TOTUM PARTNERS

Our judging panel​

Our judges for Totum’s Rising Star Award represents the very best in Marketing and BD expertise from across the professional services sector. They will assess the shortlist, making the final decision before we announce our Rising Star Award winner on 27 January 2022.

Alexis Gray, Marketing Director

Alexis Gray is Marketing Director at UK and US-based consultancy The Berkeley Partnership. She is building Berkeley’s marketing fundamentals from the ground up – transforming the firm’s marketing capability and effectiveness. In the course of her career, she has worked both in-house and as a business development and marketing consultant for organisations such as PwC and Grant Thornton International. She has operated across the professional services sector including law, finance and accountancy, property, and consulting. She has huge experience in all aspects of BD and marketing from strategy and brand development to communications, programme/project management, and measurement and accountability. As a Rising Stars judge, she is looking for nominees to demonstrate professionalism, commitment and commercial nous.

Ali Hellewell, Marketing & BD Director

As Marketing and BD Director at property consultants Gerald Eve, Ali Hellewell brings invaluable insights from both real estate and law to Totum’s Rising Star Award. She has huge expertise in client service/development and brand management, underpinning everything she does at Gerald Eve with a strong focus on sustainability. Before joining Gerald Eve she worked at PwC (when it was Coopers) and then Allen & Overy and Olswang. She was then part of the team that set up professional services consultancy, Kindleworth. Since 2014, she has also been Director of her own business ClientFace which specialises in client listening – advising the top-50 law firms.

Nicky Lloyd, Global Head of Client & Sectors

Nicky Lloyd is Global Head of Clients and Sectors at Simmons & Simmons.  With over 13 years of experience in professional services, Nicky is currently leading an international team responsible for the delivery of the firm's key client account programme and also the firm’s four priority sectors: TMT; Asset Management and Investment Funds; Financial Institutions; and Healthcare and Lifesciences. Nicky spent 15 years in the Middle East where she was COO for the firm’s Middle East offices and prior to that ran the M&BD function at Simmons & Simmons and Freshfields.

Gareth Owens, Director of BD, EMEA

Gareth Owens is Director of Business Development, EMEA, at Norton Rose Fulbright. He has spent 13 years at the firm, advancing his career through a variety of marketing & BD roles from working as an embedded BD Exec and Manager in a global practice area, to managing global relationships as part of the central client team. More recently, he has worked in a number of senior management positions, taking on an expanding geographical remit. He has been working in his current role since December 2020, leading the BD teams embedded in offices, sectors and practices across Norton Rose Fulbright’s Europe, Middle East and Asia offices. His journey showcases the impressive career development opportunities that the legal sector can offer to today’s rising stars of BD and marketing.

Deven Vyas, Director of Client Development

Deven Vyas is Director of Client Development at Reed Smith, a firm he joined in 2013 to head up its newly created Client Development function. From 2003 to 2007, he was a Senior Prosecutor, his success in bringing about a number of changes as a ‘Borough Prosecutor’ earning him the accolade of ‘New Face of the CPS’ by the Times Newspaper. He worked for three Magic Circle firms, focusing on all aspects of client relationship management, before he joined Reed Smith to implement the firm’s first global client programme and its first client insights programme, meeting with clients to share insights that could help drive change. Prior to the pandemic, Deven spent much time at Reed Smith’s US offices meeting clients. He is a big advocate for change and innovation across the sector.

Heather Vadgama, Chief Marketing Officer

Heather Vadgama is Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Walkers. Heather joined the firm in September 2021 as its first global CMO – charged with bringing together, building and implementing the BD and marketing communications strategy for the firm’s legal and professional services businesses across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Prior to Walkers, she was a Director at KPMG for seven years, most recently as Director of Business Development and Sales for the EMA region (encompassing countries from the Caribbean to Russia and South Asia). Her considerable experience working across multinational teams makes her perfectly qualified to spot the qualities and capabilities of today’s rising stars in BD and marketing.