Meet The HUMANS

Joel is proudly ‘Human’ he’s also an award-winning, strategically minded, Senior Copywriter. He brings extensive experience across industry sectors and media channels with a passion for digital. For clients and businesses he adds value, shifts perceptions and creates memorable communications. Driven by bringing brand stories to life, while writing sparkling copy and content that persuades, informs and sells.

A seasoned digital innovator, Orlando co-founded Digit London and AllofUs before consulting as a Design/Creative Director following the acquisition of AllofUs by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

His work spans Meta to Samsung, and from Google’s ATAP to the Harry Potter store in NY. He is currently helping organisations embrace emerging technologies, helping them anticipate and design our blended future (spatial, mixed & augmented) with purpose and sensitivity

A staunch advocate of Human-Centred Design, Orlando believes in harnessing technology’s potential by understanding real-world behaviours, making sure that its impact is positive, progressive and above all responsible.

His insight and experience spans across all digital touch points, working closely with C-suite or Creative teams. Orlando is most happy when he is applying his design expertise to either participate or take lead on the creation of viable new propositions, from problem framing, idea generation and vision development, right through to the nitty-gritty of creating prototypes & user testing.

Shea Gonyo is an award winning interactive developer with more than 20 years of experience working in the digital landscape. Shea has developed a myriad of interactive experiences for fortune 500 companies — including websites, e-commerce applications, mobile apps, multiplayer games, social networks and touch retail installations.

Kyle is a frontend developer who’s been working in the industry for 18 years. He is the go-to developer for several small creative agencies and businesses in London and the US. He loves great web design, and always tries to give it the respect it deserves in his coding. Once a pixel-perfectionist, now faithful to responsive web design principles, Kyle never compromises on the interpretation of design into code.

A true design generalist, Alex has spent (almost) 30 years designing things — from brands to business models, furniture to apps. Most recently he finds himself focused on helping companies understand the future, their place in it and how to develop products for it.

Nicola is a Producer based in Cumbria in the UK. Over the past 13 years, she has worked on a range of projects across several different industries including website design and development, UX design and strategy, defence contracts (specifically submarine design and build) and public realm enhancement projects.

A sociology graduate she enjoys working on human centred projects that make a tangible difference to people and their surroundings.

Brechje is a leading expert in aesthetic and cultural trend research, innovation design strategy and future consumer insights. For more than 25 years she’s worked globally with iconic brands like IKEA, Philips, PPG Industries, Hyundai and IFF, turning emerging trends into tangible product innovations and forward-thinking brand strategies.

Starting her career in hands-on design and marketing roles at Philips Design and PPG Industries, Brechje developed her expertise in Color, Material & Finish (CMF) and Color Marketing. She founded her Amsterdam-based consultancy, Breque, in 2012 specializing in guiding organizations to anticipate and capitalize on cultural change and ensure sustained relevance and future-proof human-centric innovation.

Renowned for her ability to bridge lifestyle and socio-cultural trends with product and design aesthetics, Brechje offers actionable insights, collaborative strategy sessions and customized toolkits that drive successful, culturally-relevant innovation across diverse industries including retail, automotive, consumer electronics and healthcare.

Margeigh loves a journey through uncharted territory. In her 20+ years of product development experience she’s worked with startups and Fortune 100 companies on a wide range of business problems. How to understand the potential, and potential impacts, of emerging technologies; how to create useful, usable and delightful experiences for nascent platforms; how to engage user communities in codesigning the experiences they most want to see.

Over the past decade Margeigh has focussed on the user experience of intelligent machinery, developing global products that engender trust, embody transparency and foster equity. Most recently, she founded CH ASM, a consultancy facilitating socially beneficial outcomes enabled by AI.

Engagement ≠ Outcome —a principle Gina harnesses a strategic advantage. Delving into the human factors behind data, she uncovers deep insights into audience behavior, guiding businesses toward smarter, more empathetic decisions.

Gina’s unique blend of behavioral science, psychology, UX, analytics, and business strategy offers companies a comprehensive perspective beyond visible actions to unveil underlying motivations. Her approaches create resonant strategies aligning with people’s needs and business objectives.

Her frameworks and methods do more than confront visible challenges; they identify and dismantle hidden barriers, ignite behavioral change, and enhance business outcomes.

Gina’s innovative techniques have driven breakthroughs at Takeda, Johnson & Johnson, and Genentech, showcasing her ability to convert insights into tangible success. With clients like Leap Event Technology and Capital One Ventures, Gina’s expertise has been pivotal in translating audience understanding into business growth.

Jason Fried is an engineering leader who blends technical expertise with creativity to build innovative digital solutions. Through his consultancy, EatWorkSleep, Jason leads a nimble team of engineers to help businesses grow with efficient, impactful strategies. Known for cultivating collaboration and simplifying complex challenges, he’s passionate about mentoring teams and driving results. Outside of work, Jason explores creative outlets like guitar, classical piano, hiking, and storytelling, bringing curiosity and imagination to every facet of life.

Sean is an international thought leader in brand and design, advocating human-centered and creative foresight strategies to deliver innovative branded solutions and customer experiences. He has a proven track record building and leading award-winning design teams around the world that leverage diversity, inclusion and responsible design principles to drive creativity and brand impact.

Tej is an industrial designer and creative director working between London and Helsinki.
His work centres on the way objects influence our feelings, creating iconic product experiences designed to elicit joy, and to create connection.

After leaving the original Nokia Design team in 2005 where he led the design of the 7600, 7280, and 7370, he established his multi award-winning practice in London, exploring how emotional resonance in everyday consumer products and technology can be harnessed to drive market superiority for brands. Over the years, his nuanced form language combined with production efficiencies, innovative use of colour and material, and uncompromising approach to purpose and function, developed into a proven strategic process he calls Emotive Industrial Design. His work spans sectors and scales, from ambitious startups to some of the world’s most recognised brands.

In 2022 Tej was a judge on Sky TV’s The Big Design Challenge alongside presenter Lauren Laverne, and was a member of the master jury for the Dezeen Awards 2024.

