The Nesta Innovation Edge

Speaker Profiles

Profile

Ernie is a graduate chemical engineer and chartered management accountant.  He has over 15 years' experience in finance and general management roles in various process industries.  He has worked for periods as a process engineer, with British Steel Chemicals Division, and in various finance roles for speciality chemicals company, Laporte Industries — eventually becoming their group management accountant.  He also worked in international banking with the Royal Bank of Canada.  Before joining MTI, he was a chief financial officer of a start-up venture in the oil processing sector.

Profile

Paul spent thirteen years teaching before becoming an inspector of schools and subsequently Director of Education in two multi-ethnic and urban locations.  His first Directorship was in 1997 for the new unitary council in Nottingham City where he established the Education service at local government reorganisation.  He then joined Capita Strategic Education Services in 2001 and undertook the Director of Education role in the London Borough of Haringey, leading the successful Strategic Management Partnership established by the Secretary of State between Haringey Council and Capita.  He was appointed a Director of Capita Strategic Education Services.  From Capita he joined the IDeA in 2004.  He has been a Board Member of Nottingham Playhouse.  He is currently adviser to Ministers in DCMS and DfES on Creativity in Schools, the author of “Nurturing Creativity in Young People” and the Chair of the Creative and Cultural Education Advisory Board for DCMS and DfES.  He has undertaken a range of visits abroad to represent British education, has been a Fellow of the RSA since 1999 and is a member of NESTA's Innovation Committee.

Profile

Lord Sainsbury recently wrote a review on science and innovation policy commissioned by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP.  Lord Sainsbury was previously Minister for Science and Innovation, a position he held since 1998 and remains an active Member of the House of Lords.  Until July 1998, he was Chairman of J Sainsbury plc.  He was Finance Director of J Sainsbury plc from 1973-1990 and Deputy Chairman from 1988-1992.  David Sainsbury became Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 3 October 1997.  After reading History and Psychology at King's College, Cambridge, Lord Sainsbury went on to receive an MBA (Master of Business Administration) at the Columbia Graduate School of Business in New York.  In 2004 he was made an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.  He is the author of a Fabian pamphlet "Government and Industry: A New Partnership", and is co-author with Christopher Smallwood of "Wealth Creation and Jobs" published by the Public Policy Centre.

Profile

Nick was appointed in 2002 to run the National Theatre alongside Nicholas Hytner. He is also Chair of Battersea Arts Centre. Nick was previously Executive Director of the Almeida Theatre and responsible for its expansion in the late nineties into touring, West End seasons, the conversion of Gainsborough Studios and Kings Cross, and the refurbishment of its Islington home theatre. Prior to that he ran his own production company; was Director of Warwick Arts Centre; and Head of Planning at the National Theatre.

Profile

Martin is one of Britain's most distinctive financial journalists, with a reputation for writing about business, economics and financial morality in an accessible and entertaining style.  He is the Business Editor and “Any Other Business” columnist of The Spectator as well as editor of the newly launched monthly Spectator Business.  He is also a former City editor of The Week and associate editor of MoneyWeek.  He is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and other national publications.  He is the author of Falling Eagle: the Decline of Barclays Bank (2000), and Closing Balances: Business Obituaries from the Daily Telegraph (2006).  A Yorkshire man of Flemish ancestry, Martin spent 15 years in the investment banking world, working for Schroders and Barclays in London, Brussels and the Far East, before turning to writing.

Profile

Jonathan joined Pfizer from McKinsey & Co. in 1998. As head of strategy for Pfizer Global R&D, he was the integration team leader for the Warner Lambert merger. He subsequently held a series of strategy and technology roles in PGRD and Corporate IT. Most recently he served as Senior VP for Planning, Business Development and IT on the Human Health Leadership Team. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, following several years experience as a Neurosurgeon and Lecturer at the University of London.

Profile

David has been the Member of Parliament for Havant since 1992. He has worked at HM Treasury, the Number 10 Policy Unit, the Centre for Policy Studies and served as Paymaster General in the last Conservative Government.  He has also previously served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Education & Employment, Work & Pensions, Trade & Industry and Education & Skills.  He is a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, a Governor of the Ditchley Foundation, a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a member of the Global Aging Commission, a member of the Advisory Board of the British Council, Visiting Professor at the Cass Business School and Economic Adviser to Dresdner Kleinwort.

Profile

Rowena oversees the creation of NESTA Challenges, designed to test and understand the systems of innovation that contribute to the resolution of social problems.  NESTA's current portfolio majors on health, the environment and the social finance market.  Ultimately, its mission is to catalyse social innovation in the UK and serve as a beacon of good practice globally.  She is also a Fellow of the Skill Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, and was its founding Director overseeing its development from 2004 to 2007.  She has vast experience in promoting the advancement of social entrepreneurship, having also been the chief executive of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.  Previously Rowena was development director at Kaleidoscope, a drug treatment service in London.  In that role she worked with a Riba award-winning architect to develop and raise resources for an inspiring new learning centre and residential rehabilition service.  She also launched Simplyworks, a web-enabling business creating training and employment for long-term drug users, which became self-financing within 18 months.  In 2002 she published From War to Work: Drug Treatment, Social Inclusion and Enterprise with the Foreign Policy Centre.  She has also worked for Children's Express and at the thinktank Demos.