We are proud to be a team who believe that entrepreneurship makes a stronger UK.
the team
Team members
Neeta Patel CBE
Chief Executive Officer
Neeta has led CFE since the start of the original New Entrepreneurs Foundation charity. She has a broad range of commercial experience in finance, media, publishing, education and the arts. She has also worked in private equity and has led her own Fintech startup. She is passionate about the role that tech entrepreneurs can play in the economy and supports and mentors first-time entrepreneurs both in and outside CFE through her work as Entrepreneur-Mentor in Residence at London Business School, as a board adviser for Cass Ventures and Tech London Advocates. She is also a board director at £1.3bn, FTSE350-listed Allianz Technology Trust, which invests in quoted technology companies. Neeta was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in the Queen’s birthday honours in October 2020 for services to entrepreneurship and technology.
Richard Cull Thomas
Deputy CEO / COO
Richard is Deputy CEO and CEO at Centre for Entrepreneurs and responsible for CFE’s operations, finances and systems, and leadership of the NEF+ programme.
Prior to joining CFE (then NEF), Richard was at British Telecom, in a senior operational capacity leading customer service teams in the Consumer division and working with EE prior to their acquisition by BT. During his time at BT Richard developed deep expertise in customer experience, out- and insourcing of high-volume service operations and fixed and mobile telecoms technology.
Before BT Richard worked in the aerospace industry at BAe Systems, in a wide variety of roles – engineering, project management and commercial, delivering cutting-edge technology and international defence programmes.
Outside of the day job, is a partner in his wife’s property development business, stays fit through a combination of running, cycling and dog walking and is, slowly, learning to fly fish.
Matt Smith
Director of Policy & Research
Matt oversees the research, policy and network activities of the Centre for Entrepreneurs. He was recruited by Luke Johnson in 2013 to design, launch and run the Centre as a think tank, before merging it with the New Entrepreneurs Foundation in 2017 to create a unified entrepreneurship foundation.
Previously, Matt co-founded student enterprise charity NACUE and worked at Enterprise UK. He also helped launch the European Startup Network and served as board member from 2016-2019
Izzy Daly-Carnell
Operations Lead
Izzy is the Operations Lead for Centre for Entrepreneurs, she has over 4 years experience in building and maintaining key relationships. She ensures all operational systems are working effectively including CRM systems. She manages and coordinates content for CFE’s website and plans and delivers our events. She is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship and helps support our NEF+ programme by sustaining communities and key relationships.
Maxx Turing
NEF+ Programme Delivery & Community Builder
Maxx is a 2020 alumnus of the NEF programme, winning the 2020 CEO’s Award and CVC Young Innovator Award for his business, The Tribe, which provides products and services for entrepreneurship programmes. Following completion of the programme, Maxx started working on The Tribe full-time and is now providing programme delivery services for CFE as well as other entrepreneurship programmes. Maxx draws from his 6+ years experience as an operational leader in startups to creatively solve problems in a resourceful way, as well as bringing his unique experience of working with multiple entrepreneurship programmes including Entrepreneur First, The HackTrain Accelerator and The Family. A strong focus on the client, alongside a growth mindset and an obsession to always try his best set Maxx up for success. He holds an Oxford science MA (Hons) and a Quantic MBA (Hons)
Rhea Fofana
Community Manager
With a background in Biotechnology and Enterprise, Rhea has worked across sectors with experience in FMCG R&D, social enterprise, refugee entrepreneurship research, charities and communications. Rhea has previously successfully project-managed technology developments, internal consultancy, charity groups, and sustainability strategy. Now focusing on collective knowledge, enterprise and multi-disciplinary awareness to connect communities, Rhea joins CFE as the community manager for the IAN and REN networks alongside a social enterprise fellowship at Year Here.
Tessa Lin Wang
Content & Social Media Lead
Tessa joins CFE as the social media and content lead, with a particular focus on its flagship NEF+ programme. She brings along a background in Fashion, consumer-facing brands and publishing (Singapore Press Holdings) across Singapore and London – also having contributed to Gen-Z targeted projects for the H&M Group and Future Laboratory. Outside this role at CFE, Tessa is also working on building Brainchild, her startup that focuses on redesigning the job creation pipeline for the creative industry. She was awarded a startup visa sponsorship in 2020 to make this happen in the UK, after proposing it to her university, the London College of Fashion.