MBA Summit 2025

09:30 - 10:00: Welcome

Welcome to the MBA Summit from Dr Rachel Shrimpton (MBA Director) and Prof. Yvonne Moogan (Director of the School of Management) including a prelude to the day's activities.

10:00 - 11:00: Personal Resilience with Luke Ambler, Founder of Andy's Man Club

Join Luke Ambler, a former professional rugby player, dad, storyteller and founder of Andy's Man Club, an award-winning mental health campaigner for his session on personal resilience.

Session Title: Personal Resilience and how to instil resilience in yourself, your career and your organisation.

Session Description: Ready to boost your resilience and thrive? This interactive talk tackles personal resilience, the power of talking, and managing expectations to overcome career and life challenges. We'll explore practical interventions for difficult situations and you'll learn to lead and challenge people in a positive way.

What you'll take away: You'll leave with a new mindset to drive personal and professional growth, becoming your best self. Expect actionable tools to navigate tough times, strategies to future-proof your career, and improved communication skills.

This session includes interactive audience and an audience Q&A.

11:15 - 12:05: Embracing AI with Dr Kamran Mahroof

Join Dr Kamran Mahroof, Associate Professor in Supply Chain Analytics at the University of Bradford as he brings his industry experience and research expertise together for his session on Embracing AI.

Session Title: Embracing AI - Panel discussion on building in digital resilience and transformation.

Session Description: Kamran will host a panel discussing Artificial Intelligence efficiency and practical approaches on how to deploy AI day to day in your business. Gain insights into readily available AI applications and how they can immediately enhance your productivity and resilience and streamline your business processes, as well as looking at ways to drive innovation, competitive edge and transformative growth.

What you'll take away: Learn about specific AI tools to better organise both your professional and personal life. Discover actionable "cheats" and tips you can start using right away and understand how AI can boost efficiency, beyond basic automation and data analysis, across various business functions, such as customer support, marketing, operations and strategic decision-making.

12:05 - 12:15: Introduction to the Bradford Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem

This short session will provide an introduction to the Bradford Renduchintala Enterprise Ecosystem (BREE).

BREE draw on our long-standing history of research and innovation to co-create and co-develop business ideas from the inspirational people of Bradford. Made possible by a £1.25m donation from alumnus Dr Murthy Renduchintala, and a further £1.25m from the university, it provides support to students, staff and community members.

BREE nurtures budding entrepreneurs to develop and grow successful businesses, playing a pivotal role in unlocking the potential and growth of our diverse and entrepreneurial city.

They are also keen to collaborate with individuals with valuable experience, who would like to contribute to the ecosystem.

13:00 - 14:00: Entrepreneurial Resilience & Business Turnaround with Martin Allison, Director at Rosedale Advisory

Join Martin Allison, a specialist in business rejuvenation and financial resilience, experienced in working with business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors to enhance organisational value and secure stronger exit options and outcomes for his session on entrepreneurial resilience.

Session Title: Entrepreneurial Resilience & Business Turnaround

Session Description: Martin will share real-world stories from his career in professional banking, supporting businesses through both high-growth and tough times. Martin has been involved in dozens of business deals, helping many colleagues find not just financial success, but personal satisfaction too. His work focuses on unlocking value, navigating change, and building long-term sustainability. Expect candid life lessons and honest reflections on both success and adversity.

What you'll take away: Martin reveals key insights into self-awareness, stakeholder engagement, strategic and financial adaptability, and the crucial timing of change - whether in business or career. You'll hear lessons on resilience, the importance of staying adaptable, and how to engage people around you - skills that matter whether you're launching a start-up, exploring your first job, or shaping your long-term career.

14:15 - 15:15: Connecting Science and Human Beings with Cheryl Lynch, Senior Director Agile Transformation for Cisco

Join Cheryl Lynch, Senior Director of Agile Transformation for Cisco empowering global teams to work in agile ways and holding a reputation for delivering large and complex business and technology change, as she explores the connection between science and people.

Session Title: Connecting science and human beings in the pursuit of resilience.

Session Description: This session will explore what resilience is, how it is relevant in our everyday lives and how it shows up (or not) in the workplace. From space hoppers, to scientific materials and humans to computer systems we will take a look at what resilience is in different contexts and how that might help us to understand the role of human resilience in business.

What you'll take away: Discover how resilience is more than just a buzzword - it's a critical skill for navigating our complex world. In this session, Cheryl connects the dots between science, technology, and human psychology to reveal what resilience truly is and why it's vital for our work and personal lives. Using relatable examples, she'll show you how applying agile principles can transform not only technology but also human beings, empowering you to better manage change and thrive in any environment. This is your chance to learn how to build a resilient mindset that drives success at scale.

16:00 - 17:00: Annual Management Lecture - Innovation with Love with Tushar Hazra, Founder and CTO of EpitpmiOne

Join Tushar Hazra, Founder and CTO of EpitomiOne, as he draws on extensive industry experience in leading highly successful technology and business process transformations to discuss the drivers of effective innovation and business transformations.

Session Title: Innovation with Love - How to Create Sustainable Innovation.

Session Description: Tushar holds a treatise that effective innovation starts from encouraging people to love what they do and from this creating the right conditions for creativity. In his lecture he will expand on this argument and explore the learning from examples of effective and sustainable innovation in his own practice.

What you'll take away: Tushar holds extensive industry experience which includes senior technology roles for organisations including GE, Lockheed Martin, MetLife and CSC as well as being an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. From this lecture you'll learn how companies can lead innovation and business transformation by creating the right environments with people who are passionate about their work. Learn about how to cultivate environments, effectively use technology and execute strategies to support innovation and business transformation.