2022 Award Judges

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES & FINTECH

JUDGES//

Andrea McLeish

Scottish Development International

Andrea McLeish is International Senior Manager at Scottish Development International (SDI). She works at Scotland's Economic Development agency to promote Scotland as key location for inward investment and support Scottish companies develop their export ambitions into wider global markets. Andrea focuses primarily on Technology and Engineering, Creative and Construction.

Bruce Harrison

BlackRock

Bruce retired from BlackRock in August 2022. Prior to his retirement, Bruce led BlackRock’s Aladdin and technology-related oversight framework in EMEA. Prior to transitioning to this role in 2019, he was a senior member of BlackRock Solutions and responsible for all EMEA clients using Aladdin, the integrated enterprise investment system, and Aladdin Risk, the comprehensive suite of portfolio risk management reports and tools. Bruce holds a B Eng. in software engineering.

Callum Sinclair

Burness Paull

Callum is Head of Technology and Commercial at leading law firm Burness Paull. He has worked in the field of information and communications technology law for over 20 years and has a life-long passion for technology. He currently chairs the IT Contracting and Advisory Special Interest Group of the Lex Mundi international alliance of “best of breed” independent law firms. He sits on the Board of ScotlandIS, and the Crypto-assets Expert Panel (Scots Law) and is on the Leadership Circle of the Scotland AI Alliance. Callum is a recognised thought-leader in technology. He was named in the 2018 UK Lawyer magazine’s “Hot 100” as a “Disruptor” and in The Times’ 2016 Digital List of 100 people from Scotland’s digital technologies industry who are “changing the world”. Callum also won the Leadership Award at the 2018 ScotlandIS Digital Tech Awards.

Colin Hewitt

Float

Colin started his first business in 2002, founding a creative digital agency, which evolved into building online software products for clients. Ten years later he sold the agency to solve a real problem the agency had - keeping track of their business finances in real-time. His vision for Float is to make financial intelligence and cashflow forecasting accessible for small business owners globally. The Float team is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally from Belfast Colin juggles startup life with his wife Kathryn and their 3 kids. Float is an award-winning cashflow forecasting and budgeting solution for small businesses, making forecasting and managing cashflow easy for small businesses owners. With Float, business owners can build forecasts, explore scenarios, and manage incoming bills and invoices to see their cash forecast on a daily, weekly or monthly level - all in realtime by connecting with online accounting software.

Kristen Bennie

NatWest

Kristen is a creative leader with a wealth of experience in innovation and transformation programs. She is the Director of Innovation and Partnerships at NatWest where she helps bring the future into focus through strategy, design, technology and cultivating a culture of openness, creativity and collaboration. Her career has always involved the development and delivery of new products, services and software to drive sustainable growth and positive customer outcomes. She has created and leads NatWest’s award winning innovation studios in London and Edinburgh and is a recognised leader in her domain and was named as one of the top 35 women leaders by IBM for her work using AI to power digital transformation. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Glasgow School of Arts, one of the world’s leading art and design institutions, digital academy CodeClan, Fintech Scotland and was formerly a member of the RBS Scotland board. She holds a degree from Northwestern University in Art Theory and Practice and History and has completed Executive Education programs at INSEAD, University of Cambridge and Singularity University.

Louise Smith

Innovate Finance

Louise is regional FinTech ambassador, appointed by the UK Government, and Chair of Innovate Finance. Louise was Lloyd’s first Chief Digital Officer. The newly created role within the Corporation is critical in supporting Lloyd’s to further build its digital capabilities and offering across the insurance industry. Louise is nationally and internationally recognised as a thought leader on digital innovation, disruptive technologies and the emerging workforce. She is currently laying the groundwork to ensure Lloyd’s has a strong, consistent digital approach in its Future at Lloyd’s programme of work. As well as shaping Lloyd’s digital strategy, Louise also worked with the Corporation on how it uses agile methodologies and collaborative ways of working, as well as growing its digital skills. With an extensive career in creating and running digital business models, Louise is at the forefront of influencing and changing the shape and evolution of the financial services sector in the UK and globally. In her current role, she uses customer experience, data, and insight to differentiate the services Lloyd’s offers to its customers.

Nicola Anderson

FinTech Scotland

Nicola Anderson is the CEO of FinTech Scotland, a strategic cluster management organisation that works across the private, public and third sectors, as well as academia to enable economic growth and inclusion in developing digital financial services. Nicola strives to build business success through diverse engagement and purposeful inclusive action. This approach has seen the development of FinTech Scotland’s consumer panel, which is enabling more fintech propositions to focus on prioritised and direct consumer needs, as well as helping to advance fintech consumer adoption and financial inclusion.

Sarah Ronald

Nile HQ

Sarah Ronald is an award-winning Entrepreneur and the Founder of Edinburgh-based Strategic Design company Nile. She is a founding partner of two tech companies (Pawprint and Exizent) and is an investor in numerous early stage companies. She has been involved in designing the currency for two countries, launched the first emergency cash service in Europe, and part of the team responsible for digitising the World’s largest insurance marketplace. Her background is in human-computer interaction and behavioural psychology, and her interests lie in working within regulated environments as these are often the most challenging spaces in which to create new products, services and changes in behaviour. She has served as a digital advisor to the UK Government and is an advisory board member for the Scottish Government's Technology Ecosystem review, chaired by Cabinet Minister Kate Forbes and Chief Entrepreneur Mark Logan.

Stuart Lunn

LendingCrowd

Stuart Lunn founded LendingCrowd in 2014 and since has led the business as Chief Executive Officer. LendingCrowd has evolved its business model to become a tech-led SME lender, backed by institutional funders. The recent £100m bank funding line from Barclays and a US debt fund was a major step in unlocking scale. The platform has facilitated over £120m of lending, with the current run rate being 3x the historic annual high. Stuart previously worked in investment banking as an equity analyst, which included analysing and advising a wide variety of technology-related companies and leading both primary and secondary fundraisings. He is also experienced in advising private companies as a founder shareholder and angel investor. Stuart was named Leader of the Year at the Scottish Financial Technology Awards in 2019, a year in which LendingCrowd also won the Alternative Finance Provider and Business Lender titles at the British Business Awards.

Tynah Matembe

MoneyMatix

Tynah Matembe is the co-founder of MoneyMatix, a family finance management platform that aims to bring financial wellbeing to the workplace and provide financial capability tools for families. The company was created after she had two children and had been helping immigrant communities settle in Scotland who needed to learn basic money principles. A seasoned entrepreneur, Tynah has participated in running a successful 38-year-old family business. She is also a Saltire fellow, a chartered banker and a lawyer by training. Tynah has extensive corporate experience in financial services, and internationally, working for organisations such as the United Nations. Her philosophy is that by earnestly seeking excellence, she can convey the right attitudes to those around her and help to make the world a more stable place.