Colonel (USAF retired) Terry Virts has spent over seven months in space during two spaceflights, piloting the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-130 in 2010, and commanding the International Space Station during Expedition 42/43 in 2014-2015. He served as a US Air Force fighter pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He’s a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and Harvard Business School, where he earned the 2021 HBS Alumni Achievement Award and also serves as a guest lecturer.

Today Terry is an executive coach and global motivational speaker. He also works as a consultant for several companies in the aerospace and energy sectors. Terry has directed several film and TV projects, helped film the IMAX movie ‘A Beautiful Planet.’ and is the author of multiple books.

Victoria is an experience strategist who’s spent 15 years helping businesses profit from change at some of the world’s most successful creative agencies. She’s led strategic and creative development on products, service design, and integrated brand experience programmes for a host of international businesses, including Unilever, Lenovo, Barclay’s, Kellogg’s, and BUPA, as well as non-profits and social enterprises. Her training in product design gives her a knack for making things that function well, delight consumers, and make business sense.

Before joining Group of Humans, she was Strategy Director at Isobar (Dentsu Aegis), and prior to that spent 6 years with the Ogilvy Group in Director and team leadership roles, including a secondment to Ogilvy in Bangalore to build a strategic planning capability.

Victoria holds a Masters in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute, and has lived and worked in the US, Asia, and Europe. A no-nonsense native New Yorker, she’s called London home for over a decade.

Jannicke Mikkelsen FNF (Norwegian Society of Cinematographers)
Award winning Film Director & Cinematographer FNF specialised in high-tech film production in hazardous environments, polar, ocean & aerospace. She is internationally known for her innovative work with wildlife filmmaker David Attenborough, legendary rock band QUEEN, Apollo11 50th Anniversary installation for NASA KSCVC, and Mission Payload Specialist Crew onboard the 2019 World Record flight ‘One More Orbit’ polar circumnavigating the Planet. Mikkelsen’s ground breaking film work awarded her the first ever European Society of Cinematographers Award for Extraordinary Technical Achievement, in 2017 she was named Norway’s most influential woman in tech, in 2019 one of UK’s most influential women in tech and in 2019 she became the first ever woman to circumnavigate the planet over the North and South Pole.

Jannicke Mikkelsen is the Arctic correspondent for BBC & NRK, and she is also a frequent public speaker and motivational speaker on tech-innovation and has been keynote speaker at business events such as Google, Disney, Pixar, AI Show Biz, IBC show, Paramount Pictures, BVE expo and BSC expo. Her work has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Wired, Variety and Teen Vogue.

Mark Hadfield has over 15 years experience as an agency Planner working in London, around the UK and across Asia. He’s worked for big, small, networked and independent agencies and worked across pretty much every category you can think of.

He spent 6 years at Iris, as Regional Head of Planning for APAC, building and managing teams around Asia and working on Samsung, Guinness, Philips and Shell amongst other clients.

He’s also worked at ENGINE, Weapon7/BBDO, Southpaw and most latterly Cravens, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. His passion for Mass Mainstream audiences and brands comes from his Comprehensive-schooled background and love of double-carb meals.

In 2023 he set up Meet the 85% – an ethnographic research consultancy that helps agencies and brands understand the reality of their customers lives. Our work sits at the intersection of journalism, ethnography and documentary film making.

Rick is an entrepreneur, company founder and the Founding Partner at Group Of Humans sister company SuperHuman Partners. He is never happier than when working with open-minded, positive thinkers and thrives when helping others to realise their full potential and build better businesses. He founded his first company whilst studying Graphics at Central Saint Martins, and sold it in his early 20’s to a UK-based PLC. 25+ yrs later he has built and sold a number of his own companies, including a digital broadcast business, a digital agency and an online gaming company. Rick now spends his time helping mould and steer businesses to greatness through SHP.

Kim started his professional life in the early years of digital communications (BIP). This got him on a journey with the global news agency Reuters, delivering the first truly global information networks and transaction systems. Taking up senior business positions in Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Africa and Amsterdam. These days it’s a mixed bag of activities ranging from Events, food festivals, environmental organisations and getting teams to work smarter and be more “human” in different outdoor places.

Geoffrey works to make the world a better place. With 30+ years of experience in more than 60 countries throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe, he incorporates innovation, philanthropy, public policy and fundraising in his strategy work.
In both classroom and boardroom, and as a fundraiser, consultant, author, documentary film producer and academic researcher, Geoffrey has focused on policy challenges including climate change, sustainability and corporate social responsibility in industries that include tech, sports, entertainment, education and automotive.
In 2022, he founded Potenciar Advisors to seek collaborative solutions among sometimes unlikely partners across public, private and nonprofit sectors. Geoffrey is a bilingual (English and Spanish) graduate of Harvard University and Brown University, and held senior leadership positions during the decades he spent at both of these institutions.

Suki is a competitive strategic advisor, acclaimed keynote speaker, author and Fellow of the Council of Competitive Intelligence Fellows.

She tells the story by taking you on the journey from data gathering, organizing and analyzing to a point of understanding your next potential chapter. A fierce advocate for the ethical use of technology in privacy, security, surveillance and intelligence, her commitment to societal improvement, fairness and human-centered innovation is evident throughout her eclectic, award-winning 20-year global career.

Suki was recently named the Most Influential Woman in UK Tech by Computer Weekly 2023. She currently lives in London, where she’s an intrinsic part of the tech community as a Board Advisor for Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates. She also served 12 years in the US Army Reserves.

Alexandra is an award-winning Creative Entrepreneur and Leader, passionate about creating outstanding products and experiences for top global brands. She co-founded the iconic studio Hi-ReS! London, which would go on to capture the attention of the world’s leading brands.
After Hi-ReS! joined SYZYGY (WPP), Alexandra remained in leadership, preserving the studio’s culture and growing the studio into a global powerhouse with offices in Berlin and New York.

