Meet the Prolific North Tech Awards Judges 2023

Angela Yore, Founder and MD, NED, SkyParlour 

Angela Yore is an entrepreneur, PR leader and an influencer in the fintech sector. Since co-founding SkyParlour in 2009, she has raised the profile of hundreds of brands from dynamic start-ups to market leaders in the fintech, tech and ecommerce sectors.

Anna Wilson, Digital Innovation Director, Tangerine

From banking to building, FMCG, lifestyle and casual dining, Wilson works with a wide range of brands to create audience-first comms strategies.

Sarah Tulip, Founder, WILD Digital

Wearing a number of hats, Tulip is head of Northern delivery centres at Cognizant and chair of its UKI Women Empowered Network, founder of WILD Digital and a digital ambassador for Leeds City Council.

Naomi Timperley, Co-founder, Tech North Advocates

An experienced growth and innovation consultant, Timperley is co-founder of Tech North Advocates and We Are GSI Ltd. She has mentored hundreds of businesses for the past 10 years and a growth partner for Inspirent’s Manchester Growth Club.

Austin Sheppard, Vice president of engineering, Booking.com

Formerly chief technology officer at StubHub and previously working at Amazon, where he built and led the engineering teams, Sheppard is now at the helm of Booking.com’s engineering operations based at the firm’s Manchester HQ.

Liam Price, Head of ecommerce, FatFace

Liam Price has over 15 years’ ecommerce experience working with some of the high street’s biggest names including John Lewis, New Look, L.K.Bennett and Oasis.

Michelle Mullany, Head of deal origination, MHA Corporate Finance

Having spent 20 years at one of the big four accounting firms, Mullany focuses on building relationships with entrepreneurs, supporting business owners to raise finance, acquisitions and business sales to trade and private equity.

Jonathan Moran, Director, Better Placed

Moran leads the tech division at Better Placed, a recruitment consultancy with offices in Manchester, Leeds and London.

Claire Lewis, CEO, Baltic Ventures

Lewis is at the helm of Baltic Ventures, an early stage tech accelerator and angel syndicate based in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. She’s previously exited a sustainable ecommerce company and helped to launch Tech North, which later became part of Tech Nation. 

David Levine, Principal, Manchester Angels

A serial entrepreneur in the technology sector, Levine is a principal at  technology investment angel network Manchester Angels. He’s also a founder and ex CEO of visual commerce business DigitalBridge (now Fixtuur). 

Susanna Lawson, Founder, OneFile

Last year Lawson and her partner sold edtech solution OneFile to Constellation, the second largest tech company in Canada but remains in the sector she loves as an expert and ambassador, as well as advising start up and scale up edtech businesses.

Jack Howell, Venture builder, Founders Factory

A designer turned founder, Howell co-founded payment company KodyPay with Yoyo Chang and with Founders Factory, he helps to build, fund, and scale ambitious start-ups worldwide.

Marlon Hope, Head of product, Netacea

An experienced digital leader with 20 years’ experience in positioning products, growing teams and maximising customers uptake of digital solutions, Hope has operated across a number of industry sectors including healthcare, corporate banking and digital security.  

Deb Hetherington, Head of innovation services – North, Bruntwood SciTech

Deb Hetherington is an award-winning facilitator of business support and growth consultancy with over 10 years experience supporting startup and scaling businesses. Alongside her role at Bruntwood SciTech, she’s also an associate at Leeds Beckett University and co-founder at WILD to name a few.

Jon Corner, Senior digital strategy specialist and founder

Corner has over 15 years of experience shaping and mentoring start-ups as well as playing a key role in the Greater Manchester Digital Economy with a focus on infrastructure, skills and tech ecosystem development.

Bella Copland, Lead Strategist, Kin + Carta

Bella Copland is a lead strategist at Kin + Carta, a global digital transformation business.

Jonathan Clark, Director, Start Up Grind Liverpool

A founder and entrepreneur passionate about tech sector-led economic development, Clark supports new founders by regularly holding events in his Startup Grind Liverpool community and acting as Liverpool’s Superconnector for OneTech x Baltic Ventures.

Martin SFP Bryant, Founder, Big Revolution and PreSeed Now

Founder of technology and media consultancy Big Revolution, Bryant is also editor of technology media brand Geekout, PreSeed Now and is a speaker, writer, and educator in the fields of technology and media.

Sean Brophy, Senior lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University

Former leader of the ERDF-funded Greater Manchester AI Foundry, Brophy previously had a decade-long tenure at the prestigious Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he collaborated with industry giants like Google, Twitter, Accenture, and Coursera.

Phil Benson, Co-founder, UKBlackTech

Benson has operated on several boards in the public, charitable and private sectors and co-founded UK Black Tech, an innovation group advocating for diversity and representation to help make the UK the best tech ecosystem in the world.

Simon Benson, Immersive technology director, Host

With over 25 years of commercial immersive development experience, Benson has previously worked as director of immersive technology at Sony and led multi-million AAA game projects, as well as founding the PlayStation VR project.

Phininder Balaghan, Community engagement lead, Naimuri

Dr Phininder Balaghan joined Naimuri after spending nine years at the University of Hull. He has a huge passion for technology and is a key part of Naimuri’s ‘Data Intelligence Centre of Excellence team’.

Martin Ashby, Chief innovation officer, Prevayl

Ashby has spent his career managing teams that develop, source and build ranges of consumer products for major brands in both the clothing and non-clothing sectors. 

You can find more detailed information about all of our judges here.

With early bird entries now open until 10th August, make sure you get started on your submission now to reward your team’s successes. Good luck!