The first wave of speakers for 2026, announced.

Nazir Afzal OBE is a trailblazing legal expert, social justice advocate, and influential public figure with over 30 years of groundbreaking work in criminal justice. As the former Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England and Director in London, he led the prosecution of some of the UK’s most high-profile cases, including the pivotal prosecution of the Rochdale grooming gang, a case that reshaped the landscape of child protection. Nazir has personally overseen more than 100,000 prosecutions annually, advocating for justice on critical issues such as child sexual abuse, violence against women and girls, and honour-based violence.

His national leadership extended beyond the courtroom. Nazir served as Chief Executive of the Police and Crime Commissioners and as National Adviser to the Welsh Government. He has provided expert legal guidance to a broad range of government agencies, charities, and organisations, contributing to policy and legislative change in areas of public safety, law reform, and social equity. As the first independent Chair of the Catholic Church’s Safeguarding Agency, he helped transform the church’s approach to safeguarding.

Nazir’s impact stretches far beyond the legal profession. He currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Manchester, the largest and most popular university in the UK, and as Chair of The Lowry Theatre, known as the “National Theatre of the North”. He chairs the Church of England National Safeguarding Panel and holds positions with a variety of influential bodies, including the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, WOW foundation and until recently, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Nazir is a strategic advisor to the People’s Powerhouse and the innovative tech company Bikal Technologies.

In addition to his professional roles, Nazir is deeply committed to charitable causes, acting as patron and trustee for multiple NGOs such as ServiceSix and the Samantha Sykes Foundation. His efforts reflect his passion for creating positive change. His independent reviews of culture at London Fire Brigade and the Nursing & Midwifery Council were seen as groundbreaking. He has conducted senior management leadership reviews for other national organisations that were for internal use only. His most recent inquiry into working class representation in the creative industries received national acclaim.

Nazir’s memoirs, The Prosecutor, were published in 2020, while his 2022 book, The Race to the Top, reflects on leadership and overcoming adversity. A highly regarded speaker, Nazir regularly delivers keynotes on leadership, social justice, and law reform across the globe.

A highly decorated figure, Nazir was awarded an OBE by the Queen in 2005 and received the UK Government’s Justice Award in 2007. He has also been named in the Asian Power 100 and the Muslim Power 100 as one of the UK’s most influential individuals and was named Man of the Year by the Asian Media Group in 2012. In 2022, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pride of Birmingham Awards and was honoured with the inaugural “Disruptor for Good” award at the Northern Power Women Awards. Most recently, he was recognised as the “Voice for Good” at the Northern Leaders Awards 2025.

Nazir’s extraordinary work has earned widespread acclaim, with the BBC film Three Girls based on his landmark case, and his impact has been described by the Times as “forensically intelligent” and by the New York Times as “the authentic face of British justice.” Through his leadership, vision, and unwavering dedication to justice, Nazir Afzal continues to inspire change and transform lives across the UK and internationally.

Sophie Brown is COO and CFO of Dynamite Songs, the boutique London-based music publisher dedicated to acquiring and managing smaller catalogues with culturally significant, charted hits.

At Dynamite Songs, she oversees operations and financial strategy across a growing roster of songs that spans six decades and includes songs recorded by Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Avicii, The Black Eyed Peas, Joan Osborne, The Association, and Tinie Tempah.

Prior to starting Dynamite with CEO Alan Wallis, she was part of the team at Mojo Music & Media, where she played a pivotal role in shaping the business through more than 40 catalogue acquisitions and its successful sale to Concord in 2023 – an experience now driving Dynamite's disciplined expansion and acquisition strategy.

Originally from Yorkshire, Sophie has over 20 years of experience in finance, having trained as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in London before working with private equity on investment strategies spanning private credit, operational real estate, and food & beverage.

Vicky Dowdall is the founder of VDM Music, co-founder of Truth Records (a joint venture with RCA Records), and co-founder of Apple Tree Records alongside Nina Nesbitt. She has twice been nominated for Manager of the Year at the Music Week Awards and is widely recognised for her strategic vision, tenacity and creative approach to artist development.

