Meet the team

Everyone here at Enterprise UK is committed to helping the UK unlock its enterprise potential - and we are a pretty enterprising bunch ourselves! Rollover the squares to find out more...

Person: Alex Goldup

Communications Assistant

Alex keeps himself busy and out of trouble by supporting the communications team across a range of activities – from strategic planning and stakeholder engagement, to press relations and social media activities.

He is half-Croatian, and enjoys history, politics, and Winston Churchill impersonations. His favourite words – in no particular order of preference - are “smorgasbord”, “miasma”, and “cornucopia”.

Person: Alex Ritchie

Head of Entrepreneurship Now

Alex is kept very busy developing programmes and working with women’s networks, key organisations and entrepreneurs to develop more opportunities for women to be enterprising.

She loves the sunshine, a good beach and very beautiful & impractical shoes. She is constantly thinking up new business ideas, and hopes one of them will take off one day.

Person: Alex Scott-Tonge

One Big Idea Coordinator

Alex manages the One Big Idea social enterprise competition for schools, individuals and companies around the UK

Most weekends he sails on the Thames

Person: Amelia Henderson

Partnerships Manager for the North East

Amelia spends her time networking with schools, colleges and key partners in business to champion the cause of Enterprise UK and get as many people as possible involved with our campaigns.

By night; she loves to indulge in cheap celebrity gossip and trashy reality television, watch Newcastle United play football and perform many “quality control tests” on cocktails for a number of local bars!

Person: Amisha Miller

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Amisha is responsible for supporting the team to understand and demonstrate the impact of the campaign.

Amisha runs an ethical fashion magazine called nu www.numagazine.co.uk with Lauren and is studying for an MSc in Population and Development at the LSE.

Person: Beccie Simpson

Partnerships Manager, East of England

Beccie spreads the enterprise message across the Eastern Region and is campaigning to make the East of England the most enterprising place in the UK!

She is involved in amateur dramatics and has played many roles including a dwarf and a lampshade.

Got a question about our Regional Campaign in the East of England? Send Beccie an email!

Person: Benita Matofska

Head of Global Entrepreneurship Week

Benita heads up a small team which is responsible for the delivery of Global Entrepreneurship Week. They are building a worldwide movement of entrepreneurial people and so far have engaged more than 80 countries in over 25,000 events.

Benita comes from a family of ukulele players and in her spare time (once GEW is over!), she writes comedic poetry.

Person: Bonnie Harris

Ambassadors Coordinator

Bonnie recruits and looks after our truly inspirational Enterprise UK Ambassadors. One unknown fact about Bonnie is that she used to work in television production and has previously interviewed Jennifer Aniston

Person: Caroline Maggs

Partnerships Manager, West Midlands

Communicating the work of Make Your Mark in the West Midlands to as many people in the region as possible and getting them engaged in entrepreneurial activity.

Caroline worked as a stand in for the actress Kristin Scott Thomas on the film Angels and Insects.

Got a question about our Regional Campaigns in the West Midlands? Send Caroline an email!

Person: Carys Hughes

Challenge Coordinator

Carys helps run the Make Your Mark Challenge.

One unknown fact about Carys is that she used to do belly-dancing and has performed live on stage

Person: Chris Sonnenstein

Education Partnership Manager – West Midlands

Chris works within the education - schools, colleges and universities, developing opportunities for individuals to be enterprising.

He plays many sports at club level such as Rugby and American Football, He is also a qualified coach for over 8 different sports!! from Basketball, Netball, Baseball and many more.

Got a question about the Education Partnershis Campaign? Send Chris an email!

Person: Dan McQuillan

Digital Guru

Dan gives direction, insight and inspiration on the use of digital and develops partnerships that can be used to amplify our campaigning.

He co-founded Social Innovation Camp (www.sicamp.org) which which accelerates digital projects for social innovation from 0 to 60 in a weekend. His PhD is in Experimental Particle Physics.

Got a question about our digital campaign? Send Dan an email!

