About
We help telcos, technology and digital infrastructure companies to innovate, grow, and stay ahead of the competition in the face of widespread and rapid technological change.
STL Partners exists to bring positive and sustainable change in the technology and telecoms space.
We believe that regulatory and market forces are forcing digital infrastructure companies of all sorts to adapt and evolve. Telecoms operators, data centres, platform players, and ISVs are all being forced to rethink their business models to ensure they remain relevant and provide value to customers – profitably and sustainably.
Our team
Alice Awdry
Consultant
Chris Barraclough
CEO
Dean Bubley
Associate Director
Emma Buckland
Research Director and Head of Sales Strategy
Amy Cameron
Director, Research
Gabija Cepurnaite
Senior Consultant
Rosalind Craven
Principal Analyst
Grace Donnelly
Principal Consultant
Fifi
Director of Morale
Michael Gell
Senior Advisor
Tilly Gilbert
Director, Consulting and Edge Practice Lead
George Glanville
Senior Analyst & Edge practice lead
Jack Hurley
Business Development Manager
Joe Hurman
Principal Consultant
Kat Isles
Head of HR
Marina Koytcheva
Director, Research
Philip Laidler
Director, Consulting
Reva Latkar
Senior Marketing Manager
Darius Lloyd
Director, Consulting & Enterprise Platforms Lead
David Martin
Senior Analyst
Yannick Mayaud
Senior Consultant
Henry Osborne
Principal Consultant
Ayaan Patel
Consultant
Aman Pattar
Account Director
David Pringle
Associate Senior Analyst
Kirsten Rachman
Consultant
Miriam Sabapathy
Senior Consultant
Jonathan Savage
Head of Marketing
Krsna Singh
Research Analyst
Kuba Smolorz
Senior Consultant
Xiaoya Sun
Research Analyst
Harine Tharmarajah
Consultant
Jonas Topp-Mugglestone
Senior Consultant
Nicola Warren
Senior Analyst
Muhammad Zeidan
Sales & Marketing Administrator
Alice Awdry
Consultant
Alice is a Consultant at STL Partners, with experience working across a diverse range of topic areas, including edge computing, AI-RAN and digital infrastructure. Alice speaks French and Spanish fluently and holds a BA in Modern Languages from Oxford University.
Chris Barraclough
CEO
Chris is the CEO at STL Partners and is a key contributor to both consulting and research at the firm. He has over 30 years’ experience in strategy and growth —25 in telecoms and technology working with telcos, data centre providers, and tech companies. Recent projects include several CDD and VDD projects in digital infrastructure, a new product go-to-market strategy for a cybersecurity firm, a digital transformation strategy and implementation programme for a converged North American telco, an AI RAN market sizing and thought-leadership research programme for a tech vendor, a mystery shopper exercise for a colocation provider exploring competitor offers for high performance compute. Before co-founding STL Partners in 2004, he consulted for telecoms companies such as Verizon Business and Orange. He was also an equity analyst at JP Morgan. He holds an MA in English Language and Literature from Oxford University.
Dean Bubley
Associate Director
Dean produces research on private networks, policy and network innovation. He is also the founder of analyst and futurist firm Disruptive Analysis and was previously a director and chief analyst at Datamonitor. Dean holds a BA in Physics from Keble College, Oxford.
Emma Buckland
Research Director and Head of Sales Strategy
Emma has worked in the TMT sector since the end of the 1990s, first at operators in France and the UK and later as a consultant and analyst. In her day to day job at STL Partners, she gets involved in quantitative analysis and is part of our network innovation practice. Since 2022, she has been the lead analyst of the Network innovation insights service and is a frequent contributor to its tools and reports, including on open RAN and cloud-native transformation. Emma holds an MSc. Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon.
Amy Cameron
Director, Research
Amy specialises in business model and technology innovation in the telecom industry. As the Director of STL Partners’ research team, she challenges and supports telecom companies to break out of traditional operating models and become more customer-centric and technology-savvy. She has over 12 years experience in telecom strategy, including as Head of ICT Research at Fitch Solutions prior to joining STL Partners. Amy speaks fluent French and ice-breaking Mandarin and holds an MSc in Chinese Politics from the School of Oriental and Africa Studies.
Gabija Cepurnaite
Senior Consultant
Gabija is a Senior Consultant at STL Partners with experience across a range of strategic engagements in the telecoms and technology sectors. Since joining STL, she has supported clients with market validation, commercial strategy and opportunity sizing to capture new growth opportunities. Her recent work includes leading demand validation for new AI-driven propositions for a North American security vendor and advising an Eastern European operator on the prioritisation of beyond-core services to unlock new revenue streams, including presenting recommendations at board level. She also leads STL’s AI-RAN research. Gabija holds a degree in Economics and Management from King’s College London.
