Nadim Sadek, Founder & CEO 

Nadim is Founder & CEO of Shimmr AI, managing the whole business. He is also author of the Amazon best-seller, ‘Shimmer, don’t Shake – how Publishing can embrace AI’, globally published by Forbes and in all other languages by Mensch. Trained as a psychologist, Nadim founded and led global market research agencies, a whiskey, food and music brand from an island off the west coast of Ireland, and an AI-driven brand management platform. He has worked with advertising all of his professional life. Nadim also manages a Warner-signed artist and reviews motorcycles for Boss Bikes Club. He has an eye for what sells! 

Nicolas Milicevic, Founder & Chief Technology Officer 

Nic is in charge of developing, engineering and optimising the whole Shimmr AI platform. Previously he has led the engineering teams of Software-as-a-Service businesses, created and deployed security systems for banking and insurance institutions as well as developing secure payments systems in retail. Nic has also designed systems for the National Treasury. As a system architect, Nic is responsible for the overall running of the services, common libraries, code reviews, training of new engineers and coming up with solutions with the data science and DevOps/SecOps teams. He designs computer games and pieces of pottery in the spare time he does not have. 

Searsha Sadek, Founder & Chief Product Officer 

Searsha has responsibility for discovering the optimal product solution to publishers’ and authors’ needs, then designing and developing Shimmr’s software to deliver the solution that positively impacts their businesses and work. Searsha has held several roles in Software-as-a-Service companies, including Chief Revenue Officer (sales, marketing, design, content, customer success), Growth, and leader of the General & Administrative division (finance, operations, talent). As a psychologist, she worked in advertising for many years, as a senior strategist, identifying the optimal advertising routes for a broad spectrum of brands, at several of the world’s leading advertising agencies. You should know she’s a kick-boxer. 

Crispian Hotson, Founder & Chief Strategy and Financial Officer 

Crispian manages all financial and compliance matters for the company, as well as leading Shimmr’s competitor reviews and forward-looking evaluations of changes in technology and business models. A graduate in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and holding an MBA from Stanford, his varied and extensive career incorporates being a global leader in coal-mining, creating and exiting a corporate wellness SaaS business, and founding an AI-driven brand management business. He’s our most voracious reader, funniest joke-teller, and ridiculously good Bridge-player.  

Brooke Dobson, Chief Revenue Officer 

Brooke’s principal focus at Shimmr is leading our Sales and Marketing division, incorporating sales, marketing, PR, content, events management and design. In addition, she works with Nadim and Crispian in the general management of the business, principally attending to business metrics and ensuring efficiency across all functions of the company. Following a career in economic forecasting and marketing research, Brooke has been Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief of Staff and President of the US operations of an AI-driven brand management, SaaS business. Known affectionately as ‘the Swiss Army Knife’, she applies her talents to overcoming all challenges in start-up life. Brooke is Britt’s identical twin sister.  

Madeline McIntosh, Publishing Lead

Madeline is a great enthusiast for solving one of publishing’s ‘big challenges’ – discoverability. From the moment we met, we all focused on how Shimmr’s automated advertising could raise awareness, drive engagement, and convert readers to purchases of formerly un-discovered books, whichever part of ‘the list’ they occupy. As a recent CEO of ‘The Big Five’s’ biggest, Penguin Random House, and current board member of Simon & Schuster, Madeline brings an acute and demanding eye to the development of Shimmr’s product, served up with characteristic constructiveness and ease.  

Richard Charkin OBE, Publishing Lead

Richard is Shimmr’s great calibrator. He helps us to navigate all parts of the publishing industry, adroitly understanding not just the needs of publishers, authors and readers, but also the commercial realities that underpin the industry’s dynamics, so Shimmr can make a meaningful impact. He is a former president of the International Publishers Association and the United Kingdom’s Publishers Association, executive director of Bloomsbury, as well as holding many senior posts at major publishing houses, including Macmillan, Oxford University Press, Current Science Group, and Reed Elsevier. He currently runs Mensch Publishing. Richard is also the author, with Tom Campbell, of ‘My Back Pages; An Undeniably Personal History of Publishing 1972-2022.’ He helps ensure we know what we are doing! Richard was recognised with an OBE for his services to Publishing in the King’s Birthday Honours List in June 2024.

