What If Worlds

With over 13 years’ experience within the People space, across a number of industries including Technology and Financial Services, Kelly is currently Chief People Officer at Luno, a leading crypto currency exchange whose mission is to upgrade the world to a better financial system. Prior to this, Kelly was Chief People Officer at WorldFirst where she helped to scale the fast growth FinTech business and built out a global People Team and culture before its acquisition by Ant Financial (part of the Alibaba group). Kelly adopts a true People First approach, which was recognised by her winning HR Professional of the Year 2018. As a Psychology graduate from University College London, Kelly has always had a passion for understanding what drives behaviour and how this applies to the world of work. She is driven by creating workplaces in which people can feel a true sense of belonging and therefore thrive.

Ben Alcott graduated in 1992 with a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and went on to complete an MSc in Thermal Power at Cranfield University, graduating in 1993. In 2015 he graduated from a Post Graduate Diploma in Organisational Leadership at Saïd Business School, Oxford University.

Following spells in the oil contracting industry, conducting gas turbine research for the government, and at Rolls-Royce Deutschland, Ben joined CAA in 1998 working on engine certification, oversight of a variety of UK and overseas companies, and rulemaking projects in Europe and the USA.

Since then Ben has held a variety of management and leadership roles in the UK CAA, covering safety reporting, data analysis and planning; licensing of pilots, engineers and Air Traffic Controllers; and regulatory strategy.

From 2013 to 2015 Ben led the UK’s CAA’s Performance Based Regulation Programme, the CAA’s transformation programme to be a ‘performance-based’ regulator, delivering the strategy created in his previous role to shift the CAA towards integrated regulatory oversight based on risk and organisational performance

In November 2015 Ben was appointed as the CAA’s first International Director, creating and leading the now established International Group with accountability for the CAA’s advisory and training arm (the wholly owned subsidiary CAA International Ltd), the CAA’s State Safety Partnership programme, and engagement with international institutions such as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the institutions of the EU.

Since 2012, Ben has also been a Director of Air Safety Support International (ASSI), the CAA’s wholly owned subsidiary organisation providing oversight of and support to the UK’s Overseas Territories. He is also a founding member of CAA’s ‘Aviation Futures’ group, a diverse team of regulators, academics and industry experts examining potential long-term changes in the aviation system.

In his spare time Ben is a keen sailor, cruising the south coast of the UK with his family and is currently Commodore of Dell Quay Sailing Club in Chichester Harbour.

With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, Alpesh Tailor is currently an Executive Director, a Global Business Unit Lead and a member of the Group management team at GFT Financial.
Alpesh describes himself as very ‘client-centric’, and has worked with a major financial services client since joining GFT in 2007, moving from account management to UK Client Unit Manager and ultimately to Global Client Partner for the client’s Capital Markets segment, a role which he also currently assumes.
His wealth of experience, ranging from direct banking to systems integrated solutions houses in financial services, has been gained through his previous roles at Morse where he was responsible for account management and delivering IT infrastructure services, and Citigroup where he led a multi-site team delivering the service provision of hardware and IT services across all London locations, including the high-profile Y2K programme. He also sat on the Global Problem Management Committee.

Elena Sidorochkina, Head of LNG at OMV Gas Marketing & Trading, has 16 years of experience in the gas industry, with a particular focus on LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) since 2005. After graduating from the Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow as a Master of Economics, Elena joined Gazprom Export Ltd., the export arm of Gazprom Group. In her initial role, she was involved in the development and implementation of the first ever contracts for pipeline gas supply from Russia to first liberalised markets in North West Europe. Following a two-year stint in the pipeline gas business, Elena spent a year on the LNG desk of Total Gas & Power in London, after which she returned to the Gazprom group to become one of the pioneer members of the company’s dedicated LNG team in GM&T. Elena was running a global team, represented in London and Singapore, with responsibility for developing Gazprom’s LNG portfolio based on strategic sources of the group (Russian projects) and third-party supply. The team was also dedicated to sales of LNG on a term basis to traditional buyers and emerging LNG markets. Elena joined OMV in August 2018 to head the team in charge of LNG trading and origination, monetising LNG related assets and developing LNG portfolio.

With over 10 years experience of disruptive, high-growth tech start-ups, Tom is currently Head of UK & Ireland, for one of Europe’s largest online doctors, Zava.

After graduating from Bristol University in 2009, Tom spent the next year studying Mandarin in China. On his return to the UK he joined the nascent Groupon UK, and helped with its rapid expansion nationwide (and also briefly Peru), as it became the fastest-growing company to reach a billion dollars revenue in modern history.

With a passion for disruption and innovation, Tom then moved into the world of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) as VP of Products & Services, and founding member, of the connected division for Motorola Monitors. Splitting his time between Bangalore, Hong Kong and London, Tom managed the launch and scaling of one of the world’s first mass-adopted Smart Home apps and subscription service, to over 1.5 million users worldwide.

In 2016, Tom joined eBuyNow, a global eCommerce platform, where he was responsible for managing Motorola’s third party Accelerator Program. During this time he also co-founded ProductLoop, an internal startup based in Taiwan, which created proprietary Big Data technology to inform major Consumer Electronic brands of trends and opportunities.

Tom’s most recent move saw him return to London, and to another industry prime for disruption - healthcare. Heading up the UK for Zava (one of Europe’s largest health tech providers), Tom is responsible for defining the strategic vision and day to day management of the UK business. In June 2019, Zava confirmed $32m in Series A funding, and Tom is focused on realising the company’s ambitious growth plans in the UK.

Skye has a deep-rooted passion for Life Sciences and Healthcare that spans more than 15 years. Following his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Bristol, where he studied the molecular mechanisms of aging, Skye worked across a number of strategy and commercial advisory roles, pursuing his interest in bringing new innovation to those in need, supporting the growth of biopharma companies and putting the patient at the centre. This often involves spanning the interface between science and business, digital and people, clinical and commercial.
Skye’s current role in Product Solutions and Asset Strategy at Syneos Health, focuses on the end-to-end product development of therapies, identifying novel ways of speeding up, de-risking or driving efficiencies in bringing these to patients. This spans exploring novel operational delivery models, treatment modalities - such as digital therapeutics as companion or stand-alone treatments, decentralized clinical trials solutions and predictive analytics models.
In his free time, Skye enjoys working with other thought leaders and entrepreneurs in the healthcare space, spanning start-ups, white papers, podcasts and other creative outlets. Working somewhat globally, he is currently in Portugal, learning how to spearfish and improving his surfing.

Diana Hogbin-Mills has a degree in psychology, training in executive and team coaching, and more than 20 years’ work experience across a range of roles focused on people and customers; often in a programme environment, where it can be challenging and fast-moving. She brings specialist knowledge of Organisational and Leadership development, Emotional Intelligence, Compassion and Resilience to create high performing work environments.

Diana constantly looks out for things that will help to solve her clients’ challenges in engaging and sustainable ways. She believes firmly in working collaboratively to move programmes forward and describes her motivation as seeing an ability in everyone to do amazing things. Diana is adept at working at both strategic and operational levels and has the breadth of skill and drive for developing people to enact and enable change. She takes a systemic approach and reaches solutions in a way that others might not have considered.

Along with her husband, Diana also runs and supports the running of start up businesses in the education and food and beverage sector.