Trustees

Professor David Falzani MBE

David is a consultant, non-executive director, entrepreneur and professor.

David has been a director or investor in over 16 entrepreneurial companies in four countries and has helped start-ups raise over £35m in venture capital investments. In his consultancy role he works with a variety of industries.

He is currently a mentor and/or trainer for innovation and growth programmes such as the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business programme at Oxford University Saïd Business School, Ingenuity programme at Nottingham University, The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Leaders in Innovation Fellowship programmes. He has published over 80 articles and blogs. David’s book ‘Double Your Price!’ from FT Publishing has been shortlisted in the finals of the Business Book Awards 2024

Imoni Akpofure

Imoni Akpofure is an experienced finance and sustainability professional with 30 years’ of developed and developing country experience. She is a generalist with wide industry and geographic coverage and has a deep understanding of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Imoni spent a significant part of her career in development finance. She recently served as Regional Director for Africa at CDC Group Plc, where she focused on investments in West Africa and in Lusophone Africa. Prior to joining CDC, she spent 18 years at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), rising to the rank of Director for Western Europe. Within IFC, she also held senior positions within the Africa, Infrastructure, Environment and Social, and Global Manufacturing and Services departments.

She is currently a non-executive director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc Nigeria, and Africa50, Morocco; the Gamaliel & Susan Onosode Foundation (GAMSU), Nigeria, and Technoserve Inc, USA; she also serves on the Investment Committees of Africa50 and the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN).

She holds an MBA from INSEAD, France, an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Newcastle University, UK, and a BEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London. She speaks French and has a working knowledge of German and Spanish.

Mike Astell

Mike is the Chief Executive of FCDO Services, an Executive Agency providing engineering, construction, technology, and logistics services to sustain the UK diplomatic platform in 270 locations and 168 countries. 

Mike’s background is in heavy engineering, having developed his career firstly in the Rail industry before moving into Oil and Gas, taking on operational, corporate and major programme roles, and subsequently senior business leadership challenges and non-executive roles. 

He has a first degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, an MBA from Erasmus, and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has a continuing interest in education, innovation and industrial development and has supported the Royal Academy of Engineering’s leadership and entrepreneurship programmes as well as Imperial College’s drive to commercialise research.

Simon Barnes

Simon Barnes has worked in and around the venture capital industry since 1998, first with the London office of Atlas Venture where he experienced the dotcom boom and subsequent bust firsthand. He spent time on the faculty of Imperial College Business School, London co-authoring ‘Raising Venture Capital’ before co-founding Circadia Ventures in 2005 to manage early-stage venture capital funds investing in life sciences, nutrition and industrial biotechnology. He has served on the board of directors of numerous venture-capital backed businesses in the US, UK and EU. He is a Professor of Practice at Warwick Business School teaching and advising on the venture capital industry and the deal-making process, especially in the field of life sciences. He holds an MA in Natural Sciences and PhD in molecular biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Imperial College Business School. 

Simon Bonini

Simon holds a first-class degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from INSEAD and is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. His career includes significant global experience in the oil and gas sector with decades in the liquid natural gas business in the USA, Caribbean and Europe with large corporates and private equity backed companies. 

He has run and successfully sold a privately backed engineering recruitment company. In 2016 he co-founded a gas export company in Houston, Texas which he sold out of to return to the UK. In 2018, he helped found and became a major investor in Lightning Fibre, an altnet owning and operating fibre networks in East Sussex. The company obtained major funding of over £60 million from a large private equity investor and employees over 200 people. 

Simon is a former chair of the EBIF fundraising committee and remains an active member.

Cathleen Breeze

Cathleen Breeze became the Director of Communications of the Sainsbury Management Fellows in 1995 and Secretary in 2020. 

Cathy’s career has encompassed a range of activities in global marketing, speech writing, investor and public relations, and employee communications. Previously she worked for Tiphook PLC, for Avis Europe in the UK, and Avis Inc in the USA. 

She received an MBA sponsored by Avis Inc. from Hofstra University in 1983 and has a BA (magna cum laude) in Music and French from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Cathy was born in New York

Mope Ogunsulire

Mope Ogunsulire is an experienced investment professional with a background in international corporate and project finance (mergers and acquisitions, development finance, syndications) and engineering. 

She has closed transactions covering multiple sectors including agribusiness, engineering/industrial services and environmental services in mature and emerging markets of Western & Eastern Europe, Africa, North & South America, South Asia and Asia-Pacific. 

Mope began her career as a civil engineer and worked in the structural design, supervision and project management of water, power and transport infrastructure projects before doing an MBA with the support of an SMF scholarship and moving into finance. She holds degrees in engineering and finance, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

Hersh Shah

Hersh has over 20 years’ experience in growing and building businesses and specialises in strategy, corporate finance, investments and mergers and acquisitions across the industrial, technology and healthcare sectors globally. 

Hersh’s experience includes various senior executive and board roles in publicly listed FTSE 100/250 companies, private equity backed businesses, venture and growth investments and investment banking. 

He is currently Director at Phlox Advisors which supports and invests in a variety of businesses, a Sainsbury Management Fellow and Trustee of the Engineers in Business Fellowship. Hersh holds an MEng from St John's College, Oxford, an MBA from IMD Switzerland and is an ICAEW qualified corporate financier. 

Henning von Spreckelsen FREng

Henning has worked in senior management positions in companies large and small, with experience in chemicals, plastics and packaging as well as having founded several companies. 

He is currently an investor, adviser and non-executive director to a number of companies, in industries from marine lighting to recycled plastic waste to foreign exchange to digital metadata. Henning is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, a Sainsbury Management Fellow and has an MBA from IMD in Switzerland. In 2022 Henning was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Nigel Thomas

Nigel Thomas is the Executive Director at the Gatsby Foundation responsible for Gatsby’s work in education and skills. Alongside his duties at Gatsby, between 2017 and 2024 Nigel was seconded to the UK Government’s Department for Education, acting as Senior Policy Advisor to eight successive Secretaries of State. 

Prior to joining Gatsby in 2005, Nigel was Head of Science Communication and Education at the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science. Nigel’s background is in science, having studied physics at the universities of Kent and Paris-Sud. He also holds an MBA from Durham University.