Our Advisors

David Eagleman

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University and an internationally bestselling author. He is co-founder of two venture-backed companies, Neosensory and BrainCheck, and he also directs the Center for Science and Law, a national non-profit institute. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw.

He is the writer and presenter of the international PBS series, The Brain with David Eagleman, and the author of the companion book, The Brain: The Story of You. He is also the writer and presenter of The Creative Brain on Netflix.

Sophie Scott

Sophie is the Director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, and investigates human communication and the human brain, with an emphasis on the neurobiological basis of vocal communication. She has a background in psychology, biology and cognitive science, and expertise in brain scanning, neurophysiological techniques, psychological experiments, observational studies and cross cultural research. She has pioneered the study of the human voice as a social signal, and has recently started to address the ways that nonverbal emotional expressions like laughter are used socially.

She has published over 130 peer reviewed academic papers, and is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2012) and a fellow of the British Academy (2016). In 2017, she was the Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer, and in 2020 she was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to neuroscience. 

Sharen Jester Turney

Sharen Jester Turney has more than 30 years of experience, growing world-class brands and launching eCommerce businesses across department, luxury, and specialty concepts, for Fortune 500 companies and leading retailers, worldwide. Turney spent the previous 16 years as president and chief executive officer of the nearly 8 billion dollar Victoria's Secret brand, doubling the business and profit under her stewardship. 

Jester Turney has led global brands to growth, advising among others Marks and Spencer and Gloria Jeans, as well as supporting SMBs daily through her work on ProQuo AI’s Advisory Board. ProQuo AI is the first and only Brand Management platform that harnesses the power of AI to give leaders certainty about the decisions they are making. 

Turney is an inductee into the State of Oklahoma, Hall of Fame (the highest honor bestowed upon an Oklahoman) and an inductee into the Hall of Fame at The University of Oklahoma, where she received an Award of Distinction. 

Turney's advisory roles in retail, technology, and philanthropy span the globe, and she's left her mark in London, Russia, China, India, and New York.

Nicholas Christakis

Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. His work is in the fields of network science, biosocial science, and behavior genetics. He directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.

He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2006; the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

Dr. Christakis received his BS from Yale in 1984, his MD from Harvard Medical School and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989, and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.

Dr. Christakis has advised startups and established corporations, such as Whoop, Ditto Labs, Gallup, Virgin, and MasterCard. A company called Activate Networks was spun out from his lab in 2010.

Henry Dimbleby

Henry Dimbleby was given the role of lead non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018. In June 2019 the Environment Secretary appointed Henry Dimbleby to lead the National Food Strategy, which he published in July 2021.

Henry Dimbleby co-founded the Leon restaurant chain (2004). He was a co-founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (2009), the charity Chefs in Schools (2018) and co-authored The School Food Plan (2013), which set out actions to transform what children eat in schools and how they learn about food. 

Henry previously worked as a Strategy Consultant at Bain & Company (1995-2002) where he advised businesses on strategy, performance improvement and organisational design. Before that he worked as a journalist on The Daily Telegraph and a chef at the Michelin-starred Four Seasons Inn on the Park

Mark Herschberg

Mark Herschberg is the author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You. From tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web to creating marketplaces and new authentication systems, Mark has spent his career launching and developing new ventures at startups and Fortune 500s and in academia.

He helped to start the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, dubbed MIT’s “career success accelerator,” where he teaches annually. At MIT, he received a B.S. in physics, a B.S. in electrical engineering & computer science, and a M.Eng. in electrical engineering & computer science, focusing on cryptography. At Harvard Business School, Mark helped create a platform used to teach finance at prominent business schools. He also works with many non-profits, including Techie Youth and Plant A Million Corals.

Jackie Stevenson

Jackie is founding partner & CEO of global award-winning creative agency, The Brooklyn Brothers.  One of London’s few female founders and creative CEO’s Jackie is a pioneer for female entrepreneurship and a champion of gender equality. 

An entrepreneur at heart Jackie started her career at Ogilvy & Mather, helped CDP launch one of London’s first integrated agency models, and joined start-up Craik Jones growing it to one of the UK’s awarded agencies as Managing Director. 

She launched her own advertising agency, The Brooklyn Brothers in 2008 growing it to over 170 people worldwide which she and her partners sold to IPG in 2016.  She is also Board Advisor at The Circle of Style, a leading member of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Women in Business committee a trustee of Lawrence Dallaglio’s Rugby Works, and an active member and Past President of Women in Advertising & Communications (WACL).

Faris & Rosie Yakob

Faris is co-founder of the nomadic creative consultancy Genius Steals. He is the author of Paid Attention, and a contributing author to both Digital State and What is a Brand? all published by Kogan Page. Previously Faris founded a digital agency, was Chief Innovation Officer of an advertising holding company, and Chief Digital Officer of the flagship office of the world’s largest advertising agency. Despite living on the road you can reliably find him online @faris and GeniusSteals.Co. Genius Steals issues a weekly newsletter of awesomeness, which was named an essential read for creative people by Hubspot. 

Rosie is the co-founder of the nomadic creative consultancy, Genius Steals, which helps brands, agencies, and rebels find the awesome at the intersection of new communication ideas, new product concepts, and new ways of thinking, especially about the impact of technology. She is passionate about moving the industry forward and she believes that brands can create and curate culture - and connect to people in ways that create value for both. 

Huib van Bockel

Huib van Bockel is Founder of TENZING & former Head of Marketing at Red Bull in Europe. Over the past 20 years, Huib has worked in the fashion, television and consumer brand world and now he is taking on the big dogs of the soft drinks world!

In 2016, he set out to create a brand with purpose and an energising drink that was plant-based, low-calorie & sustainable. From the belief that there was a need for an energy drink free from artificial ingredients and stacks of sugar, to becoming world's first climate labelled soft drink, TENZING has doubled in size annually since its founding in 2016 and now has a turnover in excess of £10m.

He is seen as one of the new marketing thought leaders who believes that brands should make an impact on the world around them, and take full responsibility for their climate footprint. The TENZING team has big plans for the year ahead and will continue to create energy for a new generation of people who are no longer willing to compromise on their health or the planet.

Dr Lorien Pratt

Dr. Lorien Pratt is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, is credited for inventing transfer learning and is one of the creators of Decision Intelligence, which is the next phase of Artificial Intelligence, and which will define how AI is used in the 21^st century. Pratt’s first book How Decision Intelligence connects Data, Actions, and Outcomes for a Better World, describes and surveys this new discipline, which connects AI to human decision making in a way that is transparent, auditable, and accessible, bringing this important technology to the masses and reducing “information inequality”. 

With recent appearances on CSPAN and NPR, Pratt’s work in AI and DI has broad implications beyond COVID19 for other invisible, exponential, multi-link problems whose success depends on better decisions by billions of people; these include climate, poverty, and more.