ABOUT

Professor David Falzani MBE

President

David is a consultant, NED, entrepreneur and professor.

David has been a director or investor in over 16 entrepreneurial companies in 4 countries, and has helped start-ups raise over £35m in venture capital investments. In his consultancy role he works with a variety of industries.

He is currently a mentor and/or trainer for innovation and growth programmes such as the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business programme at Oxford University Saïd Business School, Ingenuity programme at Nottingham University, The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Leaders in Innovation Fellowship programmes. He has published over 80 articles and blogs.

Mrs Cathleen Breeze

Secretary

Mrs Cathleen Breeze became the Director of Communications of the Sainsbury Management Fellows in 1995 and Secretary in 2020. Cathy’s career has encompassed a range of activities in global marketing, speech writing, investor and public relations, and employee communications. Previously she worked for Tiphook PLC, for Avis Europe in the UK, and Avis Inc in the USA. She received an MBA sponsored by Avis Inc. from Hofstra University in 1983 and has a BA(magna cum laude) in Music and French from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Cathy was born in New York.

Nigel Thomas

Trustee

Nigel Thomas is an Executive Director at the Gatsby Foundation, responsible for the strategic direction of Gatsby’s involvement in education and skills and focusing particularly on the STEM disciplines and technical and vocational education. In this role, Nigel leads the education staff, manages an annual budget of £7 million, and liaises closely with Lord David Sainsbury, Gatsby’s benefactor. Before joining Gatsby in 2005, Nigel worked for 10 years at the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, latterly as its Head of Science Communication & Education. As an undergraduate, Nigel studied physics at the universities of Kent and Paris-Sud. He also holds an MBA from Durham University.

Imoni Akpofure

Trustee

Imoni Akpofure is an experienced finance and sustainability professional with 30 years’ of developed and developing country experience. She is a generalist with wide industry and geographic coverage and has a deep understanding of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Imoni spent a significant part of her career in development finance. She recently served as Regional Director for Africa at CDC Group Plc, where she focused on investments in West Africa and in Lusophone Africa. Prior to joining CDC, she spent 18 years at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), rising to the rank of Director for Western Europe. Within IFC, she also held senior positions within the Africa, Infrastructure, Environment and Social, and Global Manufacturing and Services departments.

She is currently a non-executive director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc Nigeria, and Africa50, Morocco; a Trustee on the Boards of the Engineers in Business Fellowship, UK, the Gamaliel & Susan Onosode Foundation (GAMSU), Nigeria, and Technoserve Inc, USA; she also serves on the Investment Committees of Africa50 and the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN).

She holds an MBA from INSEAD, France, an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Newcastle University, UK, and a BEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London. She speaks French and has a working knowledge of German and Spanish.

Mike Astell

Trustee

A Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Mike gained his MBA at Erasmus in the Netherlands. Prior to taking his MBA, Mike was involved in setting up the services division of Alstom, and subsequently, project managed the implementation of the £1 billion Northern Line upgrade for London Underground as well as developing proposals for new trains for Virgin. Since gaining his MBA, Mike has built his career in the Oil & Gas industry, starting in corporate strategy at Royal Dutch Shell and later becoming an Operations Manager in Shell’s European E&P business. After Shell, Mike was appointed as a Director at Centrica Energy and as Managing Director of a major gas business transformed that strategic business. Mike has recently established a new Oil & Gas venture and is seeking acquisitions which can play a significant part in the energy transition. Mike is also Vice Chair of Hymers College, and has supported the Royal Academy of Engineering’s leadership and entrepreneurship programmes.

Henning von Spreckelsen

Trustee

Henning has worked in senior management positions in companies large and small, with experience in chemicals, plastics and packaging as well as having founded several companies. He is currently an investor, adviser and NED to a number of companies, in industries from marine lighting to recycled plastic waste to foreign exchange to digital metadata and is a Board Member of the Small Business Charter. Henning is a Chartered Electrical Engineer, a Sainsbury Management Fellow and has an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Mope Ogunsulire

Trustee

Mope Ogunsulire is an experienced investment professional with a background in international corporate and project finance (M&A, development finance, syndications) and engineering. She has closed transactions covering multiple sectors including agribusiness, engineering/industrial services and environmental services in mature and emerging markets of Western & Eastern Europe, Africa, North & South America, South Asia and Asia-Pacific. Mope began her career as a civil engineer and worked in the structural design, supervision and project management of water, power and transport infrastructure projects before doing an MBA with the support of an SMF scholarship and moving into finance. She holds degrees in engineering and finance, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

Adam Bazire

Treasurer

After gaining a degree in electrical engineering from Cambridge University, Adam has spent his career in engineering businesses. Starting as a field engineer in the oil industry he progressed to more senior positions in a number of manufacturing businesses, taking in a range of technical and commercial roles. His particular areas of expertise include business development and strategy in engineering B2B environments with a particular focus on sensing technologies and metrology. He is currently non-executive director at two small technical businesses, as well as undertaking third sector roles. Adam gained his MBA from INSEAD, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He has been a Trustee of EIBF since 2018 and is currently its Treasurer.

Simon Bonini

Trustee

Simon holds a first class degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from INSEAD and is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. His career includes significant global experience in the oil & gas sector with decades in the liquid natural gas business in the USA, Caribbean and Europe with large corporates and private equity backed companies. He has run and successfully sold a privately backed engineering recruitment company. In 2016 he cofounded a gas export company in Houston, Texas which he sold out of to return to the UK. Most recently he helped found and is a major investor in Lightning Fibre an altnet owning and operating fibre networks in East Sussex. The company has recently obtained major funding from Foresight, a large private equity investor.

Simon is a former chair of the EBIF fundraising committee and remains an active member.

Hersh Shah

Trustee

Hersh Shah has 16 years experience leading strategy, corporate finance and M&A across the industrial and technology sectors globally and working with different types of organisations, including large-blue-chip companies, SMEs and start-ups. Hersh remains passionate about shaping the world through engineering and technology and is currently M&A and Corporate Development Director at Halma plc, a FTSE 100 group where he is responsible for international strategic development, acquisitions, partnerships and investments. Prior to Halma, Hersh worked in investment banking where he advised large industrial companies, private equity and family offices on strategy and M&A transactions. Hersh is a Sainsbury Management Fellow, Trustee of the Engineers in Business Fellowship, and Non-Executive Director of Mini-Cam. In his spare time, Hersh enjoys working with entrepreneurs, cricket, golf and music.