THE HOST

Gareth John

Gareth John is a highly effective and influential leader in the Accountancy and Finance Training industry with broad experience in all aspects of setting up and running highly successful businesses.  Gareth is an entrepreneur who loves to positively impact the skills sector and to support the careers of the learners and colleagues that he works with.  He adores wine and his children.

CHAIR OF THE DEBATE

Jeremy Sallis

Jeremy Sallis, former BBC broadcaster for over 20 years and mentor at Cambridge University Judge Business School. He now runs Sallis Media which provides public speaking, presentation skills and media training based in Cambridge. Throughout his award-winning career, Jeremy has conducted interviews with notable figures from Cabinet Ministers to Oscar winners, and has compèred the region’s largest public events.

CONFIRMED DEBATERS

Lord Karan Bilimoria

Lord Karan Bilimoria, a leading entrepreneur and advocate for business and public service, co-founded Cobra Beer in 1989, establishing it as a global brand. Appointed to the House of Lords in 2006, he champions education, immigration reform, and business interests. Recognised with honours including a CBE in 2004 and a peerage as Baron Bilimoria of Chelsea, he continues to promote diversity, entrepreneurship, and global cooperation.

Anna Watkins

Anna Watkins is an Olympic gold medallist and motivational speaker, best known for her victory alongside Katherine Grainger in the women’s double sculls at the London 2012 Olympic Games, where they set a record-breaking time.  Anna studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, where she discovered her passion for rowing. After winning gold at the U23 World Championships in 2004, she secured her place in the GB Olympic team, winning bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Anna and Katherine became a dominant force in rowing, winning gold at the World Championships in 2010 and 2011 despite overcoming significant challenges, and were named World Rowing Crew of the Year and Sunday Times Sports Team of the Year. Alongside her sporting achievements, Anna holds a PhD in Mathematics, enabling her to combine insights from elite sport with science to inspire leadership and teamwork.  Anna is currently working as a strategy and leadership consultant.

Professor Ross Renton

Professor Ross Renton is the inaugural Principal of ARU Peterborough, a multi-award-winning new university for Peterborough. He has held various senior leadership positions at universities in the United Kingdom, most recently as Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Worcester. He contributes to the higher education sector through several external roles, including serving as President of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education and as a Board member of GuildHE. He has an interest in education policy and regularly shares his expertise in this field.

Grace Hardy

Grace Hardy is a passionate advocate for apprenticeships and entrepreneurship. At 18, she began her journey through an apprenticeship at a top-10 firm, qualifying as an accountant by 20 and founding Hardy Accounting at 21. She is now an active campaigner, highlighting the power of apprenticeships as a launchpad for entrepreneurship. Through speaking engagements and mentoring, Grace helps young people explore apprenticeship opportunities, showing them the value of hands-on learning and non-traditional pathways to success.  Grace has also been an ambassador for NotGoinToUni.

Christina Dumitriu Jackson

Christina Dumitriu Jackson is a Peptide Laboratory Scientist at AstraZeneca, where she supports the development of innovative medicines through peptide chemistry. Passionate about equity in STEM, she previously co-led AZinspire, an employee resource group for over 1,000 early-career professionals, and is active in inclusion initiatives. Christina was recognised as a ‘Rising Star: One to Watch’ at the Bionow Awards and named ‘Apprentice of the Year’ in Health, Medical and Social Care at the 2023 Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards. As a One Young World ambassador, she mentors aspiring scientists and has engaged over 10,000 students across the UK through outreach with organisations like the Royal Society of Chemistry and STEM UK.

Chris Doran

Chris Doran has been active in the start-up scene for over 15 years. In 2005 he founded Geomerics during his time as an RSE Enterprise Fellow and moved into the CEO role at the end of his fellowship. Geomerics’ technology has since been used in 100s of games, including FIFA, Star Wars Battlefront and Overwatch. Geomerics was acquired by Arm in 2013, where Chris served as a Research Director and Entrepreneur in Residence. Chris is a regular mentor to academics looking to develop their technology beyond academia and has helped many of them start out on their journey. In 2019 he took on the role of Entrepreneur in Residence for Physical Sciences at Cambridge Enterprise, responsible for commercialising technology developed in Cambridge University. He currently acts as an advisor to start-ups and is currently working with Monumo (AI for Engineering) and Fovotec (Graphics and Rendering).

Chris is also a Director of Studies in Physics for Sidney Sussex College and prior to founding Geomerics he held numerous research posts, including an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship. He is the author of many research papers and a book on Geometric Algebra.