Cindy Nadesan MCIPS. MBA. BCom

Contract & Supply Manager I Contract & Supply Team I Procurement, Surrey County Council

Cindy works as a Contract & Supply Manager for Orbis, one of the largest public sector shared services in the UK. Working on projects across Surrey, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Councils she has successfully implemented an award–winning Social Value strategy for the Orbis partners.

More recently she has also taken up an advisory role to Central Government, working as a Social Value Specialist for the Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport. Her role involves working with the Cabinet Office, Crown Commercial Services and the NHS to implement the Civil Society Strategy. Cindy is a member of the National Social Value Taskforce and the LGA Innovation Network and regularly contributes to research and publications on social value and innovation in procurement.

Prior to joining Surrey County Council in 2013 she worked in Ireland, India and South Africa within Retail, Security, Training & Development and Sustainability. Cindy recently completed her MCIPS, she has also qualified as an Advanced Practitioner through the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management and holds a Master’s in Business (National University of Ireland, Galway) and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree specialising in Management (University of South Africa)

Ben Carpenter

Chief Executive, Social Value

Ben Carpenter is the chief executive of Social Value UK and Social Value International leading a global network of practitioners to develop principles and standards for social value accounting.

Ben is part of the National Social Value Taskforce and the British Standards Industry committee for Social Value. Prior to becoming CEO, Ben was Social Value UK’s Operations Manager developing the international membership, the assurance and accreditation services and led on projects with the OECD, World Economic Forum, Impact Management Project and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Ben’s background in homelessness, social housing and the built environment, affords him experience that spans sectors and an in-depth knowledge of Social Value accounting.

Chris Hobson

Director of Policy and External Affairs, East Midlands Chamber of Commerce

Chris is Director of Policy and External Affairs at the Chamber, leading the information and representation teams, with responsibility for all work areas relating to the development of Chamber policy and lobbying activity.

He has a background working in policy in both the private and public sectors, at local, regional and national levels with a range of stakeholders and building effective partnerships.

In his previous role he was Lead Manager for the National Housing Federation in the East Midlands, representing the organisation’s and members’ interests at a national level.

Kevin O’Malley

Innovation Lead/ SBRI Lead Customer in the Clean Growth and Infrastructure Directorate, Innovate UK

Kevin is Innovation Lead/ SBRI Lead Customer in the Clean Growth and Infrastructure Directorate at Innovate UK and is responsible for managing internal and external relationships, technology strategy and delivery with partners across central and local government, with the aim of boosting procurement-led innovation and growth in Cities