Strategy speakers

Adam’s keynote presentations are an illuminating conversation that not only inspire strategic innovation but also unleash personal and team creativity and improve organizational culture. He speaks with warmth and compassion on generational paradigms of work and leadership encouraging organisations to have different and better conversations, creating a simple approachable path to transforming business success.

Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what’s in his mind and make it real. Adam is a maker, a dreamer, a cinephile, a craftsman and a tireless advocate for getting one’s hands dirty. He has multiple hobbies and is passionate about restoring his vintage four-wheel drive vehicle, and researching and accruing new pieces for his movie prop collection. But his true love is his family. He lives with his wife, twin boys, and their two amazing dogs.

Success, in our professional and personal lives, is dependent on teamwork, leadership, communication and fun. Drawing on a depth of experience, including a psychology degree, circumnavigation in a round the world yacht race and as skipper on ocean racing yachts, Adam shares his learnings from disaster and the impact on survival.

Adrian Furnham was educated at the London School of Economics where he obtained a distinction in an MSc Econ., and at Oxford University where he completed a doctorate (D.Phil) in 1981. He has subsequently earned a D.Sc (1991) and D.Litt (1995) degree. Previously a lecturer in Psychology at Pembroke College, Oxford, he was Professor of Psychology at University College London since 1992-2018. He has lectured and given keynote speeches globally in many of the World's largest organisations.

Aidan has a wealth of experience working in the business directorate of Chimp Management. He has extensive experience of designing, facilitating and leading workshops for large public sector organisations and also blue chip and SME corporate clients. Aidan has significant experience delivering 1:1 mentoring to corporate clients, focusing on personal and business specific development in areas such as leadership, management and effective communication.

Described as the "peoples' philosopher", Alain has written a panoply of successful books, ranging in topics from love, architecture, travel, literature, and religion. His books have gone on to be best-sellers in 30 different countries. When Alain is not writing, he can be found at 'the School of Life', a book store and workshop dedicated to a new vision of education, which aims to expand on his mantra that our purpose can be found in seeking answers to intellectual questions.

Alain is famous in hundreds of countries for managing to climb 141 of the world's tallest buildings with his bare hands. Alain is a legendary free-climber, referred to as the hymn Spiderman. He has thousands of YouTube hits that have amassed millions of hits each. Alain has achieved global success in free-climbing despite a career ending injury at 19, leaving him 66% disabled. Alain also, shockingly, suffers from vertigo, yet he preserves on with his passion.

Alan W Bell's distinguished career includes more than 22 years of UK Special Forces military experience related to global terrorist and security issues with MI5 and MI6. Mr. Bell has trained close protection (bodyguard) teams for two kings, two presidents, and has been involved in counter-terrorist operations and training throughout the world.

Alan Moore helps create and design unique and outstanding customer experiences that deliver high yield commercial returns. In essence Alan helps craft beautiful businesses. He is particularly valuable when working with organisations that are at a critical inflection point, when they are paying close attention to transformation, change, and disruption. Or need to communicate that to their stakeholders in a credible way.

Alan is an international business consultant and non-exec board director working with blue-chip organisations across the spectrum of industry: in Financial Services, FMCG, Hospitality, Industrial, IT, Motor, Retail, Telcos, Tourism, Travel and others. With 30+ years of front line board level experience – he has lots of no-nonsense expertise with lots to say.

Alastair is a media communicator and strategist best known for his role as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. He played a key role helping to create New Labour and return them to power. Alastair did this job for Labour's first term but after helping Tony Blair win a second landslide election victory, he became Director of Communications and Strategy until 2003. He is also an advocate for mental health issues due to facing his own battles with depression and alcoholism.

Alec Hogg is a media entrepreneur, writer and broadcaster who lives in Surrey. His speciality is South Africa, a country where he was raised and spent decades as a leading financial journalist and publisher. He is a student of the history, economy, people and politics of South Africa and for 15 years presented a nationally broadcast nightly business radio show in prime time. He visits the country often and remains closely connected. Through Biznews.com, he is tapped into the country's business, social and political leadership. Biznews.com is an online news portal run from London, Johannesburg and Cape Town. In addition to being a popular keynote speaker, Hogg is an adept MC and interviewer with skills honed through decades of live television and radio broadcasting.

Alex is a noted public speaker, appearing all over the world at major industry events such as ad:tech, Future of Web Apps , Thinking Digital, Marketing 2.0, CIO Connect, iStrategy, Tech4Africa, MARKA, and Internet World. He’s also spoken at private events for organizations such as Cisco, Deloitte, Infosys, Procter & Gamble, O2, Nationwide, CapitalOne, and the BBC.

