Unlocking Talent in Tech Scale-Ups

Robin Beattie

Director, Hays

No bio provided

Graham Butler

Portfolio Talent, Gresham House Ventures

Graham works with investment teams and portfolio companies providing the link between people strategy and investment strategy.

The quality of business outcomes are inextricably linked to the quality, diversity and motivations of the teams and individuals within it.

A Sport Science Graduate, majoring in psychology, he has 25 years experience leading HR & Talent functions and building high performing teams across a broad spectrum of organisations with diverse ownership structures.

These include HR leadership in a successful Private Equity backed SME, building pioneering approaches to Talent Management and Organisational Design, across over 150 transactions from within a leading Mid-Market Private Equity fund and an innovative executive search and advisory firm.

Graham latterly built his own consulting firm solely focussed on supporting investor backed, high growth SME’s with creative Talent Strategy.

Outside of work Graham is still an avid sportsman and lifelong fan of Top Gun movies.

Mia Haffety

Policy Manager - Digital Economy, techUK

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.

Paisley Keys

Senior Manager - Talent and Skills, London & Partners

Paisley is consulting technology-led startup businesses with plans to expand talent locally as part of the Talent & Skills business growth team at London & Partners. L&P are the destination agency for all things London. She comes from a background leading internal recruitment and delivering UK & international headcount plans for high-growth fintech and consulting firms. Often, she’s consulting businesses who are headquartered elsewhere and looking to access the UK & EU markets via London or may be considering London as an option.

Ben Maitland

Senior Associate, Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law

Ben Maitland has extensive experience of both private and business immigration allowing him to successfully navigate the UK’s ever-changing immigration system for his clients. He has decades of experience of advising a wide variety of businesses, from British startups sourcing talent from around the world to scale up to big brands sending teams into the UK, as well as individuals and their family members. 

Ben’s illustrious legal career has included many Global Talent visas as well as providing entrepreneurs tactical advice on routes to settlement in the UK and advising some of the first UK firms to apply for the new Scale-up sponsor license. Ben also writes articles and presents on immigration matters. He is on the LexisNexis Editorial Board for Immigration, reflecting his expertise in all aspects of UK immigration law. 

Based in the heart of Shoreditch, techUK members Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law advise the tech, fintech, engineering, science and creative sectors among others on every aspect of the UK’s ever-changing immigration rules and are highly recommended by all major legal guides from the Times Best Law Firms to Who’s Who Legal.

Bek Simmons

Chief Operating Officer, Riverlane

Bek Simmons is a scientist-turned-entrepreneur. With a PhD from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the Open University, she has a track record in scaling high-performance organisations. Bek is currently COO at Riverlane, a quantum computing company, where she has scaled the team from 10 to 100 people