Person: David Howe

Head of Further Education

David heads up the Further Education team helping colleges and providers develop an infrastructure that allows budding student entrepreneurs to flourish and succeed in their ventures and foster local business start-ups.

Person: Denise Ramsay

National Partnerships Manager

Denise develops partnerships with corporate businesses, entrepreneurs and enterprising organisations. If one of these is you and you would like some enterprising support, contact Denise today!

Denise supports her local community by delivering a skills workshop on saturday afternoons

Got a question about National Partnerships? Send Denise an email!

Person: Diane Beckett

Partnerships Manager, Yorkshire and Humber

Diane develops and manages relationships with partner organisations and supporters in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

She recently got behind the wheel following a car crash and now loves the open road! Her passion is recycling and inventing ways to prevent throwing things away.

Got a question about campaigns in Yorkshire and Humber? Send Diane an email!

Person: Donovan Izilein

Web Coordinator

Donovan assists the day-to-day maintenance of the Make Your Mark website!

He has a love for all things digital, badminton and Trinidad & Tobago.

Got a question about the website? Send Donovan an email!

Person: Eimear Hale

Ambassadors and Networks Manager

The Make Your Mark campaign is supported by inspiring entrepreneurs and super-connected network leaders and it’s Eimear’s job to get them on board!

Eimear likes running (but only in nice weather) and is a big fan of shoes - she would really love to run her own shoe shop one day.

Got a question about our Ambassadors and Networks? Send Eimear an email!

Person: Elena Di Antonio

Research and Policy Assistant

Elena assists with the evaluation of Enterprise UK projects and research.

There are not a lot of unknown facts about Elena (she speak a lot!!). She has lived in Iceland for five months, loves singing, reading, writing, listing to indie rock music, drawing, jogging, cooking, hiking, reading the palms and enjoying helping high school students with Ancient Greek. Plus, I have friends in most of the countries in the world (I am exaggerating J ) You choose the “unknown fact!” J.

Person: Elizabeth Crowther-Hunt

Director of Campaigns

Elizabeth is responsible for work in education – schools, colleges and universities; women’s enterprise; ethnic minorities enterprise, communities enterprise and social enterprise.

Her favorite bus is the 88.

Person: Emma Thorn

Women’s Enterprise Campaigner

Emma manages the Spark Network, a UK wide network of female entrepreneurs.

She has played cello at the Royal Albert and Festival Hall on numerous occasions and will be taking part in the 2009 London Triathlon.

Got a question about the Women’s Enterprise campaign? Send Emma an email!

Person: Erica Rutherford

Online Community and Content Manager

Erica works within the Entrepreneurship Now team managing the exciting community of pioneers and experts on the Virgin Media Pioneers website.

An unknown fact about Erica is that she has a list of 100 things she wants to do in life which includes making a dress from scratch, travelling to all seven continents (she’s done three so far) and starting a business based on one of her creative interests.

Person: Fiona Carnegie

Relationships Manager

Fiona is responsible for co-ordinating Enterprise UK’s relationships with stakeholders, funders and potential donors in order to maximise support for the organisation and its work in developing an enterprising culture in the UK.

She is a huge fan of musical theatre and have appeared in the likes of West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar. Luckily for her colleagues, there’s no risk she’ll be belting out show tunes in the office anytime soon.

Person: Gordon Craig

Head of Business and Corporate Development

Gordon’s mission is to diversify and increase Make Your Mark’s sources of income primarily engaging companies, high net worth individuals and foundations.

He gained his Private Pilot’s License when he was in his early twenties, but has since let it lapse! Ambitions to become an airline pilot gave way to a more appropriate career choice.

Person: Hannah Bourne

Head of Communications

Hannah can normally be found searching for entrepreneurs who would be good on telly, predicting tomorrow’s headlines or making a cuppa.

She has green fingers and would like to run a horticultural enterprise in the country one day.

Got a question about Make Your Mark’s PR and communications? Send Hannah an email!

