2025 Sixth Form Careers Fair - Speakers’ biographies

 

Marketing, Media, Communication, Sales

AI / Marketing - Philip Antoniou, class of 1994
Vice President Sales & Marketing at Vaxtor Technologies, AI-based analytics company working with security and government entities.
Previous jobs: Mobotix Ag - Chief Sales & Marketing Officer; Mobotix AG - VP Sales - APAC , EMEA; Extreme Networks - Channel Director.
BSc Business Information Systems, University of Greenwich.

Journalism / Comms - Robin Brant, class of 1992
Director of PHA Group (Communications), advising on reputations, crisis and overall communications.
Former BBC journalist with a 25-year long career reporting original content from around the world across digital, TV and radio. Former Presenter at BBC News, where he held various roles, including China correspondent, political correspondent and Malaysia correspondent.

PR / Comms - Hannah Corbett
Head of Publicity & Communications at Thames & Hudson Ltd. Worked at all the big publishers including Pan Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House. Now working at a publisher with a strong connection to the visual arts with illustrated books on fashion, photography, fine art, architecture, design, archaeology and music, amongst others.
BA Hons Russian Studies and Philosophy, University of Bristol.

Social media / TV - Mila Hrisimova, class of 2014
Head of Social Media at Lastminute.com
Previous jobs include Digital Producer at Sky, Senior Social Media Manager at ITV and Social Lead at This Morning.
BA (Hons) Television Production, Bournemouth University.

Publishing / Media - Paul Rayner, class of 1993
Editor of DJWORX.com (leading DJ tech news website) and Commercial Publishing Consultant.
Previous roles: Head of SPORTbible with 20m+ social media followers; Publishing Director - Mxim, Men’s Fitness, MacUser, Wedding Ideas and more; Commercial Director at Media agencies and publishing houses.
BA History and Sociology, University of Leeds.

Languages/ Entrepreneur/Living abroad - Max Doyle, class of 2011
Founder and Director of Luminary Education. Max has worked in multiple regions, including Dubai, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. He is a specialist in assisting international students on their journey to studying in the UK. A fluent Russian speaker, currently based in Cyprus, he can talk to you about using languages at work, working abroad or starting his own business in his 20s.
BA Russian and Economics, University of Leeds.

Fundraising/Not for profit sector/Entrepreneur - Alex Hyde-Parker, class of 1991
Fundraising Operations Consultant & Director of Efficient Fundraising Collective, a company that provides consultancy for organisations funded by philanthropic donations (e.g. charities, schools, universities, museums, galleries, NHS Trusts). They provide a broad range of services, that mix financial, technical, statistical and marketing. We do this in the non-profit space, so work with charities, schools, universities, museums, galleries, botanic gardens and NHS trusts. 
BA Economics and Economic History and a Certificate in Statistical Methods, University of Sussex; professional Certificate in Database Application Development, University of California at Santa Barbara.

Finance / Sales - Chris Towndrow, class of 1976
Business Development Manager at KPMG. Held various accounts, sales & business development roles at Oracle,IBM, Amazon Web Services among others.
B.Ed (Hons) Computer Education, Middlesex University.

Government, Policy making, Civil Service

Climate Change / Environment / Government - Josie Wastell-Payne, class of 2013
Principal Analyst, Climate Change and Security at the Cabinet Office. Josie is a civil servant with STEM/environmental science background.
Previous roles included: Head of COP26 Nature Campaign, Cabinet Office; Private Secretary to the Secretary of State, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Associate Programme Officer, UN Environment Programme / World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
BA Hons, Natural Sciences (Zoology), University of Cambridge

Education / Government - Dr Faye Taylor, class of 2001
Deputy Director, International Strategy, Devolution & Union at the Department for Education.
Previous roles included: Deputy Director, Global Partnerships at the Association of Commonwealth Universities; Head of Programmes at University Alliance; King George VI Fellow at Cumberland Lodge; Medieval History Tutor at King's College London and University of Nottingham.
BA, MA (Research) and PhD in History, University of Nottingham; Master's in Public Policy, LSE.

