Wales-Silicon Valley Leadership Series
Big ideas, bold leaders, and transformative connections
The Wales-Silicon Valley Leadership Series (WSVLS) is a sector-agnostic leadership bootcamp delivered by EQL Growth Partners, in collaboration with Business in Focus and Business Wales.
The WSVLS connects Welsh entrepreneurs with accomplished business leaders from the Silicon Valley technology ecosystem.
10 x Bespoke, high-impact, interactive sessions with handpicked guest speakers drawing on best practices from Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) - the world’s leading business school
1:1 mentoring and support provided to all participants
All participants join a community of ambitious Welsh business leaders eager to collaborate
Think bigger, move faster, and grow smarter
Guest Speakers for Cohort One
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Raj Tilwa
Co-Founder & CEO, Focal
Raj is the co-founder of Focal, an AI-enabled robotics company revolutionizing how we heat people – enhancing user comfort, while significantly reducing energy consumption. Prior to Focal, Raj was a management consultant at Monitor Deloitte, specializing in long term scenario planning, corporate strategy and innovation. Raj holds an MBA from Stanford, an MPA from Harvard and his BA in Economics & Biology from Emory University.
Expertise: Start Ups; Climate Tech; Fundraising -
Adam Kullick
Co-Founder, Goldcrest Productions
Adam has built and scaled businesses across the worlds of finance, film and business services. An award winning film producer, his extensive body of work includes Twilight and the Iron Lady. Having began his career on Wall Street, Adam has more recently developed expertise in automation and AI and is an investor in UK-based SMEs. Adam was recently a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Brown University.
Expertise: Portfolio careers; Financing; Automation & AI
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Alexandra Small
CEO, US Maternal Health Company
Alexandra is an Executive in Residence at Trilogy Search Partners – a US-based investment firm. In this capacity, she serves as the CEO of a maternal health company. Prior to her current role, Alexandra was the Head of Investment Products for Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Retirement Business. Alexandra holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in Economics and Global Affairs from Yale University.
Expertise: Healthcare; Strategic Management; Business Turnaround -
Dan Oakes
Founder, StartUp Sales Consulting
Dan helps B2B founders with go-to-market advisory and scaling beyond founder-led sales to build a repeatable sales process. Previously he was the first employee & founding account executive at Arc, a venture backed fintech and was the head of sales at Trunk Tools, an AI platform for the construction industry. Dan earned his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Expertise: Sales Leadership; Revenue Operations; Go-To-Market Strategy -
Ian Taylor
Ecosystem & Platform, Sequoia Capital
From Wales, Ian leads Ecosystem & Platform Analytics at Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s most successful venture capital funds. Prior to joining Sequoia, Ian specialized in pre-seed and seed investing at Pear VC and before that he led fundraising at British Patient Capital. Ian studied Mechanical Engineering at Durham University and UC Berkeley and was a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB).
Expertise: StartUp Growth; Venture Investing; Fundraising -
Noam Gerstein
Founder & CEO, Bina School
Noam Gerstein is the founder & CEO of Bina School - the world’s first fully online primary school. Bina School supports hundreds of children and families across 37 countries. Prior to Bina, Noam was a digital nomad and angel investor, following a successful exit from an events management business she founded in her twenties. Now based in Berlin, Noam leads a global, fully remote team working to revolutionize primary education at scale.
Expertise: StartUp Growth; Angel Investing; Remote Work; Building for the future; Fundraising
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Rayce Coyne
Founder & CEO, Hedgehog
Rayce Coyne, an Oklahoma native, is the CEO of Hedgehog, a fintech company set up to enable banks to manage risk and maintain solvency. She is the former CTO of Texas Exchange Bank. With an MBA from Stanford GSB, she brings deep expertise in financial technology, banking, and innovation, driving transformative solutions in the industry.
