Principal Homerton College, Cambridge University

Lord Simon Woolley is a prominent British politician and activist, best known as the founder and director of Operation Black Vote (OBV) and Trustee of the charity Police Now. He has served as a crossbench member of the House of Lords since October 2019 and was previously the chair of the UK government’s Race Disparity Unit Advisory Group until July 2020. In October 2021, Woolley was appointed as the Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge. Throughout his career, Woolley has been a champion for racial equality and social justice in the UK, and his work has been recognized with numerous awards, including an OBE in 2016.

Chair Black Equity Org

Dame Vivian Hunt is the Chief Innovation Officer at UnitedHealth Group, where she focuses on pursuing new technologies, improving process design, and improving system productivity. Prior to this, she was a Senior Partner for McKinsey & Company, UK and Ireland, where she provided strategic advice to leading firms in the private, public, and third sectors. She is a globally recognized thought leader on productivity, skills, leadership, and diversity topics, and serves on several influential boards and organizations, including as Chair of Teach First and the Black Equity Organization. In 2018, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the economy and women in business, and in 2022, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Strategic Management Society. Dame Vivian is an alumni of Harvard College and Harvard Business School and has received honorary doctorates from several universities.

Founder Inclusive Boards

Samuel is an award-winning social entrepreneur, commentator, and strategist who served as Special Advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, where he held the Civil Society and Communities brief. He was the most senior black Advisor in government and led the cross-government vaccine deployment confidence programme. Samuel has set up and grown several initiatives to support the progression of Britain’s black and minority ethnic population, including a student network connecting peers with employers and a campaign supporting over 8,000 start-up businesses. He is also the founder of Inclusive Boards, an executive headhunting firm specialising in non-executive board appointments. Samuel is a district councillor and has extensive knowledge of how local and national government works. He grew up in Barnet, North London.

CEO Teach First

Russell joined Teach First as CEO in September 2017, building on more than 15 years developing and promoting leadership in schools. Prior to joining Teach First, Russell was General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and before that worked as a management consultant, helping found Hay Group’s education practice. Russell serves as a trustee of Fair Education Alliance and Teach for All UK Charity Board, as well as participating as a Community Board Member for Digital Poverty Alliance. Russell recently joined the Education Committee at the Royal Society.Russell was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List 2022.

De Montfort University

Momodou considers himself a scholar-activist engaged in disruptive pedagogy, interested in both bringing real life learning into the classroom and transformative learning within communities. He has numerous publications, including six books, in the fields of teaching and learning, poetry, and diversity (race and religion). His research interests include diversity, participatory methodologies, globalisation in relation especially to young people, and public engagement.

CEO & Founder Coding Black Females

Charlene Hunter, CEO & founder of Coding Black Females, has a BSc in Mathematical Sciences and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham. With over 10 years of experience in Java and C# development, technical architecture, testing, and software application building, she is passionate about diversifying the tech sector and increasing the representation of Black women in tech. She established Coding Black Females to address the underrepresentation of Black women in tech and provide role models and visibility for Black women in the industry. Charlene has been recognized with multiple awards for her work in supporting Black women in tech.

CPsychol, Co-Founder African Caribbean Education Network

Dr Shola Apena Rogers is a Chartered Forensic Psychologist, Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and an experienced practitioner and researcher. Shola has a strong focus on social justice and transforming lives and is passionate in her work to support and address the inequalities across mental health, education and the criminal justice system for Black communities, with a particular focus on young people and families. She has extensive experience in project management approaches and workforce development, delivering training to a range of professionals from teachers to practitioners and volunteers. As an experienced trainer, Shola’s areas of specialism are race and racism, young people’s mental health, and trauma-informed approaches. Shola previously held the position of school governor in a primary school on the curriculum committee.

Author, CEO & Founder The Black Curriculum

Lavinya is a writer, student activist, and Founder and CEO of The Black Curriculum. She is currently writing her first book, ‘Omitted’ due to be published in Spring 2024 by 4th Estate.

Founder The Why Books, International Chair in Music Education RNCM

Prof Nathan Holder is an author, speaker, musician, and education consultant. He has over a decade of experience advocating for inclusive and diverse music education globally through speaking engagements, writing, and consultancy. As a public speaker, Nate has led numerous workshops and training sessions for schools, universities, and music boards. He has collaborated with top artists like Emeli Sandé, Ed Sheeran, and Ghetts, as well as leading companies such as BBC, Hal Leonard Europe, and Collins Music. Beyond consulting, Nate serves on the board for F-flat books, Music Teacher Magazine, and the Advisory Group to the Africa APPG’s Inquiry into Africa in the UK Curricula. He is currently the Professor and International Chair of Music Education at the Royal Northern College of Music. Nate is also a prolific author, having written seven books that aim to inspire and empower learners and educators to embrace inclusive and diverse music education.

Founder of Jalli, Creative Storyteller

CEO & Founder DataKirk, Scotland

Fash is the founder of The DataKirk SCIO which started in 2019 with the aim of closing both the attainment gap and data divide in Scotland.

With the full support of DataKirk’s partners and sponsors, DataKirk has successfully grown and scaled from a small Edinburgh based social enterprise to a regionally impactful charity improving healthy working lives and increase upskill and employment opportunities for socially and economically deprived and disadvantaged groups.

He is interested in finding solutions to transform more lives of people with both migratory and socio-economic backgrounds.

Prior to DataKirk, Fash worked in both the private sector in Data Management as well as third-sector organisation in Housing and Homeless management. Fash is a recipient of Data Lab scholarship which helped him to attend University of Stirling.

Fash holds a triple master’s degree in Housing Studies, Business Information management and Big Data.

Fash’s purpose and passion lies in promoting diversity and inclusion within the digital and data economy and supporting DataKirk’s data enthusiasts to accessing and sustaining employment.

As well as this he is a father and has two lovely daughters

MD TEP Centre, Nigeria

Dr. Modupe (Mo) Adefeso-Olateju is the managing director of The Education Partnership (TEP) Centre, a leading education partnership organization in Nigeria, where she focuses on public-private collaboration in education and education innovation. She co-established the annual pan-African education innovation summit, NEDIS, and supports policymakers and corporations in various education sector support initiatives. Mo serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the Malala Fund US, Human Capital Africa, and UNESCO GEM Report. She is also a Commissioner on the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges at McMaster University. Mo holds a PhD in Education and International Development from University College London’s Institute of Education and a Masters’ degree from the same university. She is a Fellow of the Asia-Global Institute in Hong Kong.