Market research / Government - Jayesh Shah, class of 2004
Research Director at Ipsos UK, a global leader in market research. Jayesh works directly with Civil Servants to help create evidence to inform government policies. He leads the Trade, Innovation and Enterprise team that carries out research and evaluation projects, and associated policy areas (business growth, access to finance, skills shortages and gaps, trade deals and barriers to trade).
BA Economics with French, University of Nottingham.

Technology, Product Design, IT, Interior Design

Product Designer / R&D - Liam Walsh, class of 1999
Designer at Apple, working on Research & Development and prototyping new products. In Liam’s words, his job is “as much an Art as it is a Science”!
Liam's prior roles include Creative Technology Director at Nexus Studios, Creative Technologist in various design studios and Game Designer / Programmer at Preloaded (game studio).
BA Interactive Media Production, Bournemouth University.

Interior design - Pragna Shah
Director of T P Bennett, a global architecture, interior design & workplace strategy practice. Pragna is involved in all technical stages of a project’s delivery, from detail design through to project coordination and implementation. She has a wide refurbishment and new build fit-out portfolio, with an emphasis on high-quality and innovative materials, for clients including Investec, Morrison & Foerster, Amwins, Clarksons Shipping and WR Berkeley.
Post Graduate Diploma in Furniture design. BA Interior design.

IT / Management - Dr Sarah Dowling
Head of Delivery Operations at the BBC. Has a proven track of delivering large-scale strategic programmes and driving operational change within agile, product-led organisations.
Previous jobs included digital programme management at Just Eat and the Football Association.
BSc and PhD in Biochemistry, University of Bristol

IT / Education - Tom Hudson
Senior Software Engineer at Google DeepMind. His specialties include real-time computer graphics, distributed systems, network protocol design and performance evaluation; virtual worlds; collaborative application + user interface design; haptics; university teaching and professional training (was Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Wilmington).
BS Computer Science, UC San Diego; PhD Computer Science, University of North Carolina.
 

Financial sector, Economics, Trading, Investment, Accounting

Finance / Trading - Indrajit Advani, class of 1981
Recently retired from Trading in securities markets. NatWest/RBS - senior director in trading and sales in fixed income (bond) markets working in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Much of his job spec involved coaching novices and interviewing university graduates so a great speaker to meet if you want to learn more about the financial sector.

Financial Sector - Cordelia Kafetz, class of 2001
Director of Financial Risk at Starling Bank, Non Executive Director at Fleet Mortgages, Women in Fintech Powerlist 2023, 2020, Standout 35 in 2018
Previously worked as Head of Fintech Hub then Head of Payments Policy Team at the Bank of England, as well as Lead Associate at the Financial Services Authority.
BSc in Economics, University of Bristol.

Finance / Investment - Kirren Senivassen, class of 2006
Venture Capital Investor at Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, an investment portfolio that has a mandate to invest £500 million in the equity of fast-growing, technology start-ups by 2027, helping to accelerate Barclays’ clients’ transition towards a low-carbon economy. Kirren is also a Board Observer of various materials & energy companies. Previously held various roles at Goldman Sachs and KPMG.
MBA, INSEAD; Chartered Accountant; Chartered Tax Adviser.

Finance / Trading - Izaac Mammadov, class of 2019
Quantitative Researcher at The Quarry LLP, a global multi-manager, multi-strategy hedge fund.
Previously worked as Algorithmic trader at Wintermute Trading, a leading global crypto market.
BA Mathematics, University of Cambridge.

Financial sector - Deloitte- Catherine Devoy/Sebastien Guignard/Melissa Hart
Mrs Devoy is Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Deloitte LLP, overseeing strategy, finance & people matters for a group of 500+ Merger & Acquisition professionals. She was a graduate trainee and did accountancy qualification (ACA) while working for Arthur Anderson. When Deloitte took over Anderson in the UK, she moved to do mergers and acquisitions for private equity. 
Speakers may be Mrs Devoy, Sebastien Guignard (Financial Controller) &/or Melissa Hart (Financial Assistant apprentice). Deloitte is one of the largest international accounting and professional services firms globally.