Dowdall manages chart-topping artist Ella Henderson and singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt, both of whom have achieved major global success under her guidance. Working alongside Mark Hargreaves, she helped orchestrate Henderson's hugely successful career resurgence through a deal with Atlantic Records, leading to 10 Top 10 singles, a Top 10 album and multiple Platinum certifications. Henderson now reaches more than 19 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has received nominations for both an Ivor Novello Award and a Brit Award.

Dowdall's work with Nesbitt has also been highly impactful, helping the artist surpass a billion career streams and perform stadium shows as a guest of artists including Coldplay, Stevie Nicks and Snow Patrol, while earning praise from Taylor Swift.

Alongside these established successes, Dowdall is developing the next generation of talent. Songwriter Olivia Sebastianelli co-wrote the hit "In The Dark" with Purple Disco Machine, achieving a pan-European breakthrough, while artist Cody Frost has gained strong support from BBC Radio 1 and BBC Introducing.

Beyond artist management, Dowdall has brokered brand partnerships worth over £1 million with companies including Calvin Klein and Reebok, and previously worked as a consultant on The Voice UK. She also serves on the board of the Music Managers Forum, where she advocates for greater equality, diversity, fair pay and improved mental health support within the music industry.

A mother of two, Dowdall is passionate about showing that it is possible to build a successful career in music while raising a family, and is committed to helping shape a more inclusive future for the industry.

Father, activist, chess champion, and keen (but rubbish) tennis player.

Martin Goldschmidt is Chairman and Founder of Cooking Vinyl, which comprised Cooking Vinyl Records, Cooking Vinyl America (all sold to Exceleration in 2025), Cooking Vinyl Australia, Cooking Vinyl Publishing and Cooking Vinyl Australia Publishing.

Cooking Vinyl Records, home to The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, Billy Bragg, Nina Nesbitt, Shed Seven and Passenger, is one of Europe's prime artist-focused independent labels and the originator of innovative Artist Services deals.

Martin founded the UK's first online distribution company (sold to IODA/Orchard/Sony), a management company and a booking agency (sold to Rob Challice/CODA), and Essential Music, sold to Sony Orchard. He is co-founder of Palestine Music Expo, which ran festivals in the West Bank in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and then eight festivals in Gaza from 2021 to 2023.

Tom Gray is a renowned change-maker and Mercury Prize-winning musician. His campaigning has led a global conversation around equity in music and led to concrete reform to the industry in the UK. He is the Chair of the Ivors Academy, who represent songwriters and composers around the world. Many will recognise him from his (sometimes viral) opening speeches for the Ivor Novello Awards.

In 2020, his #BrokenRecord campaign brought about an inquiry into streaming economics, a parliamentary bill and a Competition Authority study in the UK. The mounting pressure led to the cancellation of historic, unrecouped debt for thousands of recording artists who had been signed to Major Labels.

Tom conceived of Per Diems for songwriters eight years ago, and, last year, in his negotiations with Government and rightsholders (on behalf of the Ivors Academy), they were finally agreed alongside expenses for label sessions in a global first. Significant steps around transparency and metadata have also been agreed.

Tom is a director of PRS For Music, a director of MCPS, a board member of UK Music, continues to compose music for television, film and theatre, and, who knows, one day there might even be another Gomez album…

Mr. Hegarty is a Partner at Cutting Edge Capital Partners, primarily overseeing investments and the London operations. He joined Cutting Edge in 2015.

Prior to joining Cutting Edge, Mr. Hegarty was a Vice President on the US equity sales London team at Merrill Lynch, covering a mix of hedge funds and long-only asset managers across the UK and Europe.

Mr. Hegarty has 20+ Executive Music Producer credits including the Academy Award nominated The Trial of the Chicago 7, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, and Midway, directed by Roland Emmerich.

Mr. Hegarty holds a MA in History from University of Oxford, where he was also a choral scholar.

