Growth Council

Peter Stephens is an experienced UK civil servant and international policy advisor, specialising in cyber security, technology and education. He has advised Ministers and the offices of Prime Ministers abroad on the creation of Delivery Units at the heart of government. From 2018-22, Peter led the 'Secure by Design' division across the UK government, which included leading the response to the Mirai Botnet to the creation of the Product Security and Telecommunication Infrastructure Act. This legislation was the first of its type in the world, and sought to embed resilience and transparency into the billions of IoT products and their associated services, and fundamentally, to protect citizens from harm. From 2022-4, Peter led the Global Forum on Digital Security at the OECD, and supported other governments, and the G20, as a knowledge partner on security policy issues. Peter is an experienced public speaker and keynote. High profile recent speaking event include DEFCON, CES, Singapore International Cyber Week, The UN Internet Governance Forum, Munich Cyber Security Conference, InfoSec Europe, Cyber UK, and many others. Many years ago, he set the unofficial world record for hitch-hiking (Buenos Aires to NYC), and is pretty sure Barack Obama once stole his joke.

Grace Almendras-Castillo is a dynamic entrepreneur, corporate executive, and technology investor with a deep commitment to solving complex social, environmental, and economic challenges. With over two decades of global experience in consumer healthcare and life sciences, Grace’s technology entrepreneurial journey includes the successful acquisition of Self Care Catalysts, a pioneering digital health company. Now leading Gifftid, she continues to disrupt industries by fostering impact-driven innovations. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 50 Women in STEM and a nominee for E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, a British Resident and recipient of British Exceptional Talent visa programme, Grace holds patents for Health Storylines, a transformative digital health platform. She combines her expertise with leadership roles in organizations like JLabs, Springboard Enterprises, and MaRS. Grace holds advanced degrees from top institutions, including the University of Oxford, Wharton, and Yale, specializing in impact investing, sustainable finance, and entrepreneurship. Her mission is to empower SMEs, large enterprises by uniting talent, catalytic capital, and impact investors through Gifftid’s innovative AI/digital impact entrepreneurship platform.

Adam Watkins is the Public Sector Strategy & Sales Director at Kainos (a leading UK technology company based in Northern Ireland) and sits on the Public Sector Leadership Team. With over two decades in the tech industry, Adam has a proven track record of driving growth and innovation. His strategic vision has expanded Kainos’ footprint in the public sector, delivering transformative digital solutions across government organisations. Over the past few years, Adam has led the growth of our business across the Americas region, as well as our Global Data and AI practice, further showcasing his versatility and leadership. Adam is passionate about fostering innovation and promoting sustainable growth across the UK. He actively participates in tech forums and industry events, recently sharing insights at the Labour Party Conference 2024 on the importance of AI, technology adoption, skills and the role Northern Ireland has to play. His commitment to diversity and inclusion in tech has been widely recognised and is 1 of 20 representatives on Microsoft’s global AI/Data Partner Advisory Council, making him a respected leader and advocate for technology growth.

I am a leader and experienced innovation, economic development and policy professional with sound understanding of the complex political and socio-economic challenges and opportunities affecting the UK’s innovation ecosystems. I currently lead the delivery of Plexal’s clusters business, working with complex and secure government departments to support the development of cyber ecosystems around the UK. Prior to joining Plexal, I led the delivery of Connected Places Catapult’s £multi-million Diatomic programme in the West Midlands, through the Innovation Accelerator programme. This involved leadership of relationship with IUK and West Midlands Combined Authority, opening a new regional office, team recruitment, leading partnership of 5 organisations, leading regional business development activities, and oversight of additional £multi-million programme. This experience builds on leading policy at the Western Gateway, economic advisory at Arup (where I co-authored an innovation report with Nesta regarding innovation policy in the UK), as well as senior local government experience.

Rory MacDonald is the Chief Executive of Made Tech Group Plc, a London Stock Exchange listed company that he grew from a one-person startup to a business with a peak market capitalisation of £200 million and over 500 UK staff. With a background in software engineering and over two decades of experience in technology and innovation, Rory has led digital transformation projects in both the public and private sectors. In addition to his role at Made Tech, Rory is Chairman and Director of Plasmatrack, a rail technology company, and an investor in UK tech startups. He brings extensive experience in scaling businesses and driving technological innovation across a variety of sectors. Rory is also committed to fostering regional tech growth, with Made Tech having a presence across major UK cities. Rory balances his professional ambitions with his commitment to his young family, believing wholeheartedly in technology's potential to create a brighter future for society and the UK.

