Debbie Staveley is a PR professional specialising in financial services, property and construction. Her background includes working in-house at RBS, Bristol & West/Bank of Ireland and a top-75 law firm, establishing both internal and external communication functions.

In 2005, Debbie founded bClear Communications, now one of the most well-respected public relations agencies in the financial services sphere, working throughout the UK. The team at bClear is well known for achieving results and has an outstanding track record of generating extensive media coverage for its clients in both trade and national press.

Debbie can be contacted at: [email protected] or on 01275 542511

Jeff Knight is Director of the Mortgage Marketing Forum and a leading industry marketing and propositions expert. Jeff has been in the mortgage market since 1997 and held a number of senior positions within lenders. He is passionate about the mortgage market and marketing.

Mike has been the Event Director of the successful MBE series of events since 2010 and has over 30 years of experience in events with an unrivalled knowledge of the b2b, b2c and consumer markets.

He has been involved in a wide range of projects from new launches through to turnaround strategies on events, conferences and publications.

Dr Yi Wu is a Lecturer in Real Estate Economics, specialising in housing economics and corporate finance. Dr Wu joined Henley Business School from Cass Business School as Lecturer in Real Estate. Dr Wu spent time as a visiting scholar at the University of San Diego and the National University of Singapore and worked for Yuexiu, a Hong Kong based real estate investment trust and CHER AMI Investment Group, a Guangzhou based private fund.

Dr Wu was appointed as the chair of the Society of Property Researchers (SPR) and chair of RED Foundation Data Research & Academia Steering Group in 2023, co-chair of Global Women in Society in 2022. She has good connections with the real estate industry, including Knight Frank, Co-Star, CBRE, JLL, MSCI, and BNP Paribas Real Estate. She works with various business organizations in shaping big data strategies in business decision.

Sabinder is Director of Operations at Avamore Capital. Having originally joined the firm in April 2018 as Marketing Coordinator, Sabinder has been key in the growth of the business, driving core strategies to build Avamore’s brand in the market and leading on operational changes to implement business efficiencies. She is involved in a cross section of the company and works particularly closely with the management team to drive improvements with the aim to create an outstanding customer experience. Sabinder is leading Avamore’s technology improvements, having delivered a brand-new calculator in 2022 and is currently implementing a new platform for use across the business. More recently, Sabinder has expanded her role to drive Avamore’s ESG initiative, developing strong foundations across all three aspects to future proof the business. Outside of Avamore, Sabinder is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Association of Short-Term Lenders and is particularly focused on driving connectivity and adding value to the wider sector.

Paul is Managing Director of Square 1 Media, a leading PR and marketing communications agency. Paul has worked in marketing within the financial services and property sectors in a career spanning over 25 years. Since 2001, he has held Head of or Marketing Director roles in businesses like Platform (the intermediary lender of Co-op), Lehman Brothers and Countrywide.

An Assistant Professor in Real Estate Economics and Finance at UCL’s Bartlett Real Estate Institute, in London. He wrote his PhD at University of Groningen and worked as a postdoc at Maastricht University, both in the Netherlands.

His research aims at understanding how the built environment affects us; it deals with topics that fall at the intersection of real estate, urban, environmental, and health economics. His current projects range from studying externalities in housing markets to the impact of poor indoor air quality.

Following a career with the Royal Bank of Scotland, in 2005 Adam took over the running of a Financial Trade Association responsible for 1600 Commercial Finance Brokers and 150 UK lenders to business. During that period, he oversaw lending to SME’s of around £100 billion. In addition, he also had the chance to help shape and influence some of the new UK business lenders that came to market following the financial crisis.  

Adam is now Consultant to the Financial Intermediary and Broker Association, a Director of Intermediaries at Black and White Bridging and a Director of the Genesis Initiative, helping small businesses across the country gain better access to finance as well as helping small businesses find that all important funding they need to grow their business. 

Faith Locken is the Founder & CEO of We Rise In, an award winning business network whose mission is to inspire, elevate, and develop the careers of black professionals whilst promoting inclusion, equity, and diversity in corporate industries. We Rise In provides its members who are mid-senior level black professionals with a platform and community of like minded people with whom they can connect and do business. We Rise In also works with corporates to address and improve the lack of diversity at senior levels within the industry via inclusion workshops and reverse mentoring programmes.  

We Rise In’s clients include real estate consultancies Montagu Evans LLP and Jones Lang LaSalle, and commercial real estate developer Derwent London Plc. We Rise In also provides mentorship and leadership programmes that help mid-senior level black professionals hone the tools and skill sets they need to achieve positions of seniority in their career.