Northern Tech Awards 2026

At Apprentify, we pride ourselves on our Digital and Technical apprenticeship offerings. We have a unique approach to finding, recruiting, and training the best apprenticeship talent from start to finish. We have taken our time to develop specialist programmes to advance careers and develop teams.

Not only do we offer apprenticeships, but we also have a variety of short courses ranging from coding and data analytics, all the way to Leadership Training. www.apprentify.com

Hugh is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of GP Bullhound Group, comprising the advisory firm GP Bullhound and the investment arm Bullhound Capital. He has spent the majority of his career investing in and advising many of Europe’s leading technology companies and entrepreneurs. The Group now manages €1bn AUM across six growth capital funds. Stand-out exits in that time include Spotify, Slack, Unity, Believe Digital, Interactive Investor and Avito.

Hugh serves as Chairman of ConnexAI, a global leader in conversational AI solutions, and is a Non-Executive Director of Lingokids, a playlearning app for kids, and Pastest, a company providing online test prep for doctors.

Hugh began his career in M&A at Citibank, later moving into Equity Research at Goldman Sachs. He began an edtech start-up in Beijing, China in 2000 before co-founding the GP Bullhound Group. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and holds a degree from Pembroke College, Oxford.

Managing Director, HSBC Innovation Banking

Richard Faulkner is a managing director with HSBC Innovation Banking, where he is responsible for growth in the north of England and Scotland. Richard has more than 15 years of experience in technology banking, and he supports clients that include Matillion, Darktrace plc and Castore. Richard is committed to supporting HSBC Innovation Banking’s growth in the vibrant innovation sector and entrepreneurs leading high-growth, disruptive technology businesses.

Jonathan Fitchew is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and visionary leader with over 30 years’ experience in the training and education sector. He is the founder and former CEO of Pareto Law, the UK’s largest sales training and recruitment company, which he grew from a start up into a £30 million turnover organisation. His entrepreneurial portfolio reflects a long standing commitment to building companies that elevate talent, drive performance and unlock growth.

Today, Jonathan is CEO of Apprentify Group, a leading skills and training organisation, recognised by The Sunday Times in 2025 as Britain’s 30th fastest growing private company. Under his leadership, the group continues to advance its mission of developing future talent and creating opportunities for people from all socio economic backgrounds.

Beyond business, Jonathan is committed to giving back. He supports a range of charitable causes, including cancer research initiatives and community-focused projects. His career, marked by bold ideas, entrepreneurial flair and a deep belief in people, continues to shape the next generation of learners, leaders and innovators.

Founder & Investor

Adam Hildreth is a founder and investor who has built, scaled, and exited multiple technology companies. He founded Crisp, a pioneering digital-risk intelligence company that protected
some of the world’s largest social platforms and brands from online harm. Under Adam’s leadership, Crisp grew into a global enterprise through multiple rounds of venture and private equity investment before being acquired by Kroll, the global risk advisory firm.

Before Crisp, Adam launched Dubit, one of the world’s first virtual-world and youth-marketing companies, helping major brands engage the first generation of online users. His career has been defined by identifying emerging shifts in technology and turning them into scalable, commercially successful ventures.

Today, Adam is the co-founder of Irly, an AI-powered software platform helping founders turn ideas into real products in weeks, not months. Irly combines AI-driven software development with experienced founders and go-to-market experts to dramatically accelerate product delivery and reduce the time and cost of launching new ventures.

Alongside Irly, Adam has committed £5 million to back early-stage founders, with £1 million deployed in the first year, supporting bold entrepreneurs who are using AI to transform industries and redefine how technology companies are built.

Head, Alliance Manchester Business School

Ken McPhail is Head of Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. He was previously Deputy Head and Director of Research at AMBS. Prior to this, Ken was Vice Dean for Social Responsibility within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester.

Ken is Professor of Accounting and an elected fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, The Royal Society of Arts. He is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Accountants Australia & New Zealand and a member of the Impact Value Standards Board.

