Meet The CBIT Team

Xiao Ma

Director of CBIT

Xiao is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at Nottingham Business School and Director of CBIT, which he leads as an engine integrating industry-engaged education, venture building and applied research. He originated the 2026 memorandum of understanding between NTU and Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, and leads flagship projects including UKRI's BeefTwin. Across a twenty-year career he has steered more than £55m of funded research and innovation. At the University of Warwick he co-founded the MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ranked UK #1 by Eduniversal, and he teaches on Executive Education programmes at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.

Georgi Iliev

Head of Venture Builder

Georgi is a Founding Member of CBIT and Head of the award-winning CBIT Venture Builder, which he established in 2023. He specialises in AI-driven business transformation, venture building and product development, and has supported more than 40 businesses through CBIT, with an estimated combined valuation above £750 million. He has contributed to public-private research and innovation programmes worth more than £15 million, delivers AI workforce programmes with partners in Thailand and China, and was selected for the Google for Education Higher Education Faculty AI Fellowship. Before CBIT, he was Technology Lead and Head of Product at the WMG Accelerator, University of Warwick.

Connor Morrison

Head of Growth & Business Development

Connor joined CBIT with a wealth of experience in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem, having led growth teams across Canada, the UK, Australia, and the USA. Before joining our team, Connor was the Head of Marketing at a funded SaaS start-up. Connor holds a master's degree in Project Management from Nottingham Business School as well as a bachelor's degree in Communications and Business Administration from Notre Dame de Namur in Silicon Valley.

Sönnich Dahl Sönnichsen

Education Lead, Associate Professor, PhD

Sönnich is an Associate Professor in Circular Economy and Business Transformation and Course Leader for the MSc Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at Nottingham Business School. He leads modules in Business Model Generation, Growth Hacking, Circular Economy and the Entrepreneurship Project. He sits on the advisory boards of DICE Network+ and PlastiCITIES and on UKRI funding panels. Before NTU he was a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University; he holds a PhD in marketing and circular economy from Copenhagen Business School, where he was among its top 10% of teachers.

Evelyn Xie

Business Engagement & Community Manager

Yilin is a strategist in retail operations and business development, bringing deep expertise in commercial leadership, stakeholder engagement, and experiential marketing. She holds two master's degrees — an MSc in Marketing and Brand Management from Nottingham Trent University and an MSc in Human Resource Management and Organisations from the University of Nottingham.

Zeng Fan

Researcher

Zeng is our in-house signal processing, AI, machine learning, and big data optimization expert. Zeng holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MPhil in Electrical Engineering from Brunel University London.

Takunda Chingonzo (TK)

Postgraduate Researcher

Takunda Chingonzo is currently a PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University. His research focuses on leveraging personal data to drive business transformation. Takunda holds a Master of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Warwick and an MBA from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe.

Mahdi Avaei

Postdoctoral Researcher

Mahdi Rashvand is a postdoctoral researcher with a strong interdisciplinary background in food engineering, artificial intelligence, and sustainability, specializing in the development of digital twins and AI-driven solutions for optimizing food processing and reducing environmental impact.