A Generate Welcome

LJ Silverman
Head of Generate 

I get to spend my waking hours alongside the best and brightest socially driven entrepreneurs at LSE, leading the entrepreneurship centre at the School here in London as well as our global start-up hubs. I manage LSE Generate which is a community of innovators who can engage with our programme, seek mentorship, funding and a home where they can be equipped to go out and solve some of society's most pressing problems.

Prior to LSE I ran my own careers and recruitment consultancy focussed on climate change and before that I worked in TV. Many moons ago, I studied languages at Cambridge Uni. I am passionate about parent-tech, and any innovation that clearly contributes to a better tomorrow. I also quite like my kids, spider plants before they got cool, mulled wine in a mug and Liverpudlians.

Kinga Zackowska
Executive Assistant to LJ Silverman

Kinga manages LJ’s diary and supports her with staff recruitment and other HR matters. If you need to discuss anything with LJ - Kinga is your go to person. If you need something urgently you can bribe her with chocolate or baked goods (in quantities good enough for sharing with the Generate team). In her spare time she loves dancing, and is obsessed with exploring the world, with a particular emphasis on Spanish-speaking countries where she can practise her language skills.

Alice Eddie
Schools and Community Lead

Alice joined us as the lead on our Comms, Marketing, and Events strategy about 1.3 seconds before the global pandemic graced us with its presence which meant that her job was even more essential to the smooth running of the Generate machine. She once bossed the social media platforms, and is now our Lead for Generate's Schools Programmes, working with young people across the country as they create social enterprises, tackling real-world problems that will create a positive impact for a brighter tomorrow. Students take part in a variety of tailor-made bootcamps and workshops, supported by LSE founders, mentors and industry experts, helping them to develop the key skills of an entrepreneurial mindset, to equip them as they undertake further studies and allow them to flourish in their future career endeavours!

 Alice's background is as a professional clarinettist - playing with BBC Concert & Symphony Orchestras at the Proms, for Disney at the Royal Albert Hall, with Earth Wind & Fire in front of 30,000 peeps, and in West End shows such as Les Mis & War Horse alongside freelance Orchestral Management roles, coaching for National Youth Concert Band and 1:1 teaching on the side - give her an Aperol spritz and she'll recite Joesph backwards to you. Beat that.

Lisa Portz
Head of Programme Design & Acceleration

Lisa’s our Programme Design mastermind. She’s seen a startup accelerator inside and out: as a participating founder, entrepreneur-in-residence, and a program creator/director. She’s even got a PhD in Entrepreneurship looking into what makes startup support programmes effective.

Lisa runs our Accelerator Programme and oversees the overal founder training at Generate. She also pitch coaches some our founders for Demo Days and Funding Competitions.

On the rare occasion when she’s not deconstructing another business case (in six years in London, she’s even estimated the profit margin of her local burger stand - they seem to be doing really well), she’s learning yet another language or doing some photo-shoots.

Sian Kincade
Communication and Events Manager

Sian has always taken an alternative approach towards her career by getting a bachelors in journalism and subsequently a masters in event management. Who knew there would be a role for her at Generate that incorporates both these arenas!? As a new addition to the team, you would find her typing away in GenDen or figuring out new social media trends and giving event alerts to everyone. When she isn’t busy doing this, you bet she’d be hunting bottomless brunch places or planning her next holiday.  She is passionate about creating memorable experiences for people and would ensure that student experience is more than just the time one spends in a lecture theatre.

Livia Denis
Finance Coordinator

Livia, our finance coordinator, comes from a socialist background and is thriving in the world of capitalism (major ladyboss energy). 

She started her career by working in the city for a few years, majorly in banks and as an international trader. She eventually switched career paths to help neurodivergent primary school students, and is now working at Generate running the finance department, making sure all budgets are smoothly aligned with core business activities and managing the monetary aspect of generate. She is our office mum who is always there to listen to everyone, gives 10/10 advice and the BEST hugs.