Over her career, she has excelled in digital media, branding, print, interactive immersive projects and film. Her client portfolio spans artists like Darren Aronofsky, The Beatles, Massive Attack, Beck, and global brands such as Chanel, Jägermeister, SONY, Toyota and IBM. She holds a BAFTA, D&AD pencils, Webbies, Clios, and Cannes Lions, with her work exhibited at renowned institutions like The V&A, The Barbican, and Tate Britain.

In French, you would say Héloïse is a “touche à tout” or maybe she is just curious to learn new things. She started as a travel writer and editor, and then followed the path of the Digital transformation in the media Industry and held senior roles in Technology, product management and Customer experience. Passionate about building diverse and happy teams and the right organisational culture, her dream job title would be Chief Happiness Officer. Change Partner at Group of Humans, she works with client to kickstart, shape and deliver their transformation agenda.

Tim is a seasoned leader of both agency and in-house strategy, innovation, and design teams.

Trained in design, his professional journey has navigated a route upstream, from hands-on design, to strategy and innovation consulting, growth advice, training and mentoring.

Over the past 20+ years, he has led major initiatives for global brands spanning sectors from FMCG to Mobility and Consumer Tech.

Tim led the rapid growth of his consultancy, Webb deVlam, before directing the sale of the international group.

Previously, he led design strategy and portfolio management at Nokia. And more recently was a Director at product strategy consultancy, Plan.

Tim tackles challenges with a balance of strategic rigour, creativity, and commercial acumen. He’s proud to be described as a builder — of business growth, people, teams, and lasting relationships.

Dee is a business revolution and start up leader. A pioneer in developing and bringing brands to life through all aspects of design and customer experiences. She uniquely combines commercial and creative vision to drive consumer choice and corporate benefit. Dee knows how to turn brand dreams into customer realities.

In 2015 Dee was a founding member of Virgin Voyages, creating and launching Richard Branson’s latest venture to become a sector leader. Extensive experience in relaunching brands, Dee’s love of creativity and humans has involved her in key roles in the 2012 London Olympics, a Russian bank and across multiple creative agencies. Dee understands how to successfully deliver commercially robust solutions and has created brand customer’s love along the way.

Dee enjoys the blue skies of Miami while hanging out with her dog and cat in her modernist Miami home.

Matthew is a creative thinker and industrial designer renowned for his imagination and visionary approach in developing new user and product experiences. His strategic work unites original blue-sky thinking with practical design outcomes to help clients gain strategic lessons and turn uncertainty into opportunity.

He’s tackled complex challenges for global brands and expert teams in scale ups. His achievements include designing the world’s first ethical and modular smartphone for Fairphone back in 2014, creating innovative experiences for Samsung’s folding screens, and developing mixed reality concepts for TikTok. He helped set the strategic and design direction for Sky Live, a service for the Sky Glass TV streaming platform powered by machine learning. He’s even collaborated with starchitect Bjarke Ingles and a visionary billionaire to reimagine the memorial experience.

Indy is a digital creative with a passion for blending design, technology and storytelling to bring bold ideas to life. Over the past decade, he’s worked with top London design agencies and companies leading creative teams and crafting digital experiences that push boundaries and connect with people in meaningful ways.

With the ability to simplify complex problems and inspire collaboration, Indy has worked with a wide range of global organizations, from startups to forward-thinking brands – helping them turn vision into reality. His expertise spans UI design, product design, brand design, illustration and animation, always with an eye on creating something fresh and impactful.

A multi-disciplined and human-centered strategist, creative, designer, facilitator, consultant, NXD and startup founder, Richard uses design tools and methodologies to help organizations grow through reimagination, connection, disruption, transformation and innovation.

Richard helps clients solve challenges both strategic and holistic. From proposition, vision and values, defining internal processes, nurturing innovation mindsets and behaviors through to persona creation, journey mapping, prototyping and designing products, services and connected experiences.

As well as working for global organizations and agencies, Richard has cofounded, launched and grown multiple startups and has experience across a wide range sectors including Healthcare, Publishing, Energy, Gaming, Automotive, Technology, Entertainment and Media. He has a passion for working with diverse teams to deliver people, purpose and planet-centric experiences that make a meaningful difference.

Johanna is a Brand Strategist with over 20 years of experience working on global and multicultural brands. Her career demonstrates a commitment to developing brand strategies that resonate in diverse markets. As a Brand Strategy Director, she has collaborated with clients across industries, ranging from fintech to national tourism, applying her expertise in problem-solving and qualitative research design to foster innovation and growth.

Her proficiency in facilitating strategic planning and creative workshops has been pivotal in driving product and service innovation. By partnering closely with clients, she has established meaningful brand connections, drawing on a combination of cultural fluency and strategic insight that she brings to every initiative.

Johanna approaches her work with creative problem-solving, a balance of empathy and objectivity, and a natural curiosity. Her international background and cultural adaptability provide her with a unique perspective. She excels at uncovering connections among seemingly unrelated topics, identifying insights that inspire meaningful brand relationships, and collaborating with clients to bring their vision to life.

Miranda is our first Dutch human. She’s a creative strategist, coach, architect and writer for all brands and individuals curious for impact. Stretching from brand narratives and identity development to leadership culture, experiences, services, partnerships, content and metrics. She’s a systems thinker and doer, getting brands out of coating and into compass mode.

Expect her to be an experienced hunter for creative energy sources, a gatherer of all that makes people tick and a co-finder of fuel as well as focus for transformational impact. Always from a place of radical curiousty to make impact inevitable, by surprising humans with their actual superpowers.

Clare has spent 20+ years at the cutting-edge of strategy and creativity to deliver blueprints for transformational ideas that ignite change and solve problems.

From working on child poverty in Rwanda to designing games to recruit astronauts for the European Space Agency she has an insatiable fascination with people, and what makes them tick, which leads to breakthrough thinking and ideas that solve business problems, and world problems.

A career that spans set-design, brand and advertising agencies, digital design, innovation labs, and consulting for FTSE 100 clients. Nothing makes her happier than a wicked problem or an open brief.