Rosalind Craven
Principal Analyst
During 16 years as a telecoms analyst, Rosalind Craven has covered a wide range of topics including consumer services, customer experience, telecoms IT, strategy and transformation and telecoms market sizing. As a senior analyst at STL, Rosalind manages the Executive Briefing Service and the strategy research agenda. Her previous experience includes global research firm IDC, investment advice service Business Monitor International, and niche tariff specialist Tarifica.
Grace Donnelly
Principal Consultant
Grace is a Principal Consultant with deep expertise in TMT strategy, advising global operators, vendors, and technology companies on complex growth, product, and go-to-market challenges. She has led high-profile engagements spanning market entry, commercial strategy, and digital transformation, helping clients capture opportunities in connectivity and digital services. Prior to STL Grace worked at KPMG, and another boutique consultancy, advising Google on its developer product portfolio. Grace holds a BA in Politics and Sociology from Cambridge University.
Fifi
Director of Morale
Fifi joined STL only 10 weeks after her birth and has been a steadfast member of the team for the last 5 years. Renowned for her ability to sleep through meetings and her unfailing devotion to Chris, she will generally wake if a ball is involved. A fear of flying limits her overseas trips, but she will always join team members for walk around Highbury Fields.
Michael Gell
Senior Advisor
Michael has over 30 years’ experience in commercial due diligence (CDD) and strategy consulting, including leading hundreds of CDD assignments for both private equity and corporate clients. As well as running his own strategy consultancy (Hullbrook Ltd.) for the last 15 years, he was previously a partner at Deloitte in both Consulting and Corporate Finance. Before this he co-founded Burlington Consultants, where he led the CDD practice and also ran major strategy projects for clients like Microsoft in Europe and the USA. He started his consulting career with LEK Consultants in London, Boston and Sydney. He has an MA in History from Cambridge University.
Tilly Gilbert
Director, Consulting and Edge Practice Lead
As a Director in STL’s consulting business Tilly has more than seven years of experience leading growth projects for technology, digital infrastructure and telecoms firms. She launched our edge insights research stream and has particular expertise in the edge, cloud and data centre markets. Recent engagements include projects for the European Commision forecasting data centre supply and demand and assessing the commercial opportunity in liquid cooling health monitoring for a Nasdaq-100 technology company. Tilly has a BA from Oxford University and an MA from the University of Pennsylvania.
George Glanville
Senior Analyst & Edge practice lead
George is a Senior Analyst at STL Partners, bringing expertise across a diverse range of topic areas, including edge AI, sovereign AI, and private networks. He specialises in producing our edge computing and network innovation research, contributing to reports and quantitative tools within both of these practice areas. Lately, his work has centred on how AI and distributed computing are reshaping the infrastructure landscape, including projects with the European Commission to assess Europe’s competitiveness in these domains. George joined STL Partners after obtaining a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol.
Jack Hurley
Business Development Manager
Jack is a Business Development Manager at STL Partners, having joined the company as a consultant in early 2023. He has worked on over 25 projects, analysing the impact of AI on telco networks and supporting vendors in prioritising use cases across edge computing and private networks. Jack also presented at MWC25, discussing how AI and network cloud are key to enabling fully autonomous networks. Jack’s enthusiasm for client engagement and collaboration naturally led to his move into business development.
Joe Hurman
Principal Consultant
Joe is a Principal Consultant at STL Partners, with a background in technology strategy & implementation, spanning infrastructure, platforms and software. Since joining STL Partners in 2022, he has led strategic engagements with data centre investors, operators and vendors, ranging from commercial due diligence and market assessments to new venture development in DTC cooling and targeted projects in data centre construction and interconnect. Joe leads STL’s data centre practice and holds a BA in Economics from Durham University.
Kat Isles
Head of HR
Kat is the Head of HR at STL Partners and is responsible for supporting the business with recruitment, employee engagement, learning and development, rewards and benefits and helping STL and its people develop and grow. She has worked in HR for over 17 years and has varied experience within the creative, not for profit and commercial sectors. Kat holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Sheffield.
