David Albury is an independent policy and organisational consultant, Board Director of The Innovation Unit, and Visiting Professor in Innovation Studies at King's College London. From 2002 to 2005 he was Principal Adviser in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and one of his recent major assignments was advising Lord Darzi and the Department of Health on innovation and other aspects of the Next Stage Review of the NHS.  He was co-author, with Geoff Mulgan, of the highly influential report on Innovation in the Public Sector. He has also led projects within the NHS relating to Primary Care Trusts.

David was a GP in Runcorn from 1971 until he retired in March 2007.  His practice was recognised at national levels as pioneering systematic management of long-term conditions using managed care techniques.

David has considerable experience in the public sector having been a councillor and senior medical officer at the Scottish Office, and as Director of Primary care at North West and London Regional offices.  He was also a former adviser to Central Manchester University Hospital between 2004 and 2007.

He has specialised in primary care development, often in an advisory capacity to overseas organisations, as well as publishing regularly on the topic. 

David was reappointed as National Director for Primary Care in 2007, is Honorary Visiting Professor at the Centre for Public Policy and Management, Manchester University, and also at the School of Health University of Durham.  In addition, he is Medical Advisor to the Commissioning and System Management Directorate, and Clinical Lead to the 18 Weeks Programme.

Bernard Crump qualified in medicine from the University of Birmingham in 1980. He practised as a physician and carried out clinical research in the Midlands and the South East before training in Public Health Medicine. He became Director of Public Health in South Birmingham Health Authority in 1990. He subsequently became Director of Public Health and Deputy Chief Executive of Leicestershire Health Authority and Chief Executive of the Shropshire and Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority from 2001 – 2005. He is currently the Chief Executive of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

Gill Hicks, Founder of M.A.D. for Peace. Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, Gill has lived in London since 1992. She is former Publishing Director of the architecture, design and contemporary culture magazine, Blueprint, Director of Dangerous Minds multi-disciplinary design and publishing group, and latterly Head of Curation at the UK’s Design Council. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Trustee of the Women’s Playhouse Trust.

Severely and permanently injured in the London bombings of 7 July 2005 – Gill lost both legs from below the knee. She discovered a great inner strength to not only fight for her life that morning but to learn to walk again using prosthetic legs.

Gill’s aim is to use her experience to do all she can to deter anyone who wishes to follow a terrorist path. She is a firm believer that we all have the strength and ability to make a difference and to create a world that is peaceful.

In 2006 Gill was appointed Ambassador for Peace Direct (Best New Charity 2005), in 2007 an Advocate for Leonard Cheshire Disability and most recently has founded M.A.D. for Peace, a not-for-profit organization which draws on the disciplines of art and design to communicate and promote peace building.

Her book, One Unknown: A powerful account of survival and one woman’s inspirational journey to a new life, is published by Rodale, part of PanMacmillan and was shortlisted for the MIND Book of the Year, 2007. Highlights from this year include carrying the Olympic torch in Canberra and, with her husband Joe Kerr, devising and completing a 250+ mile walk from Leeds to London aimed at bringing communities together. She is now working to extend the WALKTALK concept internationally, as well as working on a range of other creative projects promoting peace.

Jonathan was appointed Chief Executive of NESTA in November 2005, moving from Apax Partners where he was the Chief of Staff to Sir Ronald Cohen, its Founder and Chairman. Together with Sir Ronald, he was instrumental in building The Portland Trust which developed a $500 million fund for small and medium sized businesses in the Middle East.

Jonathan started his career building a large family commodity trading business which was a ring dealing member of the London Metal Exchange. The company was successfully sold in a management buy-out. He then moved to public service, becoming Chief Executive of the Office of the Chief Rabbi, Professor Jonathan Sacks. Together, they worked on a number of prize winning publications, including the 1990 BBC Reith Lectures, The Persistence of Faith.

Jonathan is a Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the UK's Technology Strategy Board and the Design Council, a tutor at the Cass Business School and a graduate of the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme. Until recently he was Non-Executive Chairman of Quest, a large financial services business, and an adviser to BAE Systems.

Dr Lynne Maher, Head of Innovation Practice, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. Lynne leads in the field of innovation, exploring the practical application of new processes, methods, tools and techniques within the NHS to achieve transformational change for health services. She is the national sponsor for work on innovation process including transformational change, patient-experience service design, and support guides for frontline staff, commissioners and executive teams. Lynne is an Associate providing advice for National Endowment of Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), a fellow of the Health Service Management Centre at Birmingham University and an advisor to Connect, a charity supporting people with dysphasia.

Tricia McGregor is the Joint Managing Director of Central Surrey Health.  Central Surrey Health (CSH) is the first of a new kind of not-for-profit organisation that provides therapy and community nursing services to the people of central Surrey.  It has been developed as a social enterprise to provide ongoing support to its local communities. This 750 strong and growing co-owned company is run by the nursing and therapy teams it employs.  

Prior to setting up the new company Tricia was employed as Director of Clinical Entrepreneur Development at East Elmbridge and Mid Surrey Primary Care Trust. For the previous three years Tricia was the PCT’s Director of Therapies and Speech and Language Therapy Manager. .

Kathy is Professor of Sciences and Society at Bristol University and is a Trustee of NESTA. She has a background in science communication.

Some of Kathy's achievements include helping to create a hands-on science centre, Explore, a new Festival of Science in Cheltenham, and NESTA Famelab - a national competition, which talent-spots and trains new faces in science communication.

Kathy is a member of the Council for Science and Technology (CST), the Government's top-level advisory body on science and technology policy issues. She advises government and several different funders of science on science engagement issues.

Kathy appears regularly on radio and television, including the Open University and BBC's Rough Science and Alternative Therapies series. She has a PhD in Physics.