Ravi Gurumurthy

He/Him

Ravi Gurumurthy is Group Chief Executive Officer, joining Nesta as Chief Executive in December 2019. Ravi was previously responsible for the International Rescue Committee’s work in designing, testing and scaling products and services for people affected by crisis in over 40 countries - from reducing acute malnutrition and intimate partner violence, to expanding employment for Syrian refugees. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee in 2013, Ravi held a number of roles in the UK Government, including Director of Strategy at the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and as a strategic advisor to the Foreign Secretary. Across many departments, Ravi led a number of major social and environmental reforms including the development of the world’s first legally-binding carbon emissions targets and the integration of children’s services. Ravi has also worked as a researcher at the think-tank Demos and in local government in London.

Sarah Hunter

Sarah is a Technology and Public Policy Adviser. Sarah was formerly Director of Global Public Policy at X, the Moonshot Factory, part of Alphabet. X – formerly Google X – is a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions of people. ​X works across a wide range of technologies and sectors, from self-driving cars to life sciences and drones. Sarah joined X in 2013 and lived in California for five years, running a team that translates between the engineers and scientists at X, and the policy makers and regulators in Government. She has worked on policy and technology issues that affected X across the world. Prior to joining X, Sarah ran the UK Public Policy team for Google for four years, leading the company’s work around internet policy issues such as copyright and start-up innovation. From 2000-2005, Sarah worked in frontline British politics as a Senior Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair. Prior to government Sarah held senior roles at both the BBC and Channel 4, advising on broadcasting, media and technology policy. Sarah is a part-time lecturer at Stanford University and a Board member of doteveryone, the responsible technology think tank.

Becky Lane

She/Her

Becky Lane is the Founder and CEO of Furbnow, a new service supported by Nesta and Founders Factory that seeks to help homeowners proactively reduce home energy consumption and put them on a path to low carbon heating. Previously, she’s been a champion of place-based approaches to decarbonisation and delivering retrofit programmes, leading and designing the West Midlands Combined Authority Net Zero Neighbourhood programme. She’s a Board Member at the Sustainable Housing Action Partnership, a not-for-profit that drives for sustainable, low carbon housing through industry engagement and knowledge sharing.

Dama Sathianathan

She/Her

Dama Sathianathan (she/her) is a partner at Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV), Europe's leading early-stage tech for good VC, backing ambitious founders using tech to tackle pressing social and environmental challenges at scale. At BGV, she leads on deal flow, community and networks, driving BGV's efforts to act with integrity on diversity, equity and inclusion and fuel the broader tech for good movement across the UK. Dama previously worked for international NGOs advocating for better human rights practices in global development and humanitarian response and has a background in international relations and human rights. Dama sits on the steering committee of VentureESG, the world's largest community of VCs and LPs stewarding better-shared learning and practices to integrate ESG and impact at the fund level and beyond. She's also a Trustee at Chayn, a non-profit building open-source products and services for survivors of gender-based violence and domestic abuse.