Tech Policy Expertise: Tech leadership & running tech companies

  • Shivani Lodhia

    Shivani Lodhia is a cofounder of Parisi Consulting, where she advises clients in the emerging technology and digital infrastructure sectors, providing practical and trusted guidance. She also advocates for policy changes to support firms in these spaces, as well as issues affecting scaleups, using her Substack and an ongoing programme mentoring emerging talent from Warwick University to tackle and evaluate complex, future-facing industry challenges.

    She recently presented her team’s data and analysis on government engagement with digital infrastructure in the House of Lords at a private roundtable, has participated in high-level discussions on the future of the UK’s semiconductor industry, and has been quoted in Politico and City AM.

    Shivani is also studying for an MBA at Warwick Business School, bringing academic rigour to her work while championing a new generation of policy thinking within the technology sector. She is the CIPR’s Outstanding Young Communicator of the Year 2025.

  • Safyah Akhtar

    As Head of Paid Media, Safyah leads the department with a sharp focus on delivering performance-driven outcomes for our clients. With over 10 years of international experience across e-commerce, EdTech, FinTech, and non-profit sectors, she is passionate about building media strategies that maximise ROI, scale impact, and drive sustainable growth.

    Safyah brings deep expertise in paid media strategy, advanced audience targeting, and AI-driven performance marketing. She has led high-performing global teams and managed multi-million-pound budgets, with a proven track record of elevating campaign effectiveness through data-led insights, continuous optimisation, and rigorous performance measurement.

    A committed thought leader in the paid media space, Safyah closely tracks emerging trends in AI, attribution modelling, customer journey analytics, and platform innovations to ensure that her strategies are not only effective today but also future-ready.

    Outside of work, she enjoys travelling, exploring new cuisines, learning languages, and spending quality time with her children.

  • Saba Shaukat

    Saba Shaukat is a pioneering international business and technology executive with over 25 years of experience. She specialises in leveraging frontier technologies to drive transformative change and has a deep expertise in transitioning FTSE 250 companies into the next wave of growth and profitability.

    Currently, Saba is creating an AI Agency and heads Engagement and Innovation at the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE), a joint venture between the Home Office and QinetiQ on AI, data analytics, deep fakes, economic crime and emerging technology. She helps the Government in accelerating digital transformation initiatives to drive disruptive innovation and implement policies to enhance security, national resilience, and UK prosperity.

    Previously, Saba was the Group Director of Technical Capability and Innovation at QinetiQ plc, where she led a team of top scientists and engineers. She focused on frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, cyber technologies, immersive augmented reality, human-machine teaming, advanced materials, quantum computing, lasers, and human behaviour.

    Throughout her career, Saba has driven transformational technologies resulting in over £1 billion in new revenue. She has extensive international experience in strategy and commercial development and has held several board positions as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee. She recently became a Board Fellow at the world-wide renowned Royal College of Art(RCA), the leading school in innovation design engineering with the capability to tackle complex challenges faced by society and the planet.

    Saba’s career also includes significant roles at Capita, BT, Vodafone, Deloitte Consulting, and PwC, where she contributed to global market entry strategies, business turnarounds, and new technology ventures for both enterprise and consumer sectors.

    An alumna of Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Executive Leadership Training and the London Business School with an MBA, Saba is a thought leader and board advisor. As a former regional board member of The Prince’s Trust, she has inspired young people from disadvantaged communities to win national entrepreneurial awards.

    Saba is also a contributor to the bestselling book, The Power of Purpose. She is dedicated to embracing disruptive ideas and advancing skills, science, and technology for societal good amid rapid technological change.

    In her spare time, Saba is an avid sailor, traveller, and explorer of new science and technological innovations for the 21st century.

  • Pollyanna Tassell

    I have spent the last 5 years leading the legal functions in high growth scaling two-sided marketplaces, specifically Checkatrade and Carwow, both of whom exist to make it easier to make high value transactions (new roofs, new cars) in industries which traditionally carry low levels of trust. I have a passionate interest in using tech to enable a better consumer experience.

    I also lobbied for the DMCCA to be passed from a digital markets perspective, to ensure that the markets start-up and scale-up companies found themselves in were fair and enabled innovation.

    As an in-house lawyer, my job previously revolved around contract reviews, but now the regulatory landscape is rapidly changing, with new regulations around Consumer Protection, AI, Data, Digital Markets etc, my role now is to keep my business in front of those changes and make they are implemented for the benefit of the company I work for and the businesses and consumers we serve. As a result, I have have been happily thrust into the world of policy, so I can capitalise on the opportunities provided by being in the right conversations at the right time.

  • Lucie Caswell

    Lucie is a senior strategist and negotiator, specialising in connecting IP and innovation, copyright and digital music rights affairs. Lucie has negotiated international relations and commercial deals on all ‘sides’ of the stakeholder table. Lucie also leads government policy for the UK’s entertainment retail sector, representing music, video and games.

