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Entrepreneurship Guest Lectures Biographies Spring 2013

GUEST LECTURE HOMEPAGE

VIDEOS

Speakers

Rupert Lee-Browne - Chief Executive of Caxton FX

Rupert founded Caxton FX in 2002 following a successful career in the finance and media sectors. What started as a one-man initiative has gone on to become a highly successful business with an annual turnover of over £550m. Rupert’s role today sees him guide the business, helping the team to progress and innovate so that Caxton FX maintains its position as one of the leading foreign exchange companies.

Rupert is a keen champion of SME interests, regularly appearing in the press and at events providing his unique insight and advice for growing businesses. He currently serves as the Deputy Chair of the UK Money Transmitters Association. For insights into Rupert’s day-to-day thinking, follow him on Twitter: @Lee_Browne

Viktoras Jucikas - Founder and CEO of Yplan

Viktoras Jucikas is co-founder and CTO of YPlan, the world's first mobile-only event booking app that launched in London in late November, 2012. The app lets you discover top tickets for tonight, pay in two taps and go to gigs, theatre, cinema, quirky events like chess-boxing.

Previously an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, he left behind six years of designing exotic derivative risk management tools and fighting broken dividend curves, to partner up with an old friend and dive straight into the deep end of mobile commerce and technology start-ups.

Viktoras graduated from Jacobs University Bremen with an MSc in Computational Sciences and Kaunas University of Technology with a BSc in Computer Science. Innovative technology lies at the heart of YPlan's development, and Viktoras' knowledge and expertise has been crucial in bringing the product to market. A technical genius with a keen-eye for detail, Viktoras is an experienced generalist, passionate and curious about all things mobile, constantly learning and exploring new mobile UX/UI paradigms, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Viktoras also leads the Lithuanian City of London Club - providing support and guidance for those wanting to develop interpersonal and networking skills.

Raoul Tawadey - Founder of ReadWave

Raoul Tawadey is the the founder of ReadWave.com an online platform which enables authors to publish and distribute their ebooks on web and mobile. ReadWave aims to do for writers what SoundCloud and Youtube have done for musicians and filmmakers, respectively. ReadWave recently closed an angel funding round with investors who have been involved with companies like Skype, SongKick and LOVEFiLM. Raoul graduated from UCL in 2008 with a Bsc in Natural Sciences.

Lisa Long – Co-founder of Six to Start and Soniqplay

Lisa Long has worked in and around startups for her entire 15 year career, 5 years in Silicon Valley and the rest here in the UK.

Here in the UK, she has cofounded Six to Start, a games company best know for Zombies, Run!, and her current startup, Soniqplay, an audio application platform company that counts among its clients Manchester City Football Club.

She serves as a mentor for Seedcamp, the UCL Masters in Entrepreneurship, and the Cartier Women's Initiative, where she has twice coached the winning teams.  To liven up all her spare time, Lisa plays capoiera and designs treasure hunts.  She has a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Christopher Lewis - Founder of Shift Swap

Hi, I'm Christopher. My first business was a car washing business when I was 10. Sadly that folded, primarily due to a massive wholesale increase in the cost of soap and The America Car Wash Company setting up an operation in my local town.

I put running my own business aside and decided to study art at university. While broke, and bored making plinths from jelly I decide to get a job at Apple. I knew the product and had a passion for the brand so quickly became the top sales person in the whole chain, and after three years was running the b2b sales team.

I decided to leave the fast paced world of sales and moved into the public sector, helping Tate to raise funds during a recession. Sadly I wasn't cut out for the change in pace and preferred a busy and productive working environment. I started working freelance in User Experience and Product Development, building things for clients all over the world.

While studying Technology Entrepreneurship at UCL I found an amazing team to build a business with and six months later we had Shift Swap. We help retail and hospitality business offer flexible working to their employees, and at present we are looking to raise our next round of investment. 

Mike Salter - Co-founder of We Are Pop Up 

Mike trained as a painter for his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA and MA Degree. After graduating from The Slade School of Fine Art in 2010, he spent two years in the studio making prints and paintings with imagery taken from video games and television screens. On the side, he started his own web and graphic design studio in 2011 focusing on websites for fine artists.

In May, 2012, Mike co-founded We Are Pop Up with Nicholas Russell and Alastair Moore. For We Are Pop Up, Mike designs the website & their promotional material, hosts their monthly Pop Up Meet Up, and helps connect innovative brands, designers, artists and cooks with short-term 'pop-up' space around the UK.

"My motivation for We Are Pop Up is to see more excellent ideas in high-visiblity space around the world. And to do it in such a way that triumphs ambitious visions, cunning marketing, and innovative entrepreneurialism. I am always glad to meet and help support people with great shop ideas, no matter what they want to have in the window."

Reece Howe - Director and founder of Kirkwood Care 

A few years ago, Reece Howe's grandmother, an active and social lady, suffered a fall. After a stay in hospital she was told she wouldn't be able to return home as the support she needed wasn't available.

The next few months she spent moving between residential care homes, each more expensive than the last. In each one, she was left for long periods without food and water and was left trapped in her bed, neglected and delirious from the pharmaceuticals she was given.

A combination of malnutrition, social isolation and infection led to her return to hospital, where she passed away, only six months after entering residential "care".  Reece founded Kirkwood Care in 2009 to provide an alternative: personal, respectful and dignified support for elderly, ill and disabled people where it is needed most: in their own homes. Since establishment, Kirkwood Care has grown rapidly due to its excellent reputation among customers and healthcare professionals.

Reece is also a Director of the Surrey Care Association.

Wendy Devolder - Founder of Skills Matter

Wendy Devolder is the founder and CEO of Skills Matter. An entrepreneur and advocate for the benefits brought by technological innovation, Wendy founded Skills Matter in order to channel her commitment to continuous learning, progressive (often open source) technologies and agile principles.

Alex Asseily - Founder of State

Alexander Asseily is founder and Chairman of London-based startup STATE, an opinion network. Alexander was the founding CEO of Jawbone and continues to serve as its Chairman. Jawbone (aka Aliph) is the world leader in mobile lifestyle products including Jawbone Icon & Era headsets, the Jambox wireless speaker line and UP personal health solutions. Alexander grew up in Beirut and London before receiving his BSc & MSc in Engineering Design at Stanford University.