BVCA Summit | Partners for Growth

Robert Peston ITV’s Political Editor Robert Peston is ITV’s Political Editor and host of their flagship politics and current affairs show, Peston. He covers the latest happenings in Westminster and interviews important players on the national and international political scenes. In addition, he co-hosts, with Steph McGovern, the podcast The Rest Is Money where they explore what we need to know about the economic issues that affect our everyday lives, decode business jargon, and revisit some of the biggest financial events of the last half century.

Prior to his high-profile move to ITV, Robert was the BBC’s Economics Editor, revealing the stories behind the statistics and explaining the implications of domestic, European, and global economic shifts. Before that, as Business Editor, he broadcast and published a series of exclusive and influential stories about the global financial situation. He revealed the crises at Northern Rock and RBS, the emergency rescue of HBOS, and the tumult around the credit crunch, bailouts, and austerity.

Before joining the BBC, Robert was City and Assistant Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, in charge of the business and money sections, and the FT's Financial Editor. At the FT, he was a member of the editorial board and earlier he served as its Political Editor, Banking Editor, and founder of the investigations unit.

Away from the cameras Robert has also won plaudits for his online journalism. He is the author of critically acclaimed books including How Do We Fix This Mess? and Who Runs Britain?. Both examine the causes and long term implications of the 2008 financial crisis. Whilst WTF?, described by the Financial Times as “mandatory reading”, takes a broader look at the world, what’s gone wrong, and proposes possible solutions across politics, society and business. In Brown's Britain Robert explained for the first time the real nature of the relationship between Blair and Brown. His novel The Whistleblower was described by the Daily Mail as “cracking” and “Gripping” by Radio Times.

Amongst over thirty journalism awards Robert has to his name, he has won the Royal Television Society's Journalist of the Year, Specialist Journalist of the Year, and Scoop of the Year (twice), the Wincott Prize for financial journalism, and the Broadcasting Press Guild's award for Best Performer in a non-acting role.

Robert has written and presented several documentaries and factual series, notably four films about China's boom and possible bust, two on the EU referendum, three films on the financial crisis, and the popular series Robert Peston Goes Shopping. Away from journalism Robert is also the founder of the education charity Speakers for Schools, and the Vice President of Hospice UK.

Claire Williams OBE Former Deputy Team Principal, Williams Formula One Claire Williams led the Williams Formula 1 racing team, where she was one of only two women to head a Formula 1 team in the modern era. Under her leadership, Williams finished third in the World Championship for Constructors twice. Today Claire is a global Brand Ambassador for WAE Technologies, previously known as Williams Advanced Engineering, which focuses on the decarbonisation of heavy transport through the development of advanced, sustainable, green technologies. Her late father, Sir Frank Williams, was the founder of the Williams Grand Prix Engineering F1 team, winning nine Constructors’ Championships and seven Drivers’ Championships.

Claire graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Politics prior to starting her career as a Press Officer for Silverstone Circuit. She joined the Williams team as Communications Officer, rising to become Head of Communications and Head of Investor Relations before being appointed Commercial Director.

When Frank Williams stepped down, Claire became the Williams family representative on the company’s board. She became Deputy Team Principal, the de facto team leader responsible for the development and day-to- day running of the team. Frank Williams retained the Team Principal title in recognition of his founding role and a lifetime of dedication to Williams Racing.

Claire has been among the most prominent and successful women in recent Formula 1 history. After taking the team to successive third places in the Constructors’ Championships in just her second and third years in charge, Claire maintained the team’s prominence with top 5 finishes two years in a row. During her tenure, Claire was a keen advocate for greater diversity and inclusion within Williams Racing and across the sport as a whole. She acted as the catalyst to give Susie Wolff the chance to become the first female racing driver to participate in a Formula 1 race weekend since the nineties.

As Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association, Claire also sought to encourage spinal cord injured individuals into the team and established workplace opportunities for wheelchair users. She launched the Sir Frank Williams Academy which aims to provide life changing care for spinal cord injured people, a charitable initiative which has received support from the Williams Racing team.

Since successfully negotiating the sale of the Williams F1 team, Claire has provided consultancy services to brands entering Formula 1 and is a popular speaker at corporate events where she shares insights on leading high performing teams. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of her services to Formula One.

