Stuart Clarke MBE

Stuart Clarke MBE is the founder of Paceline marketing and PR consultancy, working with startup and scaleup firms in the tech sector. He is a non-executive director and adviser to a number of startups, including Jigsaw, Synap and The Grad Soc, and has helped firms to raise funds through crowdfunding, angels and VCs. Stuart also runs the PARSE peer roundtable programme for startup founders.

He is also the co-founder and the Festival Director of the Leeds Digital Festival, the largest open tech event in the UK. The 2022 Festivals had over 250 events, with attendees from 60 countries, celebrating all things digital. The annual Tech Nation report saw him named by startups as the most influential person in Leeds; he was also named as one of the top three digital leaders in the UK in the Digital Leaders DL100, as well as the City Region Leader: Leeds in the Northern Leadership Awards, and featured in the 2022 Yorkshire Business Insider Powerlist 100. Stuart is also the creator of the Leeds Tech Map. Stuart was awarded the honour of MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours list for Services to the Technology Sector.