Dr. Jason Arora
Physician & Tech Executive, Independent Advisor

Dr. Arora is a physician-scientist who has spent over a decade working across digital health, care innovation, value-based care, precision medicine, and medtech in the US, Europe, and Latin America. He currently serves as an independent advisor to numerous entities across industry, venture, academia, and government. Previously, Dr. Arora served as Head of Medical Affairs and Head of Clinical Science Innovation at Google Life Sciences, and has held leadership roles at Medtronic and the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (co-founded by Boston Consulting Group, Harvard, and the Karolinska Institutet). He is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds degrees in medicine, medical sciences, and public health from Oxford and Harvard.

Andy Bird
CEO
Pearson

Andy Bird became Pearson’s chief executive on 19 October 2020. Andy has a long and distinguished career spanning 35 years in the media industry. Most recently he spent 14 years working for The Walt Disney Company, joining the business as President of Walt Disney International in 2004, before being appointed Chairman in 2008. He held this role for a decade, during which time he transformed the organization, significantly enhancing its local presence in countries around the world. He also worked to establish the Disney brand in China, through the creation of Disney English, teaching English language to Chinese families through immersive learning experiences.

Prior to this, Andy worked in a variety of senior positions at AOL Time Warner and spent the earlier part of his career in a variety of roles at Piccadilly Radio, Virgin Broadcasting Company, BSB Music Channel, Big & Good Productions and Unique Broadcasting.

Dan Burge
Chief Product Officer
EV Technology

Dan Burge is a highly experienced global automotive industry executive, with over 20 years of high-level leadership, commercial and technical roles within world renowned companies.

Dan currently plays the key role of Chief Product Officer at EV Technology Group, building out the product team who focus on incubating new models, brands and other opportunities at a newly formed US office, based in California.

Previous roles have included CEO of Radford, Commercial Director of Lotus Engineering, and senior commercial and programme roles at Williams Advanced Engineering and Prodrive Automotive Technologies.

Dan originally studied and trained in mechanical engineering, before moving towards more commercial and leadership roles, and completed his MBA in 2017.

Now living in Laguna Beach, California, Dan has been married to Sarah for over 18 years and has two children – an 11-year old son and 8-year old daughter.

Llewellyn Cox
Managing Partner
Co-Lab Capital

Llewellyn Cox is an experienced biotech entrepreneur and investor based in Los Angeles. Llewellyn is the Managing Partner for Co-Lab Capital, and a General Partner at MarsBio VC. He is also an adjunct professor of translational biology and science communications at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Previously, Llewellyn received his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at Cardiff University in the UK, before moving to the US for postdoctoral research in neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Sunny Dhillon
Founder
Kyber Knight Capital

Sunny Dhillon is a founder of Kyber Knight Capital, an early stage venture capital fund in San Francisco and Los Angeles. His fund is backed by many of the world's leading C-suite executives from Fortune 500 companies in entertainment, gaming, and technology. He previously worked in corporate strategy for Warner Bros and was the first employee at a VC-backed spin-off of New Line Cinema, after beginning his career in investment banking at Rothschild in London. He graduated from Oxford, LSE, and Kellogg.

Lee Evans
Former CEO, Entertainment
President, BABC Orange County

Lee Evans and his wife Nicola, founded their company Afin Technologies from their spare bedroom in Cheshire, England before expanding to the USA in 2016 and growing Afin to over 100 employees across the USA, the UK and Canada. In 2019, Afin acquired one of America’s iconic companies, Entertainment®. Over the next 3 years, Lee transformed Entertainment from a print business to a digital mobile Adtech company before merging it with Cardlytics Inc, in January 2022, and thus joining NASDAQ. Since June 2021, Lee has been President of the British American Business Council, Orange County where he and Nicola live with their two young sons. Lee is a Rank Fellow and has served as a director on various not-for-profit foundations in both the UK and USA. In 2012, he co-founded MYST which has since helped and mentored over 200 entrepreneurs successfully start their own businesses. His life journey has taken him to over 100 countries and 48 US States.

