Steve Bagshaw
Steve Bagshaw
Ruth Brown-Shepherd
Ruth Brown-Shepherd
Charles Maltby
Charles Maltby
Alastair Morris
Alastair Morris
James Thwaite
James Thwaite
Tom Wycks
Tom Wycks
Mentors
Mentor programme
For start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs who have innovative and scalable ideas we can connect you with seasoned industry experts, creating a nurturing environment for knowledge exchange and guidance. Through carefully curated mentorship relationships, you can gain invaluable insights, practical advice, and industry-specific expertise to navigate the challenges of launching and scaling your business, empowering you to thrive in a competitive landscape.
Mentorship not only can help accelerate the development of start-ups but also serves as a testament to the University's commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and supporting the broader business community.
Steve has over 35 years’ experience across the biotechnologies and fine chemicals business and manufacturing sectors. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of CPI (Centre for Process Innovation – part of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult), he chairs the Industrial Advisory Group for BioYorkshire (a joint BioEconomy based initiative of University of York, Fera Sciences and Askham Bryan College) and has been a Council Member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council since January 2021.
He recently finished work on the UK Government’s Vaccine Task Force having been an Industry Advisor for two years. Before that he was CEO for six years of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies – a globally leading contract biomanufacturing and development organisation and before that he led their UK business for seven years based in the north-east of England in Billingham, Teesside.
He chaired the UK’s Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum from 2013 to 2021 and was Co-Chair of the UK Bioeconomy Strategy Board between 2016 and 2021 – leading to the publication of the UK Government’s Bioeconomy Strategy in December 2018.
Steve started his career as a graduate Chemical Engineer out of UMIST (Manchester) with ICI and prior to joining Fujifilm Diosynth he had a variety of increasingly senior roles across technical, manufacturing, supply chain, safety, health and environment and commercial with ICI, Zeneca, Avecia and MSD in both the UK and USA.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 2017 he was recognised by his peers as Northeast Business Executive of the Year, in 2020 he was awarded the Peter Dunnill Award for contribution to UK Bioprocessing and in the 2021 New Years’ Honours List he was awarded a CBE for services to UK Manufacturing and the Biotechnology Sector.
Dr Ruth Brown-Shepherd is a PhD qualified Chartered Biologist, experienced Business Manager, Technical Consultant, Mentor and Entrepreneur. Her skills have been developed over 20+ years, gained across a variety of industries.
Ruth specialises in supporting business owners, entrepreneurs, graduates and professionals within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries. This also includes anyone in manufacturing.
Charles Maltby is an experienced technology and engineering executive. He has a proven track record across many sectors for leading innovation and design, strategy, and programme management. As well as this he also is a specialist in new product and service introduction, manufacturing and supply chain effectiveness, IP protection, people development, mentoring and team working.
Charles provides support and mentoring for founders and their teams, especially to innovate products, services, processes, behaviour, and their supply chain. He is here to help develop leadership and assist in achieving the growth and goals that are targeted.
He is a member of the Association of Business Mentors - Certified Level 7 Executive Mentor, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and is based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
His motto is ‘don't panic, be prepared... drive forwards, and have fun!
Alastair is the UK Managing Director of Accu.co.uk, an e-commerce precision components supplier for engineers and innovators.
With engineering degrees from Cambridge and Cranfield Universities, the first decade of his career was in the automotive division of Bosch. As account manager for UK and Italian automotive customers, he developed broad commercial experience.
The second decade of his career was then deliberately in the world of SMEs, where he was able to deliver greater organisational change and growth. As sales and marketing director and chief commercial officer, he developed new markets, established a US subsidiary, upskilled, started e-commerce and more.
He is also a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Sales Professionals, director of an International Trade Forum, a Manufacturing Forum and a regional advisory board member for MakeUK.
Jim Thwaite is Head of Conversion Rate Optimisation at Wolfson Brands - a global Direct too Customer supplements company. Jim uses consumer psychology, behaviour tracking and statistical analysis to maximise his clients' e-commerce returns. By focusing on three key metrics: revenue per website visit, average order value and customer retention, Jim's work has been shown to boost companies' average revenue by up to 30%. Jim took a sabbatical from his digital agency to return to university in 2021 when he completed an MSc in Behavioural Economics at the University of Huddersfield.
Jim visits the University a few times a year to run an interactive workshop on the fundamentals of e-commerce and how to craft websites that convert from launch. This includes pre-launch testing of an idea, developing a value proposition, and the mechanics of a great landing page. He also offers 1:1 sessions whereby he takes an existing businesses website and analyses it, suggesting A/B testing options.
Tom is a highly experienced digital marketing strategist with over 15 years experience. During that time he ran his own Digital Media agency, and worked with a number of large marketing agencies in both B2B and B2C markets, advising local, national and multinational clients on their Digital Marketing Strategies.
During his time in B2B, Tom spearheaded the creation of diverse digital products spanning social, content syndication, web, eCRM and data-backed intent-driven marketing. He worked with a global team of in-house digital experts and content creators, to deliver innovative digital strategies to achieve growth for the clients.
In B2C, Tom delivered multi-channel digital marketing strategies, integrating tactics such as PPC, SEO, Digital PR, Paid and Organic Social, Amazon Ads, and Banner Display marketing that supported wider marketing activities.
He played a pivotal role in department development, establishing a team of digital marketers, SEO analysts, UX designers, developers and social media specialists while achieving substantial growth for the agency.
Today, Tom is a digital marketing consultant and loves to help businesses improve and see results from their digital marketing efforts.