Judges

An award-winning female entrepreneur, CEO, business owner and coach. With 25 year’s professional experience, Charmaine has achieved some incredible career millstones. Some of which include, completing an MBO and taking 100% ownership of her business. A confident businesswoman with a caring ethos and strong moral compass. Charmaine is super passionate about making a difference to the community & being a positive role model for her daughter. Throughout her career, Charmaine hasn’t been afraid of showing vulnerability, to which, she believes has contributed to both her personal and professional growth. A development advocate, she continues to invest heavily in herself and her staff by empowering them to become the best version of themselves.

Caitlin is Head of ESG at The BD Consultancy where she helps international firms to drive long-term, sustainable, and growth. She is also Founding Director of the charity Good Impact Group which connects charities in need of professional support with expert marketing and business development volunteers. Prior to this, Caitlin lived in Vietnam, running the marketing for a language centre alongside teaching English. In addition, Caitlin has a first-class degree in English Language and Linguistics and Masters in Ethnicity and Multiculturalism. Caitlin’s professional and academic experiences combine to provide her with an extremely strong understanding of culture and communication which she applies to every aspect of her work.

Nathan is a Partner at national law firm Bevan Brittan. He is a nationally recognised expert providing legal and commercial advice on all aspects of energy infrastructure and resource management projects and advised on many of the major city or region-wide decarbonisation projects in the UK. Nathan is environmental sustainability lead for the firm and heads up a dedicated team of energy specialists. With a focus on low carbon and renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable business practices, our clients come to us for advice not only on energy law but also for commercial legal and regulatory advice to help them thrive in a market and navigate the challenges they face.

Nicola Saner is Managing Director of Chorus, a Bristol-based IT and Cybersecurity provider. She is also a mentor and a voice for women in tech and leadership roles.

Karl is Bristol born and bred and is a Commercial Property Partner at national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP. Karl is also the inaugural chair of the ED&I Committee at Clarke Willmott. In 2014 Karl became the first black President of the Bristol Junior Chamber. Karl is a social mobility ambassador for the Law Society of England and Wales. In November 2019 Karl founded and launched the Bristol Property Inclusion Charter to boost diversity and inclusion in the Bristol property industry/sector. The Charter now has over 100 companies/organisations as signatories. Karl chairs the Bristol Property Inclusion Commission which oversees the running of the Charter. In recognition of this work Karl was named Property Personality of the Year at the Insider Property Awards South West 2021 and in February 2024 was named as the recipient of the Bristol Property Agents Association Malcolm Gunter Award.

Andrew is the founder of Coreus Group which he set up in May 2019 with a mission to create a brand that people want to work with and for. Andrew is a Chartered Surveyor with experience of working on all sides of the industry – Consultant, Contractor and Client. Prior to setting up Coreus, Andrew reached the level of Projects Director within a multi-national construction company. He has led numerous schemes for multi-disciplinary teams for a number of high-profile Clients across a number of sectors – Residential, Education, Leisure, Defence and Commercial

Tom is the founder of DeskLodge, a growing network of creative, productive work spaces in Bristol. He was a coder since ZX81 before ending up trying to create a better way of working. DeskLodges feature different work zones to help companies attract great people and help them do their best work. Themed zones include a surf working zone, hobbit hole quiet zone and festival team zone. They guarantee teams the best month of your working life - or your money back. In 2023 DeskLodge was certified a B-Corp, named Sunday Times Top 10 Best Places to work and WorkL 52nd happiest place to work in the world (out of 60,000 entries). Wins in 2023 included awards in Community, ESG, Most Inclusive, Best for Wellbeing and Most Engaged Employees.

Mark Burland is the founder of business telecoms managed service provider First Class Comms Limited also known as FCC, and co-founder of Synergy Networking Group. Mark started life working in the telco space back in 2002 working for Orange before moving to Vodafone and then finally setting up FCC. Mark is particular proud that First Class Comms is the only B Corp telecoms reseller in the UK to be accredited who support businesses by managing their mobile contracts, business phone systems and broadband. Mark and the team firmly believe in supporting multiple community projects and local charities by fundraising, donating and volunteering.

recruitment across the Digital & Tech, Legal, Sales, Insurance, and Financial Services Sectors. With a background as a Royal Marines Commando from 1990 to 2002, Preston began his corporate journey at the specialist recruiter Hays, where he gained invaluable experience in the field of recruitment. He then transitioned to Reed, where he played a pivotal role in establishing the company's Bath office. After four successful years, he made the bold decision to venture out and start his own recruitment business. Starting with a small team of five in a purpose-built log cabin at the end of his garden, Preston nurtured the company's growth into a thriving business of 90 employees, serving clients across the UK. Heat Recruitment now has operations in Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff and London. The company has received numerous accolades, including being the first recruitment agency to achieve Workplace Wellbeing Charter Status and securing the 37th spot in The Sunday Times Top 100 best companies to work for in the UK. Preston places a strong emphasis on the wellness of his team, offering incentives to keep them motivated. He describes his employees as highly motivated, innovative, and indispensable to the success of the business. This focus led to the development of Heat Recruitment's core values, centred on fun, passion, integrity, partnership, and excellence, with the overarching ambition of becoming one of the premier recruitment agencies worldwide. In its most recent milestone, Heat Recruitment joined the Smart Solutions Group, becoming one of eight companies in the Group with a combined workforce of approximately 230 people and an annual turnover exceeding £100 million. The company has ambitious plans for further expansion in the UK, its Poland operations, and the establishment of a presence in the USA. Preston expresses enthusiasm for the future of the Group, remarking that "these are exciting times for the Group."