Mr. Hegarty also holds an Executive Diploma in Financial Strategy from Saïd Business School, Oxford, where he was awarded the WCIB Prize in 2023.

Sophie Jones took up the role of CEO of the Royal Television Society in September 2026.

Prior to returning to the TV sector, Sophie spent six years in the music industry, latterly as Chief Strategy Officer at UK record labels association the BPI, which is also home to The BRIT Awards, the Mercury Prize and the Official Charts.

Sophie was promoted to the CSO role in January 2023 having served as the BPI's Director of Public Affairs since April 2020. Sophie also acted as the BPI's Interim Chief Executive between January and July 2023.

Sophie is an inspiring and outstanding leader, whose strategically-focused public affairs and communications-led work is having a marked impact on the organisation and its members – helping to foster an environment in which they can thrive and the industry grows through increased music consumption and exports.

Working alongside the BPI's CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE, Chair YolanDa Brown OBE DL, the Executive Board and BPI Council, Sophie led in efforts to ensure policymakers remain steadfast in their commitment to the UK's world-leading framework of IP rights on which the success of British music is based, including in the face of the growing challenge of AI to human artistry.

Sophie also played a key role supporting initiatives to make the music industry more accessible for people of all backgrounds and a better place to work – helping to improve representation and to promote equity, diversity and inclusivity and working with partners through CIISA to develop a programme of meaningful change to tackle harassment and bullying where it exists. Among other achievements, Sophie successfully led a BPI/music industry bid to receive Government approval for a new specialist creative college for 16-19 year-olds in Bradford – due to open in a few years' time. The college will support the talent pipeline outside of London and the South East, including from socially-disadvantaged communities.

Sophie has accumulated more than 25 years' experience leading strategic communications, public policy and regulation for a number of high-profile organisations in media and the creative industries. Prior to joining the BPI she spent 12 years at Channel 4, including as Head of Corporate Relations, working on major campaigns and was closely involved with the organisation's 4 All the UK regional strategy and work on inclusion and diversity. She has also held similar senior roles at ITV and ITN.

Sophie is the outgoing Chair of the Alliance for Intellectual Property and has held several non-executive posts, including on the advisory boards of the Policy and Evidence Centre, the AHRC Creative Industries Advisory Group, the British Screen Forum Board and Creative Industries Federation Council.

Ruth has held various roles in the music industry for almost 15 years. From booking and shooting shows in the North East, to radio and content creation, as Artist Liaison at the UK's leading funder of new music, plus artist management and consultancy. Since 2016, Ruth was the writer of Compass: the weekly unsigned column at Record of the Day, finding and championing new talent across all genres for almost a decade. She was tasked with redesigning and running ReBalance 2024 - a development programme creating much needed opportunities for women and gender-expansive artists, producers and engineers, in studios across the UK. Finding under-represented talent, and providing meaningful platforms for growth, has been at the core of each project.

Whether working with artists, wider teams, or industry organisations, she has highlighted and consistently advocated for greater awareness of class barriers - visible or otherwise - to both opportunity and sustainable development. Ruth is passionate about transparency, accountability, and fair access for all.

Miles Leonard is an internationally respected music, media and entertainment executive with more than 30 years’ experience at the forefront of the global music industry. Beginning his career in A&R, Miles joined Virgin Records in 1990, where he signed The Verve, who went on to become a multi-platinum global act. He joined Parlophone Records in 1995 as A&R Manager, becoming Head of A&R in 1998, Managing Director in 2003 and Chairman in 2008. He subsequently became Chairman of both Parlophone and Warner Music, while also serving as President of Virgin Records and establishing Regal Recordings.

Throughout his career, Miles has signed, developed or overseen the careers of many of the world’s most successful and influential artists, including Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Gorillaz, Blur, Paul Weller, Stereophonics, Lily Allen, Tinie Tempah, Royal Blood, Emeli Sandé and Kano. He has twice received the Music Week A&R Award and was recognised by the Live Music Business Awards as Best Label Partner.

Today, Miles is part of the team behind the Aviva Arena Bristol, a state-of-the-art 20,000-capacity arena, event space and exhibition venue opening in 2028.

