MEET THE HIRO ADVISORY BOARD

Yann LeCun is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of modern artificial intelligence. He is Chief AI Scientist at Meta Platforms and Silver Professor of Computer Science at New York University where he founded the NYU Center for Data Science. Yann’s pioneering work on Convolutional Neural Networks and deep learning architectures has defined the modern era of machine learning. He began his research career at AT&T Bell Labs, where he led image recognition and machine learning research before joining NYU in 2003. In 2013, he became the founding director of Facebook AI Research (FAIR), shaping the company’s long-term research agenda in artificial intelligence. In 2018 he received the ACM Turing Award, the “Nobel Prize of Computing”, alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio for their breakthroughs in deep learning. Yann’s current research focus is on "World Models" which move beyond current LLM limitations to develop "autonomous AI" systems that can understand the physical world, reason, plan complex actions, and possess persistent memory. His thought leadership and technical insight provide HIRO Capital with world-leading guidance on the future of AI, robotics, and computational systems.

The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull served as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018, following earlier cabinet roles as Minister for Communications and Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. His premiership oversaw major policy reforms, including Australia’s first national cybersecurity strategy and driving the National Innovation and Science Agenda. Before entering politics, Malcolm built a distinguished career in law, media, and finance. He co-founded OzEmail, one of Australia’s first internet service providers, which became the first Australian tech company to list on the NASDAQ, and was later sold to WorldCom. He also served as Managing Director and Partner at Goldman Sachs Australia, leading significant investment and advisory mandates.

Since leaving office, Malcolm has advised leading global investors and companies on technology, and geopolitics, serving as Global Senior Adviser to KKR & Co. His broad experience across government, capital markets, and innovation ecosystems provides HIRO Capital with an invaluable perspective on regulation, defense technologies, and market dynamics between UK / Europe and  the fast growing Asia-Pacific region.

Professor Paul is a leading authority on mobile robot autonomy and autonomous vehicles that can map, navigate, and understand their environments independently. He holds the BP Chair of Information Engineering at the University of Oxford, was the Founding Director of the Oxford Robotics Institute (ORI) and heads the university's Mobile Robotics Group (MRG).

His research focuses on pushing the boundaries of navigation techniques, particularly for long-term and large-scale applications (e.g., thousands of kilometers of navigation without relying on GPS).

Paul co-founded the spin-out company Oxa (formerly Oxbotica) to commercialize the robotics and autonomous systems software developed in his university lab. He currently serves as the company's President and CTO.

Paul also serves as a science advisor on the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology and as the UK Connected and Autonomous Mobility Champion for the UK Automotive Council.

Paul was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for services to engineering and technology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IEEE.

Loredana Crisan is the Chief Design Officer (CDO) at Figma, the leading cloud-based design and prototyping platform, where she oversees the company's design, UX, brand studio, and research teams. Before joining Figma, she spent nine years at Meta in various product and design leadership roles, notably as Head of Messenger and across Instagram and GenAI. She is known for her non-traditional path to tech leadership, having initially studied classical music (piano and composition) at the National Music University in Bucharest, Romania before transitioning to sound engineering and product design. Crisan is a vocal advocate for the evolving role of design in an AI-powered world, emphasizing that human creativity and problem-solving remain essential in driving technology.

Laurent Solly is a leading French public- and private-sector executive who serves as Vice-President for Europe at Meta. He has spent a decade leading Meta’s business in France and Southern Europe, after joining in 2013 as Managing Director of Facebook France. He holds degrees from Sciences Po and ENA, and previously worked in senior roles in French media (notably at TF1) as well as in the public sector as chief-of-staff in senior French government ministries. In his current Meta role, Solly has led the company’s European expansion strategy and led Meta’s European efforts on emerging technologies — including aspects of its AI research lab (FAIR) and broader digital innovation across the continent.

Major Tim Peake, CMG is an ex-British Army Air Corps officer, test pilot, and the first official British European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS). Selected by ESA in 2009, Major Tim launched on December 15, 2015, for his six-month Principia mission, during which he became the first British person to conduct a spacewalk and participated in over 250 scientific experiments, while engaging millions of students across Europe. He co-led experiments on the long term effects of Space on Human Physiology and also in Orbital Manufacturing, Materials Science and the Life Sciences. Since retiring from active ESA service in 2023, the celebrated astronaut, who holds the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG), continues his work as an ambassador for STEM and space education. Major Tim is also a non-executive Advisor to Axiom Space, the private company building the world's first commercial space station.