Joanna Hamer
Programme Manager 

Joanna is the Entrepreneurial Programme Manager at Generate, which is good because she loves designing and delivering learning and training programmes for founders.

She’s lived a few previous lives including running a social enterprise shoemaking company, working in a museum, and building a video game to support young people’s mental health.

You can find her in the GenDen with her dog Little Bear who thinks she’s a cat, or out in a field somewhere playing Ultimate frisbee.

Emma Higson
Programme Associate

Emma is an LSE Geography Alumni and was drawn to study urban policy by an interest in how cities work, and what makes cities liveable and sustainable. Over time she realised the link to sustainability and how it extends WAY beyond just environmental preservation - you cannot have a fully liveable city without social equity and cohesion, which eventually drew Emma towards social impact start-ups, as they are the ones who make real change in her opinion. Having worked in a start-up herself, and previously in renewables, she now joins us at LSE Generate, assisting Lisa with the smooth running of the wide array of programmes that LSE Generate has to offer, helping those who are dedicating their lives to solving problems and making a real difference in the world, for the betterment of society!

Tim Deeson
Entrepeneur-in-Residence

Tim has plenty of hands on founder experience and the scars to show it. He has founded companies that have gone from kitchen table to successful acquisition by a public company, as well as a few others that didn’t quite work out along the way.

He’s (embarrassingly) enthusiastic about helping our entrepreneurs succeed in whatever way he can. Whether that’s moral support on life as a founder (he’s a qualified executive coach) or tactical advice on closing your first sale with a customer.

Tim works directly with our entrepreneurs ranging from our accelerators to drop-in business clinics. When he’s not immersed in startup world he’s usually aiming to be happily staring at the lasers at a music festival.

Ruben Portz
Growth Advisor

Ruben is our go-to growth guy and has the track record to show it. He has been a growth leader in venture capital and startups helping founders go from pre-revenue to 8-figure exit. He knows the struggle of finding product-market fit as well as when and how to throw fuel on the fire.

He gets a lot of energy from seeing founders making real progress, and enjoys getting his hands dirty. Whether that’s interviewing potential customers, building out value prop messaging, or finding the best ways to get traffic.

Ruben runs growth clinics with our later-stage founders and is an entrepreneur-in-residence within our accelerator. When he’s not demystifying the hectic world of startup growth you can find him enjoying the calmness of Battersea Park. 

Nisha Ramisetty
Generate Home Lead

Say hi to Nisha! She is an entrepreneur, content and event director. She is also the co-founder of Naksha Collections, an award winning F&B startup with a versatile concept that redefines how people experience food and travel through cooking, this concept is a crucial part of Generate's accelerator program. 

Throughout her career trajectory, she has built and developed a portfolio of large scale commercial viable events, programs and digital campaigns to drive business and policy across varied sectors including technology, finance, innovation, healthcare and transportation.

April Stephenson
elleSE Lead

April runs point on female founder community programs at LSE Generate. She is the founder of Simba Technologies, a data and analytics solution for impact organizations in developing environments. Prior to this, she spent a decade in tech at Venmo, PayPal, and Amazon, and holds an M.Sc. in Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship from the LSE.

Her focus at LSE Generate is creating space for entrepreneurs to explore and define their own approach to leadership, organizations, and building their companies and cultures. Apart from this, she's interested in geopolitics, art, and the outdoors, and is based between London and Los Angeles.

Taylor Wong
International Strategy Lead

Taylor runs our International Chapters supporting alumni founders abroad and is responsible for giving them a nice experience and a warm welcome to every Generate event overseas. She has an unhealthy obsession for travelling and 90s romcoms. New York is her dream place to visit and this role may just about make it happen!

Aside from planning her next destination, she has also gotten really into the Ed-tech space and is working with Girls in Charge to digitalise their offerings to empower more women into entrepreneurship. You will find her on any given day zooming people from all around the world with a cup of hot coco or bubble tea in hand!