Fiona Francois
Co-Founder and Operating Partner
Just Build It (JBI)

Fiona Francois is Co-Founder and Operating Partner at Just Build It (JBI) whose mission is to design, build and renovate software companies to be best in class.  JBI’s focus is on Marketing and Innovation to automate and scale the financial sector. Prior to joining JBI, Fiona was President, of InvestCloud, Inc. an innovative financial software firm that achieved unicorn status in 2021.  Before InvestCloud Fiona was HM Consul and Director for the Western Region of UK Trade and Investment's US Network based in Los Angeles and has experience across a number of Government Departments in London and Edinburgh, including The Department for Business Innovation and Skills, HM Treasury, and the Scottish Executive. Fiona holds a BA (Honours) in Social Sciences (Economics, Politics and Sociology) from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

Sarah Robarts
President
Ballantines PR

In 2000, Sarah founded Ballantines Public Relations (BPR), a luxury and lifestyle communications agency headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, The Bay Area, London, and Monaco. Her clients include iconic hotels and resorts around the world, City of West Hollywood, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Lionsgate, Kayak, American Airlines, Bamford/Daylesford, and the Culinary Institute of America at Copia. The Los Angeles Business Journal recently named BPR one of LA’s top 50 PR firms, and it has been recognized by the PRISM Awards (PR Society of America) and Adrian Awards multiple times, as well as several awards for a women-owned agency. BPR is a member of WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council). BPR’s non-profit clients and partners include the British American Business Council, Up2Us Sports, Rhino Ark, Education is Not a Crime, The Sherry Lansing Foundation, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, BAFTA LA, and many more.

Sarah was born in Uganda and raised in Kenya. After secondary school in England, Sarah received a first class Hons in Fine Art at Queen’s University, Canada and continued her education in Nice, France with a post grad in Painting. She transitioned into Public Relations in London with Nicole and Anya Hindmarch. Sarah is the former President of the British American Business Council, Los Angeles. She also serves on the BAFTA PR Committee, the board of Everychild Foundation, the board of Save the Elephants, the UCLA PR and Marketing Advisory Board, the American Airlines Council on Entertainment, is a VP at Britweek, and has served as a mentor to young women in business with the office of Los Angeles Mayor. In 2022 she was awarded Los Angeles Times Inspirational Women award. Family, painting, community service for The Baha’i Faith, as well as triathlons and tennis are key to Sarah’s well-being.

Caroline Rowland
Founder & CEO
Egoli Media

Caroline is one of the most prolific and awarded storytellers in sports. Inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019 in recognition of her contribution to Olympic film-making, she achieved both commercial success and critical acclaim with New Moon, the creative agency she founded in 1996. Caroline has produced and directed films which achieved an Emmy Nomination, Moondance Film Festival Awards and Cannes Dolphins. In 2020 Caroline founded Egoli Media, an AI-enabled content distribution platform. With offices in Los Angeles & London, Caroline is able to bring new tech to the UK while bringing skills back to the US.

Caroline is British / Swiss and was educated in South Africa. She has twice been nominated as Entrepreneur of the Year in Britain, was awarded South African Woman in Business of the Year in 2013 and nominated as British South African Business Leader of the year in 2015. In 2016, Caroline was awarded the Distinguished Rhodian Award by her Alma Mater, Rhodes University.

