The Rt Hon Greg Clark

The Rt Hon Greg Clark is Executive Chair of the University of Warwick’s Innovation District (and Chair of WMG - the Warwick Manufacturing Group). Greg served for 19 years as a Member of Parliament, where he was a senior minister for nearly 10 years, including serving in the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Minister for Science and Universities, and previously as Minister for Cities and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. In the last Parliament Greg was elected by the whole House of Commons to serve as Chair of the cross-party Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee.

As a Cabinet Minister Greg was responsible for the development of the UK Industrial Strategy, for the City and Devolution Deals which have established Mayoral Combined Authorities covering half of the population of England, and for proposing and enacting the UK’s commitment to Net Zero emissions by 2050.

Greg was also the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Japan and he is the Chair-elect of the Japan Society, the leading independent body in the United Kingdom dedicated to the enhancement of the British-Japanese relationship. Greg will also Chair the Society of Chemical Industry from January 2025.

He read economics at Cambridge University before earning his PhD from the London School of Economics.

Yewande Akinola MBE

Yewande is a chartered Engineer, Innovator, Consultant and Speaker. Her engineering experience includes the design and construction, innovation and manufacture of buildings and systems in the built environment, and has worked on projects all over the world. She has been named one of the 100 Most influential Engineers in Europe by the Financial Times and Inclusive Board, the UK Young Woman Engineer of the Year by the Institution of Engineering & Technology, and awarded the Exceptional Achiever Award from the Association for BAME Engineers and the Association of Consultancy and Engineering, U.K. (ACE).

She sits on the governing body at the University of Warwick and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster. In the 2020 New Year Honours list, Yewande was awarded an MBE for services to engineering innovation and diversity in STEM.

She has served as the UK's Innovation Agency Ambassador for Clean Growth & Infrastructure and was recently awarded Top 50 Workplace leaders in the UK. Yewande has been appointed as Vice President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and serves as Chair of the Institution's Knowledge Services & Solutions (KS&S) board. She sits on the Global Advisory Board of Warwick Business School. She's the founder of Innovation for Impact. She has recently been appointed non-executive director of Midlands Mindforge, and has recently been appointed as Director of CBRE.

Professor Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla

Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla is a Professor in Global Sustainable Development and the University of Warwick’s Academic Director for Sustainability, leading the University’s Sustainability Strategy, with a particular focus on Education, Research, and Engagement.

Previously, she was Head of the School for Cross-Faculty Studies, where she focused on the growth of the UG and PG programmes in the different departments of the School (Global Sustainable Development and Liberal Arts), while also setting up more recently a new division in Design Studies as well as providing support to the growth of the School’s research Institute, the Institute of Global Sustainable Development.