Andrew Gaule for over 14 years has been advising and working with leading corporates to set up Corporate Venturing and Open Innovation programmes. Andrew founded Henley-Incubator which became the leading CV and Innovation Corven Networks. Andrew has led strategic change, innovation and operational excellence initiatives at leading global organisations from the financial services, FMCG, defence, technology, health and government sectors. He is the creator of several management concepts now in use at organisations such as BAE Systems, BP, E.ON, McLaren, Philips, Unilever etc. Andrew is the author of the definitive book ‘Open Innovation in Action – How to be strategic in the search for new sources of value’ which includes case studies from P&G, Shell, DSM, Tate & Lyle and QinetiQ. He has interviewed and published interviews with many Corporate Venturing leaders. Andrew has authored many reports, a frequent conference speaker in Europe, USA and China and regular contributor to Global Corporate Venturing. Andrew has an economics degree from St John’s College, Cambridge, is a qualified chartered management accountant and gained his MBA at Henley Business School.

Ian Harvey was CEO of BTG plc from 1985 until his retirement in late 2004. During that time he oversaw the privatisation of BTG in 1992, its public flotation in 1995, a demerger of part of its business and three Rights Issues amounting to about £250 million to raise business expansion capital from its shareholders. BTG was the world-leading technology commercialisation company which had been patenting and licensing globally since the early 1950s. He was Chairman of the Intellectual Property Institute from 1999-2011.
He is also Adjunct Professor at Imperial College Business School, London and member of its IP Centre Advisory Board; Course Professor, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, Beijing and many more roles.
Ian has written many articles and book chapters and lectures widely on global intellectual property and technology issues, particularly as they relate to business. He is currently involved with the development of intellectual property in China and the role of IPRs in developing low-carbon technologies.

An experienced business development professional with wide experience working with entrepreneurial teams across many industry sectors.

Most recently on a number of engagements with Paperlinx UK I developed a number of diversification initiatives, including launching a growth strategy for the Packaging Distribution business, adding £25m to revenues in the last 3 years and most recenty developing SE Asian supply chains to improve competitiveness.

I have worked across the energy value chain from primary extraction to retail, in the UK, Russia, Thailand and Brasil, including generation, trading, environmental management, energy retail, IT and business change.

I played a leading role in creating a major new player in the Russian power market, advising on developing the business model, establishing effective business and team performance management and preparing the business for western investment.

I have a strong track record in leading complex change programmes and in working with entrepreneurial teams to create and deliver compelling business propositions.

I have also worked with independent, VC funded businesses, helping them develop business plans, raise funds and coach the management teams in delivering new businesses.

Outside my mainstream career I have been a Governor at Arden Academy, a leading secondary school, and involved in working as the sponsor of the Park Hall Academy in Castle Bromwich, a major turn around story in education in Solihull, taking a failing secondary school to being one of the most improved schools in the country.

Debbie leads the Aimava marketing, administration and team support. Throughout her career Debbie has worked in the advertising, marketing and experiential fields across a number of roles which includes two Managing Directorships in the past 16 years.

She is an experienced business development professional, working not only with large corporate companies but also SME’s who seek advice, mentoring and training whilst in pursuit of commercial success and goals.

Andy is an established Director and Chief Executive of growth businesses with successful experience in both major multi-national corporations and smaller public companies. He has a background in strategic business development combined with technical literacy and an entrepreneurial mind-set and a record of commercial delivery across energy and process industries.

Andy gained his technical literacy and systems thinking approach through studying Chemical Engineering and Fuel Technology at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He graduated in 1982 with 1st Class Honours. He then joined Shell in their oil trading and shipping division, working in the Middle East before broadening to marketing and developing an expertise in new market entry projects in South America and China. Andy moved to BG Group in 1999 to pursue his interest in strategic business development, gaining exposure to the natural gas business and working as a new venture director and head of corporate strategy. He later worked with various corporate clients as an adviser and practitioner, most notably as Global Director of New Business Development for BOC Group, prior to its sale in 2007. Since 2007, Andy has led a number of small-cap energy companies, most recently as CEO of Zeta Petroleum Plc, a UK company with gas production in Romania.

Andy has been a long-time associate of Andrew Gaule. Prior to joining up with Aimava, Andy worked alongside Andrew and his teams in Corven Networks and in the original Henley-Incubator. He has researched and published several thought-leadership pieces based on practical experience including “Going Beyond the Idea”, addressing how companies can turn promising ideas into successful business reality and “Ready to Roll”, addressing the appropriate selection of ideas for strategic growth and venturing.

Samantha runs her own UK management consultancy and joined Aimava as Associate in 2019. She has represented a number of international organizations in a senior capacity across Asia since 2003, including large, publicly listed businesses as well as private, family-owned enterprises. Samantha has experience across a range of sectors including international trade promotion, private equity, agriculture, food safety, construction materials, power generation and wireless connectivity. She held a number of non-executive roles: Member of the International Consultancy Commission for the CCPIT; Chair of the Agriculture, Food & Beverage Industry Working Group, EUCCC; Chair for the Food, Drink and Agriculture Forum, CBBC and “Bright Crop” Ambassador for the UK Government Program. Samantha provides pro-bono support to Volant Partners, a group focused on the Belt & Road Initiative, is currently Co-Chair of ChineseSpeakers, a non-profit membership organisation for non-native fluent Mandarin speakers and was formerly Non-Executive Chairman for Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship, a social enterprise promoting next generation entrepreneurs amongst youth groups and women in Asia. Samantha is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, has an M.A. (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from HKUST.