Kelly Hoppen joined the Dragon’s Den panel in 2013 after replacing Hilary Devey.
Hoppen is a British interior designer and entrepreneur known for a design approach often described as East-meets-West. She became an investor on the BBC programme in 2013, taking the place of Hilary Devey after Devey left the regular panel.
Her television role added a design and branding perspective to the den. Hoppen’s career had been built around interiors, product design and commercial licensing, so she often evaluated how a company looked, how it positioned itself and whether its identity could work beyond a founder’s personal story.
The panel has changed repeatedly, which makes replacement questions easy to muddle. Hilary Devey was a Dragon before Hoppen, while Sara Davies joined much later. The relevant sequence is Devey’s departure, Hoppen’s arrival in 2013 and later changes to the investor lineup.