Duncan Burns is a multidisciplinary, hands-on designer and leader with a long history delivering exceptional digital and physical experiences at scale. He translates business and strategic opportunities into tangible results that connect and inspire.

Collaborating with multi platinum selling artist will.i.am, Duncan routinely presented AI prototypes, vision pieces and creative work to senior executives at companies ranging from Walmart to Verizon to Gucci, and built a new headphones brand that sold in over 400 Apple stores and other major retailers worldwide for years.

Duncan is as comfortable working with Fortune 500s as startups, be it agile planning with software engineers, solving manufacturing issues on a Shenzhen factory floor, developing a new brand, pushing pixels for websites and apps or designing for voice AI. He holds more than 50 design and utility patents and has won prominent design awards.

Josh is a board member, CEO, strategist, published author and podcast host. He’s worked with most of the Fortune 500 using his broad technical expertise and deep domain knowledge to provide oversight and strategic insight on the most disruptive technologies and trends.

He has worked with IDEO and the US Intelligence agencies, served on an advisory board for BP, and shared his expertise with organizations on topics from Cybersecurity to AI, with a focus on policy, oversight, leadership, and process.

Josh has published three books, hosted three television series, is published in outlets from Fortune to Oprah, and has hosted countless talks at events from WEF’s Davos to the TED Mainstage. He is co-host of Accenture’s Built for Change, granted ‘Thought Leadership of the Year’ by AdWeek two years running.

Alessandra (Ale) consults in Brand Experience with deep expertise in brand community building. Having spent half of her career in advertising and the other half in design/innovation, Ale helps companies thrive in the new experience economy.

She’s a creative leader with over 18 industry awards, was in Fast Company’s “League of extraordinary women” as well as “Most Creative People in Business”.

Ale is the co-founder of The WEI and SheSays, an award-winning global organisation focused on the advancement of women in the creative industries. She learned by doing on what makes communities grow and thrive.

Joe is a Visual/UX Designer with 20 years’ commercial experience for clients and sectors including financial services, media, entertainment and telecommunications. Joe has an eye for detail and is a craftsman in his field. Collaborating with design-centric creative teams, he’s led a diverse range of digital projects from user-focused experiences for device and screen to defining design systems for global brands and organizations.

Joe has a passion for human-centered design, dabbles in motion graphics and is a consummate illustrator. His work has been awarded by BAFTA Interactive Awards, D&AD, FWA and The Webby Awards to name but a few. His most embarrassing anecdote came when he accidently walked dog poop through J.K Rowling’s house at their first ideation meeting for jkrowling.com—luckily, she found it quite funny.

Morten Solvstrom is an independent Creative Director and Designer with more than 15 years of experience crafting digital experiences. Morten has previously worked as Creative Director for Danish design studio Hello Monday and has been recognized with multiple industry awards such as The Webbys, Cannes Lions, Golden Pencil and an Emmy nomination. His strengths lie within story-driven experiences that captivate audiences through meticulous design and strategic execution.

Gina makes stuff work. During the course of her 30-year career, she’s tackled a wide range of roles from management consultant to designer, corporate marketer to two-time entrepreneur. All of which have shaped a mind that’s equal parts analytical and creative, and obsessed with optimally adjusting the levers that propel business forward.

She’s brought to life culturally-relevant projects for brands like BMW, Nike, The Gap, American Express, Time Warner, Sony, Infiniti as well as scores of smart startups and growing SMBs. Gina also founded pioneering NYC retail concept store The Apartment, which evolved into The Apt Strategy Agency. Multilingual and multicultural, Gina has lived in the US, Europe and Latin America, and traveled through six continents with her husband and two children.

Surhay is a creative digital product lead with a strong foundation in design, storytelling, and emerging technology. With roots in digital and experience design, he has led high-profile projects across the automotive, fashion, and entertainment sectors. Surhay specializes in translating visionary concepts into practical, future-facing digital experiences—bridging the gap between creativity and execution.

Daniel likes to solve creative problems. Depending on the need, he has served as a strategist, copywriter and creative director for international brands including Mattel, Microsoft and Moet—and those are just the “M” brands.

When the work day is done, Daniel enjoys dancing in the kitchen with his wife, cult movies, and LEGO (also a client) fun with his son.

Sean is a seasoned creative force, renowned for his role as the founding creative partner of iris Worldwide. Over an impressive tenure of 17 years, he was at the helm of the agency’s creative vision and talent across a network spanning 14 international offices. His leadership saw iris grow from a humble duo to a powerhouse of over a thousand employees, boasting annual billings of $100 million by 2016.

In the course of building and eventually selling his agency, Sean crafted numerous integrated campaigns, touching a diverse array of business sectors. The brands he worked with often reflected his own interests—sport, retail, electronics, and beverages—leading to partnerships with industry giants such as Jeep, Diageo, adidas, Ericsson, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Heineken, Sony, Reckitt Benckiser, Barclays, IHG, Reebok, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Throughout his career, Sean has not only worked with some of the industry’s most brilliant minds but has also earned a formidable collection of global creative and marketing awards, a testament to his exceptional talent and leadership in the creative realm.

Jan is a solver of creative puzzles across brand, experience, and product design. He has helped hundreds of B2B and B2C companies unlock the potential for their brands to better connect to their customers across a variety of digital media with more than 20 years in the field. After several years running his own successful creative agency, Jan has once again dedicated himself to his true craft and joined the plight of The Humans to drive forward the principles of human centred design.

Jack has been a professional musician for over 15 years, releasing three albums with the renowned XL Recordings. He started writing songs at the age of 12, quickly realizing his calling in music. His career has taken him on tours and to festivals around the globe, collaborating with iconic artists such as Adele, The XX, David Byrne of Talking Heads, Paul Epworth, and Sault, among others.

Parallel to his music career, Jack has always had a deep involvement in the visual arts, actively creating artwork for his albums. His skills in drawing, painting, and graphic design culminated in a collaboration with artist Eddie Peake for his latest album, building a visual world for his music. His directional vision extends to his music videos, working with acclaimed directors like Tim Pope and Alma Ha’rel.