Marina Koytcheva
Director, Research
Marina is a Research Director and works across STL Partners’ research portfolio, with a specific focus on telecom strategy, cybersecurity and consumer service innovation. She joined STL Partners in 2023 with 18 years of experience as a market analyst, first at Nokia, and then at CCS Insight where she led the market forecasting practice across all technology areas and modelled the impact of major global disruptions. She has wide expertise across telecoms, hyperscalers, device markets, consumer behaviour, and the impact of macroeconomic factors on the tech industry. Marina holds an MSc in Finance and Economics, and an MBA.
Philip Laidler
Director, Consulting
Phil specialises in strategic planning, innovation and marketing consulting. He brings over 30 years’ experience in TMT, both as a consultant and business leader with Verizon Enterprise for eight years. Over the past 18 years, he has led over 200 STL assignments most recently focusing on eSIM, sovereign AI, sustainability, transformation and growth. Philip is a fluent French and Italian speaker. He holds an MSc in Information Systems (LSE) and a BA in Engineering (Cambridge).
Reva Latkar
Senior Marketing Manager
Reva is a part of the marketing team at STL Partners, specializing in branding and content strategy while also overseeing events & partnerships. Drawing on her expertise in brand building and data analysis, she has made significant contributions to the success of art galleries across Asia and sustainability start-ups in previous roles. Her academic background includes a Bachelor’s in Media Communication and an MSc in International Marketing from Kings College London.
Darius Lloyd
Director, Consulting & Enterprise Platforms Lead
Darius is a Director at STL Partners and leads STL’s work in Enterprise Platforms. His focus is on defining how the roll out of next generation connectivity – 5G, private, and programmable networks – can drive growth in the B2B(2X) space for the telecoms industry. He has led projects with major tier-1 operators and vendors, quantifying the business case and developing the GTM strategy across these technology areas. Darius holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London.
David Martin
Senior Analyst
David Martin has specialised in telco cloud and other network innovation topics at STL Partners since 2016. He has written numerous strategic reports and database products on telco cloud, 5G core, open RAN, NTNs, and other network innovation themes. He is a telecoms analyst of around 27 years’ experience, having worked for several leading analyst firms before STL Partners. David obtained a First Class degree in French and German at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he also pursued doctoral studies in French.
Yannick Mayaud
Senior Consultant
Yannick has worked across STL’s consulting practice on projects looking at growth opportunities for the telecoms sector in 5G, edge computing and new technologies. Recently, he has worked on projects exploring 5G’s impact on industry verticals through specific use cases and intersections with trends in digital twins and satellite technology. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, he is a French national and bilingual English/French.
Henry Osborne
Principal Consultant
Henry is a Principal Consultant at STL Partners, having joined from Sky, where he worked in Group Strategy. Since joining STL Partners, he has advised operators, vendors and investors across telecoms and digital infrastructure on growth strategy and commercial due diligence. His recent work includes supporting a North American operator on the diligence of a travel connectivity provider, contributing to a multi-site data centre acquisition, and helping a Middle Eastern operator prioritise new digital service opportunities. Henry holds a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge.
Ayaan Patel
Consultant
Ayaan is a Consultant at STL Partners, with experience spanning data centres, AI, interconnect and API’s. He has supported clients with M&A due diligence, market sizing, go-to-market strategy and competitive benchmarking. His recent work includes conducting vendor due diligence for a messaging platform, validating new AI propositions and GTM strategies for a security vendor and developing liquid-cooling propositions for a global data centre operator. Prior to STL, he worked in Digital Products and Transformation at PwC, and M&A and AI/technology strategy at AlixPartners. Ayaan is a qualified ACCA and holds a MSc in International Management from Imperial College London, and a Bachelors in Financial Markets.
Aman Pattar
Account Director
Aman focuses on key account management, business development and new customer acquisition. He has worked in sales for over seven years and joined STL Partners in 2014 having previously worked as a sales manager in conferencing and events. Aman is fluent in Punjabi and holds a BA in Politics and a MA in Journalism.
David Pringle
Associate Senior Analyst
David Pringle runs the (Re)Connecting with Consumers research stream. He spent five years as the European tech and telecoms correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and provides editorial and analytical services to a range of organisations in the tech, media and telecoms industries, as well moderating panel discussions at industry conferences, webinars and on Mobile World Live TV. David has a BA in English and Politics from York University.
Kirsten Rachman
Consultant
Kirsten is a Consultant at STL Partners, with recent experience across telecoms and digital infrastructure strategy and due diligence projects, touching on topics including NaaS, travel eSIMs and AI infrastructure. Before STL, she led InnovateUK-backed energy access projects in East and Southern Africa. Kirsten is aligned to STL’s NaaS and Network APIs practice and holds a BA from Cambridge in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, specialising in Russian and Arabic.
