Our People

Jurga Zilinskiene MBE

CEO, Founder and Coder

Jurga Zilinskiene is the Founder and CEO of Guildhawk. She was named among 8 women who made history in the technology world. In 2019, she was honoured by Queen Elizabeth with the MBE for International Trade. Her Majesty also honoured Guildhawk with the Queen’s Award for International Trade.

As an accomplished coder, Jurga is passionate about introducing new AI solutions to improve lives and protect our planet. She established a JV with Gammon Construction HK to create new technology to improve safety on construction sites. In 2023, Jurga launched Evernoon Technologies in Hong Kong.

Beyond technology, she is passionate about helping women and young people. Sheffield Hallam University formed a partnership with Guildhawk and appointed Jurga as entrepreneur in residence to inspire the next generation of coders and entrepreneurs.

To support young musicians in the Chinese Year of the Water Rabbit 2023, Jurga, her husband David and their bandleader friend Alex Mendham and his Orchestra are releasing a magical album of 1920s songs. These are translated into Chinese for the first time.   

Jurga loves to write poetry and dance. At school, she was a member of a Lithuanian Dance group that performed in national competitions. Beyond her passionate for new technology, she adores the British Royal Family, 1920s jazz and tweed.

Learn more about Jurga here on Wikipedia.

Watch this BBC television interview with Jurga explaining how Guildhawk recruited the world’s first emoji translator.

Mark Brooks-Wadham

Chairman

Entrepreneur Mark Brooks-Wadham joined Guildhawk as Chairman in February 2023.

Mark brings with him over 30 years of experience within the business technology sector. In 1987, he started his first business, selling the business after five successful years. In 1993 he formed Charterhouse Voice and Data. Growing the company organically into a leading unified communications player in London and the Home Counties. He sold the business to private equity in 2018. Mark then remained as CEO embarking on a number of acquisitions. This took the business to £65m turnover and north of 300 employees. Mark stepped down as CEO in 2021, and remains on the board as a NED. Mark has subsequently invested in a number of technology companies.

Mark is a keen cyclist and runner and enjoys family life with his wife and two daughters.

Arun Chauhan Prof. PgDip

External Legal Counsel

Arun Chauhan is Guildhawk’s External Legal Counsel and Board Member, and also provides specialist advice to our clients on promoting ethical standards, regulatory compliance and litigation.

A practising solicitor, Arun is one of very few to be awarded an International Compliance Association expert level post graduate qualification (Prof. PGDip(FCC)) in financial crime compliance. A former head of the commercial fraud team of a top 20 UK law firm he is the founder and a director of Tenet Compliance & Litigation, a boutique practice dealing with financial crime compliance and investigations.

He is a Trustee Director of the Fraud Advisory Panel charity, the voice of the counter-fraud community and frequently appears as a guest expert on BBC Television.

Watch Arun on BBC television explaining how to protect yourself from fraud by clicking here.

David Clarke

CSO

David Clarke is chief security officer & Director Multilingual Due Diligence services in the consultancy arm of Guildhawk. He is based in the City of London and Sheffield. David provides the strategic lead for multilingual research, advisory and secure language services to global corporate clients.

He leads a multi-disciplinary team of security specialists and works with clients to protect their brands and data and avoid falling victim to crime. To mitigate the risks that are often unseen in multilingual supply chains, he pioneered AMLiss™. This is a 3-tier regulatory compliance solution to identify red flags in multilingual contracts and other written and verbal business communications.

A veteran of the Royal Air Force and former United Nations Peacekeeper, he champion’s Guildhawk’s commitment to military veterans find new careers in civilian life. David is signatory to the Armed Forces Pledge.

As the Head of the City of London Police Fraud Squad he was responsible for designing and leading the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB). As Chairman of the independent Fraud Advisory Panel, David established and led the COVID-19 Fraud Watch Task Force to protect businesses during the pandemic. He is a regular commentator on BBC Television and The Times newspaper.

Watch a BBC television interview with David.

Andrew Garrihy

Strategic Adviser

Andrew has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior marketing executive within the technology and telecommunications industries. He has worked with leading global brands such as Huawei, Samsung and Vodafone.

Andrew is founder of The CMO Coach where he coaches chief marketing officers and businesses to elevate their marketing performance and success. 

Steve Spark

SaaS Digital Transformation

Steve has 26 years’ commercial management experience, with the last 18 years in software-as-a-service and digital transformation. 

He has held executive leadership roles with 4Projects, Viewpoint and Mandata – all PE-backed SaaS companies who delivered significant growth, leading them through 5 successful PE funding rounds, a trade sale and 3 acquisitions

Amanda Murphy

Special Advisor on Creative Technologies

Amanda Murphy, a celebrated British producer, is the creative force behind the groundbreaking TV show Supernanny and the senior producer of the UK’s first Big Brother series. With an impressive career spanning Hollywood, reality TV, blockbuster shows, and media innovation, Amanda brings her extensive cross-cultural expertise in media production and branding to Guildhawk.

Amanda graduated in communications and cultural studies from Leeds University, starting her career with Turner Films and Thames Television in London. She moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s, producing Hollywood Report and Hollywood Kids before working on a cinema history series that featured icons like Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, and Hans Zimmer.

Back in the UK, Amanda produced popular TV shows like Scrapheap Challenge. From 2000 to 2008, she led Ricochet TV, where she created and produced Supernanny, sold in 47 countries. Her portfolio includes The Real Swiss Family Robinson and Living In the Sun.

Amanda also mentors students at the National Film and Television School, championing the next generation of British filmmakers. Her deep industry knowledge helps businesses build their brands and create effective marketing through innovative media strategies.