Recently, Jack ventured into the realm of commercial work, composing for film soundtracks, podcasts, and adverts, reveling in the challenge of conceptual creativity for clients. His enthusiasm for collaboration and creativity now leads him to join forces with the Group Of Humans, where he is eager to meet new people and see where the collective creative journey will lead.

Amale is a strategist, innovator and human-centered transformation expert with 15+ years of experience across business, brand, experience and product strategy and design. She’s an internationally accredited executive coach and the founder of The Brick Coach, an experiential team effectiveness studio.

Amale is obsessed with how humans work, think and behave, and has deep experience in uncovering those insights and turning them into levers for growth. She’s worked with everyone from global household brands to early stage founders with nothing but a hunch. A true collaborator, Amale creates curious spaces for clients and teams to be brave and think big.

Her clients include Levi’s, Apple, UBS, Ralph Lauren, Visa, BBC, LSE. She approaches every consulting or coaching brief with a mix of strategic rigor, creative thinking and experimentation.

Rob is a seasoned entrepreneur and authority in design businesses. His leadership is defined by a commitment to fostering cultures of loyalty, authenticity, and courage. As the founder of Group Of Humans in 2018 and with two previous successful business exits, Rob’s expertise is in crafting and nurturing creative service companies.

In 2023, Rob, alongside Rick Palmer, launched SuperHuman Partners, a firm dedicated to guiding creative industry leaders through growth and exit strategies.

An avid supporter of innovation, Rob invests in promising startups and is keen on NED opportunities within the creative sector.

Family-oriented, Rob enjoys life with his wife, three children, and two labradors in the Berkshire countryside, having relocated from Miami during the 2020 pandemic.

Jamie is a founder, zero-one ideas guy, inventor and senior creative strategy consultant who has worked at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and storytelling for 27 years. At this intersection he has co-founded one of Uk’s first ethical VCs, a category defining closed-loop chemical textile company, now building one of the world’s first circular resource systems, a future-facing education platform and a next generation wellbeing business. When not in start-up mode, he has worked with global and local advertising, sustainability and social impact agencies, working across the globe with international brands and businesses and has been a business mentor, coach and creative judge. He specialises in systems thinking, story crafting, brand development and product, service and business model innovation.

Liat Ben-Zur is a transformative technology leader, board director, and AI strategist renowned for driving innovation and significant growth at global giants like Microsoft, Philips, and Qualcomm. As CEO of LBZ Advisory, she now helps companies navigate AI disruption, guiding boards and executives on product strategy, responsible AI deployment, and achieving operational scale.

During her tenure at Microsoft as Corporate Vice President, Liat led a major turnaround for the consumer business. She was instrumental in reversing the market share decline of the Edge browser and doubled the consumer subscriptions for Microsoft 365. Under her leadership, Microsoft’s consumer business grew substantially, increasing from $6 billion to $13 billion in just four years. Additionally, Liat was the driving force behind the world’s first commercial GPT-4 launch with Bing.  

Prior to Microsoft, Liat redefined Philips’ digital health vision, launching over 30 connected products, and built Qualcomm’s IoT ecosystem, scaling its developer network significantly. Liat currently serves on the boards of Talkspace, Compass Group PLC, and Splashtop, advising on AI strategy and governance. Holding six patents, she has been recognized among Inspiring Fifty’s Most Inspirational Women in Tech and as one of the 7 Rising Stars of Wireless. Liat brings deep tech fluency and a boardroom-tested perspective to the AI conversation.

Katie is a seasoned design researcher and learning scientist who approaches problems with curiosity and empathy. With a Ph.D. in learning sciences and a suite of research methods, Katie cares deeply about uncovering the social and technical conditions that enable designs and innovations to be successful and scalable. Katie has deep expertise in educational systems, instructional design, and assessment.

Katie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner, twins, and dog.

Claudia is a strategic futurist with expertise in design governance and global change initiatives. She ensures that systems-thinking translates into scalable design operations across teams and regions.
Claudia brings extensive expertise in strategic foresight and sociocultural trend research. Her proven ability to synthesize complex research into actionable insights has been recognized by senior leadership across multiple industries, and has participated in numerous interviews for newspapers, panel discussions, judged competitions, and delivered presentations/keynotes.

Jennifer is an expert in developing and driving commercial strategies for kids and sports brands. With a strong history in licensing, merchandising and distribution of new content, she’s able to open up significant revenue streams for brands looking to grow and become famous.

Jennifer started by creating the commercial partnership’s business for Turner Broadcasting in the UK and Europe, and has since gone on to work with Aardman animation and Discovery. Now leading her own practice she is currently working with sports brands like Juventus and Barcelona FC to drive new market strategies.

Dilly Gent. Sometimes a producer, other times a creative director and always a fixer, her M.O is best defined as that of a vision crafter.

Early on, she gained a reputation for her ability to match the right people with the right project. She’s been the secret sauce behind many of them – often steering artists in the right visual direction, and inspiring others to take up a path that rings more true to them.

Dilly spent 17 years as Radiohead’s Creative Director, earning a Grammy Nomination for the feature length documentary “Meeting People Is Easy”. In 2005 launched “From The Basement” with music producer Nigel Godrich, a global music TV series featuring artists such as The White Stripes, Beck, Sonic Youth, Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers amongst others.

In 2007, Dilly commissioned and executive produced 60 short films for Al Gore’s Live Earth campaign featuring directors from all over the world.

While working on this campaign, Dilly discovered her deep love and concern for the environment, pushing her to create projects designed to deliver a green message through music and film.

Paul is a branding expert and UI designer with a 19-year track record in the industry. Beginning his career at SeymourPowell, a renowned design agency in the heart of London, Paul quickly established himself through his approach to meaningful, concept-driven design and typography.

From running his own agency to working independently, Paul has had the freedom to develop his creativity crafting bespoke brand identities and UI design for clients across a wide range of sectors. His passion for design comes from constantly learning through immersing himself in so many different companies and cultures.