Finance / Trading - Anish Shah, class of 1997
Senior Fixed Income Trader at Premier Miton, an asset management company in London.
Previous works in various investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, UBS), at a hedge fund (KBC) and as an Asset Manager at Old Mutual, Mondrian.
BSc Business Management, King’s College London.

Economics / Business/ Banking - Synthia Gazi
Associate, Central Compliance, at The London Stock Exchange Group. She’s responsible for giving advice to business and senior management so that they follow financial regulations, policies and meet industry standards.
Previously worked as Client Services Representative at Netwealth Investments Ltd (private wealth management).
BSc Economics and Business Management, Birkbeck, University of London; Wealth and Investment Management certification, Investment Compliance Postgraduate Diploma

Finance / Trading - Olga Small
Algorithmic and Electronic Sales Trader at Jefferies, one of the world's leading full-service investment banking and capital markets firms.
Previously worked at Exane, Barclays Capital and Goldman Sachs.
BSc in Economics, Moscow International University of Ecology and Politology; Chartered Technical Analyst (CFA), Society of Technical Analysts.

Chartered accountant - Brian Pope, class of 1975
Recently retired ICAEW Chartered Accountant. Held roles as Partner at accountancy and business advisory firms such as BDO LLP, RSM and Moore Kingston Smith LLP. Also self-employed at BRP & Co.
FCA BA (Hons)

Legal sector

Science and Law - Dr Catherine Keetch

Partner, Patent Attorney at D Young & Co LLP. As a patent attorney, Catherine obtains patents for her clients' inventions in the chemical and biotechnology sectors, for example pharmaceuticals or industrial chemicals.
Her job can also be of interest to science students as all patent attorneys have a science background which is then applied in patent law.
MChem in Chemistry, University of Oxford; PhD in Mass Spectrometry and Protein Chemistry, University of Cambridge; Certificate in Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary, University of London; Chartered Patent Attorney; European Patent Attorney.

Legal sector - Dominic Bray
Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution at Lee & Thompson LLP.
Previous jobs include Partner at Forbes Anderson Free (2013-2016); Partner, Head of IP, Media & Technology (London) at K&L Gates LLP (1999-2007); Associate at Nicholson Graham & Jones (1995-1999).
BA Dual Hons Geography and Economic & Social History, University of Sheffield; The CPE, College of Law; The Law Society Finals, College of Law (Merit).

Legal sector / Civil Servant - Suhaib Habibullah, class of 2020
Civil Servant currently working in the Home Office. This involves reviewing and responding to legal challenges lodged against government decisions.
LLB Law (First Class), University of Manchester

Legal sector / Artist - Emma Darlow Stearn, class of 2006
Barrister – self-employed (practising out of Cloisters Chambers). Emma was a professional actress (and musician/musical director) for 10+ years before changing career to become a barrister so can speak on both professions.
BA (Hons), English Language and Literature, University of Leeds; MA, Performance (Acting), Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts; GDL Law, The University of Law; BVS – City St George’s, University of London.

Performing arts

Playwright / Screenwriter - Gurpreet Bhatti
Playwright & Screenwriter involved in various projects with theatres and production companies. Previously worked at the BBC, Royal Court, ITV and the National Theatre. Holds a degree in modern languages.

Actress - Naomi Frederick
Accomplished stage actress playing leading roles at the National Theatre, West End, The Old Vic and The Globe among many more. Naomi’s credits include The Children Act, The Aftermath, the ITV series Belgravia, The Forsyte Saga on PBS, Netflix hit Father Christmas is Back and Christmas in Paradise. She has over 20 years’ experience in theatre, TV, film and radio.
BA Hons Acting (RADA); MA English Literature, St. Hilda's College, Oxford.

