Rikesh Shah is a Head of Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre – IPEC at Connected Places Catapult since October 2023. Previously, Rikesh was an Open Innovation and Open Data expert at PA Consulting, and prior to that he was the Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London where he created the organisation’s first Innovation Hub, recognised as one of the best in the public sector in Europe, and he also oversaw the organisation’s world-renowned open data initiative bringing £130m worth of value per annum.

Rikesh is a guest lecturer at the Royal College of Arts and a Mobility Tech Innovator at Harvard University. He is a non-executive advisor at Cities Today, London Transport Museum and See.Sense. He also previously served on the Mayor of London’s Smart London Board, co-chaired the Data and Digital Board at the Institute of Civil Engineering.

Christopher Hammond is the Chief Executive for UK100. UK100 is a cross-party membership organisation that supports the most ambitious councils to go further and faster on their Net Zero and Clean Air targets.

Since joining in 2021, the network has doubled and launched two new ambitious programmes. The Climate Leadership Academy and Local Power in Action. In 2023, the Membership Team which he created, was shortlisted for ‘Team of the Year’ in the Edie Sustainable Leadership Awards.

Previously, Christopher served as the elected Leader of Southampton City Council from 2018-2021. During his tenure as a councillor (2013-2022), he brokered an agreement that led to the country’s first commercial Shore Power facility and devised a Green City Charter subsequently signed by 75 major city organisations. In 2020, he was shortlisted for ‘Leader of the Year’ at the LGIU Councillor Awards.

Born and raised in Dagenham in East London, Christopher was the first of his family to graduate from university. Afterwards, he worked as a race equality advocate and governance and risk manager for Nationwide Building Society. In 2018 he established an award-winning restaurant in Southampton. Christopher holds a degree from Bournemouth University, which named him its 2019 Alumni of the Year.

Richard recently joined Oxfordshire County Council leading the newly reshaped Commercial & Procurement Service. Prior to this, he worked in central government for the Government Commercial Function and in the private sector for the John Lewis Partnership, Heathrow Airport, and British Airways.

Richard is experienced in business change, having been involved in mergers and acquisitions in the private sector and leading commercial change through machinery of government restructures in central government. Richard completed his doctorate looking at implementing change which has played a significant role in shaping his approach to leading his teams and functions through significant challenges.

Sarah Cawthorne is an Assistant Director in the Competition Enforcement team within the Competition and Markets Authority. She is currently leading an investigation into conduct in the housebuilding sector, and has previously worked on a range of competition law cases involving digital and pharmaceutical markets.

Sarah joined the CMA in 2020, after completing a PhD at the University of York. She now works from the CMA’s Greater Manchester office in Salford, where she was one of the first members of staff. During her time at the CMA she has been involved in phases across the lifecycle of a regulatory investigation, including dawn raids, case launch, complex evidence reviews, issuing infringement decisions, accepting legally binding commitments, and successfully defending a CMA decision on appeal.

As the UK’s competition authority, our work makes a difference to millions of people across the UK. We help make sure that competition works for the benefit of consumers.

Competition law helps us to protect people and businesses. We investigate all sectors of the economy, from care homes and online gambling to cloud storage and major retailers.