Gurnek was born into a Sikh family from the Punjab region and arrived in Britain at the age of 7 to grow up in London’s East End. He went on to obtain degrees and postgraduate qualifications, eventually being awarded a doctorate in psychology from Oxford University. He has coached business leaders in half of the FTSE 100 companies.

Kylie is a business psychologist, author and co-founder of NOUS. Research which provide provocative insights and opens minds was integral to her experience of growing up in Australia, and the challenges of being an outsider herself. She coaches CEOs and senior leaders in a variety of global organisations and has consulted businesses extensively on issues of culture change, purpose driven leadership and strategic talent development. She is also passionate about the world of art and the critical way in which it impacts society.

Anita Kirpal is a psychologist who comes from a campaigning background, working with families suffering racial violence and women and children experiencing domestic violence. After a decade of community work and two decades in leadership consulting, she helps companies develop genuinely inclusive, purpose-driven leadership. She is a business psychologist and executive coach to FTSE 100 leaders.

Rowenna Davis is a writer, teacher and community activist. She grew up in London where she got a lot of her politics from her multicultural state school in Cricklewood. She is now a councillor for her home ward of Waddon and serves as chair of scrutiny for Croydon.

Georgia is a business psychologist who is passionate about creating better alignment between business and society. Combining studies in psychology and human rights she started her career working in diversity and inclusion. She has worked for 20 years as a consultant and a coach to senior leaders globally to help them develop purpose driven teams and organisations.

Bryony is a creative freelancer, born and raised in London to first generation Ghanaian parents. She has a degree in theatrical costume and set design and has worked in the arts and entertainment industry for over 20 years. Her studies have informed her event curation, interior design and graphic design for our book, England our England.

Isabel grew up in Australia with her British born, German-Carribean mother and Singapore-born, Indian-Sri Lankan father. She’s previously explored culture through working in graphic design for six years, but has since returned to social and cultural psychology, which she studied at university in Australia.

Coupe held various roles in British retail food chains including Unilever, Tesco, Dales Discount, Asda and Iceland. He joined Sainsbury’s in 2004 as trading director and in 2007 was appointed a main board director. In 2010 he was promoted to group commercial director and has been credited with the chain’s success in e-commerce and creating the company’s ‘Brand Match’ campaign.

Jonathan Portes is a Senior Fellow of ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, a research initiative of the Economic and Social Research Council. His work focuses on immigration and labour mobility, and the economic implications of Brexit. After studying at Oxford and Princeton University, Portes began his career at HM Treasury, before serving as Chief Economist at the Department for Work and Pensions, Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office and Director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. Portes writes frequently for the national and international press. His most recent book was “What do we know about immigration”.

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today. In just over 17 years he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including the Laurence Olivier Award, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, and more.

André Lacroix is an experienced Chief Executive with a strong track record of delivering long-term growth strategies and shareholder value with global companies across multiple industries. André was previously Group Chief Executive of Inchcape PLC from 2005 to 2015 and prior to this he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Euro Disney S.C.A. From 1996 to 2003 he was the President of Burger King International, previously part of Diageo.

Paul Roseby is a broadcaster and Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. In over 10 years at the helm of the world’s leading youth theatre he has commissioned over 100 plays, pioneered the NYT REP Company and a ground-breaking international cultural exchange programme, and directed the London 2012 Team Welcome Ceremonies. Paul has also written and presented a number of shows on Radio 4 and presented TVs shows on Channel 5, UKTV and the BBC.

Andrew Cooper is founder of the London-based research and strategy company Populus, where he works with a wide range of major UK and international business clients as well as political campaigns. From 2011-2013 he was Prime Minister David Cameron’s Director of Strategy in 10 Downing Street. He is a frequent commentator on UK and global politics on broadcast media and in print, and is a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics and St Antony’s College Oxford. Since 2014 he has been a member of the House of Lords as Lord Cooper of Windrush.

Miles Hewstone is a leading social psychologist who is well known for his work on social relations. He is a former editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology, and co-founding editor of the European Review of Social Psychology. He is a past recipient of the British Psychological Society’s Spearman Medal (1987), and its Presidents’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge (2001).

Laura is a leading advocate of building a more productive and efficient economy, a promoter of greater demand production policies, placing consumers at the heart of markets, and an innovator in food policy. In 2006, Sandys was placed on the new ‘A-list’ of Conservative candidates ahead of the 2010 general election and gained the South Thanet seat from Stephen Ladyman with 48% of the popular vote. As Chair of the European Movement, Sandys played a role in campaigning to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum on EU membership.

Chaudhry enjoyed a successful international dance career in the 80s and 90s. After retiring from dancing in 1999 he completed an MA in Arts Management and co-founded Akram Khan Company. In addition, Chaudhry has been the International Creative Producer for China’s national dance icon, Yang Liping, since January 2016. He is also a witness of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged him in a list of the world’s top hundred cultural actors and entrepreneurs.

Fiona has over 25 years’ experience pioneering innovation in the highly-disrupted and competitive media sector. She was a board director of Time Inc. (UK) for 10 years, and most recently Group Managing Director of Time Inc. (UK) Lifestyle, the largest women’s media portfolio in Britain, with an audience reach of 60%. She has led some of the UK’s most visible media names including Wallpaper*, Ideal Home, Homes & Gardens, Woman & Home, Marie Claire, Woman’s Weekly, Country Life and has extensive experience across luxury, fashion & beauty, interior design, health & wellbeing, travel, food, entertainment and technology.

Ian is a Partner in Fragomen’s London office where he focuses on UK immigration, UK Government Strategies Practice and Fragomen’s Strategic Migration Forum. Before joining Fragomen, Ian spent eight years at the Home Office working on contentious migration and criminal justice policies. In January 2009, Ian took responsibility for the development and oversight of the UK’s economic migration policy. His last role as a civil servant saw him play a central role in the design and implementation of the UK’s much-debated policy placing a cap on economic migrants.

Tom Baldwin has worked as Assistant Editor of The Times and Director of Communications for the Labour Party. He is the author of Ctrl Alt Delete: how the media and politics crashed our democracy.