Ken is a Director of University of Manchester Worldwide Ltd and Senate elected member of the University of Manchester’s University Executive.

Portfolio Director, Cazenove Capital

With 15 years experience in the industry, Hazel is a music-tech lifer, guitarist and former CEO/Co-Founder at Musiio. She started her music-tech journey as an early employee at Shazam and spent time understanding the pain points of the industry at Pandora, Universal and HMV before launching Musiio in 2018 and then selling the business to SoundCloud in 2022.

Hazel travels globally speaking at conferences and talking to catalogue owners about the value of artificial intelligence integration and digital transformation in the music industry. As a female founder in the heavily male-dominated industries of music and tech, Hazel seeks to offer insights with interesting and humorous
anecdotes, as well as easy-to-follow explanations and use cases of artificial intelligence technology.

Richard Potter is CEO and co-founder at Peak, a UiPath company.

Founded in 2015 by Richard, David Leitch and Atul Sharma, Peak was born out of a shared vision to help businesses better harness the power of data and AI.

Following a decade of successful AI deployments, Peak’s AI now optimises inventories and pricing for global industry leaders including Nike, The Body Shop, Marshalls and Eurocell. With a core belief that businesses need their own AI – built for their business, with their data – Peak’s pre-built AI products can be configured to fit unique requirements.

Peak was acquired by UiPath in March 2025, marking the next step in delivering cutting-edge AI and agentic automation to help businesses make smarter, faster decisions at scale.

VP, GP Bullhound
Joe is a Vice President at GP Bullhound. Post joining in 2022, he has worked on a range of buy-side and sell-side transactions, whilst actively working in the Northern tech ecosystem to help earlier stage start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Joe is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, having previously worked at BDO LLP & Mazars LLP in both audit and corporate finance practices, respectively.

Katy is a coach and advisor to CEOs of growth stage tech companies. They partner with her to become more effective leaders and build healthy organizations while navigating the challenges of scale. Understanding the responsibilities that come with serving a company and its people, her mission is to support CEOs at Series B and beyond on their growth journey.

Additionally, Katy is the founder of PERA, a boutique network for growth- and late stage tech CEOs with over 120 members in London. They curate intimate dinner experiences, make meaningful introductions to strategic partners and investors and offer a community to scale alongside other CEOs post series B.

Scott Fletcher MBE is an acclaimed British entrepreneur and technology leader with an exceptional record of founding, scaling, and exiting high-growth technology companies. At just 22, Scott founded ANS Group, a Manchester-based IT infrastructure and cloud services company. Scaling it into a significant UK technology business before its successful private-equity exit for over £200 million in 2021.

A serial investor and long-standing Chairman of Godel Technologies, Scott has been instrumental in driving the company’s evolution into a leading AI and Digital Engineering partner. For more than 15 years, he has provided strategic leadership, empowering Godel’s mission to help organisations design, build, and scale intelligent digital solutions. Under his chairmanship, Godel has solidified its reputation as a trusted partner to global enterprises, successfully delivering complex digital transformation programmes across data, AI, and modern engineering platforms.

Throughout his career, Scott has maintained a diverse portfolio of investments and advisory roles across emerging technology sectors. He works closely with leadership teams to unlock growth, refine strategy, and create long-term value, leveraging commercial acumen and a deep understanding of how technology drives meaningful business outcomes.

Scott is deeply committed to community and skills development, particularly in his native Greater Manchester. A vocal advocate for apprenticeships and tech-sector training initiatives, he has helped bridge skills gaps and create pathways for young professionals entering the industry.

In recognition of his impact on business and the North West community, Scott was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014, an honorary doctorate by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to business and the North West region in 2017, most recently an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Salford Business School in 2024, celebrating his innovation, resilience, and dedication to regional growth.

Humphrey is a Partner responsible for leading the origination and execution of investment opportunities across the Technology sector and supporting these businesses to accelerate growth.

