Judging Panel 2022

After a career in insurance and banking culminating his position as CEO Prudential UK and Europe; Mark founded Paternoster the Pension Buy Out specialist subsequently acquired by Goldman Sachs‎.

Mark now divides his time between Stop MS Appeal, Brooklands Motor Museum and various Private Equity backed ventures.

Sarah joined the SMF, a charity working to make a practical difference to social mobility for young people across the UK, in January 2020 from the Charity Commission, where she had been Executive Director for Strategy, Policy and Communications since 2014. Her background is in corporate communications and policy, and before joining the Commission as head of corporate affairs she worked in the private sector, including roles with Nationwide Building Society and in public affairs consultancy.

Her non-executive experience includes membership of the Charity Tax Commission and board roles at Endometriosis UK, the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, and Womankind Worldwide. She is a panel member for the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – Promoting Opportunity and in 2021 she was appointed a member of the City of London taskforce on socio-economic diversity in financial and professional services.

Catherine has more than 30 years of executive experience advising global financial institutions and industrial companies on complex transactions and strategic opportunities. She brings knowledge from working across Europe and Asia, serving on the Boards of leading consumer-facing companies and working with regulators and standard setters.

Catherine is senior independent director of Kingfisher plc She is also a non-executive director of easyJet plc, where she chairs the finance committee, of abrdn plc and of  Johnson Electric Holdings Limited in Hong Kong.  She is a board member of the Value Reporting Foundation in the US, where she co-chairs the audit committee.  Previously, Catherine has served on the boards of other leading industrial and consumer-facing companies in the UK and France. She was appointed by HM Treasury to the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority in 2014.

In her executive career, Catherine has held a number of senior roles in investment banking and risk management: in the US and the UK with Merrill Lynch, in the UK and Asia with Credit Suisse, and finally in Asia with Société Générale. She returned to Europe in 2014 to start her non-executive career.

Catherine graduated from the HEC Paris School of Management with a major in Finance and International Economics. She was awarded a CBE in 2019.

Experienced chair and advisor with multi-industry knowledge in media, retail and technology amplifying the value creation opportunity and taking organisations from breakdown to breakthrough.

Monica serves as a faculty member of the FT Board Director Programme; member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for AI; member of the Bias in AI Research Group at Durham University; Adviser to the European Union of International Cinemas; a member of the CMI’s President’s Advisory Council; a long-term global coach for a multinational entertainment company; and Adviser to high-growth startups and family-owned businesses.

Previous roles include Vice Chair of Queen Mary University of London; Founder and Co-Chair of the Deloitte Higher Education Cyber Security Group; Chair of the British Independent Film Awards Advisory Board; Chair of the British Board of Film Classification Advisory Group; a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Digital Communications Board; Non-Executive Director at Voddess Portal Ltd and Non-Executive Director at Obviously Creative Ltd. Her last executive position was as CEO of MyMovies.Net Ltd, a UK market-leading service delivery company that aggregated, curated and monetised content for retailers, publishers and brands.

Monica was appointed an ambassador for Women on Boards in 2018 and a ‘Super NED’ by FDS Director Services and the University of Salford in the same year. She was recognised in the 2019 Female FTSE Board Report as one of the top 50 Women to Watch in the UK.

Monica is an Ashridge-trained coach and regularly undertakes freelance speaking, coaching and consulting engagements. She is passionate about the UK’s economic future and using all of the economy’s talents to boost life chances and productivity.

Claire has been a key player in the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise (VCSE) movement since the 1980's and is the national Crown Representative for the VCSE Sector with the remit of supporting the sector to access government contracts.

Claire nationally and internationally is known for her work in the sector and for ten years chaired Social Enterprise UK. She worked with government and leaders from the sector to create the first strategy for the Social Enterprise movement. She has ensured that the sector has a voice within Westminster and Whitehall, this included working with the teams to introduce the Social Value Act which is now embedded into many local government frameworks and in the national Crown Commercial procurement service. After stepping down as chair of SEUK Claire was asked and accepted to become a patron to the organisation.

From its inception in the 80’s, Claire led the highly successful Blackburne House Group, until she retired in July 2020.

Claire has received many awards for her role within the sector, which includes an MBE, OBE and also the Queens Lifetime achievement award for Enterprise promotion. Claire was once again honoured in the 2020 New Year’s honours list with a CBE.

John leads the CBI’s Policy Unit, an agile and responsible team of policy adviser that leads the organisation’s work on key enablers of the economy, including transport, infrastructure and public service markets, as well as providing surge capacity for emerging business critical issues such as Covid 19 and supply chain disruption.

John joined the CBI in 2015, and most recently served as the interim Chief Campaign Director where he was responsible for all the strategic communications of the organisation. Before taking on this role, John held a number of posts including the CBI’s Director of Campaigns, where he led the organisation’s work on Brexit, and as Head of the “Great Business Debate”, the CBI’s campaign to increase confidence in business.

