Hilary is an internationally acclaimed social entrepreneur, recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and named UK Designer of the Year in 2005. Prior to founding Participle, Hilary was a director of the Design Council where she started the Design Council’s public service work and led the RED team, developing ground breaking projects in health, education, transport and citizenship. Before joining the Design Council Hilary founded and directed School Works Ltd, a secondary school design initiative set up to look at the connections between learning and the built environment. Before this Hilary spent 12 years working internationally, latterly as an urban poverty specialist at the World Bank, based in Washington D.C.

Hugo is an acclaimed entrepreneur. Before setting up Participle with the other partners, Hugo was a director at NESTA (The National Endowment for Science Technology at the Arts) where he founded the Creative Pioneer Programme, a national seed fund for new business models in the Creative Industries. Before this Hugo co-founded Oyster Partners (now LBi), the UK’s largest digital communications consultancy, and grew the company from 3 to 350 people. In the early 1990s he co-founded Method Five, a pioneering web-based design agency in New York.

Sir Michael Lyons is Chairman of Participle Ltd. He is also Chairman of the English Cities Fund, Your TV Ltd and a non-executive director of Wragge & Co and SQW Ltd. He was Chairman of the BBC Trust until April 2011 and led the Lyons Inquiry into the functions and funding of local government (published March 2007). Sir Michael was knighted in 2000 for services to local government after serving for 17 years as the Chief Executive of three major local authorities: Birmingham City Council (1994-2001); Nottinghamshire County Council (1990-1994) and Wolverhampton Borough Council (1985-1990). He is a former Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman of the Audit Commission (2003 to 2006) and was Professor of Public Policy at Birmingham University (2001 to 2006). He has also chaired or been a member of a number of public sector bodies and working groups.

Charles Leadbeater, one of Participle's co-founders, advises companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation strategy. His bestselling book, We think – The Power of Mass Creativity, foreshadowed  the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation. One of the first to chart the rise of social entrepreneurship, Charles has written widely on social innovation and public service reform, from new approaches to care at the end of life to radically different forms of education. He has given two TED talks on innovation, the latest on the lessons to be learned from social entrepreneurs working in extreme conditions which can be found here. A past winner of the prestigious David Watt prize for journalism and ranked by Accenture as one of the leading management thinkers in the world, his current work focusses on high impact social innovation in education and health around the world.

Nigel Jones is a biochemist turned lawyer, with a keen interest in health and social care policy and strategy. He has over 25 years’ experience of assisting organisations in the healthcare sector address some of their most complex challenges. He is the founder and co-head of healthcare at leading international law firm, Linklaters LLP, where he has spent the whole of his legal career to-date. His clients include leading pharmaceutical, medical tech and healthcare services companies, as well as investment banks, private equity houses, charities and social enterprises involved in health and social care.

Tarrant is Participle's Operations Director where he oversees the day-to-day running of the business. Previously Tarrant worked in the media where he started in the independent production sector, before joining the BBC. While at the BBC he was responsible for the set up and launch in 2002 of the new digital radio station, 1Xtra. Following this successful launch Tarrant moved to become Managing Editor of BBC Radio 1 before then joining Participle in January 2012.

Cath Dillon joined Participle as Enterprise Director in January 2012, initially focussing on developing the network of Circles. Previously Cath worked for over 20 years in a wide range of leadership roles across the voluntary and community sector including Action for Children and Macmillan Cancer Support as well as locally with Community Links in East London, Citizen’s Advice and Women’s Aid in West Yorkshire. Cath completed a MSc in Voluntary Sector Management in 2006 from City University, London having originally graduated with a BA (Hons) in Applied Social Studies.

Daniel is responsible for leading Participles enterprises from prototype stage to national scale. He joined in 2008 to lead the work in 'Ageing', first launching Southwark Circle and then scaling the Circle Network as Managing Director. He is currently focusing on Employability and launching Participle’s newest social enterprise, Backr. He has spent the better part of the past decade developing and growing social ventures. Daniel's first venture was based in Buenos Aires, where he was one of the founding Directors of HelpArgentina, a pioneering online giving marketplace that connects donors and volunteers to high-impact Argentine social organizations. Daniel received an MBA from Oxford University's Said Business School, where he concentrated on social enterprise design.

Jennie leads Participle’s design approach and is a founding member of Participle. She combines design methods and thinking with policy and enterprise to develop Participle’s innovative solutions. Previously Jennie was Senior Design Strategist for RED at the UK Design Council. As part of an interdisciplinary team of designers, social scientists and economists she developed a methodology for designing with end users and front-line workers to create new public services and delivery models. Prior to Participle she was project lead for Service Design agency live|work, where she worked to develop the core innovation methodology for Primary Care Trusts. Jennie’s background is in product design and psychology and her work has won awards from the D&AD, the RSA, Germany’s Red Dot and the Australian Design Association. Jennie has worked for design groups in the UK, India, Australia and France.

Pauline is Participle’s accountant and works as part of the core team providing financial expertise to all of the Participle projects and enterprises. She studied Biological Sciences at Edinburgh University and then qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young. She started her career in the commercial sector but has spent the past 13 years working in the not-for-profit sector, including six years as Finance Director of the Roundhouse in Camden, and has significant experience of building and developing finance functions in fast growing and changing organisations.

