
Canon Simon Baldwin

Nazir Afzal OBE

Dr. Joanna Berry

Lee-J Walker

Kully Thiarai
Kully is Creative Director and CEO of Leeds 2023 – the city’s international year of culture. Having worked with prestigious arts organisations across the UK, Kully is renowned for her bold and ground-breaking work in the performing arts.

Paul Brown

Khalid Saifullah MBE

Helen Featherstone

Fatima Patel

Philip J J Turnbull
Philip is the Chief Executive Officer at AIA. He is an experienced CEO and Non-executive Director with demonstrated history of working in the Accounting sector. He is also skilled in Corporate Governance, due diligence, strategic planning and critical thinking.

Heather Waters

Andy Black

Karina Jadhav

Gill Laidler

Paula Grizzard

Kate Hainsworth

Muzahid Khan

Mo Isap

Jennie Holdstock

Karen French

Asghar Ali

Nicola Chance-Thompson
Is the CEO and Trustee of the multi award winning Piece Hall in Halifax. Nicola has been passionate about the town and region’s regeneration, adopting the town and county as her new home. During 2018/2019 she was very proud to be Mayoress of Calderdale in a supporting role to her husband the Mayor and loved meeting and serving the communities of Calderdale. Nicky won Yorkshire Businesswoman of the Year in 2019 and is on the Northern Power Women’s Power List. She also holds several non-executive voluntary roles in which she is a director including: Northern Broadsides, Halifax Business Improvement District and The Halifax Culture Hub.

Simone Roche MBE
Simone Roche is the CEO and Founder of Northern Power Women, a transcending campaign to accelerate gender quality from the north of England. Starting her career in the Royal Navy reaching the officer ranks and then held roles at Aintree Racecourse, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the Arena Convention Centre Liverpool and the Olympic Games.

Mohammed Ishaq MBE

Furqan Alamgir

Milton Brown

James Mason

Kashif Ashraf

Zeb Pervaiz

Munir Mamujee MBE

Barney Mynott

Jason Longhurst
Jason is Director of Place, with the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, leading the authority’s response to pandemic impacts, defining a clean growth recovery plan centred on green recovery, enviro-economic growth and delivering the first national testbed location for net-zero development. Chair and CEO of UKBCSD, Jason is also a NED advising Clean Growth and Sustainable Development SME innovation companies shaping Net-Zero and Green Economy in the UK. He held a number of Director/Board positions in both public and private sector organisations including regional development agency, county and unitary bodies, driving leading growth, investment and sustainable development projects.

Simon Arora

Shehla Hasan

Alex Golledge

Syima Aslam
Under Syima’s directorship, BLF has made a significant impact on the country’s literary landscape, hailed as ‘one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK’, bringing together literature from all genres, promoting intercultural fluency, providing a platform for marginalised voices, and reflecting the changing face of contemporary Britain through a programme which celebrates diversity, empathy and artistic excellence.

Sonya Bachra-Byrne

Sir Roger Marsh OBE DL

Daniela Douse

Amir Hussain
As a founder and CEO of Yeme Architects, Amir has developed it into a visionary, critical thinking group of companies executing community-led, data-informed, built environment solutions designed to meet the challenges and opportunities of a complex new feature.

Ranjana Bell MBE

Younis Chaudhry

Steve Bennett
An experienced Non-executive and Board Chair providing small business mentoring and business development consultancy to help organisations improve. Culturally aware with strong financial acumen providing career transition, coaching and mentoring to support organisational change, who believes passionately in “Pay It Forward” and connecting individuals for mutual benefit.

Ammar Mirza CBE
Ammar Mirza is an energetic and highly motivated business leader qualified and experienced across the public, private and third sectors, specialising in innovation, digital transformation and internationalisation.