Meet the judges

Christy Cardenas is Founder and General Partner of Iris Invest, investing her time in innovation and impact. Christy has managed funds in deep technology venture capital, investing in AI, robotics, and energy, alongside her career in energy infrastructure private equity. Her expertise spans technology commercialization, venture financings, public private partnerships, project financings, securitizations, and more.

A world renowned economist and the author of several books on social and economic reform including ‘The Future of Capitalism’ which inspired the competition and more recently ‘The Future of the Left Behind. Paul is an advocate for “an ethical capitalism that meets standards that are built on values, honed by practical reasoning, and reproduced by the society itself.”

Nina is an executive strategist, multi-disciplinary creative, and former entrepreneurship educator at The University of Texas at Austin. She's passionate about supporting early stage impact startups, especially in education, with customer discovery, product-market fit, and brand strategy. She is also an Advisory Board Member for SXSW Pitch.

A Director at the Royal Bank of Canada, Wealth Management in the UK. Based in London, David is responsible for providing integrated wealth management solutions mainly for Ultra High Net Worth Business Owners and Entrepreneurs.

Deniz teaches and researches all things entrepreneurship and is the incoming Director of the PhD programme in the business school. Most of her research focuses on individuals and teams. She is widely published in a range of academic and practitioner journals which include the Harvard Business Review.

Peter is a lawyer specializing in ESG and business and human rights. He has acted in some of the leading cases in the field, advised States on aligning their laws with international human rights standards and designed human rights and environmental due diligence programs for some of the largest companies in the world.