UCL Advances

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our bulletin


Linkedin

Entrepreneurship Guest Lectures Biographies

GUEST LECTURE HOMEPAGE

VIDEOS

Biographies
         

Simon Calver - CEO Lovefilm

Simon Calver is CEO of LOVEFiLM, a leading European film and TV subscription service delivering films and TV shows instantly on the LOVEFiLM Player to member’s PCs, in the living room to their TVs and PlayStation 3 consoles, as well as through its traditional postal DVD rental service.  It has 80,000 titles, over 1.6 million subscribers in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia with annual growth near 50%. In January this year, it was announced that the company is being acquired by Amazon.


Edward Parkinson - UK Director, Viagogo

Edward Parkinson is the director of viagogo UK and leads the UK business from viagogo’s headquarters in London. Edward is responsible for overseeing and driving all of the UK’s business operations including marketing, strategic partnerships and operations as well as the development and execution of the company’s strategy in the region.

Prior to joining viagogo, Edward worked as a strategy consultant for Marakon Associates in London and New York, advising leading corporations and non-profit organisations on marketing and business unit strategy.

Edward graduated with a Masters in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.


Nick Jankel - Chief Executive, wecreate

Nick was a youth worker by 15; a science teacher in rural Africa before he was 20; set up a strategy and innovation consultancy which helped launch Xbox and create Dancing with Stars by the age of 25; built a multi-million pound company and advised No.10 Downing Street on innovation before he was 30; and by the time he was 31 he had walked away from it all to be a committed purpose-driven entrepreneur dedicated to enabling the co-creation of a radically better world.

Nick is now the Founder and President of WECREATE, a purpose-driven business that creates design and innovation programmes, training and workshop experiences, self-managed tools and toolkits and multi-platform learning content to help citizens, entrepreneurs, innovators and nations co-create a radically better world.


Josh Liu - Co-Founder and CEO, MinuteBox

Biography to follow shortly.

         

Kes Thygesen - Co-Founder/Managing Partner, RolePoint.com

Kes has co-founded multiple recruitment tech startups including OVIAhr.com. Now working on a socially powered employee referral platform - RolePoint.com, he also co-organises Startup Poker and curates Startup Digest London


Robert Nichols - Director/Owner, Edmund Cude

As a young (17 year old) student, Robert was sponsored by the RAF and learnt to Fly light aircraft whilst competing Nationally in Ski Racing. Having decided that a life as an entrepreneur would be more rewarding than the Air Force he went on to complete his studies and finally graduated from UCL in 2002 (MechEng).  Starting his working career with a full student loan to pay off and no other funding available there were many hurdles to overcome!

In 2002, Robert joined a very small property company (EDMUNDCUDE.COM) based in a back street in Camden and became the only employee working alongside the Owner. On his 24th birthday Robert managed to structure a deal which saw him take ownership of this company.  Since then it has expanded rapidly both organically and through further acquisitions. Robert has not only developed a bespoke internal system which is key to his company's efficiency but he has also bought a further seven companies in the last 6 years and was recently ranked 20th on the Young People Rich List 2011 above the likes of Cheryl Cole and Leona Lewis!

Robert likes to lead a balanced life and continues many of the extracurricular activates that University life offered.  Having been the Manager of the UCL Orchestra, Robert continues to play the Violin and is currently the Co-Leader of Camden Chamber Orchestra and has made guest appearances with many other London Orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His love for the outdoors has seen him conquer Mount Everest in 2003 and he is always looking for the next challenge whether it be personal or at work! 


Francis Seriau -  Educator, Music Entrepreneur, Musician

Acclaimed Educator, Music Entrepreneur and Musician, Francis Seriau is an authority in his field whom many regard as the single greatest influence on contemporary music education in the UK.

Francis has pioneered and led work in this field since 1983 and helped provide the crucial bridge between vocational music training, academia and the music industry itself. He founded the first contemporary music school in the UK, the world-renowned Tech Music Schools, starting with Drumtech in 1983 followed later by Vocaltech, Keyboardtech and Guitar-X.

Francis developed new concepts and techniques for the teaching of contemporary music. His ground-breaking approach attracted students and musicians from over 50 countries, as well as some of the biggest names in music - among them: Bill Bruford (Yes) Pick Withers (Dire Straits) Rat Scabies (The Damned) Phil Selway (Radiohead) Jason Cooper (The Cure) Nathan Curran (Basement Jaxx) Jed Lynch (Peter Gabriel) Mick Avory (The Kinks) Elliott Fyfe (George Benson) Mark Roberts (Massive Attack) Tom Meadows (Duffy), Julian Brown (Kylie Minogue) and many many more… A truly unique and unrivalled track record of successfully training musicians for the music industry.

In 1998 Francis received an honorary doctorate from Thames Valley University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music education and in 2005, he was made a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). He is also a member of the Institute of Directors.
In June 2010, after over a quarter of a century developing specialist music education, Francis sold his schools. Now, through a range of new exciting projects and services packed with fresh insights and new ways of thinking, he is again sharing his knowledge, passion and experience - helping musicians and organisations around the world as well as developing new musical opportunities.

         

Phil Makinson, Business Development Director/Founder, Kabbee 

Phil Makinson is Business Development Director and one of the founders of Kabbee, the minicab booking app/website. He is responsible for customer facing areas, partnerships, payment and PR.  Since launching in London in June 2011, Kabbee has helped thousands of Londoners book minicabs and has improved performance in the sector by working with the many fleets on Kabbee's platform to develop service and value.

Prior to Kabbee, Phil worked as a consultant for Greenwich Consulting on media and telecomms strategy projects across Europe, the US and many developing markets. He has also worked in several start ups in the media sector, as a finance manager for the mobile network 3 during its launch years and as a consultant for Arthur Andersen. 

         

Reece Howe - Director, Kirkwood Care

Reece Howe is the owner and director of Kirkwood Care, a provider of bespoke care to elderly and disabled individuals in their own homes. Kirkwood Care offers a cheaper and more dignified alternative to residential care. Reece set up the business after his grandmother’s experience in expensive but uncaring care homes. Since starting up in 2010, Kirkwood Care has helped hundreds of people, improving their quality of life and helping them stay out of hospital.

Prior to setting up Kirkwood Care, Reece worked for Innocent Drinks and in Corporate Finance at Deloitte. Reece graduated from UCL with a BSc in Astrophysics.