Advisory Board

Sebastian Payne is the Director of Onward.

Neil O’Brien MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care, and previously co-founded Onward in 2018.

Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP was a member of Onward’s Advisory Board and is now the Secretary of State at the Department for Education.

Eddie Hughes MP was a member of Onward’s Advisory Board and now serves as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Kemi Badenoch MP is Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and a former Member of Onward’s Advisory Board.

Sir Mick Davis the Chairman of MacSteel and the former Chief Executive and Treasurer of the Conservative Party.

Will Tanner is the Former Director of Onward. He is now Deputy Chief of Staff in Number 10 Downing St.

Adam Hawksbee is the Deputy Director of Onward.

Will Holloway is Special Adviser to Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP at the Department for International Trade. Prior to this he was Onward’s Deputy Director. 

Jack Kelly was Onward’s Head of Communications from February – November 2022.

Katie Fairclough was Finance Director at Onward, overseeing all of Onward’s partnerships and fundraising.

James Blagden leads Onward’s Future Politics research programme and is also Chief Data Analyst, working across our research.

Ed led our Getting to Zero research programme.

Matt leads our programme on making the UK a science superpower.

Allan Nixon is Head of Science and Technology at Onward.

Luke Stanley was a Senior Researcher at Onward and led the Social Fabric programme.

Jack Richardson is the Head of Energy and Climate at Onward, leading the Getting to Zero research programme.

Ellie is our former Head of Communications.

Francesca was a Senior Researcher at Onward, working primarily on levelling up.

Fjolla Krasniqi led Onward’s Social Fabric programme and now works for FTI Consulting.

Maria Priestley was a Senior Research working on our Science Superpower research programme.

Alex Luke is a Senior Researcher at Onward, focusing on the Getting to Zero programme.

Jenevieve is a Senior Researcher at Onward, working primarily on the Levelling Up programme.

Minette Batters is the President of NFU

Craig Elder is a Founding Partner of Edmonds Elder, and is a member of Onward’s advisory board

Richard Harrington was the MP for Watford and was the Minister for Business and Industry

Seema Kennedy OBE is a member of Onward’s Advisory Board

John Lamont is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scotland Office and Member of Parliament for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

Anthony Browne is the MP for South Cambridgeshire

Anna is a Senior Researcher in the Science and Technology team.

David Meller CBE is the Chairman of the Meller Group, member of the Board of Directors for Onward

Nick Faith is the Director and Co-Founder of WPI Strategy

Sian Hansen is Chief Operating Officer at C|T Group.

Guy Miscampbell was a Senior Research Fellow with Onward, and is now an Associate Director at Hanbury Strategy

Jessica Hopwood was an intern, and later a researcher at Onward, and now works at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Chris Philp MP is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and was previously a Member of Onward’s Advisory Board.

Claire Coutinho is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Education and the MP for East Surrey.

Anastasia is a Senior Researcher in the Science and Technology team

Lord Gus O’Donnell served under three Prime Ministers and was Permanent Secretary to the Treasury under the Brown chancellorship

Gavin Rice is the Project Director for Onward’s Future of Conservatism project.

Hubert Keller is the Senior Managing Partner of Lombard Odier Group

Dr Rhian Mari-Thomas is the Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute

Guy Opperman MP is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, and is the MP for Hexham

Harriet Baldwin is the MP for West Worcestershire

Baroness Barran is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Civil Society, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Danny Kruger is the MP for Devizes

Jessica Oghenegweke is the Commissioner of the Social Mobility Commission

Mark Gifford is the CEO of NCS

Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Kt is the Minister of State at the Department of International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Jonathan Branton leads the Government and Public Sector Group at DWF

Dr Ben Caldecott is the Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme, and a member of the getting to zero steering group

Alan Haywood is the Head of ESG at BP

Gary Neville is a football pundit at Sky Sports

Alison McGovern is Member of Parliament for Wirral South

Lord Mervyn King of Lothbury is a Member of the Economic Affairs Committee in the House of Lords

Jo Gideon is the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central

Andrew Lewer is MP for Northampton South

Nickie Aiken is the Member of Parliament for Cities of London and Westminster

James was Onward’s Events and Campaigns Manager until December 2022.

Bim Afolami is the MP for Hitchin and Harpenden

Ben Houchen is the Mayor of Tees Valley

Virginia Crosbie is Member of Parliament for for Ynys Môn.

Dr Caroline Johnson is the MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham

Helen Pidd is an Editor for The Guardian

Sir Richard Leese is the Leader of Manchester City Council

Philip Broadhead is the Councillor for Talbot and Branksome Woods, and Deputy Leader for the new BCP Council.

Andy Street CBE is Mayor of the West Midlands, and former Managing Director of John Lewis

Dr Russ Tucker is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Ivy Farm Technologies

Victoria Prentis is MP for Banbury and Attorney General.

Polly Neate is Chief Executive at Shelter

Vidhya is the founding Chief Executive of Power to Change, with extensive policy experience

Alison Jones is the Development Manager at the Little Hulton Big Local

Paul Scully MP is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Minister for London

Tracy Vegro is Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Natasha Clark is a political correspondent for The Sun

John Glen MP is the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and MP for Salisbury.

George Freeman is the MP for Mid Norfolk and the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation

Maggie Throup MP is the Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care.

Katherine Fletcher is the MP for South Ribble

Dr Séamus O’Neill is the CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance.

Dr Kath Mckay is the MD at Bruntwood SciTech, Alderley Park

Andrew Bowie is Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, and Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party

Jonathan Gullis is the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North

Chris Tambini is the Head of Strategic Finance at Leicestershire County Council

Secretary of State for International Trade, and President of the Board of Trade since 2021

Adrian Letts is the CEO of OVO’s retail energy business.