Yunas Samad is Professor of South Asian Studies at University of Bradford. He was a member of the Expert Group on Humanities advising the European Commission on its FP 7 Research Programme and a Trustee of the Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust. He has played a prominent role in the organisation of a number of learned societies and was Vice-chairman of the British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS), Executive Committee member of the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS) and was Deputy Director of the South Asia Research Centre, Geneva.

Prior to coming to the University of Bradford he was a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations, Warwick University, and Associate Fellow of the Cecil Rhodes Chair of Race Relations, Oxford University and has also taught at Oxford and Sussex University. He was a British Academy Doctoral Scholar at St Antony’s College, Oxford University.

He is a leading expert on the study of South Asia and its diaspora and has published several books on the topic of Pakistani nationalism, ethnicity, Islam and the War on Terror and the diaspora. He regularly comments for the media on the Muslim diaspora and on politics and security issues in Pakistan for the BBC, the Dawn, the Express Tribune and other media outlets.

He is the author of The War and Terror and Pakistan: Jihadis, Military and the People – the struggle for control, Christopher Hurst and Co, London, 2011 and A Nation in Turmoil: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Pakistan 1937-58, Sage, New Delhi, 1995. He co-authored with Gayen Pandey, Faultlines of Nationhood, Roli Press, New Delhi, 2007 and with John Eade, Community Perceptions of Forced Marriage, FCO, 2003. He co-edited with Kasturi Sen, Islam in the European Union: Muslim Youth and the War on Terror, Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2007 and with T. Ranger, and O. Stuart (eds.) Culture Identity and Politics: Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Avebury, Aldershot, 1996. His latest collection of essays Beyond Islam and Security: State and Nation-building in Pakistan since 1947 with R. Long, G. Sing and I. Talbot; and with Gerry Boucher, Social Cohesion and Social Change in Europe, were both published by Routledge (2105).

Previous Roles
Director - Barclays Capital
Co-founder - Carron Energy

Mirza Beg is an entrepreneur, deal­ maker and international financier, having spent the last 27 years in developing, leading, investing and exiting businesses. The first thirteen years were in Investment Banking and latterly in equity investing and corporate development. Currently, Mirza focuses on Investing and developing high ­growth and early­ stage companies using his own funds, he also works with a number of institutional investors and family offices globally. His industry experience includes technology & telecommunications, energy (electricity, oil, gas and alternative), consumer products, homeland and cyber security and defence, commodities (trading & refining), Media: Film/TV/Entertainment and Residential & Commercial Property development. With an initial focus of Europe and the US the geographical focus has widened to emerging markets of the Middle­east, Africa, and parts of Asia and South America. This has allowed him to build a wide ranging network of contacts at governmental, institutional, corporate and a personal level.

Mirza Beg & Associates LLP focuses on following sectors: Commodities Trading/Mining (Crude Oil, Refined Products, Gold, Precious Metals), Power Generation, Telecommunications, Real Estate, Investment Finance (Private Equity/Venture Capital), Media & Technology. There is a wide global coverage and deep­rooted working relationship with companies, investors, banks and governments with interests in these sectors.

Previous Roles
Chairman - ATL Yorkshire Ltd
Director - Bradford Centre Regeneration Company

Amjad is one of the founding partners of Seafresh in Bradford, which is one of the largest groups of independent specialist catering food service and cash & carry groups in the UK. He is also heavily involved in many Yorkshire-based committees and boards focused on the improvement of the local economy and it's people. These include: Bradford Matters, Bradford Breakthrough, Rainbow Trust and the Producer City Prosperity Board.

Amjad also founded the Jinnah Awards UK in 2009, an organisation dedicated to promote the positive contributions of British Pakistanis in UK

Javed Khan is a leading figure in the UK public and voluntary sectors, with thirty years’ experience developing a track record of successfully managing change through key high profile leadership roles.