Matt Ross

Strategic Partnerships North America

Matt leads on Strategic Relationships in the USA. With over 30 years of experience in marketing goods, services and the arts across a broad range of B2B industries, he has unrivalled experience and an extensive network that promotes partnerships with Guildhawk and adoption of the GAI Translate software.

Isham Iqbal

Lead Software Developer

My journey with the Guildhawk Limited began in 2021 when I joined as a Senior Software Developer through the Enhanced Mentored Associate Program, a collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University. As a key member of the team, I am deeply involved in enhancing the development and security of our cutting-edge SaaS product. Holding the prestigious certification of ISO 27001:2022 Lead Auditor, I bring a robust understanding of security protocols to our projects.

I earned my first degree in Computer Information Systems in 2015 and have since pursued further education, currently undertaking an MSc in Cyber Security. With over 9 years of experience in software engineering, I've had the privilege of contributing to diverse projects across the globe. My passion lies in exploring advanced concepts such as lambda calculus, category and type theory, which enrich my approach to problem-solving.

Beyond my technical expertise, I take great joy in mentoring junior team members, guiding them to unlock their full potential. As a lifelong learner, I am committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements and contributing meaningfully to our team's success.

Dr Francimaria Nascimento

AI Engineer

Francimaria holds a PhD in computer science and specialises in advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning.

She has extensive experience as an industrial researcher and senior AI researcher, developing NLP solutions and machine learning models for industrial applications and fake news detection. Francimaria has also worked on projects to evaluate bias in AI systems and automate assessments of the effectiveness of educational content.

Shashwat Upadhyay

Machine Learning Engineer

I started working at Guildhawk in August 2024 through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University and Innovate UK. As part of this innovative KTP project, I contribute to the development of a novel approach to translation using state-of-the-art LLMs, thus enhancing the capabilities of in-house products.

Since 2018, I have worked in the ever-evolving field of data science and machine learning, tackling projects across Healthcare, Telecoms, and R&D. I co-authored a research paper on fake news detection and completed my MSc in Data Science from the University of Bristol in 2022.

In addition to my technical background, I focus on health and fitness via calisthenics, which I started in 2019. I travel to a new region every year to experience a variety of cultures. I also have a keen interest in finance and economics, regularly reading FT and Reuters.

Dr Alexandra Anderson

Lead Academic Strategic Transformation

Dr Alexandra is a practitioner, educator and researcher in enterprise and entrepreneurship. Her commercial experience spans thirty years, having worked in business support and established her own business.

Her academic roles are focused mainly on working with SMEs to transform and introduce new digital innovations that drive sustainable growth. She is a strong advocate of authentic learning, having embedded student consultancy within the curriculum for over 20 years.

Dr Chris Roast

Lead Academic Research & Innovation

Chris is an interaction design expert with a passion for the cross-disciplinary nature of digital services and product design. After earning a Masters in Design Research at the RCA, he worked on an interactive video training project at Imperial College, sparking his interest in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). He pursued a PhD at The University of York, focusing on principles of good interaction design and the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework.

Chris has extensive teaching experience with both undergraduates and postgraduates, and in recent years, he has shifted towards applied interdisciplinary research. His work includes industry collaborations and he has a keen interest in knowledge transfer and innovation, serving as a knowledge transfer lead to foster collaborative practice-based work.

Professor Alex Shenfield

Lead Academic Machine Learning

Alex is a professor in machine learning and research theme lead for digital connectivity and technology at the National Centre for Excellence in Food Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University. 

His main research interests are in the field of machine learning and its application to real-world problems in pattern recognition, healthcare, engineering design, and manufacturing.

He predominantly teaches in the areas of embedded systems, technologies for enabling the Internet-of-Things, and software engineering.

Current research projects:

- Sustainable baking : developing advanced AI based analysis and control for sustainable baking processes (with the University of Bradford and Rakusens).

- An Industry 4.0 platform for food and drink manufacturing : developing advanced intelligent control systems for weighing and inspection (KTP with QSS Ltd.)

- Digital transformation of online heritage archives : developing AI solutions for enhancing metadata, search, and analytic capabilities for digital archives for the benefit of Humanities scholars (KTP with Microform Academic Publishers).

- Rice milling in the digital age : developing advanced machine health analytics for fault and anomaly detection and output quality control.

Dr Morwenna Fellows

Special Advisor

Dr Morwenna Fellows is a special advisor for Guildhawk. She advises on improving safety communication on multilingual sites in the construction, mining, and energy industries. 
From the UK and currently based in Barcelona, Morwenna works as a linguistic consultant.

Morwenna holds a doctorate in Construction Management and a master's degree in Intercultural Communication, Translation and Interpretation.

She is passionate about facilitating comprehension between speakers of different languages and bridging cultural differences, particularly in complex and sensitive contexts. Prior to undertaking her research doctorate, she worked as a public service interpreter and language teacher. Her research sheds light on the complicated translation tasks taken on by construction workers in order to facilitate work in multilingual teams.

Morwenna is now determined to use her findings to help improve communication on sites by collaborating with construction partners because improving communication has the potential to positively impact safety, relations and productivity. 

Ksenija Fedorenko

Legal & Regulatory Compliance Advisor

Ksenija, previously our Head of Operations, is now our Legal and Regulatory Compliance Advisor where she helps with our change and incident management, internal and external audits, and monitoring attainment of company objectives.

Ksenija holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from University College London, and a Master’s degree in Law from Vilnius University, Lithuania.