Vicky-Marie joined Participle in 2012 and provides assistance to the Partners and helps ensure the smooth running of Participle's day to day life. Vicky-Marie previously worked for East Devon District Council, prior to this she has worked at EDF Energy managing major business accounts and was a Teaching Assistant for GCSE students. She is a graduate from the University of Reading in Politics and International Relations.

Andrea works across all Participle projects and enterprises, telling their story and giving them a visual voice and consistency, including designing interactions and engaging journeys for Participle’s online user platforms. Andrea worked for six years at the City of Boston, Massachusetts, branding small businesses and citywide programs in collaboration with architects, city planners, politicians, community leaders, and SMEs to help revitalize neighbourhood districts. Andrea completed an MA in Creative Practice for Narrative Environments at
Central Saint Martins, where she worked on projects for the Royal Festival Hall, Central Saint Martins, Ralph Appelbaum Associates and Selfridges. Her graduate thesis, A Table of Two Cities, was shown at the London Design Festival 2009.

Be studied Fine Art and Art History and, following graduation, spent 5 years as an artist in Cambridge selling her work through galleries and commissions. She took a Post Graduate course in delivering workshops and classes based around her work. Before joining Participle Be worked in the graphics and fashion industries providing support and running departments.

Rachel is responsible for the delivery of our Life Programmes throughout the UK, alongside our local authority partners. Rachel’s career has spanned the public and voluntary sectors and for the past several years she has worked within social services, setting up and developing new and innovative support services for children and families. Rachel has a degree in Social Anthropology, a Graduate Diploma in Psychology and is currently completing an MA in Child Development.

Amanda leads the development and implementation of our social impact measurement across all Participle projects and enterprises. She joined in 2012 while finishing her MBA at the University of Oxford Said Business School. However, Amanda began her career as an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. During her time there, she was a mission operations engineer for the GRAIL space mission (http://www.nasa.gov/grail/). She combines her unique set of analytical, operations, and business skills to design new business operations that feed into Participle's measures. Her work helps Participle identify its progress, improve its service delivery, and inform its members and staff of their achievements.

Emma joined Participle as a designer and played a core role in the design and development of Circle, Participle's first enterprise. She is experienced in both the design of new public services as well as implementing them into fully functioning enterprises. As part of the team that developed and tested Circle in its infancy, she then joined the start-up team at Southwark Circle to make the concept a reality. Emma previously worked in the Design and Architecture department in the British Councils’ Arts team where she led the tour of exhibitions across Asia and has won an RSA Award.

Kate joined Participle in 2009 as a design intern alongside her studies in Information Design at the London College of Communication. During her time with Participle, she has moved between design and research roles that have included mapping the UK benefits system, scoping for the ever-growing Circle movement and researching the effects of people’s social networks. Kate joined Participle full time after graduating in 2011 and currently works on our Social Health designing new kinds of support for living well. She continues to offer graphic support to visualise new service prototypes and bringing ideas to life.

Obie joined Participle after graduating from the London College of Communication with a First Class Honours in Design for Graphic Communication. Obie is helping to prototype ideas, mock-up communication materials, deliver co-design sessions and partake in out-reach work for Social Health and Employability. She is also an Associate Lecturer for the University of the Arts London; has previously worked as a Communication Assistant for Uscreates and mentored teenagers with TimeOut London/Trashed.

Busayo works on Participle’s Social Health project building community links, running prototypes and helping to shape the project. Busayo previously worked for the British Council and on a number of youth projects where he was a trained peer facilitator; he worked in youth clubs where he often delivered workshops on numerous different topics and is a graduate from the University of Surrey were he studied Politics and International Studies.

Gerlinde works with Participle to formulate sustainable business models for the various projects. She has had a breadth of experience stretching from structured & project financing (BNP Paribas, CBA) to strategic consulting (McKinsey) and project implementation (Orange, Yahoo!). Currently, she is also working on a start-up business, Zuztertu, that delivers education via mobile platforms. Gerlinde has a MBA from Harvard Business School and a B. Com (Hons) plus University Medal from the University of New South Wales.

Anna works with Participle on enterprise development. Anna graduated from Said Business School, Oxford University in 2009, where she was awarded a scholarship from the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Anna’s MBA focused particularly on enterprise design and strategy, social finance, marketing and design-thinking. Anna also holds an MA in Social Anthropology and Development from the University of Edinburgh and a Post Graduate Certificate in Print Journalism from the London College of Communication. From 1999-2008 Anna co-founded and managed PhotoVoice, an award-winning, international, non-profit organisation

Sridhar works with Participle to develop measurement frameworks across the various projects and enterprises. Sridhar has been at the forefront of health ethics and global health for over twenty years. He has worked as a consultant for a range of international organizations including the Open Society Institute, the Population Council, and Doctors of the World-USA. At Harvard, he worked with the late Arjun Sengupta, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, in conceptualizing its philosophical and ethical framework. He holds a number of degrees in a range of disciplines including international relations (Brown), public health (Harvard), sociology (Cambridge) and political philosophy (Cambridge). Sridhar has won numerous awards, scholarships, fellowships, and currently is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in ethics at LSHTM, and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University.