Chloe MacEwen is currently Senior Director at Microsoft, specialising in UK public policy and government affairs. She joined from Amaazon where she lead on all aspect of digital regulation across EMEA. Prior to this she was Vice President, Public and Regulatory Affairs at Western Union where she was responsible for the company's EU engagement with policymakers, legislators, and regulators. Chloe qualified as a solicitor at Simmons & Simmons in 1998 and then worked as a competition lawyer at Herbert Smith before spending ten years working as a regulator at the Competition Commission, Office of Fair Trading, and DG Competition, European Commission. She also worked as Head of Competition and Head of International Policy at Lloyds Banking Group, overseeing the bank's engagement strategy with policymakers on a broad range of financial services and competition issues. Chloe was educated at King’s College London, where she gained an LLB and LLM.

Casey is the Head of Policy and Public Affairs and Vorboss - a scale-up building the connectivity infrastructure needed to underpin our economy. In her role, she is focused on supporting future-facing skills, diversity in tech & infrastructure, security & resilience, and our future needs to underpin growth. Prior to working at Vorboss, Casey launched and grew the tech public affairs practice at two agencies. As a tech policy specialist, she has worked with some of the largest and most exciting technology companies in the world - helping them with policy, government relations and strategic communications Westminster-focused to global. Previously, she managed the leading parliamentary technology policy group, mobilising cross-party coalitions to educate policymakers on emerging tech, and ran a London-based startup media company. Casey is the Industry Chair of Labour Digital and co-founder of the Women in Tech Policy Network.

Yasmin is Head of UK Government Affairs at Broadcom, following five years at Brunswick Group as a TMT partner and co-lead of the Global Cybersecurity, Data and Privacy Practice. Prior to Brunswick, Yasmin spent two decades in key leadership roles in UK Government. She served as Director General responsible for UK tech policy. She oversaw the UK Data Protection Act and sponsorship of the UK’s data regulator, together with a range of cybersecurity and wider tech policy issues. Yasmin has also worked in the Cabinet Office, where she led on the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy and the establishment of the National Cyber Security Centre. She has coordinated the response to major cyber incidents and worked closely with a wide range of international partners on cyber co-operation and data privacy. Yasmin is a member of UK Government’s National Cyber Security Board and co-chair of Aspen Institute’s Global Cybersecurity Group.

Tijs is a senior communications and government relations advisor to global brands and UK organisations with a professional background in tech, transport, and security. Based in the City, Tijs leads government affairs and public policy in the UK and Northwest Europe for HP Inc. Having volunteered as a Special Constable in central London, and as a former trustee of Working Chance – a charity helping women ex-offenders into jobs, Tijs now serves as vice-chair of the City Corporation’s Policy and Resources Committee and deputy chair of the City of London’s Police Authority Board - the national lead force for economic and cyber crime. Tijs is involved in creating a Destination City as governor at the Museum of London and member of the Barbican Centre Board, and in the education sector served as chair of the City of London’s Academies Trust supporting 10 schools with over 7,800 students across London. He is currently Chair of the Board of Governors at the London Metropolitan University. Having previously worked for the Equal Opportunities Commission, he is passionate about social mobility and promoting a diverse and inclusive City.

Julie Dawson leads regulatory and government relations for Yoti digital age & identity platform, developing policy approaches for fraud prevention and safeguarding and liaising with national and sectoral trust frameworks, in conjunction with Yoti’s internal and external ethics boards. Julie is an authority in digital identity policy and governance, is CoChair of the Age Verification Providers Association and represents Yoti at fora including techUK Growth Council & Digital Identity working group, the Association of Digital Verification Professionals, WeProtect Global Alliance and the Online Safety Tech Industry Alliance . Yoti has a team of over 400 people, is headquartered in London and counts over 15 million installs of the Yoti app and over 800 million age checks.