Image of the CEO Barnardo's Javed Khan
Javed is Chief Executive of Barnardo's, the UK's oldest and largest children’s charity. With HRH The Queen as its Patron, Barnardo’s runs 996 services in local communities, including support for children who have been sexually exploited, young people leaving the care system, children with a parent in prison and families struggling to cope. Barnardo’s also finds loving adoptive homes and foster placements for children in care. Last year it helped transform the lives of more than 248,000 children, young people, parents and carers. Many more were helped by campaigning to change policy and public opinion. He leads a staff team of over 8,500, with 16,000 volunteers across 996 services, with a retail chain of 640 shops, making it the seventh largest charity in the UK. As a British Pakistani, he is the first non white CEO in Barnardo’s 150 year history.

Previously, Javed was CEO at Victim Support, which helps over a million victims and witnesses each year, having 600 sites across England and Wales. Under Javed’s leadership the charity successfully managed significant change where it restructured itself; embraced major financial challenges; raised its public and political profile; generated new business opportunities, and was recognised in major awards including short lists for Charity of the Year, Best Campaign of the Year, Best Partnership Initiative and the Queen’s Jubilee Award.

Javed joined Victim Support in 2010, from the Government Office for London where he was the Executive Director to the London Serious Youth Violence Board. In this senior civil service role he worked across London’s key agencies to reduce serious youth violence.

In December 2003 Javed joined London’s Harrow Council, as Director of Education, making history as the UK's first British Pakistani in such a post. During this period the borough saw a 40% reduction in school exclusions, and the creation of the country’s first Sixth Form Collegiate leading to the lowest level of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) in England. By 2006 Harrow had been recognised as the 4th best achieving local education authority in the country. In 2007 he took on the role of Harrow’s Director of Community and Cultural Services, and led the department from ‘poor’ to a ‘good’ external inspection outcome.

He was previously Assistant Director of Education in Birmingham, where he led a team of over 3000 staff. During this period he helped the Education Department achieve ‘Excellent’ status under Ofsted inspections.

Javed’s parents, having emigrated from Kashmir in Pakistan, could neither read nor write. Growing up in the humble backstreets of inner city Birmingham, his comprehensive education led to a Mathematics degree and then on to teacher training. He began his teaching career in the West Midlands, and then made rapid progress through the education sector holding posts of Head of Mathematics, Assistant Principal and then Director of Development in a large further education college.

He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Children’s Commissioner for England and a lay member on a London Clinical Commissioning Group. Javed works with ministers at the highest level, and is a regular contributor in the media and at national and international conferences. In September 2015 Javed’s career achievements were recognised when he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham City University.

Source Barnardos

Previous Roles
Financial Services Director - Express Gifts Ltd / Findel Plc
Head of Credit - Grattan Plc
Head of Credit - Orange and Hutchison Telecom

Nasser is Chief Executive of NMC Galaxy, specialists in retail consumer credit, retail financial services, FCA compliance, data management, and all aspects of BPO (on-shore and off-shore). Previously he was Financial Services Director at Express Gifts Ltd (main trading business of Findel Plc), responsible for Credit Management, Risk, Collections, Debt Recovery, Financial Products & Services, Customer Operations, including all Call Centres in the UK and abroad; and Back-Office operations.

Nasser is MICM, has a BA (Hons) Business & Finance, and Executive MBA. He plays Squash regularly and other racket sports, as well as football and cricket. He is passionate about Yorkshire, Bradford City, Tottenham Hotspur, travel, and his professional interests.

Nasser is also involved in a number of regional and national advisory and strategic groups.

Nasser's previous roles include:
• Head of Credit for Orange and Hutchison Telecom (UK, France, and Germany)
• Head of Credit at Grattan Plc with responsibility for Credit, Risk, Collections, and Debt Management/Recovery
• Empire Stores Plc (now Redcats) with responsibilities for Statistical modelling and Risk Assessment systems
• Extensive experience of BPO strategy and operations (onshore and offshore)
• Speaker at conferences across UK and Europe, including Guernsey, Sweden and Germany