Chris Weston

started his IT career 20 something years ago. He is still going, helping organisations make the most effective investments and connecting the people who can help each other out.

An optimist, on the whole.

Julia Bellis

is a Principal Consultant at Equal Experts.
She’s a product manger, currently on a tour of duty as global psychological safety lead.

After a brief stint as a TEFL teacher in Ecuador, Colombia and Spain Julia started her career as a java and C++ developer on the PwC technology graduate scheme. She moved away from writing code for a living when she joined the Guardian in 2007 and became a founder member of its Digital Product team.

Since joining Equal Experts in 2017 Julia has tested the full range of her product skills from leading the teams designing online passport applications to helping Domino’s pizza respond rapidly to changes triggered by lockdown.

Julia has two children, three step children and two step grandchildren. She loves swimming, especially in toasty warm outdoor pools in Iceland and freezing cold outdoor pools in the UK.

Lisa Riemers

is an independent communications, content and digital workplace consultant who helps organisations connect their people and tell their stories. She works in and around intranet and website projects and products. She helps teams get the best out of their digital collaboration tools and creates punchy, accessible, user-centred content that makes information easier to understand. She’s usually the commsiest person in a technology team, or the techiest person in a comms team. Lisa’s also an artist, who brings her creative flair to the workplace.

Matt Ballantine

is a sociologist who has spent the past 30 years trapped in the technology world. He’s worked for big corporations, small businesses, public and private sectors and for himself for a while too.

Currently an Engagement Manager at Equal Experts, he builds card decks in his spare time.

Michelle Minnikin

is a Chartered Psychologist, Coach, Author, and the co-founder of several businesses. With over 20 years of experience in leadership and organisational development, employee selection and assessment, coaching, and personal development, Michelle has a wealth of knowledge and a passion for transformative change.

Michelle’s own journey towards her Good Girl Deprogramming started with her ADHD diagnosis in December 2020, a revelation that brought clarity and understanding to her life. As she embraced this newfound self-awareness, Michelle embarked on a deep exploration of her own conditioning and the ways in which societal norms had shaped her identity.)

Nick Drage

is a freelance strategy consultant and game designer, helping individuals or organisations explore the decisions they’re facing to make better choices. This can be through being a sounding board or Critical Friend, or building games and exercises to reflect real world dilemmas enabling customers to explore their options before that single real-world opportunity to make the best decision. Outside of work Nick is still mainly interested in strategy and decision making, especially in adversarial contexts.

For WB-40 Nick has acted as the “reverse host”, asking both incisive and random questions of the hosts to help illustrate what WB-40 is, and where it might be going.