Mohammed is a Professor in Banking and a Director of the Centre for Islamic Finance at the University of Bolton. He is also Executive Director of the Centre for Opposition Studies and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Developments at the University of Bolton. Mohammed has a long career in banking in major financial institutions such as Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO and HSBC. He is also the CEO of Oakstone Merchant Bank. Mohammed was appointed by the UK Government to chair the Advisory Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, whose report has recently been published. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House). In 2011 Mohammed was appointed Chairman of the UK Ministerial Advisory Group on Extremism in Universities and FE Colleges and he was a Member of the UK Government Task Force for Islamic Finance. Mohammed was an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia and is currently an Associate Fellow, IDEAS, London School of Economics and an Affiliated Professor at Kings College, London.
Professor Peter Kawalek has worked with many public-sector institutions including a decade-long engagement with Salford City Council in the UK wherein a number of successful (and award-winning) projects were developed. With David Wastell and colleagues at Salford City Council he developed the local government SPRINT method that developed a user-base of over one hundred councils. Alongside, he has worked with Office an Taoiseach in Dublin, the National Health Service (NHS), the Department of Communities and Local Government (London), Cabinet Office (London), Leeds City Council, North Lincolnshire Council, Oldham Council, Lancashire Constabulary, Greater Manchester Police, West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner and Midlands Engine.
Peter also has extensive experience in the private sector through Siemens AG., SAP AG, IBM, Manchester City FC, New York City FC and Triumph Motorcycles. In the charity sector, he worked with the Royal Commonwealth Society on the Jubilee Time Capsule, an innovative project that marked the Diamond Jubilee of HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
Today, Peter is Professor and Director of the Centre for Information Management at the School of Business & Economics in Loughborough University. He works on topics related to the Digital Economy including Artificial Intelligence and DeFi. He has additional visiting positions at Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Ireland and Deusto Business School. Peter has held and managed over £2.3m in research grants from government and research councils. His work has been published in books and journals including the European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Information Technology, International Journal of Information Management, California Management Review, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Organization and Management and Journal of Strategic Information Systems.
Roberto is a researcher and an educator, Roberto contributed to the creation and development of several start-ups in the technological, educational and social fields. He has worked for institutions including the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Birmingham and the University of Geneva. With experience teaching Management Information Systems, Emarketing and Entrepreneurship, he has combined his entrepreneurial spirit with his interest in technology and education through the launch of several business ventures. These have been in the fields of web development (Adance, 1996), education (UBIS University of Business and International Studies, Geneva 2006), and career coaching (futura21, Geneva, 2012). Drawing on his experience in management and entrepreneurship, Roberto is active in designing and promoting innovative organizational approaches through a new venture ( LUSVAL, Paris 2017). He is also president of Action for Development, a Swiss-based NGO he joined in 2013, active in the medical, educational and humanitarian fields in Afghanistan.
Michel Haluzicky is a certified public accountant with more than 10 years’ experience in an international environment. He started his career at EY as an audit manager before joining SunPower Corporation as a financial controller in charge of the EMEA region.
Since 2015, Michel Haluzicky is the managing director and owner of Gaapex, an accounting firm supporting start-ups and SMEs with the digitalization and outsourcing of the finance function as well as with accounting, auditing and tax matters. The company provides also ad hoc services to international companies such as consolidation services, IFRS or statutory conversions.
Michel is a Board member of Hume Institute for Postgraduate Studies and supports Hume with the finance function in Switzerland.
Peter qualified as a chartered accountant in 1980. Since that time his career has led him to work at a senior level in the US, Middle East and Europe for a variety of multi-national organisations. For the middle part of his career, Peter worked in Media and was involved in the production and distribution of films, post production and special effects for the film and TV industries. This was during the exciting time of the advent of digital cinema and the entrance of satellite channels into the industry. Peter left media and moved into banking working for Barwa (UK) Ltd, a sharia compliant private equity company. In his role as vice president he was involved in the acquisition and subsequent running of the finances of a University in Jordan and the acquisition and turning around of a Compliance Consultancy in London where he passed his Investment Manager (IMC) qualifications and became authorised to work in the industry by the FCA. For the past 9 years Peter has run his own consultancy and seeks to spend 50% of his time on commercial projects and 50% on charitable activities. His Commercial enterprises consist of him being a non-executive finance director and mentor to a variety of start-up ventures and smaller companies. For his charitable enterprises Peter sits on the finance committees of CAFOD, Comic Relief and BAFTA.
David read History at Durham University before qualifying as a solicitor. He started his career at law firm Addleshaw Sons and Latham (now Addleshaw Goddards) and was a Partner in international law firm DWF solicitors, before leaving to co-found his own legal business. His practice is in dispute resolution and commercial litigation, specialising in corporate governance and shareholder disputes. He remains in private practice, as a Partner in Manchester based law firm Athena Solicitors. He is also Director Practitioner in the School of Law at the University of Bolton, where his role involves advising on curriculum development, enhancing employability and facilitating access to careers in the legal profession.
Mike Clare, the founder and managing director of MESLA IT Consultancy, has been an IT Director for 20+ years, working across a variety of sectors as both an external consultant and in house strategic leader. Mike has an outstanding track record of leading teams through business change and, deployment of evidence-based best practices and emerging technology solutions. He has a creative resolution for the even most troubling of complications.
Proficient in all aspects of IT, Mike has a solid background in grassroots technical services, through to key decision making, board level and strategic roles.
