Francesca Ayers founded consultancy Get Serious to help clients win more bids. She and the team work with the brightest and best Professional Services & Property Firms on their most challenging pursuits and bids. Advising on live tender and framework opportunities across private and public sectors. How? From leading the whole project to proposition development, writing, presentation coaching and advising on commercial strategy. We dovetail with client teams and push them out of their comfort zones. Real insights and hard graft built on Big Four experience. Whatever is needed to get to the win! And after the deadline and debrief, clients often ask us to look at their bid strategy, pipeline management and training. We’re delighted to help them Get Serious about their BD. In fact, this year we celebrate 10 years at the sharp end.

Julie Berry joined Saffery in September 2018 as the IT Partner, before transitioning to the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2022. Julie is responsible for leading and developing the Support Services Group from a client service, operational and strategic perspective. Julie’s other responsibilities include supporting and assisting change programmes and being the Chair of the Management Board. Prior to joining Saffery, Julie’s professional career was within the legal sector. Julie was the IT Director at RPC for over 20 years, the role also being a member of the firm’s Management Board. Julie brings over 30 years’ experience in leadership and management within professional services.

Lee Curtis helps professional services firms turn expertise into predictable, scalable revenue. A former law firm insider, Lee works at the intersection of commercial strategy, behaviour change and agentic AI. His focus is on building repeatable growth systems that shorten sales cycles, improve client intelligence and convert insight trapped in people’s heads into commercial output. Much of Lee’s work is about fixing what firms quietly tolerate. Most firms are not short of capability or ambition, but of connected intelligence. Origination, pipeline and client insight sit in silos across partners, teams and systems, leaking opportunity every day. Lee designs frameworks and technology that surface that intelligence, create clarity around ownership and turn intent into action. Through LINAR Consulting, he works with UK and international law firms to embed human sales disciplines that change behaviour. Through Legal Engine, he builds agentic AI tools that automate and augment business development at scale.

Peter Gallanagh is the Azets UK&I CEO and is responsible for leading the strategic direction and growth of the UK&I business. His role involves overseeing operations, driving business performance, and ensuring the firm remains a trusted partner for clients. This includes fostering a strong people-focused culture, advancing digital innovation, and positioning Azets for long-term success in the marketplace. Before becoming UK&I CEO, Peter held several senior leadership roles including Regional CEO for the UK North Region and Regional Managing Partner. He joined Azets through acquisition, having been part of the partner group who sold Campbell Dallas to Azets in 2017. Peter is a keen sportsman and football supporter.

Tom Green is a Partner in the Business Services sector team at Inflexion. He led the take-private of DWF Plc, a multinational law firm and co-led minority investments into Baker-Tilly Netherlands in the accountancy space and Easyfairs, a multinational exhibitions organiser. He also led the growth strategy and exit of Inflexion’s investment into Chambers & Partners, a legal information services business. Prior to joining Inflexion Tom was Corporate Development Director for CPA Global, a legal services outsourcer where he acquired legal services and technology companies across Europe and the US.

Julia Hayhoe is an independent Chair, INED and board advisor focused on value creation and sustainable growth in ambitious professional and financial services firms, including partnership and private-equity-backed businesses. Her current portfolio includes Chair of Rouse (IP services, minority-backed by MML Capital), INED at Lockton LLP (insurance brokerage), and INED at Knight Frank (property). She previously served on the board of Specialist Risk Group, supporting the CEO, management team and investors through a full PE lifecycle to a successful exit to Warburg Pincus and Temasek. Julia also serves on the advisory board for The Centre for Professional Services Research and the Global Advisory Board for The Institute for Corporate Governance. Earlier in her career, Julia spent 12 years on the London and Global Boards of Baker McKenzie as Chief Strategy Officer, following 8 years as an equity partner in a strategy firm (later sold to Thomson Reuters), having spent 4 years in the US, and beginning her career as a lawyer.

Rachel Holmes is responsible for the overall management of Matrix, a leading barristers’ chambers with offices in London, Geneva, and Brussels. As CEO, she leads Matrix’s strategic direction and has a strong track record in overseeing organisational change, delivering successful IT transformations, and managing complex, multidisciplinary teams. Her role also encompasses senior client relationship management and leadership on inclusion and diversity initiatives. Rachel joined Matrix in 2018. Prior to this, she held senior leadership roles including CEO of 7BR, Director of Marketing at BPP, and Commercial Director at EF Education Ltd, building extensive experience across professional services and education sectors. Rachel brings significant board-level experience. She previously served as Chair of the Legal Practice Management Association and currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Managing Partners’ Forum.

