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

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.

CEO, Apprentify Group

Jonathan Fitchew is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over 30 years of 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 to a £30 million turnover business. He is also a founder shareholder of Venn Digital, a digital marketing agency, and Next Connex, a cloud hosting provider.
Currently, Jonathan is the group CEO of Apprentify Group, a leading training provider that offers apprenticeships and bootcamps in digital and sales skills. He joined the group in 2022 as executive chairman and became CEO in 2022. He is passionate about supporting future talent and helping businesses grow through learning and development. He is also involved in various charitable causes, such as raising funds for cancer research and supporting local communities.

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. His is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Accountants Australia & New Zealand and member of the 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.

Executive Director, Turing Innovation Catalyst

Liz is a long time tech ecosystem supporter, advisor and advocate. She has supported businesses large and small, nationally and internationally to grow, innovate and evolve for over 20 years. Liz is the CEO at the Turing Innovation Catalyst Manchester (TIC), which is dedicated to developing the AI ecosystem across Greater Manchester. Liz leads a team who are busy delivering venture builders, incubators, accelerators, R&D projects, skills programmes, as well as a whole host of events and activities to drive the AI ecosystem forward.

Prior to TIC Liz was part of the Executive Board at Tech Nation supporting 6k+ high potential startups and scaleups to thrive across the UK. In her Non-Exec Director and Advisory board roles Liz works with a number of tech sector focused organisations.

Serial Investor

He is also a Non Executive Director of Ladbible Group plc and Flutter Entertainment plc, and an angel investor in a number of other start up and scale ups.

Richard was Chief Executive of Leeds based Sky Betting and Gaming from 2006 to 2018, during which time he grew the company from around 100 employees to over 1700. He led the company through its £800m spin out from Sky, and then on to its acquisition by The Stars Group for £3.4bn last year, before The Stars Group was in turn acquired by Flutter Entertainment plc.

Richard was Glassdoors Chief Executive of the Year for 2018. He holds an Engineering Degree from Oxford and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Portfolio Director, Regional Head – North of England, Cazenove Capital

With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Simon has been helping high-net-worth and ultra-high net-worth families to achieve their long-term financial objectives for many years. He continues to do so in his current role as Portfolio Director at Cazenove Capital, and Heads up the offices across the Northern regions.

He joined Cazenove Capital from UBS where he was the Regional Head for North West of England. Before that Simon spent most of his working life at Lloyds Banking Group in a range of wealth management roles. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI).

Associate, GP Bullhound
Joe is an 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.

Associate, 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.