Professor Deeph Chana is a British researcher, technologist, and innovation architect with over two decades of leadership at the intersection of deep tech, security, defence, and investment. A theoretical physicist by training, he specializes in designing systems that translate frontier science into venture-grade capabilities for national security and infrastructure.

As a Professor of Practice at Imperial College London, he founded the Security Innovation Cluster and served as Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology. In these roles, he built large-scale programmes linking academia, government, and finance, focusing on cyber-physical security, AI, and critical infrastructure resilience.

Professor Chana was the originating architect of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator (DIANA) and its €1 billion NATO Innovation Fund. As DIANA’s inaugural Managing Director, he established the Alliance’s first global deep-tech accelerator, creating a venture ecosystem spanning startups, investors, and test centres across multiple nations. Through his advisory role with Hiro Capital, he continues to guide technologies from laboratory research to mission-critical deployment.

Hannah Gladman is senior strategist for the CEO at DeepMind, where she works on strategy and special projects spanning artificial intelligence, life sciences, and computational biology. In this role, she is involved in the high-level strategy and operations that guide the direction of one of the world's leading AI research organizations. Before joining DeepMind in 2020, she worked for HIRO GP Cherry Freeman at e-commerce company LoveCrafts as Head of Strategy & Customer Insight. Prior to Lovecrafts, she was an Associate at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where she assisted clients across healthcare, retail, and finance, on complex problem-solving and strategy design. Hannah holds a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford. Her expertise in AI strategy, digital infrastructure, and life-science applications makes her a valuable contributor to HIRO Capital’s focus both on longevity and frontier AI.

Dr Jack Scannell is a neuroscientist-turned-biotech entrepreneur best known for coining “Eroom's Law,” a trenchant critique of the long-term decline in biopharma R&D productivity. After a PhD in Neuroscience at Oxford and Medical Sciences at Cambridge, he spent years as an academic researcher before leading Discovery Biology at Oxford-based e‑Therapeutics PLC and later working in Pharma & Biotech investment at the Boston Consulting Group, UBS and Sanford Bernstein, where he ran European healthcare coverage. More recently, he co-founded Etheros Pharmaceuticals, which is pioneering novel small-molecule drugs based on fullerene-derived catalytic antioxidants designed to combat oxidative stress — a key driver of neurodegeneration and ageing — and has reported lifespan and neuroprotection benefits in preclinical models.

Caroline Daniel is a Partner at Brunswick, specializing in technology, artificial intelligence, and media, where she provides strategic communications advice to boards and senior executives at FTSE100 companies and tech start-ups. Her work encompasses AI narrative development, IPOs, financial transactions, and stakeholder engagement. Prior to joining Brunswick in 2016, she had a distinguished 17-year career at the Financial Times, holding leading editorial roles such as Editor of FT Weekend (2010-2016), Opinion Page Editor, White House correspondent, and Technology writer. She was an editorial advisor to the BBC’s Editoriial Guidance and Standards Committee (2022-25) and to Sir Nick Serota’s review of the BBC  She is an experienced broadcast commentator and moderator for tech and geopolitical events, and also serves as a member of the Trilateral Commission and as a Trustee for the Baillie-Gifford Prize and The Trampery, a London social enterprise and is on the editorial board of Resilience Media.

Edward van Cutsem is a seasoned investor with a focus on technology scaleup capital. Early in his career he worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and as a Managing Director at BlackRock, where he co-founded the BlackRock Family Office Partners group. More recently, he co-founded Westerly Winds, a London and Austin-based early growth-stage fund focused on investing at the intersection of VC and Growth equity. The core objective of Westerly Winds is to leverage the founders' background as BlackRock alums to take companies that have achieved product-market fit and sustainable unit economics through the crucial scale-up phase to a meaningful exit. This approach emphasizes deep involvement in governance, stewardship, and business transformation to ensure portfolio companies are positioned as high-quality IPO or acquisition targets, regardless of the broader market cycle.