Miriam Sabapathy
Senior Consultant
Miriam is a Consultant at STL Partners with a diverse experience of strategic engagements in the telecoms and technology industries. She has managed projects across a variety of domains and has particular expertise in telco transformation, private networks and sustainability. She holds a First Class degree in Classics & Philosophy from Durham University. Prior to STL, she also obtained an Advanced Painting Diploma from London Fine Art Studios.
Jonathan Savage
Head of Marketing
Jonathan heads marketing at STL Partners, promoting the STL brand and providing strategic marketing services for our clients. Jonathan has over ten years of experience leading digital marketing initiatives in a diverse range of B2B sectors. On the agency side he has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola and Adecco. Jonathan holds a BCom in Finance and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Auckland.
Krsna Singh
Research Analyst
Krsna is a Research Intern at STL Partners, where he supports analysis of key trends and developments across the telecoms industry, with a focus on private networks and sustainability. He brings a strong foundation in economic research, business strategy, and financial modeling, along with hands-on experience in data analysis and publication. Krsna holds an MSc in Economics & Strategy for Business from Imperial College London.
Kuba Smolorz
Senior Consultant
Kuba is a Senior Consultant at STL Partners, specialising in AI while bringing broad expertise across next-generation connectivity and infrastructure to assess its impact on telco operations and B2B revenue growth. He has led projects for a diverse range of companies, from major Tier-1 operators to technology startups, delivering market forecasting to prioritise opportunities, shaping product and GTM strategies, and facilitating customer workshops. Kuba holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol.
Xiaoya Sun
Research Analyst
Xiaoya is a Research Analyst at STL Partners, specialising in satellite communications and AI adoption among telecom operators. Her work spans strategic research and analysis across the telecoms and technology landscape. She holds an MSc in Media and Communications Governance from the London School of Economics.
Harine Tharmarajah
Consultant
Harine is a Consultant at STL Partners, who joined after completing her undergraduate studies. She earned a First Class honours degree in BSc Economics from University College London. Since joining STL Partners, Harine has worked with telecoms and technology companies and regulators on a number of strategic engagements in telco transformation, national broadband strategy, and A3 (AI, automation and analytics).
Jonas Topp-Mugglestone
Senior Consultant
Jonas is a senior consultant at STL Partners and a founding member of the firm’s Data Centre practice. He has worked across a broad range of global strategy engagements spanning data centre infrastructure, telco transformation and network strategy. Jonas has led projects with leading technology vendors on the role of telecoms operators in enterprise AI, and has contributed to seminal work on sovereign AI working with major players in the data centre ecosystem. He has also worked directly on operator strategy engagements, including helping develop a five-year strategic plan for a North American telecoms operator. Outside of work, he enjoys kayaking and reading historical fiction. Jonas holds a BA in History from the University of Oxford.
Nicola Warren
Senior Analyst
Nicola applies her extensive research and strategy experience to understand how key telecoms industry developments are contributing to telco organisational evolution. Nicola’s work has included analysis of telco innovation, learning and leadership practices, ecosystem business models and skills profiles. She is also growing her focus on cybersecurity.
Muhammad Zeidan
Sales & Marketing Administrator
Muhammad is STL’s Sales and Marketing Administrator assisting both sales and marketing teams with all operations. He has worked in numerous industries from automotive, tech and start-ups working across various departments assisting to redefine structures, workflow and automations. Muhammad has 8 years experience in business development and studied Electronic Engineering at University of Westminster.
The STL difference
Future-focused
We are committed to seeking out and identifying future strategic themes, trends, opportunities and threats before they happen, to give our clients an advantage.
Creative and challenging
We’re creative thinkers, looking beyond the obvious to find new ways for our clients to harness, implement and benefit from new and disruptive technologies.
Results-oriented
We save our clients time and money with an insight-led and agile approach to implementing strategic initiatives – ensuring highly effective, measurable and sustainable results.
Connected
With our strong community of subscribers, clients and collaborators, we bridge telecoms and adjacent industries to bring about new partnerships and previously unforeseen opportunities for collaboration.
Telecoms industry specialists
We are committed to telecoms: our experts are at the forefront of industry developments, continuously working with clients to anticipate new opportunities and threats.
Accessible
We’re straight-talking, flexible and results-oriented, bringing the same integrity to assignments with international operators as to collaborations with start-ups or smaller firms.
Our clients
Since 2003, we have helped a diverse range of clients including:
