Scale-Up Council

Harry has 15 years of experience in strategy and technology consulting. He is responsible for working with Opencast clients to ensure we provide the skills and services they need. Previously with Accenture and BT Global Services, Harry has worked with clients including HMRC, DWP, NHS and MoD to deliver a range of digital solutions to achieve business outcomes. Harry leads Opencast’s strategy for growth and supports new partnerships and strategic account development across the business, alongside new client work with the likes of Deutsche Bank, JPMC, GDS and Acas. His experience in major project delivery, cloud and digital technology has helped him deliver organisational transformation, improved operational capability, cost savings and increased revenue generation.

Liz Ashall-Payne is an accomplished healthcare leader and the Founding CEO of ORCHA, a global leader in digital health accreditation and distribution services. With a background as a trained NHS Clinician, Liz has been at the forefront of healthcare transformation programs in the NHS, Europe, and North America, leveraging the potential of digital technology to enhance patient health outcomes and drive economic opportunities. In 2015, Liz established ORCHA, a groundbreaking venture that garnered investments from influential figures like Sir Terry Leahy and Bill Currie. Under Liz's guidance, ORCHA has experienced remarkable growth, expanding its digital health assessment and distribution services to twelve countries worldwide. Within the UK, ORCHA serves organizations in 70% of NHS regions, positioning itself as a trusted partner in the digital health landscape. Recognized for her exceptional contributions, Liz Ashall-Payne and ORCHA have received numerous accolades. Liz herself has been honored as a Tech Trailblazer by the BIMA 100, acknowledged as a Healthcare IT Leader in the HIMSS Future 50, and named Entrepreneur of the Year by prestigious institutions such as the British Chamber of Commerce, Norther Powerhouse, and EY. Additionally, she has been featured within the LDC top 50, further highlighting her influential role in the healthcare and technology sectors. In addition to her accomplishments at ORCHA, Liz Ashall-Payne is an NHS England NIA alumni fellow, demonstrating her commitment to advancing innovation in healthcare. She actively contributes to the development of future healthcare leaders as a coach for the NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur program. Furthermore, Liz serves as the Vice Chair on the techUK Health and Social Care Council, where she helps shape policies and initiatives in the intersection of technology and healthcare.

Matt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Scalerr. Scalerr is a global growth advisory firm and recruitment consultancy which helps scaling tech companies grow both locally and internationally. Scalerr has helped over 550 Tech companies grow and in doing so helped to create 48 unicorns ($1 Billion Valuation while privately owned) and has a truly global reach. Matt is also on the board of London’s Entrepreneur’s Organisation Chapter which supports founders grow and scale their businesses. In addition to Scalerr’s upcoming g investment fund, he is an LP across a number of investment firms and supports a number of accelerators and growth hubs globally.

Amy leads KPMG’s Emerging Giant support in Scotland, KPMG’s global brand for providing dedicated support to scaling businesses. Amy is also Head of the UK-wide ‘Access’ programme – an accelerator programme designed specifically for fast-growing, ambitious and high potential tech businesses. Covering a diverse range of themes on business fundamentals, it has supported over 65 businesses to scale rapidly. Her previous roles have been dedicated to supporting tech start up and scale-ups through early-stage business accelerators, working hand-to-hand with founders to drive tangible success. Amy is part of the core team that delivers the KPMG Tech Innovator in the UK competition, where the latest Tech scaleups are celebrated locally, UK-wide, and globally. Amy is passionate about the gender and social mobility gaps in the entrepreneurial marketplace. Amy sits on KPMG UK’s ‘Founded by Her’ steering group which sets the firm’s annual strategy to support women-led businesses; and spearheaded the idea and establishment of a Founded by Her ‘Access’ cohort. Amy supports the annual KPMG Black Entrepreneur Awards by delivering training on pitching, and mentors the 2023 winner. Out with work Amy has a young family and spends her weekends providing a taxi service to their clubs and parties! Amy has a passion for travel, languages and culture having spent time living in Italy and the UAE.

Marc is a senior director on the Camarco team – Trilligent’s sister company under the APCO umbrella. Marc has 20 years of experience advising technology and life sciences companies on financial and corporate communications, from earlier stage startups raising Series A funding, through to scale-ups, IPO and beyond. Marc also has significant experience advising deeptech focused Venture Capital funds, as well as Private Equity. Prior to Camarco, Marc spent seven years at The PR Office (PRO) where he was MD of the agency, as well as building and heading-up the tech team, and leading on overall financial communications. Previously Marc worked at Kreab Gavin Anderson, FTI Consulting, Financial Dynamics and Bankside Consultants. Marc started his career at Deloitte. Marc is a Trustee of the Taylor Bennet Foundation, and was formerly a non-executive director at UK Israel Business.

Paul Connell An entrepreneur who has built Open Innovations into a 21st century Institution and co-founded DataCity which is a Data as a service Company whilst also running his own innovation company. Paul co-founded The Data City as a spin out from Open Innovations in 2015 (incorporated in 2017) with the mission to create a software business that used open data the power of the web and machine learning and AI to help people, business and organisataions use real time data to tell you what companies do and #KillAllreports. His role as Executive Chair at The Data City is twofold – providing the drive, direction and purpose for the business and supporting the executive team as the business grows rapidly.

