FOUNDING PATRONS
Sir John Major
Founding Patron
Sir John Major served as British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997. Prior to this he held the positions of Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sir John was MP for Huntingdon (1979-2001).
Lord Risby
Founding Patron
Lord Risby served as MP for Bury St Edmunds (1992-1997) and for West Suffolk (1997-2010). In December 2010 Richard was created a life peer as Baron Risby of Haverhill in the County of Suffolk.
PRESIDENT AND CHAIR
Ali Azeem
President
Ali has been involved in City Future since 2007. He worked for former Chancellor George Osborne on economic policy, and contributed to former Defence Secretary Liam Fox's book, "Rising Tides". He was a parliamentary Candidate for Ilford South at the 2019 General Elections, and is currently Deputy Chair for Hammersmith. Ali is an award-winning consultant helping organisations thrive in a rapidly evolving world. He promotes new possibilities for people, most recently as a trustee of the Big Kid Foundation.
Tom Capon
Chair
Tom was appointed Chair of City Future in August 2020. He is a capital markets lawyer, with over eight years of experience across two leading international law firms. As part of this, he has acted on a number of major transactions and for a range of clients. Aside from his work, Tom is a school governor and sits on an independent monitoring board for a prison. He is also involved in politics on a local level, as an association officer in Lewisham and a ward chairman in Beckenham.
COMMITTEE
Francia Acosta-Saltos
Committee Member
Francia is an analyst at a pan-European Stock Exchange. In her role she helps create value, maximise growth and improve business performance across Global Capital Markets. Prior to her move to the City, she carried out Neuroscience research that aimed to find novel therapeutic gene-delivery techniques for the treatment of spinal cord and brain injuries. Francia has a broad academic background, with a Psychology BSc from Goldsmiths University of London, a Finance MSc from Birkbeck University of London, and a Neuroscience PhD from UCL.
Ranamit Banerjee
Committee Member
Ron is a structured finance lawyer, with over seven years of experience at a magic circle law firm. As part of this, he has worked in Washington D.C and Hong Kong and specialises in advising alternative capital providers and distressed debt funds. Having completed his undergraduate law degree at the University of Warwick, he was called-to-the-Bar by the Hon'ble Society of the Middle Temple as a Benefactors' Scholar. He subsequently retrained as a solicitor. Ron has previously been the President of the UK Law Students’ Association.
Thomas Turrell
Committee Member
Thomas joined the City Future Committee in July 2020. He works in Operations in the City of London at an Investment Management firm. Thomas has worked in financial services since 2014. Thomas lives in Bromley with wife and their two cats, he is an active member of the community and has been both an NHS and School Governor. Thomas has been Vice-Chair of a national charity and a trustee of several community-based ones. Outside of work Thomas is active in politics, where he has stood for parliament: contesting Greenwich & Woolwich at the 2019 General Election and was Chairman of a local Conservative Association.
Oliver Gonzalez
Committee Member
Oliver Gonzalez has been involved with City Future since 2020 supporting the developments of the venture. He previously accrued professional experience within the NGO sector. Oliver Gonzalez has a diverse educational background with an English Language & Communications with Spanish BA from the University of Hertfordshire and an International Relations MA from Richmond, The American International University in London.
Mikhail Kleptsov
Committee Member
Mikhail is a senior associate at a major international law firm specialising in structured finance and capital markets, and has experience in a variety of banking and finance transactions. His key industry sectors of focus include infrastructure, financial services, retail and telecoms, and his experience of being a finance lawyer spans over a decade. Mikhail joined the City Future team in 2021 and is involved on the policy side.
Saadi Chowdhury
Committee Member
Saadi read his honours in Economics & International Relations and continued to obtain a Masters' in Finance from the University of St. Andrews. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2009 by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple following completion of the law conversion course and the Bar's vocational qualification. Following a stint with the finanical regulator, he worked in the City with a boutique investment house, a leading hedge fund and one of the UK's biggest wealth managers. He is passionate about literature and is currently working to finish a fantasy novel.
Aleksandra (Ola) Wojcik
Committee Member
Ola works for a pan-European trade association that represents the leading global and European banks and acts as a bridge between the wholesale financial markets, regulators and the public. Her expertise lies in the field of data privacy and fighting financial crime. She holds MSc from the University of Edinburgh in International and European Politics and BA from the University College Utrecht in Political Science and International Law.
Dylan Patel
Committee Member
Dylan is a paralegal within a magic circle law firm and works within the financial crime sector. He is a Law LLB graduate from Queen Mary University of London and is currently studying his LPC on scholarship. He has interned at a big 4 accounting firm and has experience within American and European taxation. Dylan has a broad range of voluntary experiences from supporting journalists of NGOs to fundraising for local charities.