    Lucie started her music career at iconic, independent music publishers, later spending time focusing on song rights and innovation licensing, going on to bring a range of music services and rights holders into agreement, including for Deezer, Sony/SYCO, Sandbox Game, Singa and Bandcamp.

    Representing at sector level, Lucie is the former CEO of the UK’s performing artist organisation, the FAC, Chief Policy, Rights and Public Affairs Officer for the Music Publishers Association and, is currently Chief Innovation and Government Affairs Officer for the UK’s entertainment retail body, ERA.

    Lucie is a dedicated advocate of equal opportunities and ethical innovation; championing arts as catalyst for change and emancipation.

  • Lisa Johnson

    Lisa Johnson is Starship Technologies’ Vice President of Global Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. Starship is the world leader in autonomous robot delivery, having completed more than 8 million deliveries globally. Lisa leads on all aspects of regulatory policy, with a particular focus on market entry and creating supportive regulatory environments for first-of-a-kind technology. Her team is responsible for developing industry-leading social acceptance campaigns for the introduction of embodied AI into public spaces.

    Prior to joining Starship, Lisa worked in external relations and political affairs for UK trade unions and Members of Parliament.

  • Lian Najami

    Lian Najami is the Head of Trust & Safety Policy for the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa at TikTok, where she leads efforts to build inclusive, safety-focused digital policy. A Rhodes Scholar and Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, she brings over a decade of global experience in tech governance, public policy, and advocacy. Lian is a recognised voice on ethical tech, minority rights, and platform accountability.

  • Laveena Iyer

    Laveena is a global technology and telecoms analyst at Economist Intelligence, this is the research and analysis business of The Economist Group. Based in the London office, she delivers industry, geopolitical and macroeconomic insights to clients in the government, corporate and academic sectors. In this role she also oversees client relations and partnerships for corporate clients in India.

    She is a seasoned industry analyst with over a decade of experience and in 2021 Onalytica named her among the industry’s top 10 technology analysts. She is a sought-after public speaker and has presented at conferences in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Her expertise lies in topics such as geopolitics of technology, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, 5G, cybersecurity, digital wallets and sustainability in technology.

    She often shares her comments on industry trends and latest developments with news media such as the BBC, Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera and CNA Singapore. Prior to this role, Laveena covered corporate strategy, start-ups and the tech industry in India as a financial correspondent for a business magazine.

  • Kelli Fairbrother

    Kelli is co-founder and CEO of xigxag, an innovative audiobook challenger platform based in Cornwall. xigxag is driving first-ever innovation in the audiobook market, building an exciting alternative to big tech and making books more accessible, engaging and sustainable.

    She also sits on the Board of the Cumberland Building Society, a leading community bank in the northwest of England / south of Scotland. Before xigxag, she was COO at sustainable print-tech startup Gelato, President of the International Business of Deluxe digital media and Group Strategy Director at Whitbread.

    Kelli is a US/UK dual national, calling the UK home for nearly 20 years.

  • Kate Hayward

    As the UK Managing Director of Xero, Kate Hayward is at the forefront of a technology-driven revolution in small business finance. Her leadership is dedicated to harnessing the power of Xero’s cloud finance platform to redefine how small firms operate, spearheading an AI-powered shift designed to eliminate hours of administrative burden.

    Kate consistently champions the critical role of digital transformation in empowering businesses to thrive. She has been instrumental in enabling compliance with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative, leveraging Xero’s robust, cloud-based architecture to simplify what could have been a complex transition. This technological foundation provides real-time financial visibility, seamless bank reconciliation, and automated invoicing, ensuring businesses can manage payments with unprecedented ease and speed.

    Her deep understanding of technology’s practical impact fuels her advocacy. Kate actively addresses the “SME fallacy,” recognising that technology adoption and support must be tailored to the diverse needs of small businesses. She is deeply invested in tackling critical issues such as the digital divide and the need for enhanced financial literacy, extending her efforts to give these vital groups a stronger voice in government and industry discussions, notably through her involvement with initiatives like the Maple Review with Small Business Britain.

    Kate’s worldview is uniquely shaped by her personal and professional journey. Having grown up with a father who ran his own small business, she possesses an innate understanding of the entrepreneurial spirit and its inherent challenges. This lived experience, combined with her rigorous accounting qualifications and strategic roles prior to Xero, provides a robust foundation for her tech-driven, empathetic approach. She sees technology, particularly AI-powered innovations, as the key to freeing entrepreneurs to focus on their core passions, fostering growth and resilience. Through initiatives like the “Small and Mighty Enterprise Programme,” Kate is driving tangible support, demonstrating Xero’s commitment to building a more vibrant and financially robust small business ecosystem across the UK.