Matthew Sabben-Clare Senior Advisor, Cinven Matthew Sabben-Clare is a Senior Advisor to Cinven. Previously, Matthew was Head of Cinven’s Capital Markets team and Chief Administrative Officer.

He was previously at Merrill Lynch in Leveraged Finance. Prior to this he worked in the Financing & Structured Products Division at J. Henry Schroder & Co. He graduated from Cambridge University and is AMCT-qualified.

Kerry Baldwin Managing Partner, IQ Capital and Chair of the Pensions & Private Capital Expert Panel Kerry Baldwin co-founded IQ Capital in 2006 and has over 20 years deeptech venture capital experience. Kerry was Chair of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association 2021/22 and is an international advisor and speaker on venture capital, deeptech ecosystems, research and innovation. Originally with BDO Stoy Hayward, she joined Venture Technologies in 1998, investing in the first wave of UK deeptech companies and has focussed on deeptech early-stage technology over her five funds which invest from seed to £30m.

Kerry specialises in GTM, Strategic Marketing, Competitive Intelligence and heads up IQ’s cybersecurity, climate tech, supervisory tech, big data and neuro-tech portfolio. She sits on several boards including Risilience, FNA, CyberSmart, BMLL Technologies, CybSafe, Divido, Neurovalens and Worldr and has conducted several exits and IPOs.

She is known as a contributor to best practice in venture capital, from ESG and a 2018 in-depth study on Investment Committee best practice and decision making across Private Equity and Venture Capital. She is an honorary Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge (Judge Business School).

Janet Henry Global Chief Economist, HSBC Janet Henry was appointed as HSBC’s Global Chief Economist in August 2015 and is responsible for all HSBC’s economic forecasts and thematic economic research output globally. She was previously HSBC’s Chief European Economist. Much of her research has focused on globalisation – including the global determinants of local inflation – and the political and economic challenges of the post global financial crisis era, notably labour market disruption and the implications of income and wealth inequality within major advanced economies. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, her work has focused on the labour market implications, evolving inflation dynamics and policy challenges of the unprecedented recession and recovery.

Janet is a Governor of the UK’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Chief Economists Community and a Non-Executive Director of HSBC Bank UK plc. She has given evidence to financial committees of the EU Parliament on China and UK House of Lords on Europe. Janet joined HSBC in 1996 in Hong Kong where she worked as an Asian economist in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the Asian crisis.

Kevin Hollinrake MP Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade of the UK Kevin Hollinrake was a Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade between 26 March 2024 and 5 July 2024.

He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business and Trade from 7 February 2023 to 26 March 2024.

He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between 27 October 2022 and 7 February 2023.

Emma Reynolds MP Minister of Pensions Emma Reynolds was appointed Parliamentary Secretary at HM Treasury and the Department of Work and Pensions on 9 July 2024. She was elected as the MP for Wycombe in July 2024.

Mohith Sondhi Senior Director, Debt Finance, OakNorth Bank Mohith Sondhi is a Senior Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth, having joined in April 2016 from RBS. He is an expert in broad Structured and Corporate Finance, including fund finance, having gained significant experience in a variety of roles covering main functional areas, including customer relationships, portfolio management, risk management, people management and strategy development.

Having proven his ability to deliver success in a range of challenging business situations, Mo is responsible for originating, structuring, and executing complex transactions, providing a range of short and long-term funding solutions designed to support growing businesses.

Helen Steers Partner, Pantheon Helen Steers is a Partner in Pantheon’s European Investment Team and the co-manager of our listed global private equity investment trust, Pantheon International Plc. She is a member of the International Investment Committee. Helen joined Pantheon in 2004 from Russell Investments in Paris where she was Managing Director with overall responsibility for private equity in Europe. Prior to joining Russell in 1999, Helen worked as Director, European Private Equity with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and was a senior investment manager at the Business Development Bank of Canada in Montréal.

Helen received a BA and an MA in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. Helen is a Past Chair and Council member of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and served on the Board and LP Council of Invest Europe. She is also a co-founder of Level 20, a non-profit organization established to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry.