Mark Littlewood
Mark is the founder of The BLN. He was part of the founding team at Library House, an investment research business based in Cambridge serving the global venture capital & banking communities. He led the business development activities for the organisation & built a network of angels, early stage, venture & corporate investors.
Previously, he has worked with university spin outs; run a 40 person consultancy business; & founded a web portal for the CAD community. Mark has worked in the publishing and information sectors & attended Trinity College, Cambridge.
Darren Harper
Darren is a co-Director at The BLN, working to build the network and structure the business.
Prior to The BLN, Darren was Head of Business Development, Research & Consulting, & Events at Library House where he built, trained and led teams to develop the online products, establish the Essential Event series and produce many of Library House’s reports.
Prior to this Darren was Head of Production at Abcam where he established the internal production division of the company and was principally involved in the development of the companies internal workflow systems and global testing and production partnerships. Darren has a PhD in Diabetes Research from the University of Bath and a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of York.
Marcin Zaba
Marcin focuses on business development for the BLN. He works like the clappers in building and improving the bespoke BLN network. Prior to the BLN, Marcin had business development roles in the British Polish Chamber of Commerce and the Franco-Algerian Chamber of Commerce working on infrastructure and energy projects.
Marcin is the founder of Cheekyshoes, an early-stage footwear brand with production in China and exporting to UK, Russia and Poland. Marcin also co-founded South Kensington Consulting Group – a student-led management consulting company with an agenda of promoting entrepreneurial behaviour amongst students. Marcin holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and an MSc Management from Imperial College Business School. Marcin is an avid Buena Vista Social Club fan and is obsessed with karate and all things ninja.
Rachel Salmon
Rachel is the Events Executive at The BLN. Having graduated from the University of Southampton in 2011 with a BA in English she is mucking in to help out with organising BLN events and the general administration tasks which Mark throws at her (like writing these).
She has a keen interest in the way technology is shaping the publishing world and dreams of one day being able to afford an iPad. Until that day she continues to sprinkle interesting news and reviews on the internet via the BLN blog. Check it out here.