Paul has had the pleasure of working with Adidas, Intel, Guinness, Google, The Prince’s Trust, Pearson, Gates Ventures, Gates Notes, Casper and Uber, as well as creating the Group of Humans brand identity and website itself.

Simon is a Creative Director in industries from digital to industrial design, advertising to engineering, narrative conception to brand behavior. Formerly, he was Head of Samara Airbnb’s innovation studio, Vice President and Creative Director at Intel’s innovation lab, Vice President and Creative Director at Verizon’s media future lab and Vevo’s external Creative Director.

In the UK, he co-founded three major digital agencies: Deepend, Poke and fray, was the first Digital President of the D&AD, board member of the Design Council and in 2007 was awarded the position of Royal Designer for Industry, the UK’s highest design honor. He’s currently running two start ups: Allocation.Space and a climate-focused drinks company. He also sits on the board of four others.

Dean thinks business and speaks design. With roots in engineering and formative chapters at Opera Software and frog design, he’s built a career bridging the technical, creative, and commercial sides of innovation. From launching ventures to scaling studios, Dean has led cross-functional teams to deliver bold, impactful work across industries, from early-stage startups to global enterprises.

Originally from Boston, now based in Austin via Oslo, Dean brings sharp pattern recognition, unshakable energy, and genuine empathy to every collaboration. He’s a catalyst, driving creativity, unlocking momentum, and backing the humans brave enough to imagine better.

Ruchika Jajodia is a design thinker, storyteller, and explorer of both human behavior and the open skies. As a UX leader in the automotive world and digital products, she crafts intuitive experiences that feel as natural as conversation and as elegant as the machines they inhabit. Whether she’s designing for luxury marques or digging into cultural insights, Ruchika’s work is grounded in empathy, driven by research, and fueled by curiosity.

Organisational Psychologist | Behavioural Science Strategist | Skills-First Talent Architect

Jess is an organisational psychologist dedicated to democratising opportunities for individuals while enhancing organisational performance. With a career spanning both public and private sectors, including aerospace, defence, energy, healthcare, and financial services, she brings a wealth of experience to her practice.

Specialising in skills-first talent management, Jess applies behavioural science and psychology to simplify complex systems, enabling organisations to better understand and develop their people. Her work focuses on the intersection of human potential and technology, preparing organisations for the future of work.

Kevin is probably best known for his tenure as songwriter, producer, drummer and singer with UK alt-rock band 10cc. A pioneering music video director, he partnered with Lol Crème for everyone from Duran Duran to Lou Reed, and went solo for U2, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra among many more.

With Chrissie Hynde, Matthew Freud and others he founded environmental pressure group The Ark Trust. He is also the founder of Youdio, an audio/visual music collaboration app. He released his memoirs as the interactive ebook ‘Spacecake’.

Kevin’s experience and imagination have also been employed in commercials with a huge list of credits including Wrangler, Toyota and Habitat. In 2000, The Creative Art and Design Committee presented Kevin with an Outstanding Achievement Award, acknowledging 20 years of consistently stunning work.

John is an adept facilitator who specializes in assisting leadership teams to navigate and solve complex cross-functional challenges. He excels in establishing the necessary conditions and framework for strategic co-design, allowing for collaborative solution-finding among teams, customers, and users.

His comprehensive background, which includes training in product and service design, followed by a foray into academic innovation research, and culminating in consultancy, has equipped him with the skills to manage a diverse array of projects. John’s expertise spans various industries, from finance to gaming and from wedding planning to construction, catering to the needs of both burgeoning startups and global powerhouses. His approach is marked by a keen ability to synthesize diverse perspectives and steer teams towards cohesive and forward-thinking solutions.

Patrick Pittman is a Toronto and Newfoundland-based writer, editor, filmmaker, and strategist who has spent his career asking questions and building communities for pages, stages, screens, and microphones across the world. Formerly editor-in-chief at The Alpine Review and Dumbo Feather, he now helps a small global roster of clients with human understanding and research-driven strategic sensemaking. He has been a correspondent for Monocle in Australia, the South Pacific, and Canada. He was previously the creative and editorial director of Toronto content agency Totem, where he headed-up Folio and CMA award-winning projects with some of North America’s largest brands. He continues to consult regularly for creative agencies on content and strategy, and has worked with the New York Times’ T Brand Studio, Vice’s Virtue Worldwide and BBC Worldwide’s StoryWorks unit.

Robin is a seasoned publishing professional specialising in creating innovative publishing strategies that entertain, educate and delight readers of all ages. As the Head of Publishing at The LEGO Group, Robin successfully developed the ‘Playful Reading’ concept, integrating play and reading to engage over 40 million children annually.

With extensive experience spanning books, magazines, audio, digital content, and board games, Robin excels in the strategic positioning of publishing programs. With a strong emphasis on brand storytelling, Robin helps organisations create impactful, inclusive content that amplifies brand meaning and purpose.

Phillip Julian has led design, customer research, product development and technology strategy teams working in Asia Pacific, America, and Europe. Expert in the delivery of commercial performance through customer centred design. Phillip Julian has led multi-disciplinary teams in Telecommunications, Consumer Electronics, Asset Management and Travel shaping digital products and services to drive digital transformation.

Adam, a seasoned storyteller, began his career in Hollywood, selling his first script in film school and later crafting scripts for major studios like Disney, Fox, Universal, and Sony. He’s also sold TV pilots, including “The Way,” produced by CBS Paramount and Sony.

Passionate about storytelling, Adam analyzes its nuances, from set-ups and payoffs to character relatability. In recent years, he’s transitioned to sharing the stories of industry giants, like “Better Call Saul” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” traveling globally for on-set interviews that offer deep insights into creative processes.

Adam’s storytelling prowess extended to radio when he provided interview training and produced episodes for the “Out of Uniform” podcast. He’s also a musician and songwriter, with a 2023 album released via his acoustic trio, The Wholesome, reinforcing his dedication to storytelling in multiple forms.