Expertise: Start Ups; Banking; Fintech; Product development; Selling to large enterprises -
Tiffany Teng
You.com, Stanford & WealthMore
Tiffany is a versatile B2B product marketing and go-to-market strategist with a strong background in teaching, advising, and leadership. Currently working at You.com and teaching mindful management at Stanford, Tiffany blends expertise in cognitive neuroscience, conflict resolution, and entrepreneurship. She has extensive experience across product development, sales operations, and financial strategy with a focus on democratizing financial services.
Expertise: Strategic Management; Product Development; Business Growth
Imagine what your team could gain from direct access to Silicon Valley business leaders and Stanford entrepreneurs.
Featured Alumni
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Matthew Davies
The Social Work Way
The Social Work Way is an innovative app supporting safeguarding professionals with tools, resources, and streamlined workflows. From direct work tools to referral management and learning logs, it empowers social workers, teachers, and carers to save time, enhance practice, and prioritise well-being while achieving better outcomes for families and service users.
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Sarah Day
Practice Solutions
Practice Solutions is a Welsh consultancy specialising in public services. Evolving from social care, we now focus on health, local government, and the wider public sector, driven by leadership, collaboration and digital innovation. Our skilled team and associates aim to enhance public service, focusing on improving outcomes for people and communities.
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Ky Wright
BIOVIT
BIOVIT, with £1.5m in Innovate UK R&D funding support, is developing the world’s first AI powered personalised nutrition system to identify an individual’s micronutrient needs and micronutrient-metabolism-type and formulate a personalised nutrition product accordingly.
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Nick Salini
Thermal Earth
Thermal Earth is a supplier, distributor and installer of renewable heating and cooling systems for all types of buildings. We work with partners and stakeholders across the country designing and developing turnkey systems for all types of projects from heating our homes to process heating, cooling and heat recover for industry.
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Emma Eynon
Fantom Factory
Fantom Factory helps people to meet their environmental goals in the digital world. They support organisations around the world with "green tech" assistance, through the medium of data analytics and custom web software development. Through their education channels and open-source software support projects, Fantom Factory empowers people with the skills and knowledge to take positive action for themselves too.
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Owain James
Darogan
Darogan Talent is Wales’ hub for graduate talent, connecting high potential young people with trajectory-altering career opportunities across Wales. Through the Darogan digital platform, bespoke events, tailored recruitment and consultancy, Darogan is the ideal early career talent partner.
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Ross McKenzie
Open Moove
Open Moove is revolutionising the way home movers and property professionals interact. With a mission to transform the moving journey, Open Moove delivers innovative solutions that streamline the home moving process for estate agents, mortgage advisors, and conveyancers.
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Mark Truman
Arc
Arc manufactures the world’s most coveted electric motorcycles. Moving beyond the vehicles themselves, Arc creates new technologies that promote two-wheeled transportation by enhancing the experience and making it safer.
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Toby Cameron
On Par Productions
On Par Productions, a Cardiff-based, award-winning video production company, delivers high-impact content across arts, health, education, and public messaging. With accolades like a BAFTA for Born Deaf, Raised Hearing, we are exploring innovative opportunities in AI-driven content creation and online distribution strategies to push the boundaries of storytelling and audience engagement.
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Steven McLinden
iTrack PPE
iTrack PPE Limited is a leading provider of innovative asset and personal protective equipment (PPE) management solutions, utilising advanced RFID and QR tag technologies. Our platform streamlines inventory tracking, compliance, and operational efficiency, empowering organisations to enhance safety, reduce costs, and achieve seamless integration within diverse industrial and operational environments.
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Alex Ross
Circular Resource Specialists
Circular is a waste and resource management consultancy, focused on how technology and data can support the sector. Circular is currently developing an innovative process and app to realise environmental and cost savings for businesses.
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Dale Parry
Quadzu
Quadzu develops a Workforce Management Platform that streamlines the recruitment and labour management process and automates the process of managing candidates by tracking their progress through different stages of the recruitment life-cycle to help recruiters maintain engagement and build long-term relationships.