Prior to joining Inflexion in 2024, Humphrey was a Senior Partner and member of the Investment Committee at Graphite Capital, having joined in 2014 to establish and lead their TMT efforts. Whilst at Graphite, Humphrey led investments across the technology sector including Babble, Digital Space, Hanson Wade, Random42 and Ten10. Prior to this he was at Lyceum Capital and Ernst & Young, where he was a management consultant and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Humphrey is a keen sportsman, though now spends more time watching his young children play sport from the touchline and trying to convince his wife to get a dog.

Humphrey has a degree in Modern History and Political Science from the University of Birmingham.

James Fitzgibbon is a partner in the global corporate practice of Squire Patton Boggs based in the Manchester office. He specialises in all aspects of corporate acquisitions, disposals and joint venture arrangements, with particular expertise in private equity transactions. He advises a mixture of private equity investors, corporates, entrepreneurs and individuals on acquisitions, investments, disposals and strategic partnering arrangements across a range of sectors. James’ clients benefit from the significant experience he has developed through dealing with institutional investors from all sides of a transaction.
James is known for his straightforward, commercial approach to transactions and the huge commitment he displays to delivering for his clients.

Ian Connatty is the Managing Partner, BBB Investment Services Limited (British Growth Partnership).
Ian Connatty is the first Managing Partner for BBB Investment Services Limited, leading its regulated investment advisory and fundraising activities. As Managing Partner, Ian will also serve on the BBB Investment Services Limited Board, contributing to the Partnership’s governance and strategic oversight. He was previously the British Business Bank’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer. He brings with him a wealth of experience in direct, co-investment and venture capital fund investing having worked for British Business Bank and its forerunner organisations since 2009. Ian joined British Patient Capital when it launched in 2018 where he was Managing Director of the Funds business until 2021. After this he was appointed Managing Director, Direct and Co-investment, where he established the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme. He previously worked in corporate finance at technology company Infinity SDC and in financial modelling at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

David Lockie is CEO of Elevare Software Group, where he sets Group strategy and partners with founders and management teams to build category-leading software businesses. With 25+ years of leadership experience across technology and operations, he has contributed to 50+ acquisitions, with a strong focus on accelerating growth, enabling transformation and building high-performing, connected teams.

Before founding Elevare, David was Chief Operating Officer at IRIS Software Group, following roles as Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Customer Officer. During his seven-year tenure, he led significant business transformation and functional alignment, provided strategic leadership to Managing Directors and integrated 30+ acquisitions. He also strengthened customer sentiment and employee engagement through scalable playbooks underpinned by enhanced systems, data and AI, contributing to a $4 billion recapitalisation.

Earlier in his career, David spent two decades at Capita, including as Divisional Managing Director. During this time, he supported Managing Directors across software businesses serving the local government, social housing, social care, financial services and payments sectors. He joined Capita through the acquisition of Imasys, which later became Pay360, a business he successfully led for many years.

David has also been an Operating Partner at Hg and currently holds a Non-Executive Director role at Azets Group.

Paul is a BAFTA winning Entrepreneur, CEO and investor in the video games and tech space. He has founded, led and sold four companies and has invested in many more.
Paul is currently CEO of ForthStar, a video games developer and publisher he co-founded in 2023.
Prior to Forthstar, Paul co-founded Playdemic, a free-to-play mobile games developer and publisher. Playdemic has enjoyed significant global success with its leading franchises reaching over 200m players and generating over $1.2Bn of sales. Playdemic’s biggest hit, Golf Clash, remains one of the Top Grossing mobile games in the world.
Playdemic was acquired by Electronic Arts in June 2021 for $1.4Bn in cash.
Paul was briefly an investment banker before starting his first games company, BattleMail. At its peak BattleMail had 1m active players, was pre-installed on 17m Mobile Phones. After the sale of BattleMail, Paul went on to co-found Rockpool Games and over the next 5 years, with Paul as CEO, Rockpool grew to be one of Europe’s leading mobile game developers. Rockpool was acquired by Eidos/Square Enix.
Paul has also invested in a number of other games and technology businesses a number of which have exited successfully. His current portfolio includes 15 active direct investments and many more via various venture funds. Paul has a degree in Economics from Manchester University.

