Brooks Macdonald, the investment manager with £11.9 billion in funds under management for clients in the UK and internationally, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the Cardiff Business Club event taking place at the Hilton Hotel, Cardiff on Monday, 18 February 2019. Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, will be the guest speaker at the event.

The Cardiff Business Club is the leading organisation of its kind in Wales. Established in 1912, its objective is to offer an environment where members can connect with decision makers from across the private, public and charitable sectors to support and promote their businesses.

Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt is one of the UK’s foremost computer scientists. He is a leading researcher in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and was one of the originators of the interdisciplinary field of Web Science. He is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford and a Professor of Computing Science at the University of Oxford. He is chairman of the Open Data Institute which he co-founded with Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Both of whom led the development of the highly acclaimed data.gov.uk website. In 2010, he joined the UK government’s Public Sector Transparency Board – overseeing Open Data releases across the public sector. He was knighted in 2013 for ‘services to science and engineering’.

With over 500 publications, he has researched and published on topics ranging from cognitive psychology to computational neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence to the Semantic Web. He was one of the originators of the interdisciplinary field of Web Science. He is the co-author of The Spy in the Coffee Machine and is an authority on issues to do with privacy and trust in the Digital age. In 2018 he published The Digital Ape: how to live (in peace) with smart machines, described as a ‘landmark book’.

He has also been heavily involved with the commercial exploitation of his research. In 2008 Garlik, a company he co-founded to help protect personal information and prevent identity theft, was awarded Technology Pioneer status by the Davos World Economic Forum also winning the prestigious UK BT Flagship IT Award. Garlik had over 500,000 users when acquired by Experian in November 2011.

In its 50th Anniversary year 2006-2007, Nigel was President of the British Computer Society. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society. In 2011 he was awarded an Honorary DSc by the University of Nottingham.

Andrew Lewis, Senior Investment Director, Head of Wales Office at Brooks Macdonald, said:

“We are delighted to sponsor the Cardiff Business Club’s February event and look forward to an inspiring lecture from Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt. The Cardiff Business Club is a hugely influential forum. It attracts key decision makers from across the private, public and charitable sectors helping to promote local businesses and foster relationships. The club hosts a regular series of lectures delivered by business leaders providing invaluable insights.

Since opening our office in Wales 18 months ago, we continue to focus on developing relationships with the local business community, in particular financial and professional advisers. As a business we are committed to supporting our local community, and supporting the Cardiff Business Club provides us with an ideal platform to continue building awareness of our business in Wales.”