OUR TEAM
Helene Panzarino - CEO and Lead Trainer, University Fellow
Originally a Commercial Banker with one of the largest global banks, Helene is a highly experienced Investment Readiness Consultant, Programme Director and Exited Entrepreneur, who successfully created and launched the Inaugural Programme of Education and Events for the UK FinTech trade body, Innovate Finance, as well as an Alternative Finance Investment Readiness Programme aimed at connecting SMEs to the right finance provider, and a FinTech and Financial Services consultancy programme to educate and connect large FS providers with early stage FinTech businesses.
Since January 2017 she’s been the Lead Fellow on a world-first FinTech Pathway in a Masters in Tech Entrepreneurship Degree for UCL, a visiting Fellow on the Imperial College Business School MSc in Finance, and co-creator and lead delivery partner on the Imperial College FinTech Executive Education Programme.
Helene has assisted thousands of high-growth SMEs in their fund-raising efforts, in her business advisory work, for a Big 5 accountancy practice, and for a number of EU programmes, and has recently been a key member of the team successfully raising $5m for one of her own interests.
She has an extensive network and active relationships with FinTechs, accelerators, traditional and alternative debt/equity finance providers, political, regulatory, and board level industry figures.
Named a Top 10 Influencer in SME Funding in 2016, Helene is the sole author of Business Funding for Dummies (Wiley) 2016, and contributor to The Entrepreneurs’ Network (TEN) and Scale Up Summit on ‘Female Founders Raising Post-Seed Finance’, Boost Roundtable on ‘Man vs Machine’ for SME finance, Centre for Entrepreneurship Roundtable on ‘Offenders to Entrepreneurship’ and BEIS New Business Support Feasibility Study, and an FSB Parliamentary Task Force on Women and Finance.
She is a regular judge, speaker and moderator for SWIFT Innotribe, Rainmaking Innovation Summit, FinTech Week London, The Alt Fi Finance Awards, Nextmoney BBVA Awards and the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
She is a member of Femtech Global FinTech Network, Wharton FinTech (Penn alum), New Finance, a Founder Member of the Centre for Entrepreneurs, and on the Steering Group of the TLA FinTech Working Group. She is a mentor for Start-up Bootcamp, Mass Challenge and the Ascension Fund.
OUR ADVISORS
Natasha Kyprianides
Natasha is the Group Head of Digital Banking & Innovation at Hellenic Bank accountable for digital banking business across all segments. She is currently a key change agent at Hellenic Bank driving the customer-facing digital agenda. Natasha is also an internationally recognized digital expert, keynote speaker and FinTech thought leader with 17+ years of experience within the banking industry, focused on leading digital strategy and digital transformation journeys. She is an advisory board member at European Women Payments Network (EWPN), a mentor at Swiftscale as well as an advisory committee member at Connect Media and Marketforce. She has taken part in a multitude of significant international conferences as a speaker with the who’s who of FinTech and Banking. Personal achievements include being profiled for the FemTech Leaders series and becoming part of the global movement, getting listed on Kurtosys: Women in Finance Power 100, Innovate Finance: Women in FinTech 2016 Powerlist and Fintech Finance Silver Powerlist. She has also been short-listed by the prestigious Banking Technology magazine for the award “Outstanding Contribution by a Female in Financial Technology” in 2012, "Woman In Technology (W.I.T)" award in 2016 and “Tech Leadership” award in 2017.
Nick Andrews, Executive Chairman and Founder of MPAC
Nick has had a distinguished 35 year career in the Financial Services sector that has included being on the Board of a large multi-disciplined Securities broker/dealer, Head of Credit at the UK banking subsidiary of Japanese securities house and many years in senior credit and compliance roles.
Nick is the founder and Managing Director of MPAC Limited, one of the preeminent compliance and regulatory companies in London, the CEO of EddieUK Ltd., a hybrid peer to peer and crowdfunding platform, an advisory board member of a technology driven payments firm and an Independent Non-Executive Director at the UK subsidiary of one of the largest banks in America. He is also a Business Adviser to the UK Sichuan Business Association.
He speaks at various conferences and panels and is an occasional guest lecturer at two universities on topical financial sector issues whilst also writing for the CISI magazine, Exchange. With a keen interest in history and the City of London, Nick was the Master of The Worshipful Company of Patternmakers in the year 2015 to 2016.
Richard Skaife - CEO & Co Founder of YOVO
Richard Skaife is the CEO & Co Founder of YOVO " The Mobile Network That Pays You " it's the world's first tokenised mobile operator. Launches in Q1 2018 in the U.K.
Richard is a 20 year veteran of the mobile space and Co Founded Pollen VC a FinTech company focused exclusively on the digital economy.
Richard has spent time as a partner in early stage Venture Capital and advises a number of funds and start ups on market trends and scaling.