Tech Policy Expertise: Start-ups and scale-ups

  • Eleanor Sarpong

    Eleanor Sarpong is Founder and Managing Partner of Impact Afrique Global Partners, a London based but Africa focussed boutique consulting firm, where she advises governments, businesses and development partners on digital transformation, telecommunications policy, infrastructure investment and regulatory strategy across emerging markets. She brings more than two decades of global experience working in the private sector, international development and public policy, with a current focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Eleanor has held senior leadership roles as Director for Policy and Advocacy, Digital Inclusion at the GSMA, Director of Public Policy at the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership and Deputy Executive Director at the Alliance for Affordable Internet, where she spearheaded public policy and advocacy efforts with more than 21 governments and multilateral agencies. She has partnered with organisations including the European Union, Smart Africa, World Bank, USAID, ITU, UNESCO, UNESCAP and the OECD. Earlier in her career, she built MTN Ghana’s Government and Regulatory Function, leading efforts to secure 3G and 4G licences and regulatory engagements on mobile money, SIM registration and data-centre rollouts.

    She has also consulted for Stantec, developing a model on Open Internet skills, and advised the European Investment Bank on ICT lending policies for developing countries. She has also consulted for the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. Eleanor holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, where she was a Chevening Scholar, and certificates in Public Policy Analysis from the London School of Economics and Implementing Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education.

  • Miranda Sharp

    Miranda Sharp works with people to solve data problems and focuses on creating and capturing sustainable value from the sharing of data.

    She is part of the DfT College of Experts, a trustee to the Centre for Cities think tank and advises clients on financially resilient and well governed ways of sharing data. Miranda has also acted as a NED at TRL (the Transport Research Laboratory), secondee to DSIT on the value of data policy, and worked with the National Digital Twin programme, Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail on data as infrastructure.

  • Rose Beaumont

    Rose Beaumont is a highly accomplished senior executive with a distinguished career spanning technology, social media, FinTech & Payments, and entertainment. Having held leadership positions at some of the world’s most influential global brands, she brings exceptional expertise in steering complex multinational teams and shaping strategies that thrive at the intersection of innovation, policy & regulation and purpose.

    With decades of experience advising senior leadership teams, she has become a trusted voice in navigating the global landscape of policy and regulation.

    She is a passionate champion of women in leadership and a tireless advocate for aligning business success with social impact.

    She is adept at driving advocacy at the highest levels, ensuring businesses are not just participants but shapers of the global dialogue on technology, commerce and culture.

  • Vicki Shotbolt

    Vicki Shotbolt is the founder and chief executive of Parent Zone. She has been mapping, understanding and responding to the impact of technology on family life for twenty years finding ways to unlock opportunity and minimise harms. She is the host of Tech Shock, a podcast that unpacks emerging issues and explores the latest research about the impact of digital on family life. She is co-chair of VoiceBox a global youth led platform, a trustee of the Media and Information Literacy Alliance and chair of a consortium exploring Child Financial Harms.

  • Claire Spiller

    I am an advocate for creating fair access to tech careers and supporting people to reach their potential. Over the last twenty years, I have designed and managed re-skilling programmes, including those for marginalised groups of society. I support females, refugees, ex-offenders, people with disabilities and other people across our communities.

    Now I bridge the gap between education and paid employment, by providing work placements at a Tech For Good, non-profit, The Cloud Crew CIC. By populating CV’s with AI and digital transformation projects, more under-represented people stand out in recruitment processes.

    Through my work on the Digital Skills Council (DiSC) I have seen first-hand how policies could be better aligned and how initiatives could benefit from having more consistent quality-control measures across counties.

    Through my work at AWS, rolling out an EMEA-wide tech re-skilling programme, I am passionate about sharing ideas and concepts across boarders. Ideas shaped in a different country, based on the context of their economic climate, industry needs and socio-economic requirements, can often be translated into other countries and cultures, bringing a fresh perspective to shared challenges.

    I am an experienced speaker on topics such as diversity in tech, purposeful leadership and skills-based hiring and have contributed to articles, studies and interviews on the subjects.

  • Emma Dunn

    Emma Dunn is the co-founder of Friday Initiatives, a data company building practical tools and strategies that help organisations understand, govern and get value from their data. Friday works across the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia, supporting clients from government bodies to high-growth startups. Emma’s work focuses on shaping Friday’s direction, translating complex data and regulatory issues into clear narratives, and guiding how the company engages with partners and stakeholders as it scales.

  • Mia Haffety

    Mia joined techUK in September 2023 within the Digital Infrastructure and Climate team(s) before transitioning to the Digital Economy team in April 2024.

    Before joining techUK, Mia worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) sitting within the Policy Unit.

    Outside of work, Mia enjoys running, yoga, bouldering and art.

  • Jessica Figueras

    Jessica is the co-founder of CxB (Cyber Governance for Boards), a non-profit network that supports boards and non-executive directors to strengthen oversight of cyber security, and works with government to support developing cyber resilience regulation. She is also a non-executive director (Governor) at the University of Westminster.

    Previously she was Vice Chair and a Founding Trustee at the UK Cyber Security Council, where she worked with government on the development of a new self-regulatory regime for the cyber security profession. She was chief executive of Pionen, a cyber security firm working with government and critical national infrastructure, and Chair of Trustees at NCT, the UK’s largest charity for parents.

    As a technology strategist, she has worked extensively with government and the technology sector over decades, in recent years focusing on cyber security, digital trust and the role of tech in civil society. She has published extensive research on the application of emerging technologies in the public sector and regulated industries, and her technical advisory work directly informed the UK’s ground-breaking online safety legislation and wider regulatory regime.

  • Catherine Colloms

    Catherine has over 25 years’ experience across the public and private sector, specialising in infrastructure, tech and telecoms. She has advised corporates on working in partnership with government to deliver major infrastructure and environmental, social and governance projects and brings stakeholders together to solve economic and social challenges and devise commercial and policy solutions to help address them.

    She spent 8 years on the executive of Openreach (BT) when it hyper scaled its full-fibre network, where she also headed their Gender network and led initiatives on diversity and culture as part of the company’s transformation. She is on the advisory board of Labour Digital and is a NED at Gigaclear, a rural altnet Telco and on DBT’s Industrial Development Advisory Council.

  • Helen Milner

    Helen has 40 years’ experience creating and leading internet-based organisations; driving innovation, delivery and systems change at scale. Working closely with people deep in communities, as well at the highest levels of government and industry. Helen is number 9 in Computer Weekly’s 2025 UKTech50 list, and their number 1 Female Founder. Outside of her work for Good Things Foundation, she is the Chair of environmental charity Subak, and a Non-Executive Director on the Board for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.