Vice President, GP Bullhound

Evgeny serves as a Vice President Evgeny Yakovlev at GP Bullhound. Over the span of his tenure, Evgeny successfully executed global M&A and Fundraising transactions valued at over £1bn.
Prior to joining GP Bullhound, Evgeny was a successful entrepreneur in retail & hospitality sectors.
Evgeny holds an MSc in Analytics and Decision Sciences from the University of Leeds.

Irina is an Analyst at Bullhound Capital. Before joining the firm, she completed a PhD in Nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge. Her expertise spans AI-driven materials engineering and new computing architectures for low-power, ultra-efficient next generation hardware. She also holds a Master’s degree in Computational Chemistry from University College London, where she worked on developing materials for commercial aircrafts.

I’m a techpreneur, having co-founded two technology companies (with very different outcomes!). I’m now helping other local companies become successful through investment, advice and consultancy.  My main areas of interest are how technology can be used to help companies implement their strategies.  Outside of work I have so many routines and hobbies I would sound like a self-help blog if I were to list them – but in brief, my happiest moments are almost always outside.

Vicky Jew is a partner in our Global Corporate Practice, based in our Manchester Office. Vicky specialises in private equity, private company and M&A work, acting for institutions, corporate clients, management teams and shareholders across a range of sectors, including significant experience advising on transactions in the technology sector. She is known for being a technically talented private equity lawyer who remains calm under pressure and is described by clients as being approachable, responsive, supportive and informative.

Nic is the Director of Portfolio at the University of Manchester’s tech transfer office – ‘Innovation Factory’ – tasked with supporting and providing value to the 100+ spinout companies currently growing across the region and around the UK. Prior to this role, Nic led on the creation and investment into a number of newer spinout companies across deeptech and engineering, advising on strategy development, team build, investment and licensing.

At the start of his career and following his PhD in Biomedical Sciences, Nic worked across a number of business development roles in healthcare, before joining the University of Manchester in 2017. At the University, Nic has held numerous commercial roles in life sciences faculty, at the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, and then setup the first Consultancy Services Team – providing businesses with fast, simple access to world-class academic expertise.

Miles is the CEO of Deeptech Labs based in Cambridge. Deeptech Labs is an accelerator and VC fund connecting the deep tech ecosystem of leading researchers, tech organisations and entrepreneurs to build world-changing deep tech companies.
Prior to Deeptech Labs Miles was Managing Director of AV8 Ventures, a €150m financial fund investing in Europe and the US. The fund focuses on investments at Seed and Series A in Next Generation Mobility, Big Data and AI, Digital Health and Cybersecurity.
Prior to AV8 Ventures Miles lead technology investments at Oxford Capital including investments in UltraSoC (acquired by Siemens) and Latent Logic (acquired by Waymo)
Miles was Managing Director of Qualcomm Ventures ($500M corporate fund with a portfolio of over 130 companies), leading Qualcomm’s investments in Europe. At Qualcomm Ventures Miles lead investments such as Iridigm (acquired by Qualcomm, 10x return), A123 (IPO’d and went on to a $2B valuation), ChargeMaster (acquired by BP), Formula E and Voluntis.
While at Qualcomm Miles formed and ran an internal incubator and developed Qualcomm’s effort in Augmented Reality, Wireless Charging and Machine learning and holds 34 patents. He also spent a number of years setting up and running Product Management teams for Mobile Phones and Display groups at Qualcomm.
Miles holds an BA in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bristol University and an MBA from University of California, Irvine. Outside of work, Miles likes spending time with his wife, daughter and son, outdoor activities including mountain biking, hiking as well as classic cars.