Speakers

Dominic Sandbrook is a historian, broadcaster, and columnist, widely recognised for his best-selling series of books exploring life in post-war Britain. His acclaimed titles include Never Had It So Good, White Heat, State of Emergency, Seasons in the Sun, The Great British Dream Factory, and Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979–1982.

He has written and presented several television series, notably The 70s and The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook for BBC Two. Dominic also co-hosts the hugely popular podcast The Rest is History.

Dominic is a familiar face on historical documentaries across ITV, BBC Four, and Channel 4, contributing to programmes on a wide range of topics including airports, advertising, the Beatles, caravans, coronations, the countryside, and Doctor Who, among others.

On radio, his landmark 15-part series on the history of the Post Office—produced by Somethin’ Else for BBC Radio 4—aired in the winter of 2011. In print, Dominic is a regular columnist for the Daily Mail and reviews books for The Sunday Times.

Debbie is a multi-exit entrepreneur, investor, and Chair, co-leading the UK government’s Invest in Women Taskforce, raising over £580m for female-led businesses. She co-founded WJV, advises Smart Society Ventures, and chairs The Better Menopause.

A Non-Executive Director at Channel 4 and Senior Advisor to McKinsey, she also serves on the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. 
Debbie co-authored Believe, Build, Become and led the UK’s Sharing Economy Review.

Honoured with an OBE and Freedom of the City of London, she holds an MA in Philosophy and Theology from Oxford.

Alice joined The Future Laboratory in 2023 as a foresight analyst, before being promoted to senior foresight analyst in 2024. She leads the health, wellness and sport verticals, and is the in-house specialist on consumer behaviour – delivering foresight reports and strategies on topics ranging from Gen Z Parents and to The Women’s Sports Economy. A culture-obsessed creative, Alice has written extensively on beauty, lifestyle and internet culture for publications including Dazed, i-D, The Face, GQ and Service95.

 

Carolyn is an experienced leader of technology businesses and is currently Chief Legal Officer at Airalo, an international eSIM company. She has particular exposure to scaling businesses to exit events. She was previously Chief Trust Officer at Trustpilot, and prior to that, Chief Legal Officer at Skyscanner, where she led the sale of the business for £1.46bn, and subsequently became Head of International M&A for Ctrip.

Carolyn is currently a member of the Advisory Board of Scottish Equity Partners LLP and acts as a Non-Executive Director on AIM listed Ten Lifestyle Group, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and flights comparison website, Dohop.