Judging panel 2024

Jonathan Easton, Editor, National Technology News

Nimisha Brahmbhatt, Founder and CEO, Quantum Global Consultants
Sabina Ciofu, Associate Director, International Policy and Trade Programme, techUK
Ben Clark, Director, Future Worlds
Chris Field, Chief Executive, Fieldworks Marketing and Chairman, Retail Connection
Simon Halberstam, Partner, Technology, Simons Muirhead Burton LLP
Damien McCloud, Associate Director, Arup
Dan Myers, Managing Director, XPO Logistics
David Price, Principal, Scala Advisors
Milan Radia, Managing Director, 2020 re:think
Dr Anjali Subburaj, Enterprise Architect, Zooplus  

Nimisha Brahmbhatt, Founder and CEO, Quantum Global Consultants
Nimisha Brahmbhatt is an award winning strategic advisor, serial sustainapreneur, angel investor and CEO and founder of Quantum Global Consultants, a leading consulting firm that specialises in large scale, high impact digital transformation, incorporating SDGs and sustainability for FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 energy companies. Nimisha is also founder of Quantum Venture Partners Startup Incubator, an organisation which works with impact driven start-ups to enhance their innovative capacity for finding solutions to global developmental challenges using emerging technology. Nimisha has launched a series of incubators to aid start-ups in developing sustainable businesses that support the UN SDGs through the Community Interest Company she founded. She has had helped numerous start-ups operationalise disruptive, sustainable business models, secure funding, leverage cutting edge technology and 10 X their valuation. Nimisha is a board member of Becoming X and The Prince’s Trust RISE initiative and on the board of directors for two start ups. Nimisha uses her Leaving a Legacy Foundation CIC as a vehicle to give back through tree planting and supporting grass route initiatives around the world working to solve environmental challenges, namely, carbon emissions, environment degradation, habitat and wildlife loss. Nimisha has been featured in numerous publications including: Natwest Business, Top MBA, Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Sloane, Dubai and Technology Magazines.

Sabina Ciofu, Associate Director, International Policy and Trade Programme, techUK
Sabina Ciofu is Associate Director for international policy and trade programme at techUK. She leads on techUK’s EU policy and engagement as well as trade policy, with a focus on digital trade chapter in FTAs, as well as broader engagement with the G7, G20, WTO and OECD. Sabina is a GMF Marshall Memorial fellow and issue-lead on the EU-US Trade and Technology Council, within DigitalEurope. Previously, she worked as Policy Advisor to a Member of the European Parliament for almost a decade, where she specialised in tech regulation, international trade and EU-US relations. She is the founder of the Gentlewomen’s Club and co-organiser of the Young Professionals in Digital Policy. Previously, as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, she led several youth civic engagement and gender equality projects.

Ben Clark, Director, Future Worlds
Ben Clark is the Director of Future Worlds (futureworlds.com), the on-campus startup accelerator at the University of Southampton. Having always worked in early stage and emerging tech in a career including leadership teams of four high growth startups raising millions of pounds of equity funding and working in international VC, he’s helped hundreds of founders go from idea to launch, investment and scale. Ben is a recognised leader in the startup ecosystem at the University of Southampton, a global powerhouse for startups, where he is supporting the next generation of extremely talented startup founders go from campus to global leadership to change the world with their ideas.

Chris Field, Chief Executive, Fieldworks Marketing, and Chairman, Retail Connections
Chris is an independent retail analyst, industry speaker and broadcast commentator. He was a journalist for the Financial Times, Retail Week and edited Retail Technology magazine for 10 years. He is retained by the National Retail Federation in the US to recruit non-US retailer to the speaking platforms at the Big Show in New York each January. As well as being one of Sky News’ go-to retail commentators, Chris speaks regularly at international conferences on retailing and writes a weekly blog on tech in retail as managing editor of Retail Connections, a network made up of 12,000 senior EU retailers.

Simon Halberstam, Partner, Technology, Simons Muirhead Burton LLP
Simon Halberstam is partner and head of the technology team at Simons, Muirhead & Burton, a law firm in London. Simon holds English and French Law degrees and has over 25 years of experience acting for technology providers and digital agencies. He acts for over 100 tech companies and his work is focused on the drafting and negotiation of contracts for those providing or procuring technology or digital services and advising on all aspects of Intellectual Property and data protection law.

Damien McCloud, Associate Director, Arup
Damien leads a team of data and analytics professionals within Arup’s advanced digital engineering practice, supporting clients through better use of data. Having worked previously for Transport for London, the Environment Agency, KBR and BT, he was an early recipient of a chartership for his geographic information system work from the Royal Geographic Society. With over 20 years’ experience across a number of different sectors, he is a chartership assessor for the Royal Geographic Society, an honorary professor at University College London, whilst also sitting on numerous academic advisory boards.

Dan Myers, Managing Director, XPO Logistics
Dan Myers leads XPO Logistics in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the company’s global logistics and supply chain network. He joined XPO Logistics (formerly Christian Salvesen and Norbert Dentressangle) over 20 years ago as a graduate trainee after gaining a BSc Hons degree in Management from the University of Manchester. In his spare time, Dan likes to stay active and is a keen cyclist.

David Price, Principal, Scala Advisors
David has driven advanced technology take-up in the TV and media industry since the transition to digital technology. Currently he holds a number of board and advisory positions in the industry and is principal at Scala Advisors. Previously he held the position of vice president, for strategic business development at Ericsson, based in Silicon Valley, and was a member of the executive team at Harmonic, helping grow revenues from less than $50 million to over $500 million. David was also founder of the Ultra HD Forum, the VR Industry Forum and the DASH Industry Forum, and is past-president of the MPEG Industry Forum.

Milan Radia, Managing Director, 2020 re:think
Milan Radia is the founder and managing director of 2020re:think, a consultancy that provides corporate development and research services to technology companies and their private equity owners. The sector focus is on EMEA data centre operators, software vendors, AI, Blockchain, payments processors and IT services providers. Milan is currently working on a long-term basis on corporate development and strategy at Interxion, a leading European data centre operator that is now part of Digital Realty. He also has a research consultancy agreement with Hardman & Co, a UK-based provider of sponsored equity research for listed and private companies, and investment funds. During over 25 years of equity market experience as a leading analyst at global investment banks and as a senior fund manager at a major institutional investor, where he was latterly responsible for portfolios worth in excess of £350m, he has worked on many high-profile successful IPOs and other complex capital markets transactions. In recent years, Milan has won several significant awards. In 2017, Milan was ranked the No.1 earnings estimator in the UK for his sector in the Thomson Starmine Awards. This followed No.1 Starmine rankings for Europe in 2010 and 2011 and a No.2 ranking in the UK in 2011. In 2015, Milan and his team were ranked no.1 in the Extel Awards by corporate management teams for UK Small & Midcap technology research. Milan has also been techMARK Analyst of the Year and achieved top 3 Institutional Investor sector rankings for his coverage of the software and telecoms sectors.

Dr Anjali Subburaj, Enterprise Architect, Zooplus  
Since May 2023, Anjali has been working as an Interim Enterprise Architect with Zooplus, an online retailer of pet products. Between September 2022 and April 2023, Anjali acted as the interim DCX Program Architect at UK-based online retailer, The Very Group, to support the company’s re-platforming initiative. Previously, she was Digital Commerce Chief Architect for Mars Inc, where she led the development of its technology strategy and drove transformation for the enterprise’s existing and new D2C initiatives. As part of this work, she successfully introduced the use of MACH architecture to provide future scalability for Mars’ global businesses. Anjali has been a MACH Alliance Ambassador since 2020 and was named a MACH Advisory Board Member for 2023. Prior to embarking on her technology career in the UK, Anjali gained her Doctorate in Physics from Mumbai University, India, and has acquired technology architect certifications. She is passionate about introducing technologies that meet evolving customer requirements and creating a legacy for the next generation of technology leaders.