Advisory Board

Dr. Irena Yashin-Shaw

Advisory member

Dr. Irena Yashin-Shaw is an educator, author and entrepreneur. She is the Founder of the Global Intrapreneurs Institute and Editor–in-Chief of Intrapreneur Magazine, with numerous publications to her name. Her most recent books are INTRAPRENEUR: How leaders ignite innovation, break bureaucracy and catalyse change and Leading in the Innovation Age: Unleash knowledge, talent and experience to create an innovative workplace. An experienced Advisory Board member, she currently sits on the board of Griffith University’s Department of Business Strategy and Innovation. With a PhD in creative problem-solving and a Masters in Adult Education, Dr. Irena Yashin-Shaw brings a combination of deep, academic knowledge, real-world entrepreneurial experience and skilled education practice to her work - which is to liberate and harness underutilised talent within workplaces. Since leaving academia to start her own company, she has been designing and delivering innovation, leadership, creativity and intrapreneurialism programs for organisations, businesses and government agencies in Australia and around the world.

Professor. David Harrison

Advisory member

Professor David Harrison manages a wide range of collaborative projects with colleagues and students plus a diverse group of manufacturing companies at Glasgow Caledonian University. His research interests are primarily concerned with improving overall manufacturing competitiveness in companies via Optimised Design, CADCAM and advances towards CIM. Most of his research has been in association with industrial partners. He has an active interest in the Total Technology programme at UMIST. Through his involvement with European projects he has built up strong links with fellow academics in several European countries and during the past four years five applications for funding have been made. During 1995 he was awarded the Rectors Medal of the University of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland, for his work in promoting international co-operation. His has been an active researcher for 16 years and contributed to over 250 publications, many in International Journals. He has presented papers and chaired sessions at a number of international conferences and represented the University in India, USA, China, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Hugh Ward

Advisory member

Hugh has had the responsibility to lead up to squadron level (200 personnel) in mechanised, light infantry and commando units on a number of diverse operations, warfighting to peace support. Completing his MSC in Defence Simulation in 1998, he was assigned to the Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive. For his work there he was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2002. Joining Saab in 2004, he has worked on training, research, education and evaluation projects with NATO, Royal Navy, British Army, Special Forces and the Police. The highlights being; the design and delivery of deployable training solutions for the British Army for Kenya/Belize and a training solution to help detect Improvised Explosive Devices for operations. In 2012, he switched his focus to explore how business and their customers can improve collaboration and thus better understand the Threat(s)/Need(s)/Solution(s) Continuum. Developing a way of using scenario based collaborative learning, gamification, to explore multifaceted challenges and thus create simple, effective and resilient solutions. In 2019 Hugh moved beyond Saab to focus on helping people within Fragile and Conflict Affected Communities to feel “Safe to Flourish”.

Stephen Cassidy

Advisory member

Stephen Cassidy is Chief Researcher in System Science at BT (British Telecom), with a particular interest in the relationship between people, information technology and organisational structure in determining enterprise culture and effectiveness. This multi-disciplinary programme combines research into AI, data-driven decision tools, self-learning systems, human behavior and culture. The work feeds into operational areas across BT Group. He lectures on the MBA programme at the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing, on the Information Systems and Digital Innovation course at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and on the Executive Education programme of the Cambridge Judge Business School. He is a member of several advisory boards, a Member of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Technology. He is a winner of the Queen’s Award for Industry.