I am the Founding Partner of Genuine Capital, a UK-based venture capital firm investing in B2B businesses building technology & products designed to benefit the Future of Work (-Force, -Space, -Place) and I look to drive alpha through executive advisory, mentorship and access to a global network of professionals, advisors and investors. I have over 20 years (Splunk, Salesforce, Alvarez & Marsal, Stout) of providing analytical insights, advising senior leaders on strategy and operations, managing cross-functional teams, mentoring and developing future leaders, creating go-to-market strategies, and enhancing corporate profitability. I am also an Ambassador at Bridge Funding Global, where I work with the Executive Team to help communicate the value of being part of the world’s largest ecosystem for women and diverse emerging managers. Additionally, I mentor the future leaders of social entrepreneurship at On Purpose International and mentor aspiring LBS students/alumni on entrepreneurship and investing. I hold a Master of Science in Leadership and Strategy from London Business School, where I was a Sloan Fellow, and a Bachelor of Science from Lehigh University.

Dr Mireille Elhajj is the founder of London-based boutique consultancy Astra-Terra, a company specialising in Positioning, Navigation Timing and intelligent systems with an emphasis on space and infrastructure, including smart transportation. (www.astraterra.com). She is also a Fellow at The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) in London and a Senior Honorary Lecturer at Imperial College London. Dr. Elhajj has a background in PNT, systems engineering, space applications and transportation. Previously, she was the Director of the Integrated Space Science Engineering Program and an Advanced Research Fellow at Imperial College London's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

CEO since 2016, Stuart is a former Reuters programmer, technical engineer, and technical architect. He co-founded market data startup Harco, which sold to NYSE, and is an investor in multiple technology startups and scale-ups.

Head of Account Management at a UK data provider called Tussell – a company that sells insights on public sector contracts & spending to bodies in both the public and private sector. I’ve been with the company for nearly 5-years and, as anyone who’s worked at a start-up would say, I’ve had my fingers in a lot of pies! I’ve sat in nearly every business unit and loved being able to work my way through the ranks – from initially joining as a Researcher to now leading a team of 7 account managers. I joined after developing a love for start-ups during my time as a data analyst for an ESG reporting start-up called Engaged Tracking, a role which I came across while studying my master’s at King’s College after completing a law degree at the University of Law. I’m a procurement & data nerd who has a keen interest in the public sector and a desire to transpose policy into action, with data at the heart of every decision. I’m passionate about the role scale-ups play in local economies and driving innovation in public procurement.

Bill has more than 35 years experience in technology strategy consulting to government and industry around the world. Starting by working in the Cambridge cluster, he has since held senior leadership positions in six different technology and consulting organisations. He has worked extensively across defence and security in the UK, Asia, the US and Australia as well as a range of other markets including energy, transport, aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, defence & security and construction. Bill has worked extensively in helping organisations to understand when and how to make investments in emerging technologies. He specialises in work that delivers the value of innovation and emerging technology. As Consulting Director, he holds responsibility for the Cambridge Consultants portfolio of strategy and consulting work. He also leads Cambridge Consultants’ Defence business and is a member of the company’s Executive.

Jack Is the Co-founder and CEO of Great Wave AI. Great Wave AI is a UK built-and-based platform that provides all the quality, trust and control infrastructure required to make GenAI useable in government bodies and regulated industries. The platform is being used by organisations like The Insolvency Service, Warwickshire Police, TalkTalk and Taylor Wessing - the global law firm. Before Great Wave AI, Jack spent 20 years delivering technology consulting services to central government clients for companies like Atos, EY and Advania.

Richard has more than 25 years’ experience in the development and commercialisation of new technologies based on novel processes and materials. He is a Non-Executive Director at the Henry Royce Institute – the UK’s National Institute for advanced materials research – and is inventor/co-inventor on over 30 patent families. Richard holds a PhD in Chemistry from Durham University.

An accomplished public affairs leader with a strong foundation in public policy and stakeholder engagement, Chantelle has over ten years’ experience in shaping public policy and building impactful campaigns. Currently serving as Director of Public Affairs, UKI at Sage, Chantelle previously worked at the British Retail Consortium where she represented and interests of the retail industry to government. Chantelle began her career working for several Members of Parliament before moving to the private sector.

Diane is the Innovation Ecosystem Lead at Plexal: the innovation company that helps industry and the government unlock the potential of technology. She is a programme management specialist with 15 years’ cross-industry experience in the delivery of complex and strategically important projects, programmes and events. Over the past 5 years at Plexal Diane has led research projects, accelerators and innovation programmes for clients like the Information Commissioner’s Office and DSIT and oversees the delivery of Cyber Runway: the UK’s largest cyber security accelerator. As an Innovation Ecosystem Lead Diane is growing Plexal’s cyber cluster and connects startups, industry, investors, policymakers and cyber hubs from across the UK’s cyber security ecosystem