Prior to joining the CBI, John worked for four years as a Special Adviser in the Coalition Government, including in the Cabinet Office as the Deputy Prime Minister’s Director of Policy Implementation and Innovation and in HMT as Special Adviser to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

During his time in Government, John worked on the 2013 Spending Review conducted by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and served as the Deputy Prime Minister’s lead adviser on wide areas of public policy, including the NHS, welfare support, and pensions reform.

Sawan joined the Evenlode Investment team in 2017 after having previously worked as a Governance Analyst at Schroders and a Proxy Voting Analyst at Hermes EOS. He is responsible for overseeing the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors into the investment process and managing Evenlode’s voting and engagement activities. Through Evenlode's Foundation Programme, he is also responsible for encouraging better stewardship across the economy through our philanthropic, charitable giving and community-based activities."

Rachel is a member of the Panel of Senior Policy Advisers at Chatham House.  Deputy Chair of the British Council.

Myriam Madden is a non-executive director and chairman of audit committees, including Ofgem and Home Group. Myriam has operated at board level across a range of regulated sectors, following a successful international and multi-sectoral career as a finance executive leading transformation programmes.

Highlights in the past have included roles as a board member of the International Ethical Standards Board for Accountants, the International Federation of Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Myriam was also global President and chairman of CIMA and included in Cranfield University’s 100 Women to Watch.

Kate is an Executive Director of the National Audit Office (NAO) and leads the NAO’s Financial Audit Service Line. A Chartered Accountant, Kate has many years’ experience auditing a wide range of public sector organisations. Kate sits on the Council and Board of ICAEW and is a charity trustee.

Stephen has lived in East London for many years. His great passion is for building the communities of East London through the provision of good healthcare, housing, education and employment. Sir Stephen O’Brien is convenor of the Second Curve Network of business leaders working to restore trust in business. He is Vice President of Business in the Community.

Previously Stephen was Chair of Barts Health NHS Trust, NHS Tower Hamlets, Unicorn Children’s Theatre, University of East London, International Health Partners, London First, Teach First and Charles Fulton and Co Ltd. He was the first Chief Executive of Business in the Community and London First. He has a special interest in mental health.

He holds Honorary Degrees or Fellowships from Liverpool University, Middlesex University, City University, University of East London and Queen Mary, University of London. He was appointed CBE in 1987 and was knighted in 2014 for services to London and the NHS.

Michael Sunderland is Deputy Director for Government Financial Reporting at HM Treasury. He’s worked at HM Treasury for over 10 years largely in roles working on public spending and EU exit. Prior to that he worked in education and academia in the UK and China, and originally trained in financial audit at the Audit Commission.

Liz is a long-term campaigner on the importance of everyone benefiting from digital technology. She is CEO of FutureDotNow, a business-to-business coalition focused on accelerating the UK’s digital skills at scale. Prior to that, she was Director of Digital Society for BT Group, responsible for their digital and social inclusion strategies and cross-sector collaborations with government, civil society and other leading businesses.

Liz is Chair of Good Things Foundation, the UK’s largest charity focused on supporting digitally and socially excluded people to improve their lives through digital, and a trustee of the London Transport Museum. She sits on the Board of the Government’s Digital Skills Partnership and is a former publicly appointed Social Mobility Commissioner.

In 2019, Liz was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to digital literacy and social inclusion. In 2020 and 2021 she was named by Computer Weekly in the top thirty most influential women in UK tech and was Women in Telecoms finalist at the 2020 World Communications Awards.

Freddie is an equities analyst on Jupiter’s award-winning Global Sustainable Equities fund. Before joining Jupiter, Freddie was Head of Responsible Investment and Stewardship and Merian Global Investors. Prior to that he was a Responsible Investment Analyst in Newton Investment Management's equity research team. Before that he led the UK stewardship team at Hermes EOS.

Freddie has a degree in Modern Languages and an MBA with distinction. He is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Partner, Generation Investment Management

Responsible for all thought leadership and policy work from the institute, looking at matters such as trust in business and the profession, audit, corporate governance, taxation and public sector, technology, trade and the economy and sustainability.

Ben is a senior Portfolio Manager of Global Equities at RBC Global Asset Management. The Global Equities team has a deep interest in stewardship, sustainability, and long-term investment matters.
 

Ben sits as Chair of a Responsible Investment Advisory committee, advising a leading sustainable UK investment trust owned by Royal London Asset Management. In advisory capacities, Ben sits on the Investor Advisory Group to the UK’s Financial Reporting Council and on the Management Commentary Advisory group to the IASB, International Accounting Standards Board. Ben is also a playwright and chairs a theatre charity, Coney.