Kevin Jenkins and Chris Brauer appointed to advisory board of Red Badger

Fast-growing UK consulting firm Red Badger has appointed two new members to its advisory board, as it looks to continue its expansion in recent years. Kevin Jenkins and Chris Brauer have taken up their positions at the firm with immediate effect.

Red Badger is a digital transformation and technology consultancy focused on clients in the retail, media and financial services sectors. As the firm looks to continue building on an impressive start to life, Red Badger has been engaged in a recruitment drive, which has seen its headcount up from the 78 recorded in 2016 to stand at over 100. The latest of these arrivals have seen the rapidly expanding firm appoint two senior professionals to the firm.

Kevin Jenkins, the former Managing Director of Visa UK and Ireland, and Dr Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths, University of London, have joined the advisory board of digital consultancy Red Badger. The appointments are aimed at continuing Red Badger’s rapid growth trajectory, which has seen it listed as one of the fastest growing businesses in Europe.

Having spent more than 30 years in the financial and professional services sectors, Kevin Jenkins boasts an attractive track record across operational and commercial skills and an entrepreneurial spirit. Within his most recent role as Managing Director of global financial giant Visa’s UK and Ireland wing, he oversaw revenue growth to more than £1 billion, alongside running a complex end-to-end payments ecosystem with banking and payments providers.

Following his departure from Visa, Jenkins has been advising a number of disruptive FinTech and payment businesses, including taking a non-executive role at Nuggets, a consumer blockchain platform. He will maintain this, alongside a role as an Ambassador for start-ups organisation Momentum London, while taking on his position with Red Badger.

Commenting on what pulled him to the role, Kevin Jenkins said, “Red Badger impressed me right from our very first meeting, their understanding of this disruption and the changes around the corner was palpable even then. Not only do they work smarter and more progressively than their larger peers but they also provide a transformative and lasting change for their clients, something that is invaluable in this disruptive age.”

Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation in the Institute of Management Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, will also join Red Badger's advisory board. Brauer has keen insight into the disruptive and fast-paced world of innovation across sectors, with his primary teaching and research interests including management studies, innovation, and the intersections of technologies and craft.

He previously held the role of Director of Online Journalism at the City University of London, where he remained for four years, following a similar four-year spell at Big Four consultancy PwC. Alongside other roles, Brauer is also the Managing Director of Smoothmedia, the founder of the Centre for Creative and Social Technologies, and holds numerous non-executive and Chairman roles within UK organisations.

On his new challenge, Brauer remarked, "It is a pleasure to work with an organisation that understands and takes seriously both the opportunities and the responsibilities of activating meaningful and sustainable change in organisations. They challenge themselves and their clients to never accept passable results but to always pursue excellence and purpose through technological and cultural change."

CEO of Red Badger, Cain Ullah, said of both new appointments, “Kevin and Chris were perfect fits for this need. Both their respective experience and wealth of knowledge will help us continue a sustainable form of growth, highlighting our work to new industries and elevating our innovation capabilities. It’s a testament to Red Badger’s work that these two will be joining us and bringing our mission to even more organisations.”