Alistair has over 20 years’ experience in public policy, spanning think tanks, NGOs, and industry. RELX is a UK‑based global information services and data analytics group employing over 36,000 people worldwide, where he leads the company’s engagement with governments and policymakers across Asia‑Pacific on issues including AI governance, intellectual property, data protection, information security, and science policy. Alistair is also a member of techUK’s Growth Council and a Visiting Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, a department of the University of Oxford. From 2019 to 2020, he served as the UK Government‑approved co‑chair of the India–UK JETCO working group on digital and data services, supporting bilateral negotiations on a prospective free trade agreement. In April 2026, he was announced as the Chair of techUK's UK-Japan Tech Forum.

Blake Bower is Director of Digital and Technology Policy at the UK Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport. In this role Blake has wide-ranging responsibilities including the development and delivery of the UK's Digital Strategy, the regulation of digital markets, the government's relationship with the tech sector, and digital inclusion policy; and takes responsibility for the Office for Artificial Intelligence. Before joining DCMS Blake was Director of Trade and Investment (Goods) at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy playing a key role in the delivery of trade deals between the UK and the rest of the world. With more than 10 years of experience in government, he has held roles covering a wide range of policy areas such as European Strategy, International Climate Change, Electricity Market Reform and Identity. He has also been Board Secretary and head of planning, performance and governance at the Ministry of Justice. Prior to joining the Civil Service, Blake's career included roles in both the private and third sectors focused on business responsibility and sustainable development. He holds degrees in Biological Sciences and in Environmental Technology as well as an MBA from the University of Warwick.

Tom has over 15 years experience working across the tech sector. He started in Google's advertising business, working in a number of international markets before leaving to work in public policy. For the last 10 years, Tom has led advocacy in many of the major policy areas affecting tech from online safety to public sector digital transformation to competition. After a few years in public affairs agencies, Tom was head of public affairs at techUK before joining Microsoft, where he led their work on the online safety bill and public sector transformation. Tom rejoined Google in 2020 where he leads Google's economic, energy and media policy work including competition, energy and data centres. He continues to work on these topics that are central to the success of the UK's tech sector.

Simon Miller is Director of Public Affairs and Regional Affairs at Virgin Media O2, responsible for setting and delivering the company's public affairs strategy; advising and engaging C-Suite executives in the company’s political communications; and building relationships with decision makers and influencers in Westminster, Whitehall and the devolved governments of the UK. Prior to joining O2 in 2011 and moving across to the newly created Virgin Media O2 in 2021, Simon held senior public affairs and corporate policy consultancy roles at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, APCO and Instinctif. He has also held in-house roles in the transport and charity sectors. Simon is married and lives in London with his wife and two sons.

Adrian Criddle is Vice President and General Manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland region for Lenovo. He is responsible for managing Lenovo’s UK & Ireland business across the Personal Computing, Infrastructure Services, Mobile Business and Services & Solutions groups. Adrian joined Lenovo in April 2024, following 24 years at Intel. During his time at Intel, Adrian held a variety of senior positions across the UK, EMEA, and globally, within Sales, Marketing and Operations. Adrian’s early career began via a traditional apprentice programme with Ferranti and Honeywell systems, and he then spent ten years in the UK&I channel reseller business.

Government and regulatory specialist with over 20 years experience of Global policy development based primarily in the financial services, data and AI space. Experienced policy draftsperson who has worked with the UK, US, EU and GCC countries to draft and amend keys areas of legislation and trade agreements including chairing the EU - US trade council in the European Parliament. Regular speaker on tech and data opportunities in the UK, with a keen interest in getting the balance between regulation and innovation for growth in the UK economy right.

Chris leads on all areas of policy and business support for SAP UK as well as covering a portfolio of EU issues. Previously Chris has worked on technical regulatory affairs and policy matters in the UK and the EU for over ten years following a career in the UK Civil Service covering a wide range of trade and business policy issues as well as innovation support.

Iana Vidal is Head of Public Policy for Block, Inc. in the UK. She leads the company’s engagement with government, regulators and other key stakeholders, to influence policy and regulation that drives economic empowerment and supports innovation in financial services. Iana has extensive experience across a range of policy areas, and has previously worked for trade and professional bodies, and in the not for profit sector.

Maria is Senior Public Policy Manager at Cloudflare, having recently worked as Director of Policy at Yapily, a scaling Fintech company. Prior to this Maria was at Tech Nation leading Government Relations working closely with the DCMS on how to make the UK the best place to grow and scale a tech business. Maria trained as a lawyer and started off her career in Investment Banking.