Boardwave

Formation| 2022
Founder| Phill Robinson
Website| https://www.boardwave.org

Boardwave is a London-based impact-led organisation founded by Phill Robinson in April 2022. Boardwave was established as a community of European software entrepreneurs, Founders and CEOs to enable them to work together to accelerate their business growth and to improve the overall position of Europe as a home for global software companies. It has a launched in the UK, Netherlands, France and Germany.[1][2]

Boardwave had 1,300 European members as of February 2024, with 575 mentors pledging over 4500 hours of pro bono mentoring time.

On 10 October 2022, it held the first Boardwave dinner debate in London on the topic of Winning big against Silicon Valley, and 270 members immediately signed up as Boardwave Mentors.[3] Latest data shows that it now has over 850 leaders or CEOs as part of its community.[4]

On 28 September 2023, Boardwave announced Jonathan McKay, Leo Apotheker and Elona Mortimer-Zhika as new board members. They join Phill Robinson, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) at Boardwave, along with Kath Easthope as co-founder and chief operating officer (COO), and are supported by an advisory committee and team of high calibre founding patrons.[5]

## Charity

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European Software Leaders; Ceos, Founders, Chairs are eligible to join at no cost. Boardwave offers them a programme of networking, debates, events, mentoring, inspiration. The organisation is pan European, and has run events in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium & Netherlands.

Each year, profit that is surplus to Boardwave's cash flow requirements is donated to medical research at Cure Parkinsons.[6][7] To date Boardwave has donated £250,000 to Cure Parkinson’s, and has helped raise awareness of Parkinson’s by funding the first two series of the popular "Movers & Shakers" podcast, hosted by : Rory Cellan-Jones (also a Boardwave Patron), Jeremy Paxman, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn, Gillian Stacey-Solymar. Boardwave is also promoting the launch of the paperback edition of music legend, Tony King’s book, "The Tastemaker".

Boardwave supports the Movers & Shakers podcast series which peaked at №3 in the UK podcast charts in March 2023 and is produced by Rory Cellan-Jones, Jeremy Paxman, Mark Mardell, Sir Nicholas Mostyn, Paul Mayhew Archer, and Gillian Lacey-Solymar.[8]

## Background

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The organisation is backed and financed by international brands, including Advent International, Apax Partners, Bain & Co, Bank of America, Blackstone, General Atlantic, Heidrick & Struggles, Index Ventures, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Bain Consulting and Rothschild & Co. As of 2023, Boardwave has 80 funding partners.[9]

## List of Founding Patrons

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* Leo Apotheker, Chair Synchron, ex CEO SAP & HP
* Nic Humphries Exec Chair, Hg Capital
* Steve Garnett, ex-Chairperson Salesforce EMEA, Investor
* Chano Fernandez, ex co-CEO, Workday
* Stephen Kelly, CEO WANdisco, ex CEO Sage
* Melissa di Donato, NED Department science innovation and Technology, Supervisory Board Porsche AG
* Wol Kolade, Managing Partner Livingbridge, Deputy Chair NHS England, Co-Founder 10,000 Black Interns
* Jonathan McKay, Serial Chair, Advisor & Investor. Chair of Forward Partners & Lafosse
* Oystein Moan, Executive Chairman of Visma
* Nick Discombe, Serial Chair & NED, UK Software
* Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Writer, Author, ex BBC technology correspondent
* Adam Hale, Board & Advisory roles around People & Technology
* Jose Duarte, CEO Infovista, & Non Exec Director
* Paul Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, ServiceNow
* Chris Bayne, CEO, The Access Group
* Gillian Wilmot CBE, Founder & CEO, Board Mentoring

## References

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1. ^ Macaulay, Thomas (2 March 2023). "To challenge big tech, European startups need their own Nasdaq". TNW | Ecosystems. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
2. ^ "Creating powerful relationships that aim to transform Europe into a software superpower". Agent3 - Home. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
3. ^ "If Sunak wants us to be the next Silicon Valley, CEOs need a much stronger community around them". www.managementtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
4. ^ "Why Europe's 'lonely' tech entrepreneurs need help". BBC News. 3 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
5. ^ Boardwave. "BOARDWAVE APPOINTS ITS FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AS IT REACHES 1,000 EUROPEAN MEMBERS MILESTONE IN FIRST 18 MONTHS". www.prnewswire.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
6. ^ Murray, Kirsten (17 January 2023). "European Software Industry helps fund research to cure Parkinson's". Cure Parkinson's. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
7. ^ "Advancing Health Equity Through The CMS Innovation Center: First Year Progress And What's To Come". Forefront Group. 11 May 2023. doi:10.1377/forefront.20230509.277096. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
8. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (18 March 2023). "Movers and Shakers - a Parkinson's podcast". Rory’s Always On Newsletter. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
9. ^ Allen, Patricia (12 December 2022). "Supercharging European software success through community | Interview with Boardwave founder Phill Robinson". EU-Startups. Retrieved 20 July 2023.