Person: Hannah Carnell

Research Manager

Responsible for Make Your Mark’s research and evaluation activity

She has been doing a silver jewellery course for the last two years… hoping one day to have her own market stall

Got a question about enterprise policy? Send Hannah an email!

Person: Hazel Johnson

Head of Region East of England

Hazel is the Head of Campaign in the East of England.

She worked with Channel 4 on Rock School and stayed in LA as a guest of Gene Simmons.

Got a question about campaigns in the East of England? Send Hazel an email!

Person: Helen Kerr

Partnerships Manager, North West

The main part of Helen’s job is to look after the PR and Communications for the North West, shouting out about Make Your Mark, our amazing role models and the campaigns we run.

She is a collector of fine shoes and have several pairs of Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and D&G, many of which have never been worn (except at home because they are too beautiful for any old occasion)!

Person: Ingrid Tharasook

International Coordinator

Ingrid sits on the Global Team, working with Enterprise UK partners in over 80 countries to roll out Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Ingrid is fluent in Portuguese and Thai. A former New Yorker, she happily admits London is far superior to The Big Apple.

Person: Jane Walton

Head of Region, Yorkshire and the Humber

Jane is Head of Region for Yorkshire and the Humber.

She is the great neice of Enid Blyton. She was recognised as a Young Achiever of the Year at the same event at Buckingham Palace as Zoe Ball and Denise Van Outen!

Got a question about our campaign in Yorkshire and Humber? Send Jane an email!

Person: Jonathan Oldershaw

Policy and Research Assistant

Jonathan keeps his finger on the pulse of UK enterprise policy, collates policy responses and authors both our Enterprise Insights newsletter and policy twitter feed - The Enterpriser.

His ambition for 2009 is to design and patent a crazy invention.

Person: Jos Smart

Special Projects Coordinator

Jos works as Project Coordinator for the exciting Virgin Media Project developing an online space for young entrepreneurs to network and share their start-up journey through video blogs.

Jos is a proud Bristolian although was never blessed with the charming accent. He played Basketball for England and believes many of life’s lessons can be learnt from the film ‘White Men Can’t Jump’.” He has also be known to liken himself to the number 38 bus in London.

Person: Kate James

Facilities and HR Officer

Kate manages the facilities for the organisation and provides HR support to Vanessa.

She is currently studying at the British Institute of Facilities Management and, having passed year 1, is keeping her fingers tightly crossed to pass year 2. Kate also loves travelling and good food.

Got a question about Make Your Mark’s facilities and HR? Send Kate an email!

Person: Kate Townshend

Education Manager

Kate works within the education campaign developing opportunities for individuals to be enterprising!

She enjoys good food, fine wine and music that makes you dance! One day she would like to own a wine bar in London.

Got a question about the Education campaign? Send Kate an email!

Person: Kirstine Murphy

Executive Assistant

Kirstine keeps our Chief Executive organised and fully briefed in order to lead the campaign.

She studied Interior Design at Chelsea Arts College, a radical departure from her original career as a chemistry teacher.

Got a question about Make Your Mark? Send Kirstine an email!

Person: Lauren Maleh

GEW and Marketing Manager

Copywriter, marketer and strategiser extraordinaire, Lauren is the person to speak to if you want to find out more about Global Entrepreneurship Week!

Lauren is co-founder of an ethical fashion magazine nu magazine - the other founder being Amisha! Make Your Mark’s very own diva, she has been playing the piano since she was three.

Person: Laurie Jarmain

Partnerships Manager

Laurie develops and co-ordinates relationships with influential partners to support Make Your Mark activitie and is Project Manager of Enterprising Britain and Make Your Mark in Music.

She used to work in the film industry and outside of Make Your Mark helps run a network for film-makers.

Got a question about Stakeholder Relations? Send Laurie an email!

Person: Luc Benyon

Education Officer

I work on our exciting new range of projects in Further Education

I once sold a ‘Parker’ jacket to Noel Gallagher

Got a question about the Education Campaign? Send Luc an email!

Person: Margaret Olszowka

Resources Administrator

Smooth Operator - Margaret works closely with the Resources team, providing professional and friendly administration assistance.