Catherine Martin served in the Irish government as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media from 2020 to 2025, during which time she led and delivered significant reforms to how the arts in Ireland were supported and funded. She introduced the groundbreaking Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme and secured and delivered funding to many other innovative initiatives that placed creators’ wellbeing, pay and sustainability at the centre of cultural policy.

Catherine is the former Deputy Leader of the Green Party in Ireland and was their lead negotiator in the Programme for Government talks in 2020.

She has recently been appointed as Head of Policy, Ireland with The Ivors Academy where she intends to focus on increasing protection, empowerment and celebration of songwriters and composers across the island of Ireland.

Kate McBain is a strategist, producer, researcher, educator and learning designer who has led creative workforce development and pathways programmes for over 20 years. Dan Tsu is a creative director, educator and producer, founder of Lyrix Organix and co-founder of Glastonbury Festival’s Rum Shack, designing boundary-pushing youth programmes and festival projects worldwide.

As a consultancy partnership, Kate and Dan co-design inclusive, place-based strategies that strengthen creative engagement, infrastructure and careers for young people, communities and the organisations that support them. Drawing on expertise in schools, youth work, research, creative facilitation and strategic programme design, they develop frameworks, resources and training that widen access to arts, heritage and creative practice, and pilot new models of engagement and sustainable cross-sector collaboration for NPOs, local authorities and sector bodies.

Industry Connect is Youth Music’s cross-sector research and coalition programme, working to close the gap between learning and earning in music through funding, research, and a coalition that builds a collective voice for the sector and young people.

Scottish singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt has cemented her place as one of the UK's most distinctive pop voices, blending heartfelt storytelling with cinematic soundscapes. Her latest album, Mountain Music, debuted at #1 on the Official Folk Albums Chart, #2 on the Americana Albums Chart, and #5 on the Independent Albums Chart, earning nominations for Album of the Year and Song of the Year ("Pages") at the 2025 Americana Music Awards UK. Praised by Billboard as "an iridescent work of pop mastery" and described by Clash as her "most personal statement yet", Mountain Music captures her evolution into an artist of authenticity, emotional depth, and lasting resonance.

Amassing over 1 billion career streams and 10 million TikTok views, Nina has been featured twice on Taylor Swift's curated playlists and appeared on major platforms such as The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Jonathan Ross Show, and BBC Breakfast. Her music has received widespread radio support across BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio X, and Absolute Radio, with standout singles like "Loyal To Me" breaking into the Top 50 at Top 40 Radio USA. Nina's career has included sold-out album tours across the UK, US, and Australia, and support slots for global superstars including Coldplay, Stevie Nicks, Lewis Capaldi, and Kylie Minogue.

Shain Shapiro, PhD, is one of the world’s leading thinkers on the value of music: to economies, to health, to cities, and to our capacity to act together. His argument, developed over two decades of work in more than 150 cities and places, is that music is infrastructure, and treating it that way changes what societies can do.

His second book, How Music Can Save the World, publishes in February 2027 with Duncan Baird / Penguin Random House. It makes the case that music belongs inside the systems we use to solve our biggest problems (development finance, healthcare, climate policy, crisis recovery and education) and shows what happens in the places already proving it. This book is supported by a podcast of the same name, produced by acclaimed music media company DrownedinSound.

His first book, This Must Be The Place: How Music Can Make Your City Better (Repeater, 2023), became the defining text of the music cities movement: thousands sold, editions in Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Japanese and Portuguese, plus an audiobook, and a 90+ date global tour.

Shain is the founder and executive director of the Center for Music Ecosystems (CME), the global nonprofit conducting research that helps communities use music to solve problems, and founder and chairman of Sound Diplomacy, the leading global music, culture and creative economy consultancy that has delivered over 175 projects in 35 countries and helped define the ‘music cities movement’. Sound Diplomacy also produces the globally acclaimed Music Cities Events conferences, including the Music Cities Convention, Sound Development, and the Music Tourism Convention.

