Meet the team

The LYVA Labs team brings a wealth of experience from some of the North West’s most well-respected names, across both public and private sectors.

Lorna Green

CEO

Until recently Lorna was director of enterprise and growth at the Innovation Agency (NWC AHSN) and joined LYVA Labs in 2021 as founding CEO. Lorna started her career in the NHS before going on to work in a variety of commercial private sector roles in medical technology companies.

After 10 years in sales, marketing and business development, Lorna joined Alliance Fund Managers as healthcare business consultant for the £27m Liverpool Seed Fund and went on to work for several of the businesses the Fund invested in, before returning to the NHS in 2014 to help establish the Innovation Agency.

Hannah Randles

Innovation Pipeline Manager

Hannah has previously worked as sector manager for the health and life sciences sector at Growth Platform, the Liverpool City Region Growth Company and the Innovation Agency. At LYVA Labs, Hannah works alongside colleagues to support and develop the health and life sciences sector with a focus of business growth, inward investment, collaboration support and wider strategic initiatives.

Rachel Lawless

Innovation Funding Manager

Rachel has 10 years’ experience in health and life sciences within academia having achieved a MRes and PhD at the University of Liverpool. She then moved into funding innovation where she gained excellent knowledge of the national and international grand funding landscape. Rachel has helped many SMEs across the country having been involved in raising over £9million for UK SMEs.

At LYVA Labs Rachel will support the Innovation Director with the Health and Life Science fund and work with local companies to secure further funding for product development.

Steve Stuart

Chairman

Steve is an experienced Chairman who sits on a number of boards both in the public and private sectors. A corporate financier by profession, Steve has an extensive knowledge of working with start-ups and SMEs. Earlier in his career he was the original financial engineer to MSIF, which subsequently has invested over £200m into local SMEs. He was also adviser of The Funding Corporation in Chester, which was the largest start up at the time in Financial Services, raising £150m at the outset.

Dilruk Yahathugoda

Innovation Director

Dilruk is an expert in innovation and entrepreneurship with more than 20 years’ experience providing strategic advice to start-ups, high growth companies and corporates. Through technology advancement and IP exploitation, Dilruk has elevated competitive performance through product, strategy, and business development based on consumer & market trends.

At LYVA Labs Dilruk leads on investments for our Health and Life Science fund and provides support for our portfolio of companies. Dilruk has a PhD in Material Science (Medical) awarded by School of Materials in The University of Manchester, UK in 2005. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM3).

Kate McDermott

Business Operations Manager

Kate is a Business Studies graduate from Liverpool John Moores University and has three years of experience in attracting inward investment. Her previous roles have seen her provide a range of free professional advice to companies considering establishing a physical presence in Liverpool City Region. Kate manages day to day operations at LYVA Labs and provides support to our portfolio of companies.

Conor Rodgers

Media and Communications Executive

Conor joins us as a Media, Culture and Communications graduate from Liverpool John Moores University. Conor has experience in providing social media, communications and marketing support to various sports clubs. At university and his previous position, Conor has gained a wealth of experience.

At LYVA Labs, Conor will aim to grow our brand. He will also manage our social media channels, plan and manage events, create content and deliver communication campaigns.