Meet the Team

Founding Directors

Chris Leese

Founder | Chief Commercial Officer
+44 (0) 20 3398 8554

email Chris

vCard

Paul Barford

Founder | Managing Director
+44 (0) 20 3398 8510

email Paul

vCard

Danushka De Alwis

Founder | Chief Operating Officer
+44 (0) 20 3580 5891

email Danushka

vCard

Chris Leese Founder | Chief Commercial Officer

Chris is a Founder and the Commercial Director at ThoughtLeaders4 with a primary aim of delivering value to our partners and clients.

During Chris’s 24 years’ experience, he has held senior roles at international b2b event companies and a leading legal publishing company. Working internationally, he has been responsible for many major event launches for the Asset Recovery and the Anti-Bribery & Corruption communities as well as General Counsel. He is relationship-driven and focuses on delivering value.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8554
email Chris

Paul Barford Founder | Managing Director

Paul is a founder and the Managing Director at ThoughtLeaders4 with responsibility for the overall strategic development of the company.

He has a decade of experience in the legal services industry, in building, launching and developing bespoke communities and putting legal practitioners together across private client, asset recovery, anti-corruption and financial services regulation and compliance.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8510
email Paul

Danushka De Alwis Founder | Chief Operating Officer

Danushka is a founder and the Marketing Director at ThoughtLeaders4 with a key focus on international community development. She has seamlessly delivered large scale international asset recovery and contentious insolvency conferences with the utmost efficiency across the world and highly values the friendships and personal relationships that nurturing and developing communities entails. 

Born in Sri Lanka, Danushka has had the privilege of residing in Singapore, Pakistan, Malawi, Kenya, Indonesia and the UK. This international exposure stands her in good stead to meet the challenges of an increasingly globalised world.


call +44 (0) 20 3580 5891
email Danushka

TL4 Team

James Baldwin Webb

Commercial Director | Private Client
+44 (0) 20 3398 8546

email James

vCard

Chloe Gibbs

Commercial Director | Disputes
+44 (0) 20 3398 8575

email Chloe

vCard

Helen Berwick

Commercial Director | Competition
+44 (0) 20 3433 2281

email Helen

vCard

Peter Miles

Head of Production & Community Director I Competition
+44 (0) 20 3481 8843

email Peter

vCard

Maddi Briggs

Strategic Partnership Manager
+44 (0) 20 3398 8545

email Maddi

vCard

Yelda Ismail

Marketing Manager
+44 (0) 20 3398 8551

email Yelda

vCard

Katya Tarasova

Marketing Executive

email Katya

vCard

Sarah Barton

Head of Operations
+44 (0) 20 3398 8560

email Sarah

vCard

Dr Jennifer White

Content & Production

email Jennifer

vCard

Fatema Rasul

Conference Producer
+44 (0) 20 3433 2286

email Fatema

vCard

Yanis Lau

Conference Producer
+44 (0) 20 3398 8568

email Yanis

vCard

Chloe McGrath

Operations Manager
+44 (0) 20 3398 8592

email Chloe

vCard

Ewan Brown

Operations Manager
+44 (0) 20 3433 2292

email Ewan

vCard

Laura Fraser

Operations Manager
+44 (0) 20 3433 2284

email Laura

vCard

James Baldwin Webb Commercial Director | Private Client

James has 15 years experience in the media industry, the majority of which has been spent within the Private Client events space specifically.

Part of the team that developed a senior community of lawyers and private client practitioners at his previous company, James is now developing the TL4 Private Client community with his colleagues to promote collaboration and conversation within the industry. He focuses on developing opportunities for clients to network and building relationships.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8546
email James

Chloe Gibbs Commercial Director | Disputes

Chloe has over a decade of experience working in barrister’s chambers which have all practiced multiple areas and sectors across criminal and commercial law.

Chloe joined from a Magic Circle set, where she supported the overall development of barrister's practices and building and managing client relationships.

At TL4, Chloe is responsible for strengthening and building relationships within the Disputes community and is committed to working closely with clients to increase their value and improve their visibility. She also assists with the organisation and launching of the Disputes events which focus on jurisdictional programmes such as India or the US; and some specific areas such as Corporate Disputes, Crypto, Class Actions, Financial Institutions, Construction etc. Chloe takes serious value in building relationships with new and existing clients and enjoys developing her knowledge and understanding of their practices within the legal industry.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8575
email Chloe

Helen Berwick Commercial Director | Competition

Helen has over 15 years’ of experience in the legal media industry and worked across a variety of publications, events, directories, and a membership group.

