Catherine is the Managing Director of WIRED's Consulting Business. Her team is dedicated to taking the WIRED network, knowledge and brand to commercial organisations - helping them to build knowledge, inspire audiences and raise their voice on the trends shaping our world.

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With 20 years' experience in foresight, innovation and strategic consultancy, Cathering brings a wealth of experience around the trends, technologies, and external pressures impacting business today. Catherine is passionate about leveraging the WIRED brand to champion innovation, support entrepreneurship and make a positive impact on the world. 

Dr. Lisa Dyson is a mission-driven entrepreneur with a passion for creative problem solving. She is the founder and CEO of Air Protein, a modern food company that is a pioneer in the use of landless agriculture to make nutritious, protein-rich food in a sustainable way. Dyson is also the founder of Kiverdi, Inc. a biotechnology company working to create game changing carbon negative products and systems using the science of carbon transformation.

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Dr. Dyson has degrees in Mathematics and Physics from Brandeis University, and Imperial College, University of London, as well as a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT. She worked with executives of Fortune 100 companies during her time as a Management Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group and is the recipient of numerous awards. She is a renowned thought leader in biotechnology and food innovation, speaking regularly at national and global conferences, including TED and most recently, the Bioeconomic and Biomanufacturing Summit at the White House.

Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and best-selling author from the UK. After studying at Oxford University he embarked on a career as an actor but suffered severe burnout. This led him to join Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Scotland, where he became a monk in 1993.

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Gelong means ‘fully ordained monk’, and Thubten’s training has included spending over six years in intensive meditation retreats, the longest of which lasted four years. He has studied under some of the greatest Tibetan meditation masters.

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Thubten is a pioneer in meditation and mindfulness teaching, with over 20 years’ experience. He designs meditation courses for medical students and has lectured at Oxford University, and has worked with major organisations such as Google and the United Nations.

Josh co-founded Space Forge in 2018. From kick-starting their mission to change the face of the space industry - making space work for humanity - Josh, and co-founder Andrew Bacon, have taken the industry leading startup from a garage in Bristol to raising the largest ever seed round in Europe by a Space Tech company.

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Space Forge is developing the world’s first fully reusable platform, to unlock the benefits of space for manufacturing and experimentation at scale. By producing next generation materials off planet and returning to Earth, a stepchange in humanity’s progress is possible - with the power to progress a clean industrial revolution.

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Prior to co-founding Space Forge, Josh gained a vast knowledge of the UK Space Industry: working for Thales Alenia Space across marketing and sales, as well as being seconded to the UK Space Agency, where he worked on everything from Critical National Infrastructure to technology harmonisation with European Space Agency member states.

Junaid Wahedna is the Founder and Group CEO of Wahed, the world’s first Global Islamic Robo-advisor with the aim of democratising halal investing. Junaid has a MSc in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Columbia University in New York. While at Columbia, he served as the Managing Editor of The Columbia Financial Review. Junaid is the holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA) qualifications. Prior to Wahed, Junaid gained an intimate understanding of global Islamic financial markets while working for a multinational Merchant Banking firm on Wall Street, New York. He has also been a speaker at leading international conferences on Islamic Finance.

As the CEO of Dubai Economic Development Corporation (DEDC) at Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), Hadi Badri is responsible for leading the DEDC team in orchestrating the implementation of projects relating to the Dubai Economic Agenda, D33. As the economic development arm of Dubai, DEDC’s mandate includes enhancing Dubai’s economic competitiveness across sectors, diversifying the emirate’s economy, attracting foreign investment and global talent, and establishing initiatives focused on advancing innovation and the contribution of Dubai’s digital economy.

Prior to joining DET, Hadi held various management roles at Emaar Properties, including as CEO of Emaar International, Group Chief Strategy Officer at Emaar and Chairman of Namshi. Hadi has served as a Board Director for Emaar Properties in 15 companies across Real Estate, E-commerce and Hospitality, including Emaar’s real estate development businesses in India, Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco and Jordan.

Previously, Hadi accumulated extensive experience working with multinational corporations across diverse fields including management consulting with Bain & Company and private equity investing with The Carlyle Group.

Hadi holds an honours degree in Economics from Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA.

Holly Branson, after achieving medical and physiology degrees from University College London, joined the Virgin Group as a member of the Leadership team in 2008. In 2020, Holly was appointed Chief Purpose and Vision Officer and became a company Director. Dedicating her time to her passions: people, purpose, culture, and the future of work. She is also Chair of Virgin Unite, a Founder and trustee of Big Change. In 2018, Holly published her first book, co-authored with Marc

and Craig Kielburger, the international bestseller: WEconomy, You can find meaning, make a living, and change the world. When not ‘changing business for good’, Holly lives in London with her husband Freddie Andrewes, and their three children Etta, Artie and Lola.

Karen Levy is a committed figure in the Art & Tech world, starting her career as a coordinator of a project in China (Shanghai World Expo 2010) before moving to London to work at renowned auction houses as a contemporary specialist and private clients group manager (Phillips Auction, Sotheby’s client group).

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Since 2015, Karen has brought new initiatives for her family’s collection, DSLcollection, and entrepreneurial projects around art and technology. DSLcollection is one of the most renowned Chinese contemporary art collections and her goal is to share art experiences to wide audiences – including through digital initiatives.

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She is also the co-founder of AiKa Strategy and Art, the first consulting platform connected to ‘Art, Technology and Asia’, which brings impactful strategies and collaboration for the art and luxury brands.

Katie Jensen is an award-winning international Broadcast Journalist, Keynote Speaker and Communications Coach in Dubai. With a 15-year career in front of the television cameras, she regularly interviews high-profile business leaders, Prime Ministers and royalty.

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Katie has regularly hosted television network specials for events such as COP28, Expo 2020 Dubai, the World Government Summit, and the Dubai World Cup.

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As a Keynote Speaker and Moderator, Katie has hosted thousands of events in the region and around the world, sharing the stage with the likes of Katy Perry, Sir Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Irons and Sir Ben Kingsley, and working with organizations including UNHCR, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Government of Dubai, Masdar, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and many more.

Martin Bysh is a tech-savvy entrepreneur whose career is a remarkable tale of innovation and growth across various sectors. Beginning as a teenage gaming prodigy, he launched a European chart-topping game at just 16, heralding two decades in the gaming industry with hits like 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. He then pivoted to the online dating scene, establishing one of the UK's earliest dating websites in 2001. Transitioning into B2B, Bysh founded a rapid market research platform, later sold to a private equity-backed group. His foray into fintech includes co-founding Enthuse.com, whose 4500 UK charity clients include Macmillan and the London Marathon.

However, his crowning achievement is Huboo, an award-winning e-commerce fulfilment service, which he co-founded and led from £300k to £40m in annual revenues in just 3.5 years. Under his stewardship, Huboo has expanded its international footprint, becoming a multinational entity. Bysh’s journey, marked by multi-million-pound fundraising and strategic business exits, embodies the essence of a successful, technology-driven entrepreneur.

Maryann is an experienced governance expert having chaired seven boards. She has worked with rising leaders over decades with students from Georgetown University and throughout her two decades in finance. Maryann began working with Professor Wing after almost 15 years at Goldman Sachs in NYC, Boston, and London where she oversaw the International Shares team. Maryann also serves as Director for the Gallivan Bell Family Office and holds an MBA from Harvard University and BA with distinction from Georgetown University.

She and her husband Paul live in Austin, TX. They have three amazing daughters.

Nikhil Goel is the Chief Commercial Officer at Archer. After starting at Uber as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams, Goel co-founded Uber Elevate. Working alongside NASA and Uber executives, Goel helped spearhead the vision for Uber Elevate which has, in turn, inspired the approach to commercializing the industry. In 2020, Goel helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a strategic sale to Joby Aviation. Goel has been a Senior Advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Company, Google, Microsoft, and NASA. He attended Vanderbilt University and earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a double major in computer engineering and economics.