Through CME, Shain is also the founder of the Music Economy Development Initiative (MEDI), a landmark partnership with Global Citizen to establish music as a tool to support economic growth and development, building the case that investing in music economies in the world’s youngest, fastest-growing countries is development policy, not cultural policy. He co-authored MEDI’s flagship report, We Need Tracks Before We Have Trains, with economist Will Page. He is also the co-founder of Unison Rights, a leading copyright management entity in Spain and worldwide.

Lastly, through CME, he founded the Music Policy Resilience Network, which works with a cohort of 25+ small- to mid-sized cities around the world to incorporate music into economic development, the creative economy, and resilience strategies. He also co-founded the Music Cities Network, a thriving collaborative of cities and places worldwide.

He has authored authoritative reports on music’s role in cities, tourism, real estate and recovery, including the most extensive guide ever written on music and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, spoken at hundreds of events across 50+ countries including SXSW, Global Citizen NOW, the World Bank and the UN World Urban Forum, and delivered the first TEDx talk on music’s role in cities. He is a contributing writer for Forbes and has written for Monocle, The Guardian, Devex, NextCity and others.

He received Folk Alliance International’s Spirit of Folk Award in 2022 and was named one of SPIN’s Top 25 Music Industry Executives in 2025. He holds a PhD from the University of London and lives in East London.

The release of Put On A Record Tommy marked another huge step forward for the 21-year-old songwriter, balancing infectious indie hooks with deeply personal songwriting. Tracks including "SFX", "Our Song", "The Only One" and the Rowetta collaboration "Put On A Record Tommy" showcased an artist refusing to stand still creatively, blending indie rock, dancefloor energy and emotional honesty into a sound that feels unmistakably his own. A deluxe edition, led by the AA-side single "Am I Ever Gonna Be A Rockstar?", follows in September via Fiction Records.

That fearless creative evolution has quickly become Tom's defining quality. Whether producing his own records or continually pushing his songwriting into unexpected territory, he has established himself as one of the UK's most exciting young artists; someone determined to follow inspiration rather than expectation.

Already boasting an extraordinary live résumé that includes appearances at Glastonbury, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, SXSW, and support tours alongside Elton John, Gang of Youths, DMA'S, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Miles Kane and The Lottery Winners, Tom continues to build momentum at remarkable speed. Away from music, he has also been cast as Dave Stewart in the forthcoming musical memoir film Ebony McQueen.

Since 2023 Dr Jo Twist OBE has been Chief Executive of UK record labels association the BPI, which represents hundreds of independent label businesses and the world-leading record companies Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK, and Warner Music UK, as well as the wider UK recorded music sector.

Through this role Jo has also had a leadership position overseeing major BPI events, including The BRIT Awards and the Mercury Prize, as well as strategically important data platforms such as the Official Charts Company, which the BPI co-owns.

Under Jo’s direction and that of its Executive Board, the BPI works to promote and protect British music by supporting record labels in nurturing talent, helping them to navigate innovation and creating a policy environment in which they can thrive and achieve global growth. This means developing and sustaining the UK’s gold standard pro-rights legal jurisdiction, keeping labels at the forefront of a safe and inclusive industry, and working to ensure a sustainable future.

Jo has a 25-year-plus background in the creative industries, interactive entertainment and technology and sits on several boards and advisory groups including the UKRI AI Strategic Advisory Team, Creative PEC Board, the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and the DCMS Honours Committee.

Jo is a Visiting Lecturer at Goldsmith’s University, VP for accessibility charity SpecialEffect, Patron of mental health charity Safe in Our World, Wiggin Foundation Trustee and BRIT Trust Trustee. Jo has previously been Chair of the BAFTA Games Committee (2013–2022), a BAFTA Trustee (2018–2022), and was also a King’s Appointed Trustee for Historic Royal Palaces until 2025.

In 2016 Jo was awarded an OBE for services to the creative industries, was named one of the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 Most Influential People in 2019 and entered the Computer Weekly Hall of Fame in 2021. She currently features on Billboard’s music Power List for the UK.