Alan is co-founder and CEO of ISL Talent, a business that helps tech startups and scaleups grow through talent planning and finding great people. Alan supports several seed and venture accelerators, providing expertise particularly around people and scaling teams to companies looking to raise investment and grow. He has supported Digital Catapult on their technology programmes and presented to audiences from SETSquared, Future Space and TechSPARK. Alan mentors on the University of Bristol and UWE enterprise schemes, works with the Cranfield Trust helping leaders of charities, and volunteers for Founder4Schools, helping school children with interview skills and career choices. He completed the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme in 2018, and in 2022 was shortlisted as Business Leader of the Year and delighted to help ISL become certified as a UK Best Workplace again.

Kate is a founder, organisational development consultant, executive coach and mentor. For over 25 years, Kate has led and nurtured teams in various organisations, enabling them to excel under pressure. She’s seen from the inside and out, how to create engaged, high performing, happy teams. A former Magic Circle solicitor, Kate spent 15 years as an Operations Director in experiential event management, running international events for companies like HSBC, VMWare, Unilever, and managed BBC SPOTY for several years. Kate moved into business transformation and change, helping large organisations thrive. Today, Kate is an award-winning ICF Accredited leadership coach, a PRINCE2agile Practitioner and a 5Voices Master Practitioner, and is also the founder and MD of organisational development consultancy, Meraki People, knowing that 'Nothing Great is Made Alone'. She was recently named as National Coach of the Year at the National Coaching Awards. Kate is one of the cohort facilitators for the Business Leader 'Founders 250', Vice Chair of the IoD Surrey, a member of the Association of British Mentors and a keynote speaker.

Dewi is responsible for leading LDC’s teams across the South West and Wales, and ensuring the firm continues to support the growth ambitions of businesses based there. He is a highly experienced mid-market and private equity investment specialist. Since joining LDC in 2016, he has led the MBO of tech-enabled marine services business Idwal, the £18m investment in global pharmaceutical development organisation TMC Pharma Services, the £13m investment in digital media firm Hybrid, the SBO of Sohonet and the investments in outdoor adventure business Zip World and IT services company Vista. He has also led LDC’s partnership with Plimsoll Productions and its subsequent £131m sale to ITV plc and ADEY, which after four years was exited in a £210m transaction to Polypipe Group plc. After graduating from Bristol University, Welsh-speaker Dewi qualified as a chartered accountant at EY in Cardiff before joining its Lead Advisory / Mergers and Acquisitions team in 1998. He then went on to lead Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Advisory business in Wales, as well as its UK and global building products sector and regional markets initiative. In 2023, Dewi won Dealmaker of the Year at the Wales Insider Dealmakers.

Kiki is an entrepreneur and a Strategy Manager at Lloyds Banking Group. She has extensive experience developing and executing business & marketing strategies. Her career spans across several industries including legal, housing, social enterprise, technology, and financial services. As a founding member of the Black Professionals Network (BPN) and Founder of the International Graduate Success Accelerator (IGSA), she's passionate about empowering black and ethnic minority professionals to build successful, fulfilling careers.

Alison is the Vice President Care for OVO. She has over 20 years’ experience in helping global companies improve their customer experience, reduce costs and be more agile. She is passionate about about how technology, data and people interplay to provide exceptional customer experiences.

I am a private equity investor in several companies in the Greater Bristol Area and London. I consider business opportunities, invest in interesting ventures and selectively back highly competent, ambitious entrepreneurial teams. My background is in business management and creating value for all stakeholders.

Rob is a mergers and acquisitions specialist and the leads our M&A team. He joined Shaw & Co in 2022 having built his corporate finance career in both Plc’s and advisory firms including GKN, Care UK, PwC and UHY Hacker Young. Over the last 20 years he’s led and supported over 200 transactions with an enterprise value of £200m across various sectors, as well as implementing successful growth strategies for FTSE 100, Mid-Cap, Aim, SMEs and early stage businesses. He also holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Design and Manufacture from the University of Hull and an MBA from Warwick University. ‍ Rob is entrepreneurially focused and at Shaw & Co his corporate finance advisory and transactional support includes business valuations, exit strategies, buying or selling a business, mergers, management buy-in and management buyouts. He leads the company’s M&A business across the South West of England, as well as the technology sector across the UK. ‍

Catherine is managing director of Bristol-based PR agency, Strike Communications, which she founded in 2020, to provide strategic communications support primarily to charities and organisations delivering social good. A Chartered PR practitioner, Catherine has more than 20 years’ PR experience, and has worked at the highest level of organisations across business, the public sector, charities and higher education. She’s led multiple high profile campaigns that have seen international media coverage and invitations to Westminster, including most recently securing a performance in the Houses of Parliament for Ukraine’s national symphony orchestra as part of a Kyiv cultural initiative during the ongoing conflict. She is a trustee of Spike Island Art Space and a champion of the arts, particularly in Bristol and the South West.