Future Leaders

TV, Podcast & Radio Host Tyler West is one of the UK’s most exciting young talents who has soared in popularity across British households with his dancing prowess in the 2022 BBC1 series of Strictly Come Dancing. 

Tyler is best known for his hit daily radio show ‘The Home Straight with Tyler West on Kiss’ which reaches close to a million listeners per week and has seen a 28% increase on the previous year! Tyler’s love of music is deeply embedded into his personality and is clear to see why he has built such a loyal audience on his radio drive time show. His musical passions shone through in Strictly where he surprisingly performed to the Garage song ‘Flowers’, a very first for the prime time BBC show. DJ’ing began for Tyler in 2019 when he was signed to the radio giant and he regularly performs at DJ events in the UK and Internationally, including Kiss’ Ibiza Summer Pool Party events bringing his signature upbeat energy.

The charismatic presenter’s TV career is also going from strength to strength. In 2021, Tyler hosted BBC THREE’s series ‘Flat Out Fabulous’, an interior design show for millennials which showcased Tyler’s engaging and warm presenting style. As a regular presenter for MTV, Tyler is also the Host of The MTV Movie Show – an online show deep diving into the latest film releases and he regularly interviews Hollywood A-Listers including Idris Elba, Daniel Craig and Jack Black, to name a few. Feeding his passion for storytelling, Podcasts have always appealed to Tyler and resulted in his original idea ‘Every Day Hustle’ being developed and produced by Studio71 UK in 2018. Later in 2020, Tyler was the new host of the first MTV’s Celebrity Ex On The Beach Podcast and has co-hosted on the Official Love Island podcast in 2022.

In 2022  Tyler ran the London Marathon for Youth UK, a charity that he is a proud ambassador for. He regularly speaks out about the importance of supporting young people and has spent time mentoring those in his local community with local charities.

Natalie is the CEO of OMD across Europe, Middle East and Africa’s 5,000 people network.  Natalie brings over 20 years’ experience in marketing, combining her experience in digital and media across all categories. Previously Natalie was CEO of UK OMD agency; MG OMD, where she spent 18 years in digital and leadership roles. In her tenure the agency won several Agency of the Year titles, 2 Cannes Golds Lions for Media – most recently in 2024 – and is the most awarded UK media agency in the history of the IPA Effectiveness Awards.

Natalie is well respected for her people-first leadership approach, with the agency listed in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work for 3 years, and has been recognised personally as Media Leader of the Year 4 times. She sits on the WACL exec, is Chair of the Advertising Association Front Foot Board, and a Trustee of NABS.

System1 owes much to the talented and creative super-brain that is Orlando (he’s endearingly modest though and a real gent, so he’d never have written that himself).

Orlando is a genuine industry thought leader – setting the pace and tone for the industry. He runs masterclasses and is an inspiring, frequent and eloquent conference and podcast speaker. But Orlando isn’t just our very own celebrity – he’s been the visionary academic and innovation lead behind our meticulously researched testing methodologies since 2005.
Orlando enjoys the energy of being around interesting and intelligent people. He frequently collaborates with eminent experts outside of the company to discuss and debate ideas and be inspired for his own reading and research. He’s on a constant quest to keep System1 at the forefront of research innovation.

Orlando forensically observes links between advertising, psychology and the creative arts. He draws conclusions in his published works that have completely shaken up traditional approaches to research, marketing and advertising. Orlando’s books: Lemon (IPA, 2019), Look Out (IPA, 2021), and System1, Unlocking Profitable Growth (co-author 2017), have further established him as a true expert in his field.

Orlando believes people may think he’s a bit eccentric and unique (but aren’t we all?!). When he started presenting at conferences, Orlando would joke with his father that he suddenly found himself “backing reluctantly into the limelight”. Orlando certainly shines bright with many stars to his name: awards from the ARF (Great Minds Distinction Award), the AMA (4 under 40), Jay Chiat (Gold Award for Research Innovation), ISBA (Ad Effectiveness Award), MRS (Best Paper and Research Effectiveness Awards) and ESOMAR (Best Methodology). He’s also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), a member of their Effectiveness Leadership Group, and has led their Creativity and Effectiveness research over multiple years.

Gunikka Ahuja is the Founder & CEO of Bunta Beer Co., the UK’s first award-winning non-alcoholic Indian craft beer, brewed specifically to pair with the bold and spicy flavours of Indian food. After leaving a career in material innovation at adidas and moving from Los Angeles to London, Gunikka launched Bunta with a mission to redefine what modern Indian identity can look like in food and drink. Today, Bunta is poured across 300+ venues, working with some of the UK’s most exciting restaurants, pubs and hospitality groups, and is building a new drinking occasion around great food, culture and a proper pint without the alcohol.

Rak spent seven years driving commercial growth for the streaming platform with his last role being to lead the EMEA Ad business.

In 2025, Rak stepped into the leadership of Channel 4 Sales, the commercial arm of Channel 4, where he is responsible for driving the organisation’s advertising revenue as Chief Commercial Officer. A key focus of his role is to accelerate the commercial elements of Channel 4’s Fast Forward strategy, maximising revenues from linear to digital while pursuing new partnerships and expanding into new areas of digital growth.

Rak is a board member at Thinkbox, focused on advancing the future of TV marketing and media in the UK, as well as a board member at the Advertising Association, which acts as the unified voice for the UK Ad industry. He also sits on the Soho House & Co Committee Board and the Campaign Board for Historic Royal Palaces. And he’s extremely proud to be one of the founding members of MEFA.

Former Chief Strategy Officer at Dentsu, Ogilvy & W+K London. Agency Founder. TED & TEDx speaker. Now independent strategic consultancy for senior clients, domestic and global, at brands including BT, Heineken, M&S Food, ASB Bank, M&S Fashion Home & Beauty, PureGym, VistaJet, Blacklane, Sage, Schwan’s, Rathbones and bp.

Training and talks for multi-awarded agencies of all disciplines across the world including Wonderhood, Bicycle, Colenso BBDO, Assembly, Pretty Green, Publicis, Mother, Dentsu, Nomad Studios, Drummond Central, D3, OMD, Hvita Husid & FleishmanHillard.

Visiting lecturer in creativity at seven UK/international universities including University of Creative Arts, Regents University, Brighton University, Oxford University, Falmouth University, Edinburgh Napier University, the American International University in London and John Cabot University (Rome)

CO-AUTHOR OF BEST-SELLING BOOK: THE CREATIVE NUDGE