Scale-Up Council Members
Mia Haffety
Mia Haffety
Mia joined techUK in September 2023.
Mia works to ensure that the UK policy and regulatory environment promote investment into the tech sector, recognising the role of digital and emerging technology towards future growth and productivity.
Prior to joining techUK, Mia worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) within the Policy Unit.
Mia holds an MSc in International Development from the University of Manchester and a BA(Hons) in Politics and International Relations from the University of Nottingham.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/miahaffety/
Casey Calista
Casey Calista
Casey is the Head of Policy and Public Affairs and Vorboss - a scale-up building the connectivity infrastructure needed to underpin our economy. In her role, she is focused on supporting future-facing skills, diversity in tech & infrastructure, security & resilience, and our future needs to underpin growth.
Prior to working at Vorboss, Casey launched and grew the tech public affairs practice at two agencies. As a tech policy specialist, she has worked with some of the largest and most exciting technology companies in the world - helping them with policy, government relations and strategic communications Westminster-focused to global. Previously, she managed the leading parliamentary technology policy group, mobilising cross-party coalitions to educate policymakers on emerging tech, and ran a London-based startup media company.
Casey is the Industry Chair of Labour Digital and co-founder of the Women in Tech Policy Network.
Hollie Hodgson
Hollie Hodgson
Head of Account Management at a UK data provider called Tussell – a company that sells insights on public sector contracts & spending to bodies in both the public and private sector. I’ve been with the company for nearly 5-years and, as anyone who’s worked at a start-up would say, I’ve had my fingers in a lot of pies! I’ve sat in nearly every business unit and loved being able to work my way through the ranks – from initially joining as a Researcher to now leading a team of 7 account managers. I joined after developing a love for start-ups during my time as a data analyst for an ESG reporting start-up called Engaged Tracking, a role which I came across while studying my master’s at King’s College after completing a law degree at the University of Law. I’m a procurement & data nerd who has a keen interest in the public sector and a desire to transpose policy into action, with data at the heart of every decision. I’m passionate about the role scale-ups play in local economies and driving innovation in public procurement.
Jamie Hodson
Jamie Hodson
Jamie is Global Regulatory & Public Affairs Lead at Oxa. He leads work in Oxa to engage regulators and governments around the world, communicating the importance of safe autonomy delivering social good. Jamie also chairs techUK’s Self-Driving Vehicle Working Group, which seeks to promote the ADS developer industry and ensure autonomy achieves something for everyone. He previously worked in the UK Department for Transport's Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles where he led the team developing future legislation and regulation, including the Law Commission project and the Automated Vehicles Act.
Liz Ashall-Payne
Liz Ashall-Payne
Liz Ashall-Payne is a dynamic entrepreneur and healthcare innovator renowned for her pioneering work in digital health. With a blend of visionary leadership and technical expertise, she has carved a significant niche in transforming healthcare delivery through technology. As the founder and CEO of ORCHA (Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications), Liz has led the charge in revolutionizing the way digital health apps are evaluated and utilized within healthcare systems worldwide. Her passion for empowering both patients and healthcare professionals with reliable, safe, and effective digital tools has been the driving force behind ORCHA's success. Liz's career trajectory has been marked by a relentless commitment to bridging the gap between traditional healthcare and cutting-edge technology. Her innovative approach has earned her numerous accolades, including recognition as one of the top 50 influential women in tech by Forbes. Beyond her entrepreneurial pursuits, Liz is a sought-after speaker and advocate for digital health literacy and accessibility. She actively engages in initiatives aimed at fostering innovation and collaboration within the healthcare industry, cementing her status as a leading figure in the digital health revolution. With a steadfast dedication to improving healthcare outcomes through innovation, Liz Ashall-Payne continues to push boundaries and inspire change in the ever-evolving landscape of digital health.
Daniel Quirke
Daniel Quirke
Daniel Quirke is Public Policy Manager at Wayve, a London-based company pioneering AI to solve self-driving. Wayve is building embodied AI software that gives vehicles the safe driving intelligence to drive anywhere. Daniel works with policy partners around the world on the future regulatory framework for automated vehicles. Prior to joining Wayve, Daniel has worked across a range of technology, innovation and economic policy roles for the UK government, the Catapult network and London local and regional government.
Dr Mireille Elhajj
Dr Mireille Elhajj
Dr Mireille Elhajj is the founder of London-based boutique consultancy Astra-Terra, a company specialising in Positioning, Navigation Timing and intelligent systems with an emphasis on space and infrastructure, including smart transportation. (www.astraterra.com). She is also a Fellow at The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) in London and a Senior Honorary Lecturer at Imperial College London. Dr. Elhajj has a background in PNT, systems engineering, space applications and transportation. Previously, she was the Director of the Integrated Space Science Engineering Program and an Advanced Research Fellow at Imperial College London's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Robin Beattie
Robin Beattie
With over two decades immersed in the talent acquisition realm, I recently took on a new strategic role at Hays UK&I focused on delivering talent and skill solutions tailored for Tech Scale Ups. Before joining Hays, I served as Managing Director of Spinks, a specialized firm partnering with tech startups and scale-ups globally to tackle their acute talent needs during hyper-growth phases. This experience has granted me invaluable insights into the unique people challenges founders and leadership teams grapple with as they navigate the scale-up journey. As an active angel investor in the tech ecosystem, I'm passionate about empowering entrepreneurs and driving innovation. I've had the privilege of sharing my expertise on technology talent topics through speaking engagements and advisory roles. At Hays, I'm thrilled to leverage my expertise to elevate their value proposition for fast-growing tech companies. My mission is to pioneer talent strategies and solutions that enable scaling leaders to assemble world-class teams leaving them to focus on Innovation.