Transport

Transport / Infrastructure sector - Mike Jordanou
Founder and Director of MCJ Advisory Ltd providing strategic advice and services to independent fiscal institutions’ governments, investors and organisations working overseas. Also provides business development and bid strategy to organisations looking to break into the international market in the transport, master planning, energy, and infrastructure sectors.
Previously a Director at WSP, a consulting firm, where he was responsible for leading existing and new business in the transport and infrastructure planning sectors across the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. He has over 40 years of experience including transport planning, urban transport strategy, transport economics, and design of public and private sector transport projects in the developing world and emerging markets.
BSc Civil Engineering; MSc Transportation and Highway Engineering from City St George’s, University of London.

Transport - Tristan Lockheart, class of 2020 
Rail Operations Management Graduate at Transport for Wales. Previously worked as a Train Planning Analyst at Tracsis Rail Consultancy. BA Geography with Quantitative Methods, University of Leeds.

Transport sector - Georgina Reidy + Rachel Alo and Joshua Jullado (year placement engineers)
Industry Early Careers Manager at Rail Delivery Group, joined by two Engineering Undergraduates studying BA/ MSc Aerospace/ Mechanical Engineering. Rail Delivery Group brings together the companies that run Britain’s railway to deliver for customers and communities.

Medicine, Research, Psychology, Pharmacology

Medicine / UCL Medical School - Dr Subash Jayakumar, class of 1999
NHS GP Partner at The Stonebridge Practice; NHS Clinical Director - Harness PCN South, NW London ICS; NHS GP Appraiser - London, NHS England
Subash is also Lead Tutor - Clinical & Professional Practice at UCL Medical School. Come and meet with him if you’d like to know more about medical school and interviews.
MBBS BSc (Hons) MRCGP DRCOG

Research Scientist - Ali Alidoust
Fermentation Manager at The Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre focused on researching the biology underlying human health and developing new ways to diagnose, prevent and treat illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Previously worked at Cancer Research UK as a Fermentation Scientist.
MSc in Biotechnology, University of Hertfordshire.

Emergency Medicine - Shumontha Dev
Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Other key roles include: Deputy Director for Medical Education; Lead Foundation Training Programme Director and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Medical School, King's College London.
BSc Chemistry at UCL; Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at UCL; Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCSEd) (A & E) at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; Fellowship of Royal College of Emergency Medicine (FRCEM); Masters in Medical Education (MMedEd) – University of Warwick.

General medicine - Dr Lisel Ryatt, class of 1987
GP at the Broadway Surgery since 2004.
BSc MBBS MRCGP DFFP DGM (London Hospital Medical College).

Pharmacology/Education - Prof Ian Bates
Professor of Pharmacy Education at University College London. He is also Director of the FIP Global Pharmaceutical Observatory (FIP GPO), which serves as an invaluable data repository to access validated global data on the pharmacy workforce, practice, and pharmaceutical science.

General medicine - Dr Katie Moey, class of 2001
GP with 10 years’ experience working in a busy central London NHS practice as well as practices in Enfield and Barnet. She also teaches UCL medical students as part of their medicine in the community sessions.
Has worked at the Royal Free Hospital, QE11 Welwyn Garden City, North Middlesex Hospital. Did a variety of posts including A&E, elderly care, paediatrics, psychiatry, acute medicine and general surgery.
MBChB University of Leeds, BSc Anatomy & Human Sciences Kings College London (intercalated degree), MRCGP 2013, DCH (Diploma of Child Heath), DRCOG (Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology), Postgraduate Certificate for Teaching in Primary Care.

Paediatrics - Prof Chris Gale
Consultant Neonatologist and Professor of Neonatal Medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Trust and Imperial College London. His research focuses on neonatal population health - improving neonatal care through large clinical trials, observational research and population-level surveillance.
MBBS, Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery, Newcastle University; MSc Clinical Paediatrics, UCL; PhD Neonatal Medicine, Imperial College London.

Psychology - Clare Daniel
Chief Psychologist at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Works clinically with patients with physical problems and leads a team of 29 clinical psychologists.
Previous jobs: University College London NHS Trust - Consultant Clinical Psychologist; Chelsea and Westminster Hospital - Consultant Clinical Psychologist; Imperial College - Research Associate.
Masters in Business Administration (MBA); Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (D Clin Psych); Diploma in Cognitive Therapy; Psychology BSc (hons).

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