Clarelisa Camilleri

Clarelisa, Programme Operations Manager, ensures the smooth running of The Scaleup Accelerator for scaleups raising Series A, alongside other key programmes from The Accelerator Network: Accelerator Academy for startups raising seed funding, FastForward Pre-Accelerator, and Cyber 101. She is responsible for selecting the companies, managing the delivery of the programmes and establishing strategic relationships with the companies, experts and mentors.

Clarelisa previously worked in a European Network of business innovation centres (EU BICs) for over 5 years, coordinating the certification process of about 150 global incubators according to European quality standards. During this time she also managed multi-stakeholder programmes across a wide range of sectors, such as a three-year programme (FIBIA) funded by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation to stimulate inclusive entrepreneurship at European level.

Clarelisa is Italian-Venezuelan and graduated with a masters degree from the Imperial College Business School in 2013.

Paul Sturrock

I’ve spent my whole career leading the design and implementation of entrepreneurial strategy, or developing the capability of others to do so.

I founded Slingshot Venture Development in 2001 to help companies and individuals develop their entrepreneurial capacity and accelerate their ventures.

I’ve developed Simple Venture Design, an entrepreneurial toolkit which integrates creative tools such as Effectual Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking and Lean Startup with analytic ones. It’s become the the basis for teaching business design as a creative craft as opposed to an art or a science. I’ve used this approach to design bootcamps and courses for the London City Incubator, City University, Central Saint Martins, Scottish Institute for Enterprise, and Hong Kong University, and Wayra Madrid.

I have advised founders and early stage investors as a mentor, board director, and consultant.
My clients have included Boots, MIT Media Lab, the SETsquared Partnership, NESTA Investments, School for Startups and Imperial Innovations.

I started my career in with Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, the most successful medical startup in Silicon Valley history. My formative experience was as founding CFO for PSG, and intrapreneurial spinoff unit. After senior posts in Europe for Guidant, I left to become European Director for Gynecare, setting up their operations prior to a successful exit to J&J.

I then joined Gorilla Park, a pan-European technology accelerator and launched their venture investment and acceleration operations in Sweden as Managing Director.

Follow me: @Psturrock

Ian Merricks

Ian Merricks
is the chair of The Accelerator Network. Ian Merricks is deeply involved in the UK start-up community and early stage investment space as an investor, advisor, and operator.
In his 20+ years of experience within the Tech, Media & Telecoms market, he has launched a music PR agency, 2 record labels, and 16 radio stations. He also created a network of best-selling city guide books and websites, a youth promotions agency, an academic contract publishing business, a B2B media planning and buying agency, and a tech investment advisory business. Along the way, he has also worked with the boards of FTSE100 companies like EMAP, as well as IPC and The Wireless Group as a commercial and corporate troubleshooter. He has been involved in raising over £200m of equity investment.