Neeta Patel CBE is a Non-Executive Director at FTSE 250-listed Allianz Technology Trust PLC and Albion Venture Capital Trust PLC and was Founding CEO of the NEF+ programme, and latterly of the merged Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE), for 11 years until May 2022. CFE is the UK’s leading entrepreneur development programme and since its launch in 2011, nearly 350 people have gone through the programme, launching 200+ ventures, raising £240m with an aggregate valuation of £600m and have created more than 5000 jobs. Neeta is a mentor to a number of CFE founders; a Board Member at City Ventures and was Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee for the Young Women's Trust and an Advisory Board Member of Tech London Advocates. Neeta is an experienced executive with over 30 years of strategy and operational leadership experience that spans financial services, media & publishing, education, arts and the creative industries. Prior to joining the CFE, Neeta worked in private equity matching technology entrepreneurs with investors. Neeta has held senior positions at Legal & General PLC, Financial Times Group and at the British Council. She is an early internet pioneer having launched the first personal finance web site in Europe for L&G in 1996. Neeta holds an MA in Chemistry from Oxford University, an MBA (Marketing) from Bayes Business School, and a Sloan Fellowship in Strategy and Leadership from London Business School, where she was the winner of the PWC prize in 2009 for a consultancy assignment in China. Neeta is passionate about the importance of storytelling in business and has published a book about it, “Creative Business – the making of addictive stories”, FT/Prentice Hall 2002. She was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2020 for services to technology and entrepreneurship.