She loves playing music, photography and hanging out in Shoreditch.

Got a question about Make Your Mark’s facilities? Send Margaret an email!

Person: Martha Jennings

Project Manager - Make Your Mark Competitions

Martha project manages the Make Your Mark with a Tenner competition.

She ran her own business aged 15 called ‘Martha’s Making Mince Pies’. She made and sold over 500 mince pies in 3 weeks (and broke the oven just in time for Christmas day - oops). She is also currently trying to escape her flat fen upbringing and has started climbing mountains to see the world (although much smaller ones than Tori).

Person: Matt Black

Project Manager

Matt project manages the Entrepreneurship Now campaign.

He once cooked dinner for Winnie Mandela, Princess Caroline of Monaco and 40 South African dignitaries, despite his culinary abilities barely stretching to cheese on toast. To his knowledge there were no reports of food poisoning.

Got a question about the Entrepreneurship Now Campaign? Send Matt an email!

Person: Melody Slinn

Company Secretary

Melody is Company Secretary and oversees the central administrative functions - finance, facilities and HR.

Before 1999 she lived mainly overseas working in a wide range of organisations from not-for-profits in South Africa, British Government and Ulaan Baatar University in Mongolia, to English language schools in Yugoslavia.

Got a question about Make Your Mark? Send Melody an email!

Person: Naomi Jane Donald

Special Projects Coordinator of Getting British Business Online (Enterprise Now)

Naomi assists the Project Manager (Emma Thorn) in the delivery of ‘Getting British Business Online’ – a programme to get 100,000 British businesses online, helping them through and out of the recession. Led by Google and supported by Enterprise UK and BIS, this project will encourage existing and aspiring entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by having an active web presence.

Person: Natalie Campbell

Special Projects Manager

Natalie leads on the Virgin Media project to develop an online space for young entrepreneurs to network and share their start-up journey through video diaries.

Person: Ochuko Adekoya

PR Manager

Ochuko works with the comms team to generate publicity for the campaign and all the fab things we do.

She has a mild addiction to celebrity magazines, never ‘dresses-down’ and would love to run her own African fashion business one day.

Got a question about Make Your Mark’s PR and Communications? Send Ochuko an email!

Person: Pamela Hargreaves

Director of Regions

Director of our regional campaigns, Pam’s role is to bring the enterprise message to the regions and help place enterprise at the top of the agenda!

She has been a Councillor since 2003 and is currently Deputy Mayor to the directly elected Mayor in Hartlepool. A keen skier and snowboarder, she has been known to swap snow for waves on the old surf board.

Person: Peter Grigg

Head of Policy and Research

Peter’s team works to demonstrate the social and economic impact of campaign activities and to develop fresh ideas and insights for enterprise activity and policy.

His grandmother thinks the family is related to Pocahontas. Peter’s not so sure.

Got a question about enterprise policy? Send Peter an email!

Person: Phil Tulba

Head of Social Enterprise

Phil is the person to speak to if you if you want to get involved with and inspire young people to have enterprising ideas for social and environmental change.

He is on the board of a social enterprise called Adrenaline Alley, which operates the UK’s largest indoor skate park and urban centre.

Got a question about the Social Enterprise campaign? Send Phil an email!

Person: Polly Harrar

Entrepreneurship Now Project Manager

Polly works in the Entrepreneurship Now team as Project Manager, her background in diversity and equality plays a vital role in ensuring this area of work reaches all untapped audiences.

She loves to travel and is currently training to climb Ben Nevis. As an intrepid entrepreneur she is always looking at new ways to develop ideas and make them happen.

Person: Rachel Burkitt

Regional PR Manager

Rachel generates publicity for the campaign across the regions showcasing the exceptional work we do.

Her son plays lead guitar in a glam rock band called Knock Out Kaine. Uri Geller once bent a spoon for her in his house in Berkshire.

Got a question about our Regional PR? Send Rachel an email!

Person: Raheela Ahmed

Challenge Coordinator

Raheela works in the Education team and is one of two coordinators for this years Make Your Mark Challenge.