Emma House, Publishing Lead

Emma makes us known. She’s aware of every publishing event and every member of the cast of the industry, connecting Shimmr where we can contribute positive value and enhance the value of books. Sensitive to people’s needs in different parts of the world, and companies, and roles, Emma steers us to places and people who welcome and embrace the innovations AI brings to publishing. With a storied career spanning, amongst others being Deputy CEO of the Publishers Association, Head of international development at the London Book Fair, and a board member of PublisHer, Emma brings vivacious wisdom to all that Shimmr does. 

Matthew Hook, Investor & Media Deployment Lead

Matthew leads our media selection and deployment strategies. He knows a thing or two about them. As a former Chief Strategy Officer at Dentsu, and CEO at Carat Media, Matthew has steered innovation and optimisation of effective media use throughout his career. At Shimmr, in the post-cookies world of contextual targeting and performance marketing, Matthew ensures we’re connecting to all the right platforms in a knowing and effective fashion, extracting exceptional value from media budgets, to ensure our cost-effective subscriptions deliver impressions, engagement and conversions with remarkable returns. Matthew is irritatingly good at predicting football scores, too.  

Steven van Niekerk, Head of AI Engineering 

Steve leads the integration of AI into all that Shimmr does, from analysis to generation to deployment. In this role, Steve discovers and evaluates everything happening in the world of AI, ensuring Shimmr is availing of the best models and innovations. His work involves experimentation and when things are well-proven, engineering the solutions into Shimmr’s products. In previous roles, Steve has been Chief Technology Officer of an AI-powered brand management business, senior developer in the banking, insurance and media sectors, and an instructor in computer science. Steve is highly active in Scouts leadership, and knows how to get things done! 

James Mitchell, Marketing Director 

James leads Shimmr’s communications, identifying and executing marketing activities to ensure the company is salient and relevant to the book publishing industry in all it does. He also leads our events presence, which gives him an excuse to wander the halls in a charmingly promiscuous out-reach to customers who unfailingly welcome him. His career spans being a copywriter, brand leader, PR-agency leader and being part of the founding team of a social media app. As well as keeping Shimmr’s marketing humming, James is an indefatigable nick-namer, reliably reducing the team to tears with his apt characterisations of everyone with whom he interacts. Don’t worry, they’re always respectful!  

Justin Milicevic, Quality Assurance & Automation Engineer 

Justin is responsible for ensuring everything works. This window on that browser. This download to that folder. All the nitty-gritty detail of delivering a delightful experience on the screen and in functionality is inspected and passed by Justin. On top of all that, he keeps automating it all, so he can keep ahead of it all and pay attention to the new features and benefits we introduce. Justin used to be the manager of a knife-shop – he’s as sharp as a blade!  

Jolene van Niekerk, Operations Manager 

Jo helps to manage our operations – from ensuring we properly keep data in our customer relationship management platform, to knowing that we’ve completed compliance tasks in good time and keep necessary records across jurisdictions and regulations. It’s a complex business serving data across the world, and sometimes it takes a mind trained by raising 4 children to multi-task it all in an effective way! 

Kane Mooi, Front-End Lead Engineer  

Kane builds what our customers see – the web application that subscribers use every day. Having tutored in computer science, he’s sensitive to how people see and use software, designing his own user interfaces to be intuitive and attractive. Previously, Kane has designed and produced ‘front-ends’ for AI-driven SaaS businesses, banking, trading and investment. Kane is of the ‘silent but strong’ build, and builds software of the same nature, quietly serving up good things.  

Ben Bilboul, Investor 

Ben is a prominent figure in the UK's technology and advertising sectors. He spent two decades as CEO of Karmarama, culminating in its 2016 acquisition by Accenture, where he became a managing director. Ben is also non-executive chairman of hedgehog lab, aiding the digital consultancy's recent multi-million-pound investment for international expansion.

Gary Lever, Investor 

After a long and storied career in property development, Gary extended his portfolio into breakthrough businesses. He has been a long-time investor in technology start-ups, focused principally on energy and AI, including backing the Shimmr management team in its previous enterprises.