Professor Alan Barrell
Professor Alan Barrell has spent almost 30 years in senior executive positions in technology-based industries and has become one of Cambridge’s most articulate promoters of entrepreneurship. He is Entrepreneur in Residence at the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire School of Graduate Business Studies, Xiamen University and the Shanghai College of Science and Technology. More recently, he was appointed as International Research Fellow at Laurea University of Applied Science, Entrepreneur in Residence at McMaster University and Guest Professor at Tohoku Fukushi University.
Professor Barrell currently chairs the East of England NHS Strategic Innovations Council, Health Enterprise East Limited and the Senior Advisory Board of the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), which has recruited more than 40,000 members since its formation less than a year ago. Professor Barrell is also a member of the investor groups Cambridge Angels and Sophia Business Angels and has previously chaired the Cambridge Enterprise Conference and works closely with a number of Science Parks and Innovation Centres in Cambridge, elsewhere in the UK and overseas. He received The Queen’s Award in 2006 for Enterprise Promotion and was conferred the Honour of Knight First Class, Order of the White Rose of Finland by the President of Finland in Februrary 2011.
Doug Richard
A successful entrepreneur with over 20 years' experience in the development and leadership of technology and software ventures, Doug featured in the first two TV series of Dragons’ Den. He is an active angel investor, the Founder of School for Startups, was Chairman of the Conservative Party Small Business Task Force, is non-executive director of BrightPearl Software and Love2scoot . Between 1996 and 2000 Doug was President and CEO of Micrografx, a US publicly quoted software company. Prior to that he also founded and subsequently sold two other companies: Visual Software and ITAL Computers.
Doug holds a BA in Psychology from University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctor at the school of Law, University of California at Los Angeles. In 2006 Doug was the first American to receive The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion, in 2007 he became a fellow of the RSA. In 2009 Doug received an Honorary Doctorate of the University of Essex for his contribution to entrepreneurship education. In 2010 Doug was awarded Enterprise Educator of the Year. In 2010 and 2011 he was a guest lecturer on Entrepreneurship at Cambridge University for the Nanotech Masters and PHD programme
Doug has always been a champion for startups and small businesses. Even before founding School for Startups he actively mentored, coached and supported many entrepreneurs. In 2008, after teaching a one day class in entrepreneurship, Doug decided to found an enterprise dedicated to helping people start better, more profitable, businesses. Since 2008 he has taught thousands in face to face and online classes across the UK.
His wry, candid, practical and ultimately upbeat courses in how to start a business quickly, with a minimum of outside investment and how to market and grow a business efficiently make him a sought after speaker.
As Doug says, “Entrepreneurship can be taught and must be learned.”
David Frost
David Frost is Executive Chairman of the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education. He is also Chairman of the Studio Schools Trust and Chairman of the National network of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).The thread that runs through his work is a keen interest in the promotion of Enterprise, particularly in those communities where a re-balancing of the economy is essential and where an enterprise culture needs stimulating. Prior to these activities, David was Director-General of the British Chambers of Commerce, where his role was the represent the interests of 100,000 businesses in the UK and 55 Accredited Chambers of Commerce. Much of his early career was spent in the West Midlands where he ran both major Chambers of Commerce in The Black Country, Staffordshire and Coventry and Warwickshire and a number of training businesses. Originally from the North East of England, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Birmingham City University and was awarded the CBE, for services to business, in 2011.
Emma Jones
Emma Jones is founder and editor of Enterprise Nation , the home business website, and has started two businesses herself from home offices in London, Manchester and rural Shropshire. Following a career with an international accountancy firm, Emma started her first business at the age of 27 and successfully sold it just 15 months after launch. The home business website was launched in 2006, and has attracted a regular readership of more than 250,000 people and national press headlines. Emma has written for Enterprise Nation since its launch and also for the Financial Times, City AM and customer magazines, including for Orange, Microsoft, BT and Viking Direct. Emma is regularly called upon by the government to speak on the subject of home business and she advises Regional Development Agencies on how to encourage and support homeworking.
She can now be followed on Twitter - @emmaljones