Who we are

Claire Ruskin (Interim CEO)

Claire Ruskin has long been part of the Cambridge Phenomenon, starting in chip design and delivering increasingly ambitious technical product developments from Cambridge for a range of clients around the world.  She was a Board Director of both Cambridge Consultants and Arthur D Little ten years ago, then moved to PA Consulting Group to combine the art of management consulting with continued technical developments.  Claire helped form start-ups including CSR and Alphamosaic of which she was a NXD, and is on the Council of Advisors for Red Gate Software.  She is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET.

Hilary Laing (COO and CFO)

Hilary qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1995.  She then went on to act as financial professional in a number of commercial companies, latterly as Finance Director for ITV Digital Interactive.  Finally she ran a European Business Division at Walt Disney, before deciding to set up her own business, DXL Consulting. 

Hilary has been responsible for financial controls and stewardship of the Network since 2008. In 2010, her role was widened to oversee all day to day operations.  In that time she has worked on the launch of the new recruitment gateway service and re-design of the Cambridge Network website.

Bella Connolly (Business Development) 

Bella is responsible for liaising with all members to ensure they are enjoying all the services we have to offer and for talking to prospective members about the benefits they can expect.  She can also talk to you about services we currently don’t offer that would be of value to your organisation.

Louise Rushworth (Events and Corporate Gateway)

Louise joined Cambridge Network in 2008 to run Cambridge Corporate Gateway – a twice-yearly partnering event that introduces large multinational companies to Cambridge companies in the hope that some form of joint collaboration will result. She continues to run Corporate Gateway but is now responsible for organising the content of many other Cambridge Network events as well as co-ordinating some overseas visits to Cambridge where they might be of interest to Cambridge Network members. Louise has a degree in geography and history, is a trained PA and holds a post-graduate Certificate in Management.

Andrea Mitchell (Events Delivery)

Andrea has been responsible for membership enquiries since early 2009 and broadened her role to encompass management of some events including Café Networking and Making the Most of Membership. With a larger Cambridge Network team now in place, Andrea focuses on forward planning of the event calendar including organisation and logistics of the events.

Alexandra Murphy (Marketing & Membership Liaison)

Alex is responsible for ensuring members are welcomed to the Cambridge Network and for keeping members informed of all that is happening so that they can make the most of being a Cambridge Network member. She also deals with member queries and promoting Cambridge Network.

Kate Parashina (Recruitment Gateway Co-ordinator)             

Kate joined Cambridge Network full-time in January 2011 following a 3 month internship. She deals with any enquiries concerning the Recruitment Gateway from members and candidates. Kate graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics. Before her studies in Cambridge she was working in the Marketing department in Teva, one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical company.    

Kelly Brazier (Accounts Manager)

Kelly works part time and is responsible for all daily accounting processes within the Cambridge Network. This includes issuing membership subscription and renewal invoices as well as invoices for additional services. She is also responsible for credit control.

Dawn Nicholls (Events and Office Assistant)

Dawn assists with the organisation of all our events and is invaluable to the team in supporting us all in our day to day roles.

Judi Coe (Website Editor)

A qualified journalist and experienced copywriter and editor, Judi has overall responsibility for the content of the Cambridge Network website as well as for the production of our weekly e-newsletter.

Emma Stewart (Head of Operations, Learning Collaboration)

Emma is responsible for organising Cambridge Network’s Learning Collaboration.  Her role includes organising the regular ‘LC’ member focused meetings as well as managing the accounts of existing members.

Ali Wilson (Courses and Events Manager, Learning Collaboration)

Ali is responsible for organising the comprehensive training calendar for the Cambridge Network Learning Collaboration.  She is also responsible for the effective management and quality of all CNLC training suppliers.

Sian Saxby (Event Co-ordinator, Learning Collaboration)

Sian works with us on a part time basis whilst studying a law degree.  She is responsible for the organisation of the Cambridge Leaders Academy and the Technology & Innovation Leaders events.

Alice Swinscoe (Learning & Development Coordinator)

Alice joined us during the summer of 2011 and is a valuable support for the office.  As well as organising our Software Leaders Group and our Members Collaboration events, Alice supports the rest of the team with day to day tasks.