One unknown fact about Raheela is that she has a twin brother

Person: Richard Strudwick

Head of Secondary Education

Richard manages the inspiring enterprise programmes that Enterprise UK delivers to young people, including Your Mark with a Tenner, the Challenge and the Clubs

He has driven a campervan, back-packed or hopped a train to a lot of different countries (37 so far) and wants to clock up the next 10 from the deck of a yacht

Person: Rodney Egoh

Head of Finance

Rodney reports to teams and project leads on their financial performance and provides financial feedback to the Company Secretary and Chief Executive in order to assist with financial planning.

He passed the American SAT’s and was accepted to Boston Business School and The University of Syracuse in New York, but ended up choosing Middlesex University in Hendon. Didn’t want to leave London!!!

Person: Samantha Blake

Project Manager

Sam project manages the Enterprising Places Network. She loves shopping, especially for shoe.

Person: Sarah Bevan-Fisher

Head of Region, North West

Sarah works with partners to stimulate enterprising behaviour across the North West region.

She has a passion for fashion and enjoys cooking/eating the results with a glass of Shiraz.

Got a question about our campaign in the North West? Send Sarah an email!

Person: Sarah Summers

GEW and Marketing Coordinator

Sarah engages partners and catalyses events during Global Entrepreneurship Week as well as the coordination of marketing activities.

She speaks fluent French and Spanish.

Got a question about Global Entrepreneurship Week? Send Sarah an email!

Person: Sarah Vickery

National Partnerships Co-ordinator

Sara provides top notch support to the Partnerships Team and is generally a bit bossy!

One unknown fact about Sarah is that she lived in Uganda as a child.
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Person: Scott Cain

Deputy Chief Executive

Scott is responsible for the campaign’s project development, brand strategy, marcomms and fundraising.

Burdened with being a Blackburn Rovers fan, Scott also runs marathons (slowly). He is never sure which of the two gives him more agony.

Got a question about Make Your Mark? Send Scott an email!

Person: Silviya Gospodinova

Policy and Research Assistant

Silviya conducts research on enterprise policy, contributes to policy development and works to convey the Enterprise UK message to key stakeholders.

Silviya has experience working as a childcarer and her long-term ambition is to establish a network of children’s centres and playgroups in Bulgaria.

Person: Slavica Bubullj

Finance Officer

Slava contributes to the effectiveness of the Campaign by providing support to the finance function.

Slava loves meeting people from everywhere and learning about other cultures.

Got a question about Make Your Mark? Send Slavica an email!

Person: Sumeet Vermani

Entrepreneurship Now Co-ordinator

Sumeet works across all the projects in the Entrepreneurship Now Team – Make Your Mark in the Markets, Make Your Mark in Retail, Getting British Business Online and Spark Events

He loves a challenge – last year he completed the 3 peaks challenge for Bowel Cancer UK – this year he’s hoping to climb Kilimanjaro for Breast Cancer Research.

Person: Vanessa Brown

Role Models Manager

Vanessa engages with and embeds role models across the campaign influencing our audiences to participate in enterprise.

She has a wonderful son who keeps her entertained with random quesions and has an ongoing obsession BMWs, good food and cocktails.

Got a question about becoming a Role Model? Send Vanessa an email!

Person: Vanessa Johnson

Head of Human Resources

Vanessa leads on all employee initiatives and training and development within the organisation.

She is classically trained as a chef and is an accredited wine sommelier! She is so good at it that in her student days she won a stack of awards, one being the MUMM award of excellence!

Got a question about Make Your Mark’s Human Resources department? Send Vanessa an email!

Person: Zarina Raja

Online Community Coordinator

Zarina manages the Enterprise UK commuinty and forum. She strikes up and creates buzz around current events and competitions through various social media channels in order to drive people to promote campaigns, and also to expand the Enterprise UK community. Zarina also aids the development of Enterprise UK campaigns with their content and digital marketing stratagies. Zarina has been known to liken herself to the number 19 bus.