Facilitators

Naomi Timperley

Naomi is Co-Founder of Tech North Advocates and GSI. She is proud to be in the top 50 Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Naomi is an experienced growth and innovation consultant with established relationships across the UK. She has extensive experience working with start-ups and growth businesses particularly in the tech, digital and creative sectors. Naomi has been a mentor for 8 years and mentored several hundred businesses. She is an Honorary Industry Fellow at the University of Salford Business School and chair of the Industry Advisory Board. Naomi also sits on the board of charity Digital Inc and social Enterpise PIE. She was previously Chair of Future Everything and Capital Pilot. 

Duncan Lewis

Duncan owns and runs his business Eaglei. Duncan supports individuals and organisations, building and inspiring confidence in all his clients as a Communications Trainer. With extensive experience in the private, public and third sectors, Duncan works all around the UK, but predominantly with businesses and in education across Yorkshire. Eaglei offer one day training workshops sessions including: Communication and Presentation Skills, Public Speaking and Personal Impact, while Duncan also provides coaching for individuals on personal development. Duncan augmented his knowledge base by studying an MA in Leadership and Management, graduating in 2013. Duncan has recently written his debut book Speak Out! donating some proceeds to The Prince’s Trust where he is a longstanding volunteer Mentor and Trainer. 

Margaret Bradshaw

Margaret originates from Bedford and studied Hotel and Catering Operations at Barnfield College in Luton.  After leaving college she secured a role at a leading country house hotel in the Cotswold’s where she quickly learnt about the realities of working in a hospitality environment and dealt with a range of interesting challenges.  A year in, she was offered a post at Scotch Corner Hotel and moved North!  After catering, Margaret moved into recruitment, working for a national company and then took a role as a sales executive for a radio station.  Her final employed move was to a regional firm of accountants where she established a marketing department and grew that over 19 years before establishing her own business all about the power of a marketing plan. 

Michelle Cowan

Having left the corporate world in 2017, Michelle now has a portfolio of businesses and business interests. Michelle is MD and Co-founder of Justo Software, the home of socialsendr, an app that automatically creates, schedules and posts social media content so you do not have to – Michelle refers to this as her passion project. She is also Growth Strategy Consultant at Justo Associates delivering a company wide strategy and plan for growth within the sales function of a business or organisation. Within Justo Associates Michelle holds two Non-Executive Director roles, one with Torchbearer Interactive Ltd, the other with Santini 7. Alongside this Michelle is a Mentor on two different programmes for Huddersfield University and Leeds Beckett University.

Michelle co-hosted the Two Northern Lasses podcast with Jayne Adamson and continues to share her podcasting skills and knowledge with others to help them make their podcasts a success.