James Alexander

James was co-Founder of Zopa (www.zopa.com), the multi-award winning marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money and was UK CEO through to August 2007 and a Board Director until September 2009. Zopa was named by Business 2.0 in September 2006 as "1 of 11 companies that will change the world" (time will tell!), by CNet as "Internet Innovation of 2006" and "Best Banking Website" 2007, won Webby Awards for Best Banking/Bill-Paying Site 2007 and Best Financial Services site 2008, The Banker Award for Internet Project of 2007, by CNet 2007 as best technology innovation in financial services - and most recently was named as Retail Banker International's Global "Most Threatening Non-Bank Competitor". James is currently a Trustee and CEO of Green Thing (www.dothegreenthing.com), the award winning not-for-profit organisation that inspires people to lead a greener life through "creativity versus climate change". James also works for the leading growth and innovation consultancy, The Foundation, whose clients include M&S, HSBC and O2. He is also a Trustee of the Royal Society of the Protection to Birds (RSPB), and Advisor to MyBnk.com, Walkit.com, mo.jo, LeapAnywhere.com, Kubera Money and ClearlySo.com and a Patron to Martin Firrell. Prior to Zopa, James was Strategy Director at Egg, a world leader in digital banking. He joined Egg to create new things - launching Egg's digital TV and mobile services and the UK's first and most successful account aggregation service. As Strategy Director he saw Egg through its highly successful period of growth and move into profitability in the UK and led the exploration of a breakthrough opportunity for Egg entering the US. On leaving Egg, James was a founder member of the team that identified a major consumer trend of the next 20 years - Freeforming. Before Egg, James worked at LEK Consulting, where he developed the business case for Smile, Co-operative Bank's Internet bank. During this time James also led fund raising and business planning activities at Thames 21, a charity working with communities to create clean, safe and sustainable waterside environments in London. James holds an MBA from INSEAD and a 1st class honours degree from University College, London. He loves spending time with his family and bird watching - and in 1990, during an expedition to Sao Tome & Principe, helped re-discover 3 bird species that had been considered by many extinct.

What he presents:

Growth opportunities in an era of turbulence
Sustainability - creativity / the imperative for business
Zopa / Social Lending
Innovation in retail financial services
Entrepreneur / start up experience / inspiration
Web 2.0 / internet
Strategy development