Scott Russell
Principal
Arup

Scott Russell is a Los Angeles-based Principal with Arup, a global engineering, design, and consulting firm. Currently, he serves as the managing principal of the firm’s practice in the Western U.S. and as a member of its Americas Region Board, which encompasses offices in North and South America. Scott has spent his 25-year career in professional services, as a practicing city planner, a marketing and communications leader, and as a leader and executive focused on the business of the built environment. His professional practice has been focused on long-range and strategic planning for public and private sector clients while his executive roles have been dedicated to building inclusive workplaces that deliver exceptional experiences for employees, clients, and collaborators. He has advanced degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Southern California, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dan Rutstein
President of Business Relations
Orange County Soccer Club

Dan Rutstein is President of Business Relations at Orange County Soccer of the USL, the second tier of US soccer. He is also host of three podcasts Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss, America the Beautiful Game and United States of Dramerica. Dan was both a news and sports reporter working in the north of England before moving to Bermuda as the Deputy Sports Editor of the Royal Gazette. He then joined the British Government working in a number of jobs in the UK before serving overseas in the diplomatic service in both Germany and then coming to Los Angeles. After leaving Government, he was President and CEO of Laduma, a technology company specializing in storytelling in Augmented and Virtual Reality.

Ed Simpson
Chief Strategy Officer
Wheelhouse

Ed Simpson is chief strategy officer at Wheelhouse, overseeing strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and business development across all divisions of the company. Established in 2018, Wheelhouse is a multi-vertical media, marketing, and investment platform where content, celebrity, brands and capital come together to accelerate programming and business opportunities across platforms. Its operating company encompasses Wheelhouse Entertainment; brand marketing division Wheelhouse Labs; digital-first and influencer division Wheelhouse DNA; and investment arm Wheelhouse 360.

Since joining Wheelhouse at its inception, Simpson has spearheaded the company’s rise and expansion, including deals forged with Kimmelot (ABC’s Emmy-winning Live in Front of a Studio Audience; Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers); digital content studio Portal A (Snap’s Level Up with Steph Curry); Wheelhouse’s production label Spoke Studios (Netflix’s Hype House); and digital creator/influencer-first division Wheelhouse DNA.

Dutch Van Someren
Founder and CEO
Bike Shed Motorcycle Co.

After 28 years in the media business as a Creative/ Marketing Director/VP at companies including MTV, Bravo, Extreme Sports Channel, Cartoon Network, BBC, Harper Collins & WPP, Dutch gave up on creating content and brand strategy for other people, to bring his brand expertise to his passion for machines, design & storytelling by founding Bike Shed Motorcycle Club Ltd in London in 2013 and then expanding to Los Angeles with Bike Shed Moto Co in 2023. Over the last 10 years he learned a whole new set of industries and skills covering his role as Founder and CEO in the company, across fund-raising, corporate accountability, and international expansion in hospitality, retail, e-commerce, and large-scale events.

Sophie Watts, CEO
Global Venture Creation Group

Sophie Watts is the CEO of a global venture creation group for A-list stars. The company brings together billion-dollar brand development and marketing experience with deep and influential media reach to incubate, launch, and grow 360-degree talent-driven businesses that include premium content, consumer products, and live experiences. Previously, Watts served as President of STX Entertainment since the Company’s inception, playing an instrumental role in its formation and growth alongside co-founder Robert Simonds. As President, she was responsible for conceiving, driving forward and overseeing the Company’s new initiatives and business development, including the establishment of a fully-fledged movie studio, and both reality and scripted TV studios.

Watts has been named one of Hollywood’s Top Dealmakers by Variety, listed in Fortune magazine’s 40 under 40, and featured in Variety’s Power of Women Report, Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power100, and in ELLE magazine’s power list. She has been recognized by the National Diversity Council as one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment.”

Neil Waller
Co-Founder
Whalar

Neil Waller is the Co-Founder of Whalar, the first Cannes Lions award-winning creator company. A self-confessed college dropout and a serial entrepreneur at heart, Neil and his partner James Street co-founded nine businesses, including those in the direct-to-consumer (DTC space). In 2015, Neil and James won Shopify Build a Biz award for one of their DTC companies. After the rapid success of creator marketing, Neil and James realized the potential to improve social commerce, and Whalar was established in 2016.