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 3rd February 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.