Identified by Forbes as one of the “World’s Top 50 Women in Tech” and by Arabian Business as one of the “Most Influential Arabs”, Noor is the Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, a UAE-based, Series-A focused, emerging-market venture capital firm with presence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. With $300 million AUM, and financial returns rating it as a top decile fund, Global Ventures has become a leading investor across the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to Global Ventures, Noor was the first woman to operate, scale, and IPO a company in the MENA region, listing Depa on NASDAQ Dubai and the London Stock Exchange for US$1.1 billion in April 2008. Noor scaled Depa tenfold, expanding operations from six countries to 22, including four cross-border acquisitions.

Noor is an active, independent board director of Clue, the largest femtech company in Europe. She is the Founding Chairwoman of the Middle East Venture Capital Association, a Director of the Global Private Capital Association, TechWadi, and the Karman Fellowship.

Ola Doudin is the co-founder & CEO of BitOasis, the first and largest regional digital asset platform in the Middle East. She has an engineering background and has worked in tech and security advisory in Ernst & Young in London and engineering research prior to her move back to the region where she got involved in tech entrepreneurship and later started BitOasis. Most recently, Forbes Middle East featured Ola among the ‘Top 10 Women Behind Middle Eastern Tech Brands 2021’.

Since founding Catcha Group in 1999, Patrick has built an extensive track record of founding, building, acquiring, listing and growing both private and public Southeast Asian digital businesses. Today, he is widely recognised as one of the leading entrepreneurs in the region, having founded and taken numerous companies from start up to initial public offering in Australia and Southeast Asia, including iProperty Group Ltd, iCar Asia Ltd and Frontier Digital Ventures Ltd.

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Patrick has taken 6 companies from Start Up to IPO and his most recent IPO was Catcha Investment Corp which raised US$300m in a NYSE IPO in 2022.

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He has received a number of international awards, including Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum; New Asian Leader by the World Economic Forum; Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Australian Chamber of Commerce, Singapore; Asia’s Best Young Entrepreneur by Bloomberg Business; and the University of Sydney’s 2021 Alumni Award for International Achievement.

Peter Edgar is a seasoned CFO with a rich history in guiding start-ups and scale-ups across diverse sectors including eCommerce, FinTech, Private Equity, Manufacturing and SaaS. Currently at Huboo, a tech-meets-logistics ecommerce fulfilment growth story, he has completed on over £120m of investment from Seed through the Series B over 4 years, growing from a single modest site in the UK to innovative warehouses across 5 countries in Europe and the US.

Professor Christina Wing is on the faculty of Harvard Business School (HBS) where she focuses her research primarily on topics surrounding family enterprises. She chairs HBS’ Families in Business executive education programme, and co-chairs the Family Office Wealth Management and Rising Generation programmes. Prior to this, Professor Wing held a variety of roles within the finance and general management fields and was most recently president and CEO of a family office. As well as being a Senior Advisor at Crestview Partners, Professor Wing is also on the Board of Ambassadors of The Steppingstone Foundation, an organisation providing educational opportunities to underserved children.

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Professor Wing graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BBA in finance and organisational behaviour and business policy and also earned an MBA from HBS. She is passionate about her family, dogs, friends, students, family clients and golf.

Rob and Paul Forkan founded Gandys in 2011 in memory of their parents Sandra and Kevin who they tragically lost in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

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Gandys is a travel fashion brand with a spirit of adventure and a mission to give back. The Gandys’ ethos, ‘Inspired by Travel Fuelled by Giving Back’, encourages people to seize the day and do more to help others along the way. Proceeds from the brand have so far helped to build children's campuses in Sri Lanka, Malawi, Nepal, two in Brazil, Mongolia, with a seventh and eighth soon opening in Guatemala and Sri Lanka. These campuses offer vital support to children including nutrition, medication and education.

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With high profile partnerships and a bestselling book under their belt Gandys has come a long way since selling flip flops from their bedroom in Brixton). The Brothers continue to honour their parent’s legacy by building the Gandys community. As entrepreneurs their adventurous ethos remains at the forefront of everything the Forkan brothers do.