnership shares their work on skills and their Universal Framework, the collective answer to the question of what essential transferable skills are, how we can build them and how it is being built into national and local plans, including the London LSIP.
Job Titles:
- Policy and Engagement Officer
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- London Senior Partner and Vice Chairman, Deloitte