Meet the superstars of Sage Summit

Sage inspires the success of businesses and their communities around the world through the use of intelligent technology and the imagination of our people.

We’ve invited inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders of businesses to tell you their stories. There’s nothing like hearing from the experts live and in person.

Martha Lane Fox – @Marthalanefox

British businesswoman, philanthropist, and public servant
An inspirational dot.com driving force and entrepreneur, Martha Lane Fox CBE is passionate about promoting the need for skills and understanding of the digital world in all parts of the UK economy.

Martha co-founded lastminute.com in the dotcom boom, and later Lucky Voice, revolutionising the karaoke industry. In 2016 Martha became a board member of Twitter. As founder and executive chair of Doteveryone.org.uk – an organisation helping to rebuild Britain for the networked age – she is currently fighting for a fairer internet for all. Martha joined the UK House of Lords as a crossbencher in 2013, becoming its youngest female member. She was also appointed as Chancellor of the Open University in 2014.

Kelly Hoppen MBE – @kellyhoppen

Award-winning Interior Designer and ex Dragon’s Den Investor

Kelly Hoppen is an award-winning internationally known interior designer and ex investor on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. Her self-made business covers everything from fitting out private yachts to licensing her brand to fabrics, paint and wallpaper companies.

With 40 years experience in business, Kelly has built her brand and business from nothing to world-wide success.

The Kelly Hoppen brand brings her style to a wide range of home furnishings and products whilst continuing to offer exclusive, bespoke design to commercial clients all over the world.

Kelly speaks about her passion for creativity and design and the challenges of building her brand and business.

Jamal Edwards MBE – @jamaledwards

CEO SBTV, digital entrepreneur

Jamal Edwards established the online music platform SBTV when he was 15 years old by filming and uploading videos to YouTube of his friends rapping. Since then he’s grown SBTV into a renowned brand with global reach.

Number 2 on The Guardian’s 2014 list of top young people in digital media, Jamal was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2015. He’s also a best-selling author.

Responsible for documenting the rise of a new breed of video stars, SBTV, the first new media business on YouTube, today has a subscriber base of over 830,057 with over 489,435,099 million views.

Deborah Meaden – @DeborahMeaden

UK entrepreneur and TV Dragon

Destined to be a successful entrepreneur, Deborah Meaden launched her first business straight out of college, before setting up one of the first ‘Stefanel’ fashion franchises in the UK. With several businesses in the leisure and retail sector under her belt she became Managing Director of Westar Holidays overseeing its expansion from one to five holiday parks and leading a management buyout.

Perhaps best known for her appearances on the BBC series ‘Dragons Den’, Deborah joined the panel of investors for series three and has since invested in more than thirty businesses, from market research to online antiques valuations. Passionate about the environment Deborah is a Fellow of the WWF, a Trustee for Tusk Trust and has invested in a number of ‘sustainable’ businesses. Deborah is an Ambassador for Lend with Care, The Roundhouse, and a Fellow with the RSA.

Sahar Hashemi OBE – @saharhas

Entrepreneur

Sahar Hashemi founded Coffee Republic in 1995 and built it into one of the UK’s most recognised high street brands. In 2005 she founded Skinny Candy, a brand of sugar free sweets labelled hip by Vogue magazine.

The author of two best sellers on entrepreneurship, Sahar was awarded an OBE for services to the UK in 2012. She is a LinkedIn Influencer, a member of Secretary of State’s Entrepreneurs Forum, and was listed on the Maserati 100.

Sahar is currently actively involved in the roll-out of Change Please, a social enterprise that trains and hires homeless people to run coffee carts.

Nick Goode – @nickgoode

EVP, Product Management, Sage

Nick leads product management for Sage. He’s been in the software industry for over 20 years working globally on bots, cloud, mobile and enterprise B2B products. He’s passionate about leadership, digital engagement, innovation and customer success.

Outside work, Nick is crazy about sports and well-being; he lives on a farm in Cheshire with his wife, children and horses.

Alan Laing – @AlanLaing1

EVP, Partners and Alliances, Sage

Alan joined Sage in 2015 as the Executive Vice President for Partners and Alliances responsible for Sage’s indirect business worldwide. Alan has more than 30 years’ experience working in the technology industry in Digital Equipment Corporation, Oracle and Avaya.

Alan also held the positions of CEO of the CMS supplier Mediasurface, and GM of Portal Software, one of the first ISPs in the San Francisco bay area.

Jennifer Warawa – @jenniferwarawa

EVP, Product Marketing, Sage

Jennifer Warawa has been with Sage for over nine years and leads product marketing, based in Sage’s Atlanta, USA office. Prior to working with Sage, Jennifer owned an accounting and consulting firm in Kelowna, Canada.

Jennifer is passionate about helping others reach their full potential and outside of work, she loves mentoring youth and is an active foster parent.

We look forward to seeing you at Sage Summit.