Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and creativity. Charles has worked extensively as a senior adviser to governments, advising the 10 Downing St policy unit, the Department for Trade and Industry and the European Commission on the rise of the knowledge driven economy and the Internet, as well as the government of Shanghai. He is an advisor to the Department for Education's Innovation Unit on future strategies for more networked and personalised approaches to learning and education. He is a co-founder of the public service design agency Participle.

Adele Blakebrough is the CEO of Social Business Trust. Prior to joining Social Business Trust, Adele was the co-founder and Chief Executive of CAN, one of the UK’s leading organisations for the development and promotion of social entrepreneurs. Adele was also the CEO of the nationally renowned Kaleidoscope project in Kingston-Upon-Thames, a voluntary organisation working with 350 heroin users daily. She holds a master’s degree in Theology and is a trained Baptist minister. In 2005, Adele was awarded the prestigious BITC Sieff Award for engaging business for social benefit and in 2006 she was awarded an MBE for services to social enterprises. Adele currently sits on the advisory board of Big Society Capital and is a non-executive director of Impact International a leadership training organisation.

Annika Small is CEO of Nominet Trust. Prior to Nominet Trust, Annika designed and led the Tony Blair Foundation’s internationally-acclaimed education programme which uses digital technologies to bring together millions of young people of different cultures and faiths around the world to learn directly with, from and about each other. Annika was also the CEO of Futurelab, a specialist educational R&D agency, which develops radically new approaches to teaching and learning. Prior to this, Annika launched, grew and sold a number of media businesses. Winner of multiple awards, Annika is passionate about the use of digital technology to transform how we address big social challenges.

Ben Jupp is a Director at Social Finance. Prior to joining Social Finance at the start of 2011, Ben was Director of Public Services Strategy at the Cabinet Office. In the civil service, he has also been Director of the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, responsible for policy and support for the voluntary and community sector and social enterprises, and head of strategy at the Home Office. Ben’s previous experience includes leading research on welfare, health and regeneration policy at the think tank Demos, managing primary care in part of a Health Authority and leading the policy development of lottery funded health and childcare programmes at the New Opportunities Fund.

Cheryl Giovannoni is the CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and Digital, one of the world’s largest and most successful agencies, with 450 offices in 120 countries.  Ogilvy is part of the WPP Group. Cheryl has spent her career working in the communications industry in both advertising and strategic branding roles. She is particularly interested in coaching and nurturing young talent, and has written several thought leadership pieces on the role of women in the communications industry. Cheryl has worked with many multi-national clients including Unilever, P&G, BP, M&S, Diageo and Nestle. Ogilvy is also involved in work for Amnesty International and WWF. Cheryl is a keen runner and her efforts have gone to support two charities that are close to her heart – The MS Trust and Whizz-Kidz.

David Robinson is a community worker, the co-founder of Community Links and now Senior Adviser. Community Links works with more than 16,000 people a year in East London and shares the local experience with policy makers and practitioners nationally through publications, training and consultancy. David now leads the Early Action Task Force. He also founded We Are What We Do and co-founded the Children’s Discovery Centre. He is a trustee of the holding company for the Big Society Bank and, as one of the architects of the Social Impact Bond, chairs the Social Impact Bond advisory Group.   He led the PMs Council on Social Action for Gordon Brown

Jonathan Jenkins is CEO of The Social Investment Business Group (SIB), the largest lender in the UK social investment market, having made £250+m loans to over 1,000 organisations. Jonathan has over 15 years’ experience in fundraising for SMEs from his City career, which included time at a UK bank, and culminated in his role as managing director of Plus Markets, a stock exchange capital for smaller companies, where 500+ companies raised over £1bn in total. He joined UnLtd in 2008 as Director of Ventures, and went on to launch their seed co-investment programme – Big Venture Challenge. He joined SIB in Autumn 2011.

Michael Stevenson was the Vice President of Global Education at Cisco, 2007-2013, responsible for developing strategy and leading implementation in countries around the world. Until September 2006 he was Chief Information Officer and Director of Technology at the Department for Education and Skills in England, driving the use of ICT in schools, colleges and universities. Before that he was DFES Director of Strategy.  From 2000 to 2003, he founded and led the BBC’s Factual and Learning Directorate.

Sam Conniff is Co-Founder of Livity a ‘more than profit’ youth engagement  agency  that  works  with  teenagers  and  young adults every day to co-create socially innovative campaigns, communications, content and communities that improve the lives of young people. Livity’s pioneering and financially and socially successful business model currently works for Google, Blackberry, Barclays, Channel 4, Penguin and Nike. With his business partner Michelle, Sam was recently awarded the prestigious 2011 UK Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  Sam believes in sustainable business ideas for social change and fly’s the flag for social as well as financial profit.

Alexis Cleveland started her career as a statistician in the Civil Service. She worked on health and social security policy before moving into ICT and then operational delivery. She was chief executive of the Benefits Agency and later the Pension Service, both Executive Agencies in the Department for Work and Pensions. Alexis was asked to join the Cabinet Office as director general for Transformation Government and worked there through the Brown Labour administration and the early years of the coalition government. Her current portfolio includes: chair of the board of the Food and Environment Research Agency; a council member at Durham University; adviser to the Labour Party and consultancy engagements.