Our presenters
Presenters at WLB events since 2013
Matthew Lis
Matt moved from global heavy-vehicle company MAN Truck and Bus to fast-growing vehicle electrification and connectivity start-up Vantage Power two years ago to support the introduction of their hybrid-retrofit product to the bus market. Since then Vantage Power have completed a successful multi-operator TfL trial, worked with international vehicle partners to build London’s first ever high-capacity hybrid bus, launched an industry leading telemetry suite and consulted for councils and transport operators across the country about how to reduce public transport emissions.
Max Farrell
Founder, LDN Collective
Max is Founder & CEO of the LDN Collective, a network of built environment experts and creatives fighting to improve people’s lives and the planet’s prospects. Members are experts in social impact, zero carbon and modern methods of construction as well as architecture, engineering, graphic design and film-making. They are a dynamic and collaborative ‘one stop shop’ for projects anywhere in the world. Current projects include masterplans for garden communities in Oxfordshire, Peterborough and Solihull; new health and wellbeing resorts in London and the South East; detailed planning applications for Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association and #ParkPower – a crowdsourced vision for the future of London’s green spaces.
Max’s expertise lies in urban planning & strategic communications. He was a Partner at Farrells for 10 years, the internationally renowned architects with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai, before leaving to set up the LDN Collective. In 2021, Max was appointed Chair of Cultural Co-Location for Creative Estuary. With £4.3m funding from DCMS, as part of the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, the ambition is to transform 60 miles of the Thames Estuary into the most exciting cultural hub in the world. Max was Project Lead and Author of the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, commissioned by the UK Government, which made 60 recommendations spanning education, outreach & skills; design quality; cultural heritage; economic benefits & architecture policy, many of which have been implemented. He is an adviser to London National Park City, Urban Design London, the Place Alliance, the Urban Room Network, the National Arts and Place Consortium, Community Consultation for Quality of Life and Wild Streets.
Michael Mulhern
Michael is a chartered town planner who started his career with Haringey Council before joining the Greater London Authority planning and regeneration team where he advised the Mayor strategic planning, design and regeneration projects including the Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks for Park Royal (2010) and Croydon (2012). He led the Mayor’s regeneration programme for Croydon and Tottenham for two years between 2012 and 2014. Then in 2014, on behalf of the Mayor, Michael established the OPDC which came into existence on 1 April 2015 where he is now Director of Planning.
Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo gained a first class degree in History at Peterhouse, Cambridge. When he left Cambridge he worked for a year at a shipping company. He moved to the Conservative Research Department in 1976, where he spent three years. At the General Election in 1979 he was responsible for briefing Margaret Thatcher before her press conferences. For the next two years he was special adviser to the Secretary of State for Energy. He worked for Kerr McGee Oil (UK) Ltd from 1981 - 1983. He contested the Birmingham Perry Bar seat at the 1983 Election.
Michael returned to politics as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nigel Lawson) and in December 1984 won the by-election in Enfield Southgate and represented the seat for thirteen years. As a member of the Government, he was a whip, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Social Security, Minister of State for Transport, Minister of State for Local Government and Inner Cities; and as a Cabinet Minister was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Employment, and Secretary of State for Defence.
Later he also turned to journalism, writing about walking as a pilgrim on the Santiago Way, and working as a hospital porter. He had a weekly column in The Scotsman. He had a three part series for Channel 4 about politics Portillo’s Progress, and a programme in BBC2’s Great Railway Journeys series, which was partly a biography of his late father, and radio programmes on Wagner and the Spanish Civil War. He has also made a number of television programmes for BBC2.
Michelle Ryan
Dr Michelle Ryan is a Senior Research Fellow in Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK. She is a leading scholar in the field of gender discrimination in the workplace. Together with her colleagues she has uncovered the phenomenon of the glass cliff, whereby women are more likely to be placed in leadership positions which are risky or precarious. Research into the glass cliff is represented in top academic journals, industry publications, and in the media including BBC, CNN, ITV, and all major British Newspapers. Dr Ryan currently holds the Jantina Tammes Chair at the University of Groningen.
Neil Deely
Neil established Metropolitan Workshop in 2005 and is experienced in leading complex mixed-use residential masterplans, collaborating with many of the UK’s best housing practices.
During his career, he has designed major urban projects and buildings in sensitive contexts of conservation, heritage and greenbelt, in locations such as Durham, Oxford, Cambridge and London.
Neil serves on a range of Design Review Panels, including DCCabe, Croydon, Newham, Harrow, and provides Urban Design for London with training programmes for Local Authorities on principles of Urban Design.
Nic Pryke
In the past 30 years, Nic Pryke has gone from a cabinet maker to the Design Director at London’s leading workplace design and build company, Oktra. He understands the value of workplace design, as it has such an impact on people’s lives and how they work. Nic’s design team are responsible for the design of a hundred million pounds worth of workplace environment construction each year.
Nic has shared his experience of the industry at numerous conferences and talks, including Mix Inspired; Mix Round Table; WeWork; Work 2.0 and The Lawyer. His written features include Workplace by Facebook, The Times and Sky.
Nick Belsten
Nick Belsten, London Director, WSP | Indigo
Nick has over 20 years’ private practice planning experience and leads WSP | Indigo’s London Planning Consultancy team following the acquisition of Indigo Planning by WSP. His track record is focussed on Greater London, providing strategic advice to a wide variety of private and public sector property owners, developers and occupier businesses. His portfolio includes high-profile redevelopment and regeneration schemes, including King’s Cross Central, London Dock, Kensal Rise, the Francis Crick Institute, UK Dementia Research Institute and Google’s European HQ. Nick is a Commissioner for the London Urban Transformation Commission
Nick Swanson
Nick Swanson is Senior Policy Officer for technology at the Greater London Authority. He leads on City Hall’s programmes to support tech companies of all sizes to grow and innovate, access capital and reach their market. Prior to working at the Greater London Authority, Nick was a founder of a startup himself.
Nigel Mobbs
Chairman of Slough Estates plc since 1976 (Chairman and Chief Executive 1976-96). Sir Nigel is non-executive chairman of Bovis Homes, non-executive director of Howard de Walden Estates and Chairman of Trustees of Historic Royal Palaces. He is a former non-executive director of Barclays Bank, Kingfisher and Cookson Group, and was a Member of the Committee on Corporate Governance (Hampel). He has been Lord-Lieutenant for the county of Buckinghamshire since 1997.
He past away at aged 67, (22 Sep 1937 - 21 Oct 2005)