Having built relations with leading law firms and professional services clients internationally Helen is now developing the TL4 Competition Community, working with clients to help increase their visibility and grow their business with a focused consultative approach.


call +44 (0) 20 3433 2281
email Helen

Peter Miles Head of Production & Community Director I Competition

Peter is a Community Director at ThoughtLeaders4 with 20+ years' experience of event production and community development.

He’s gained that experience working with commercial event businesses, communities and industry associations across a number of sectors, with responsibility for identifying market opportunities, crafting value adding events and growing communities


call +44 (0) 20 3481 8843
email Peter

Maddi Briggs Strategic Partnership Manager

Maddi is the Strategic Partnership Manager here at ThoughtLeaders4. She is responsible for developing and strengthening relationships with our partners across the five communities. Using an arsenal of different channels, her role focuses on developing and executing projects for strategic growth. Maddi leads on producing virtual events and content production, including compiling and producing the quarterly magazines across the five communities at ThoughtLeaders4; FIRE, HNW Divorce, Private Client, Disputes and Competition.

 

Maddi has a BA First Class with Honours in Business and Events Management, and previously worked for a leading London barristers chambers, assisting with internal and external marketing activity, event management, and compiling submissions for the chambers directories (Legal 500; Chambers & Partners).


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8545
email Maddi

Yelda Ismail Marketing Manager

Yelda is responsible for the management of the marketing and communication plans across both print and online platforms, liaising with external marketing departments to ensure the success of the events across all four communities.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8551
email Yelda

Katya Tarasova Marketing Executive

Katya helps deliver the event marketing campaigns across all four communities.

She has more than 10 years of experience in organizing events in various areas, worked as a marketer in an international investment company, and for the last 8 years managed her own company in Ukraine.


call
email Katya

Sarah Barton Head of Operations

Sarah is the Head of Operations at ThoughtLeaders4. She has over 10 years of experience managing international events.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8560
email Sarah

Dr Jennifer White Content & Production

Jennifer is the Head of the Production team. 

Jennifer joins us from a legal and academic background.  She previously worked as a judicial clerk at the DIFC Courts, where she drafted judgments for high-profile and high-value construction and insolvency disputes and sat in various arbitrations. Recently, Jennifer worked at Grant Thornton London within the Insolvency and Restructuring team. She also has experience of working in full-service law firms in the UK and UAE, dealing with English and UAE Sharia law matters. Before her GDL, Jennifer read Women’s Studies. Her doctorate investigated the gender pay gap amongst lawyers.


call
email Jennifer

Fatema Rasul Conference Producer

Fatema is a conference producer at ThoughtLeaders4.

She has over 1.5 years of production experience in virtual and in-person conferences. Fatema graduated from Royal Holloway University of London with a Bachelor's with Honours in Classical Studies and can speak intermediate German.


call +44 (0) 20 3433 2286
email Fatema

Yanis Lau Conference Producer

Yanis is a conference producer at ThoughtLeaders4.

He is involved in producing in-person conferences on topical areas including class actions, corporate disputes and financial institutions litigation etc.

Yanis obtained his bachelor’s degree in law at King’s College London. Outside of the office, he enjoys bouldering and travelling.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8568
email Yanis

Chloe McGrath Operations Manager

Chloe is an Operations Manager at ThoughtLeaders4 who demonstrates experience working internationally in the events sector.

With an honours degree in Event Management and a client-centred approach, Chloe is responsible for organising and delivering TL4’s bespoke event portfolio. Over many years Chloe has applied her skills across various industries including the legal and charity sectors, dedicating herself to supporting and delivering meaningful events within the wider community.


call +44 (0) 20 3398 8592
email Chloe

Ewan Brown Operations Manager

Ewan is one of our Operations Managers at ThoughtLeaders4 and plays a key part in delivering our global events portfolio.

 

With an events background, Ewan has organised a range of different events from Gala dinners to sporting events in some of London’s biggest venues.

 

Having lived in France for eight years, it enabled Ewan to become bilingual but also highlighted the need to be aware of the cultural differences and attention to detail needed to produce events.


call +44 (0) 20 3433 2292
email Ewan

Laura Fraser Operations Manager

Laura is an Operations Manager at ThoughtLeaders4 who poses experience within the corporate events sector.

 

Her skills procured during her Event Management degree makes her an integral part to the operations team, who’s duties include managing both national and international events. She combines her interests in design, finance, and marketing to create seamless conferences across TL4's five communities.


call +44 (0) 20 3433 2284
email Laura