Steve Kingan
Steve Kingan
Steve Kingan joined Nexor in 1992, after a career in sales and marketing in ICL (Fujitsu) and its reseller community. I have led the progression of the company from a university spin-out, to an international market leader in secure information exchange solutions for the defence, government security and law-enforcement segments. I gained Chartered Director status in 2000 and was made a Fellow of the IET in 2018. I have been a member of several ministerial panels, including: Cyber Growth Partnership (BIS & DCMS), Defence Suppliers SME Forum (MoD) and the Cabinet Office Small Business Panel; I was a founder of the Security & Resilience Industry Council (Home Office) and a NXD of Investors in People plc (BIS) for five years.
Bill Hodson
Bill Hodson
Bill has more than 35 years experience in technology strategy consulting to government and industry around the world. Starting by working in the Cambridge cluster, he has since held senior leadership positions in six different technology and consulting organisations. He has worked extensively across defence and security in the UK, Asia, the US and Australia as well as a range of other markets including energy, transport, aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, defence & security and construction.
Bill has worked extensively in helping organisations to understand when and how to make investments in emerging technologies. He specialises in work that delivers the value of innovation and emerging technology. As Consulting Director, he holds responsibility for the Cambridge Consultants portfolio of strategy and consulting work. He also leads Cambridge Consultants’ Defence business and is a member of the company’s Executive.
Bill holds a Master’s Degree in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and has been a Fellow of the University’s Centre for Science and Policy for 11 years, seeking to build bridges between Whitehall policy-making and robust evidence drawn from scientific reality.
Michael Eisenberg
Michael Eisenberg
I am the Founding Partner of Genuine Capital, a UK-based venture capital firm investing in B2B businesses building technology & products designed to benefit the Future of Work (-Force, -Space, -Place) and I look to drive alpha through executive advisory, mentorship and access to a global network of professionals, advisors and investors. I have over 20 years (Splunk, Salesforce, Alvarez & Marsal, Stout) of providing analytical insights, advising senior leaders on strategy and operations, managing cross-functional teams, mentoring and developing future leaders, creating go-to-market strategies, and enhancing corporate profitability. I am also an Ambassador at Bridge Funding Global, where I work with the Executive Team to help communicate the value of being part of the world’s largest ecosystem for women and diverse emerging managers. Additionally, I mentor the future leaders of social entrepreneurship at On Purpose International and mentor aspiring LBS students/alumni on entrepreneurship and investing. I hold a Master of Science in Leadership and Strategy from London Business School, where I was a Sloan Fellow, and a Bachelor of Science from Lehigh University.
Timea Strihova
Timea Strihova
Timea is a senior director at Trilligent and leads Trilligent’s Brussels and UK team. Her professional background is in EU policy and advocacy with a focus on tech and geopolitics.
Before joining Trilligent, she worked at DIGITALEUROPE as a member state outreach manager where she was responsible for cooperation with national tech industry associations and for DIGITALEUROPE’s Future Unicorn Award, which is a competition for innovative European tech scale-ups.
Prior to that, she worked as a policy and research consultant at a Brussels-based advisory firm, volunteered at an international NGO in Hanoi, Vietnam and served as a research officer analysing election polling at the Slovakian think-tank Publicus. She also worked as a bluebook trainee at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Budget in Brussels.
Zeynep Zymek
Zeynep Zymek
Paul Connell
Paul Connell
Paul Connell An entrepreneur who has built Open Innovations into a 21st century Institution and co-founded DataCity which is a Data as a service Company whilst also running his own innovation company. Paul co-founded The Data City as a spin out from Open Innovations in 2015 (incorporated in 2017) with the mission to create a software business that used open data the power of the web and machine learning and AI to help people, business and organisataions use real time data to tell you what companies do and #KillAllreports. His role as Executive Chair at The Data City is twofold – providing the drive, direction and purpose for the business and supporting the executive team as the business grows rapidly.
Amy Burnett
Amy Burnett
Amy leads KPMG’s Emerging Giant support in Scotland, KPMG’s global brand for providing dedicated support to scaling businesses. Amy is also Head of the UK-wide ‘Access’ programme – an accelerator programme designed specifically for fast-growing, ambitious and high potential tech businesses. Covering a diverse range of themes on business fundamentals, it has supported over 65 businesses to scale rapidly. Her previous roles have been dedicated to supporting tech start up and scale-ups through early-stage business accelerators, working hand-to-hand with founders to drive tangible success. Amy is part of the core team that delivers the KPMG Tech Innovator in the UK competition, where the latest Tech scaleups are celebrated locally, UK-wide, and globally.
Amy is passionate about the gender and social mobility gaps in the entrepreneurial marketplace. Amy sits on KPMG UK’s ‘Founded by Her’ steering group which sets the firm’s annual strategy to support women-led businesses; and spearheaded the idea and establishment of a Founded by Her ‘Access’ cohort. Amy supports the annual KPMG Black Entrepreneur Awards by delivering training on pitching, and mentors the 2023 winner. Out with work Amy has a young family and spends her weekends providing a taxi service to their clubs and parties! Amy has a passion for travel, languages and culture having spent time living in Italy and the UAE.