Lisa is a design executive and strategy consultant. She works with healthcare organizations to discover, develop, and operationalize innovative ways to improve patient experience and outcomes amidst increasing regulatory demands, consumer expectations, and technological complexity.

Lisa founded Forge Harmonic, LLC after more than two decades creating award-winning products and commercial successes for businesses within and beyond healthcare. Most recently she was VP of Design at Confer Health, a health tech startup building at-home clinical diagnostics and, prior to that, she was Head of Product Design at Imprivata, a leading healthcare IT security company.

Lisa coauthored the book, Designing for Emerging Technologies: UX for Genomics, Robotics, and the Internet of Things and is currently an adjunct professor in the Digital Media Master’s Degree Program at Northeastern University. She holds an MS degree in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University and an BS in Imaging and Photographic Technology from RIT.

Ruth is a Design Director and Strategist, with a track record of operating at executive level. She helps leaders create growth and build their brands by translating long-term business strategies into winning products and brand defining innovation in home, lifestyle and hospitality sectors.

She is expert at leading product strategy, building creative identity and delivering successful product ranges. She has done this for a range of organisations from PLCs and high growth founder-led businesses to PE backed scale-ups.

She is a champion of playfulness in the pursuit of creativity; with a knack for combining creative insight with data she is expert at applying design-thinking practices to make the programs she runs innovative and effective, with lasting impact.

A genuine passion for building sustainable practices in her work and beyond (as a trustee of an environmentally focussed fund) has included steering corporate strategy and commissioning formal Lifecycle Analyses as well as implementing best-practices for design and source. She is a Design Council Expert who advises on Circular Design and Innovation frameworks.

She was named one of Marketing Week’s top 50 CX professionals, and as one of Creative Pool’s top 100 influencers. She has won various awards for her design and has also judged awards including D&AD, Design Week and Creative Pool alongside appearing as a speaker at international events, in the press and as Mary Portas’ guest on BBC Radio 4.

Thu Do has built products for some of the most recognizable brands, startups, and consulting firms in the world. These days, she utilizes her expertise in Design, Strategy, AI prototyping, and Product Management to deliver highly craftable experiences that recognize the undeniable abilities of technology to empower the irreplaceable power of human creativity.

Duncan loves to write, so he’s carved a career out of doing just that in all its myriad forms. He tells human-centered stories from all four corners of the world, creates user experiences that focus on value, loyalty and engagement, and brings new perspectives and opportunities to organizations losing their focus.

He believes quality of process is crucial to quality of outcome, no matter if it’s how we collaborate to create something magic or how we engage with new people to tell their stories. Author of ‘Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names’, he also writes for everyone from Forbes to Lonely Planet, and has built services and products with global reach.

Suzie is a designer, art director and illustrator with 20 years’ experience making award winning work for the likes of Diesel, Mick Rock, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Geox and the BBC. Taking an art school approach fused with a Silicon Valley mindset, she’s been bringing her unique mix of art and design to digital work of all flavors since the first dotcom boom.

In the UK she was Head of Design and Creative Director of magneticNorth. Now living in Oslo, her work has been awarded by the One Show, D&AD, The Webby’s, Design Week, The FWA, CLIO, Visuelt, BIMA and many others forgotten along the way.

An enthusiastic advocate of doing and making over anything else, Suzie is an expert in UX, CX, illustration, prototyping and branded digital communications.

Henry is one of the world’s leading authorities on consumer trends, having spent a decade as the Managing Director of TrendWatching. He is the author of Trend-Driven Innovation, which underpins TrendWatching’s research and content that is used by 100,000 B2C professionals.

Henry’s second book, The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work, and Thrive In The Next Decade, features the 30 biggest ideas and instigators that will shape humanity’s next decade. It launched at SXSW in March 2023.

His latest project is VisuAIse Futures – working with the brilliant visual strategist Natalia Talkowska on a series of illustrated guides to people-first AI strategies, as well as running interactive workshop experiences that combine doodling (by hand!) and generative AI.

Henry has given more than 150 inspiring and actionable keynotes and workshops in 30+ countries and is a guest lecturer at HEC business school in Paris. As co-founder of 3Space, he is also an award-winning social entrepreneur with the non-profit’s innovative solution to urban regeneration commended in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2019.

Fun fact: Henry was featured in GQ’s Most Connected Men in Britain list.

https://fiorellariettigaray.myportfolio.com/

Kimahni is a design leader who brings over a decade of experience across physical products, spatial environments, and brand expression. His work moves fluidly between form and function—merging insight, intuition and clarity to create solutions that are beautiful, useful, and built to last.

With a hands-on approach shaped by time in leading global agencies and in-house teams, Kimahni balances the craft of making with the strategy behind it. He sees design as a tool to unlock value—aligning business needs with human behaviour, and inspiring teams to push for better. Whether shaping a product from scratch or elevating a brand from within, Kimahni brings the same sharp eye and grounded perspective to every stage.

Mike is an accomplished private banker with 40 years of experience. Over that time he built a diverse client portfolio from the peaks of the political, business, city, media and legal worlds. Developing trusting and deep client relationships has been Mike’s passion, but his strategic mind has also played a key role in developing key client segments, most notably in the legal and art world.

Having retired from banking in 2024, he is now a trustee at Common Earth, which he also cofounded. Common Earth is chartered with the Commonwealth to implement the UN’s sustainable development goals for countries compromised by climate change and economic degradation. Its key objective is to build capacity focusing on place-based education and training, nature-based scientific R&D, and innovation, working with leading global institutions with a key focus on governance. Its initiatives support climate resilience, conservation, food and energy security and livelihood protection with a regenerative model. Common Earth is in advanced discussions for the implementation of its model with its first country and government in the Caribbean.

Mike is a recently published author of The Ticket Collector from Belarus and is researching a second book.