Ben Kent is the founder of Meridian West. Together with his other directors he sets the overall vision and strategy for the business. Ben has three decades of experience in client insight and consultancy. He develops client feedback, market strategy and thought leadership programmes. He has long established relationships with many of the world’s leading professional, financial and B2B firms including PwC, KPMG, Grant Thornton, Hogan Lovells, Herbert Smith Freehills, Intertrust, and ERM. Ben publishes widely. Ben is a co-author of Professional Services Marketing Handbook, and Professional Services Leadership Handbook. He also regularly presents at conferences. Prior to working in consultancy, Ben was a corporate lawyer at Freshfields.

Sir Nigel Knowles was, until July 2025, Group CEO of DWF. He held this role from May 2020, having previously served as Chairman from September 2017.  His career with DWF continues in the role of Senior Adviser.   Prior to his time with DWF, he spent more than 38 years at DLA Piper in a number of senior roles, including Global Chairman and CEO. Sir Nigel received a knighthood in 2009 in recognition of his services to the legal industry. In 2015, he was awarded the Legal Business “Outstanding Individual Achievement Award” and in 2016 the Financial News “Editor’s Choice” award. He was also High Sheriff of Greater London 2016/17.   In 2025, Sir Nigel was recognised by the Financial Times’ as one of the Top 20 Law Firm Leaders of the last two decades.

Richard Mayers is the Managing Partner of the Partnership Strategy Fund at MML Capital, a leading mid-market multi-strategy PE fund. MML recently raised their latest (#8 – €1 bn) flagship Partnership Strategy fund to continue MML’s successful and long-standing focus on minority investing, supporting talented founders and management teams to achieve fantastic outcomes. Richard began his career over 25 years ago within advisory at Arthur Andersen, before visiting E&Y, Goldman Sachs and NAB on his way to MML almost 15 years ago. Richard leads the Partnership investment activity at MML and currently sits, amongst others, on the Board of Rouse, a leading global specialist IP services firm and TMC, a pan-European engineering R&D consulting firm.”

Ruxandra Radulescu brings a neuroscience trained lens to leadership, with a focus on attention, stress, and decision quality. Within works with leaders in professional services and other complex sectors where reputation shapes client demand, talent decisions, and the licence to operate. Within operates through two connected teams. The advisory team works with senior leadership to clarify what is driving behaviour inside the organisation and what the market is responding to. The creative team turns that clarity into execution: brand strategy, narrative and messaging, identity systems, campaigns, and experience design. The aim is consistency from leadership decisions through to the moments clients and candidates actually experience. Ruxandra has a master’s in applied neuroscience from King’s College London. She brings that training into the advisory practice, translating behavioural science into practical methods for attention, stress regulation, and decision quality. She has also developed an executive coaching programme that uses EEG as a feedback tool, helping leaders build self-awareness and emotional regulation through measurable, repeatable practice.

As CEO of Murgitroyd, one of Europe’s leading intellectual property firms, Gordon Stark is focused on helping innovationled companies protect the ideas that shape tomorrow and turn them into commercial advantage. He leads a panEuropean team of over 350, bringing clarity, technical depth and commercial insight to clients across the full IP lifecycle. Under his direction, Murgitroyd has been recognised as a Deloitte UK Best Managed Business and continues to expand its global reputation for excellence across patents, trade marks and strategic IP advisory. In 2025, Gordon was a CEO of the Year finalist at the British Business Awards, a nominee for the Vistage Leadership and Lifetime Achievement Awards, and serves on the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council. He is known for championing collaborative leadership, empowering teams and building a culture where innovation and commercial impact go hand-in-hand.

Sonam Verma is a Senior Relationship Director on the Business and Professional Services team at Barclays. She has worked with a wide range of firms in the sector for over ten years, and currently focuses on the top end of the legal and accounting sectors, specifically supporting firms with funding and treasury management. In addition to this, Sonam has a leading role in managing the bank’s strategy around Partner Capital lending.

Jeff Zindani is the founder of a specialist M&A advisory firm focused on law firms. He brings more than 30 years’ experience in the legal sector, having previously been an equity partner at Russell Jones & Walker, now Slater & Gordon. He advises a broad range of practices—from national and City firms to SME and boutique firms—on acquisition strategies and exit planning. He also advises a wide spectrum of external investors, from private equity houses to family offices, seeking exposure to the legal sector. He acts on both the buy-side and the sell-side and has built an impressive client base across the legal market. Jeff is known for facilitating complex deals and providing clear, commercially grounded advice for firms looking to merge, acquire, or reshape their operations. He hosts Leading the Deal, the only dedicated M&A podcast series for law firms and has recently launched a data-driven M&A intelligence service. A frequent contributor to the legal press, he writes extensively on M&A trends and law-firm culture.