DFC Leadership Summit on
Technology & Applied Innovation

As Arup’s Chief Data Officer, Volker is responsible for developing the data solutions to support Arup-wide automation, services, and products. His work includes identifying trends that have a disruptive impact on the built environment, developing data driven insight and design to create value for clients, and engaging with partners to improve open innovation capabilities. Prior to Arup, he worked as a Project Director for public and private sector clients across the world.

Irene is the founding CEO and a board director of the ScaleUp Institute, a private sector, not-for-profit company focused on making the UK the best place in the world to scale up a business.

She is a former senior banker at Standard Chartered where she held both European and global managing director roles. She set up, ran and scaled several of the bank’s key client and product businesses across its corporate and institutional bank and led several global M&A activities.

During that time at the height of the financial crisis was seconded to work across the banking industry where she lead the Business Finance Taskforce and Better Business Finance which was responsible for, amongst other initiatives, the founding of the Business Growth Fund, SME Finance Monitor, and leading on developments in Open Banking, and the Small Business Act.

She is a Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde University and holds a variety of non executive director and advisory roles across the creative, business and finance communities.

Don has more than 3 decades of experience in Architecture, with an emphasis in studio management and development side owner’s representation. He spent 13 years with HKS, a global design firm with over 1400 employees and 24 offices, serving as San Francisco Office Director and Director of Hospitality. Prior to HKS, Don was a Principal with Hill Glazier Architects, Inc., where his projects included the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel & Residences, the Ritz Carlton Drove Mountain in Marana, AZ, the Montage Deer Valley Resort & Residences in Park City, UT, the Four Seasons Napa Valley, and the Yellowstone Lodge in Big Sky, MT. Today, Don serves as a Principal of DesignIntelligence Strategic Advisory where he focuses on creating cohesive team dynamics and promoting individuals’ professional growth.

Hael is a global and well-regarded executive with substantial experience in the private, public and startup sectors. His holistic approach to strategy draws from domain expertise in design innovation, digital and emerging technologies, smart cities, healthcare, education, and media and entertainment. Most recently Hael was a Principal and Global Director of Digital Strategy at Arup. He has been an international advisor to the DesignSingapore Council, Denmark’s INDEX: Design to Improve Life, and the UN/UNESCO global observatory for digital futures. Previously he held senior leadership roles as Chair of Digital Sydney (Australia) and for the Lucasfilm, Animal Logic, and PDI Dreamworks studios.

Bio coming soon

Gavin has created over a dozen companies, employing 100’s of people, and delivering $100M’s in measurable impact. He co-chaired the development of the Open Banking Standard, was founding CEO of the Open Data Institute, and has raised over $100M in venture and philanthropic funding. He has mentored, chaired, or been non-exec of over 30 organisations across sectors.