Stefan designs IRL experiences built on meaning, emotion and impact. He is a creative director, filmmaker, author, musician and speaker who’s collaborated with and led exceptional teams around the globe, and is known for his engaging and provocative style. Stefan challenges partners and audiences to think critically in order to arrive at fresh perspectives.

He’s worked for Google, BMW, VSCO, Nike, Infiniti, American Express and Intel, among many others. Stefan also founded pioneering NYC retail concept store The Apartment in 1999, which evolved into The Apt Design Agency.

Mark is a distinguished historian and prolific author, having penned over 20 books. His career in journalism spans 15 years, including a tenure as a war correspondent for Dutch and French media. His expertise in current affairs led him to the role of anchorman on a prominent TV program and later, to the helm of European Affairs and Quote Magazine as Editor in Chief.

With two decades of experience in Board Room Consulting, Mark’s eloquence and insight have made him a sought-after speech writer and government advisor. His linguistic prowess is notable, with fluency in five languages. As a devoted father to two sons and grandfather to three, Mark’s roots and residence in Amsterdam enrich his life and work with a profound sense of place and history.

Peter is a BAFTA Award-winning Creative Director specializing in brand storytelling. He’s inspired by weaving all the threads of brand communication together to create a compelling brand story for clients and their customers—creating meaning and value for both.

Peter spent many years in Network Television as Creative Director at Turner Broadcasting before going on to run Nickelodeon UK’s on-air, in-house programming and digital channels. Here he won a Craft BAFTA Award and five nominations for short-form films. More recently, Peter switched into advertising where he was Creative Lead for Kellogg’s TV and digital transformation across Europe. His work for Honda Formula 1 helped it redefine its brand representation.

With unique high-level experience in content creation and advertising, Peter is driven to find new ways for brands to connect with audiences.

Adrian is a highly experienced brand strategist with over 25 years of experience spanning four continents and a wide variety of categories, including luxury, consumer packaged goods, technology and telecommunications, financial services, media and entertainment, and retailing.

He has held director-level positions at some of the world’s most creative agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, Team One, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Goodby Silverstein & Partners. Prior to becoming a free agent, Adrian was Head of Strategy and Brand Transformation for RGA LA, where he led the agency’s Connected Brands practice.
Adrian was a contributing editor to the best-selling business book ‘Legacy in the Making’. His work has been honored by the UK Direct Marketing Association, Effie Worldwide, the AAAA’s Jay Chiat Awards, and the ARF’s David Ogilvy Awards.

Serena Connelly is a “Swiss-Army Knife” Creative Leader and Experiential Storyteller, who thrives on combining purpose with technology. Known for placing positivity and social good at the center of the brand narrative, Connelly establishes the “red thread” for festivals and live events, brand launches, and new business pitches.

Connelly created one of the first 1000 apps available on an iPad, which was awarded two Intellectual Property Patents. She also led the design of the first large-scale game to utilize air canons, remote sensors, and AI called, “Air Tennis” for the US Open. She also recently produced a series of VR/XR programs to explore racial bias.

Connelly lives in a former Speakeasy in Pleasantville, NY with her husband, son, and giant retriever, “H.R.H. Your Bigness”

With a 40-year career, 22 of which were spent at IDEO where he was Chief Creative Officer and then co-CEO, Paul now works with global clients, partners, and colleagues to bring to market human-centric, commercially successful, and socially significant new businesses, products, services, and experiences, through his work with McKinsey and his own independent clients. He remains active in developing and publishing new thinking in the field of human-centered and design-led innovation.

Paul, a Brit who grew up in Singapore, has worked in multiple key markets all over the world and has a personally-informed international perspective. Whilst at IDEO he created its largest global practice, Consumer Experience Design; ran its San Francisco office, setting a robust and enduring creative direction; extended IDEO’s international reach as part of the team that created its presence in China; established and led its New York office, increasing IDEO’s share of influence in the US market; and delivered impact to clients and new growth to IDEO’s business in Europe. Today, Paul continues to provide creative leadership and cross-pollination of insights and ideas to clients and colleagues on an extended scale by traveling, learning, and working across the globe. He works with several governments, developing human centered services, often focused on unleashing the creative capacity of the next generation.

Paul is a sought-after speaker and is regularly invited to speak at major forums, including: COP26, The World Government Summit, The World Economic Forum; Boao Forum for Asia, TED Global; TEDx Tohoku, Dubai and Amazonia; The Economist Redesigning Business Summit, The AOL CEO Conference, the American Express Luxury Summit and Tokyo Midtown Opening, and more.

A keen educator, Paul has taught and coached students from the Royal College of Art (UK), Stanford University, Columbia Business School, and FIT’s (Fashion Institute of Technology, New York) Executive Beauty and Fragrance Marketing program and Capstone Project in the US. Most recently he has taught in Norway on the Masters program at Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo, (KHiO) in Oslo and at Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland Academy of the Arts) in Reykjavík.

Paul currently resides in Denmark with his partner Jim and their three rescue cats, Freddie, Magnús and Ziggy.

Paul has spent 25+ years at the leading edge of digital strategy and innovation to deliver digital products and services that make an impact on people’s lives.

From working on a ground-breaking digital product that revolutionises in-home care in the UK to one of the first connected car concepts for a leading luxury card brand via historical advice on Hollywood films. He has a passion for, as a client once said, “who I would I call for a creative mission impossible”

With a career that covers starts-ups, scale-ups and global brands working in Europe, the Middle East and the US, Paul relishes those strategic challenges that other people shy away from.

Hi. I’m Sarah. I believe that business can create a bold future—a world where all life on Earth can thrive. With over 30 years experience in global brand, innovation, and leadership, I partner with Boards and CEOs to define the role of their business, brand and innovation in creating a bold future. I am also a certified professional co-active coach (CPCC) who helps leaders think differently about what’s possible and make impactful billion-dollar choices.

As an author, I published Brand New World in 2021, a book that equips next-generation CEOs and CMOs to harness the power of their brand and leadership teams to create a bold future. I am a lifelong learner studying for an MSc in Global Development, a social science that examines worldwide social and economic development issues.