Peter Jones CBE
Entrepreneur & Founder of the Peter Jones Foundation

Peter Jones' ambition of running a multi-million pound company can be traced back to his early childhood. He went on to make that dream a reality, building a multi-million pound business empire by the age of 35. He is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of a portfolio of businesses ranging from telecoms and leisure to publishing, media and recruitment. He started his telecoms business, Phones International Group Ltd, in 1998. The firm, experienced explosive growth with revenue totaling £14 million by the end of the first year and £44 million by the end of the second. Group turnover for 2007 was in excess of £120 million. The group counts every leading brand in the wireless communications industry among its business partners, whether as a supplier, customer or collaborator.

2005 was a pivotal year for Peter, who appeared as a panelist on BBC2's ground breaking business television show Dragons' Den, which has aired seven successful series. Together with his fellow Dragon, Theo Paphitis, Peter purchased struggling events firm Red Letter Days following the company's collapse. Peter also created Wines4Business.com, an online retailer specialising in the sale of wine and champagne to corporate clients, as well as Celcius.co.uk, a specialist recruitment business. He has many investments from the BBC show Dragons' Den including Wonderland Magazine, a new luxury lifestyle magazine, The Generating Company, a contemporary circus company, i-Teddy, Concentrate, and Reggae Reggae Sauce among others. From ITV's Tycoon, Peter added Be-Eco, Hair Rehab and the winner Bladez Toyz to his portfolio.

Peter Jones was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in the 2009 New Year's Honours for services to business, enterprise and young people.

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Maggie Choo
Director, International Business Development & Marketing, Alibaba.com Europe Limited

Maggie Choo is the Director of International Business Development & Marketing for Alibaba.com Europe Limited, the world's largest online B2B marketplace. In her current role, she is tasked with raising Alibaba.com's brand profile so that more small businesses can benefit from online, international trade and grow their business through Alibaba.com.

With more than ten years of experience in marketing, branding, public relations, sales and event management, Maggie leads in both strategy development and implementation.

Previously based in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila, Maggie excels at working in a multi-cultural environment. She is currently based in London.

A graduate of the National University of Singapore, Maggie holds a Bachelor of Arts with a focus in Economics and English Language.

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Ian Smart
Managing Partner, Grant Thornton

Ian Smart has been Managing Partner of Grant Thornton's London Office since January 2009, a business with activities involving more than 1,200 people and £150 million of revenue. In this capacity, Ian is a member of the firm's National Leadership Board.

Ian has been with Grant Thornton since 1983 and has held a number of roles in that time. He has more than 15 years' experience in corporate finance, having specialised in transaction advisory services with buy-outs, acquisitions, disposals and financial reconstructions in both public and private company situations. He also has substantial experience in flotations and public company transactions, and has acted as A Nominated Adviser and Sponsor. In 2001, Ian became Managing Partner of Grant Thornton's Corporate Finance business; over the next six years, revenues grew fourfold. Ian also led Grant Thornton's international M&A activities.

Away from Grant Thornton, Ian is currently Chairman of the ICAEW's Corporate Finance Faculty. He has previously chaired that Faculty's Technical Committee and has been a member of the BVCA's Legal & Technical Committee.

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Anthony Waller
Partner, Olswang LLP

Anthony specialises in a range of mainstream corporate work including public and private company financing, IPOs, schemes of arrangement, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. Anthony heads up the firm's technology corporate practice having advised clients in the technology sector for a number of years. Anthony is a regular speaker at technology seminars and an active participant in a range of forum groups in the sector. Anthony recently advised OneClickHR on its takeover by ADP and has previously advised on the acquisition from Yahoo! of Kelkoo, the pan-European price comparison site and on the establishment of the Symbian Foundation.

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Carolyn Hammond
Associate Director, Blue Rubicon

Carolyn has seven years' experience advising on corporate communications, consumer campaigns and crisis and issues management for a range of leading private and public sector organisations. Having joined Blue Rubicon in 2006, she leads campaigns for clients including McDonald's, Aviva, GlaxoSmithKline and the National Enterprise Academy.

Carolyn has considerable expertise in the education and skills arena. As well as working with the National Enterprise Academy, Carolyn has worked with leading awarding body City & Guilds, delivering business- and consumer-facing campaigns to position the organisation as a modern, dynamic brand and a trusted adviser to business on skills and people development. Carolyn has also worked with the Learning and Skills Council, the former Sector Skills Development Agency and a number of Sector Skills Councils.

Prior to joining Blue Rubicon, Carolyn spent around three years at leading PR agency Bell Pottinger, where she worked for a number of household brands including Danone, PepsiCo, Kraft, Kellogg's and Nestlé. She launched front-of-pack GDA nutrition labelling on behalf these brands - the first to make this move, which have since been followed by countless manufacturers.

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Mark Ellis
Director, Ellis Whittam

Mark is an employment law solicitor, entrepreneur and CEO at Ellis Whittam. As a solicitor Mark, was an equity partner and Head of Employment Law at a successful firm of commercial solicitors where he established a reputation for no nonsense, pragmatic advice. Frustrated by the "old fashioned model" of a traditional law firm and recognising a gap in the market for high quality fixed fee support services, Mark set up Ellis Whittam in 2004. Mark is passionate about business, family, windsurfing, mountain-biking and sailing!

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John Feaver
Director, The Peter Jones Foundation

John's main responsibility at The Peter Jones Foundation is to engage leading corporations and organisations to support the National Enterprise Academy. He was on the board of The Lord Mayor of London Appeal in 2009 and was acting CEO of The Lords Taverners before joining The Peter Jones Foundation. John has a background in sport and business and dealt with National and International rights for Governing Bodies. John is also Player Relations Director for The Wimbledon Championships.

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Helen Loveless
Enterprise Editor, The Financial Mail on Sunday

Helen Loveless is enterprise editor for the Financial Mail on Sunday. She has been writing about the issues facing small businesses, reporting on their views and concerns, for the past three years. She also writes a regular blog for the SME channel on fmwf.com, the sister channel of Financial Mail, as well as daily updates.

Helen has worked as a journalist for more than 12 years, with her first editorial job as a reporter on trade title Financial Adviser. She also spent several years as a personal finance journalist on the Financial Mail on Sunday.

Born on Christmas Eve, 1974, Helen divides her time between East London and Bath.

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