Allyson Stewart-Allen is a renowned marketer, whose expertise in brand internationalisation is sought by leading businesses globally through her consultancy, publications, appearances, mentoring and corporate education.

Andrew Kirkpatrick’s speciality is big wall climbing and winter expeditions, which involves pitting himself against a vertical climbs of over 1000 meters often in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. Andy has scaled Yosemite's El Capitan - one of the hardest walls in America - over twenty four times, including three solo ascents and a one day ascent (18h), as well as climbing it with a paraplegic climber, his thirteen year old daughter and a blind friend. One of these ascents was a 12 day solo of the Reticent Wall, viewed at the time as perhaps the hardest climb of its type in the world, and the subject of his award winning book Psychovertical.

Andrew McMillan spent 28 years working for the John Lewis Partnership, starting as a management trainee to becoming responsible for customer experience across the department store division. Andrew's aim is to make individuals and organisations happier and more fulfilled through a sense of collective purpose, so they engender trust, loyalty and advocacy from their customers while becoming more productive and, as a consequence, more profitable. He helps organisations join up their own internal dots to create their unique link between employee engagement and consistently great customer experience.

Andrew Neil is a publisher, editor, writer, broadcaster, public speaker and business consultant on media matters working out of London, New York, Edinburgh and France. During his career he has been UK Editor of The Economist, Editor of The Sunday Times, Executive Chairman of Sky Television, Executive Editor of Fox Television News of America and a leading anchorman of political programmes on British television.

As the author of “Getting China and India Right” and “The Quest for Global Dominance”, as well as the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching, Anil has been recognized by BusinessWeek as an outstanding faculty in its ‘Guide to the Best Business Schools’. He is ranked by Management International Review as one of the ‘Top 20 North American Superstars’ for research in strategy and organisation. He has written or contributed to over 70 academic papers, seeking to advance economic and strategic theory as well as practice. He is a regular contributor to the Wall St Journal, the Financial Times and numerous other newspapers and major management journals. A regular speaker at major conferences, Anil also serves as an adviser and director for corporations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Anna was introduced to rowing when she studied at the University of Cambridge. Moving up to the full international squad, Anna's rise to winning ways had begun. With the world famous partnership with Katherine Grainger, the two were unbeaten in their first season rowing together and they went on to claim two World Championship golds before entering and championing the London 2012 games. Setting a new Olympic record on the way the pair convincingly won their Olympic final to take gold and provide one of the most memorable moments of the games.

Sir Anthony 'AP' McCoy OBE, MBE is a Northern Irish Champion horse racing jockey legend. AP McCoy OBE retired from racing in April 2015 having dominated his sport for over 2 decades, making him not only the world's greatest ever jump jockey, but also one of the UK's most talented sportsmen. In April 2015, AP was crowned Champion Jockey for the 20th consecutive year, and ended his truly phenomenal career on 4348 wins (which includes the 2010 Grand National, the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase & King George VI Chase). This incredible man and BBC Sports Personality of the Year spent his career setting records we will not see broken in our lifetimes. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we will never have another AP McCoy. AP's achievements were acknowledged by the Queen with a Knighthood in the 2016 New Years Honours.

Austin Healey is a former rugby player and has represented the England national rugby union team.

Avril is an embracing combination of business adviser, occasional interim for step-change and serial Non Exec and Chairman. She is a regular columnist for Management Today 'Madame Guillotine', December 2012 achieved her first TEDx and in June 2013 published The Kama Sutra of Work which is both cheeky and will open your eyes to the possibilities of great work that you have never thought of!

Ms Cassani is a regular speaker and commentator on leadership and managing for growth. She is known for her straight-talking approach to leadership that keeps the focus on clear objectives and building teams.

Catherine has been appointed as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Catherine has been European Commissioner for Trade since October 2008. During her time as Trade Commissioner she has initiated an ambitious and far-reaching free trade agreement with South Korea, and solved a number of high-profile trade disputes with major trading partners. She has also championed trade as a means of promoting development around the world, putting the EU's economic relationship with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries on a firmer footing.

Baroness Greenfield is former Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (the first woman to hold that position) and Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, where she leads a multi-disciplinary team investigating neurodegenerative disorders. In addition she is Director of the Oxford Centre for the Science of the Mind, exploring the physical basis of consciousness. Susan Greenfield is an outstanding keynote speaker on creativity and leadership, human behaviour, science and the future.

For almost 20 years, Barry McGuigan has been commentating and writing on boxing and has developed into one of the leading figures of the sport.

Bear Grylls OBE has become known around the world as one of the most recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. His journey to this acclaim started in the UK, where his late father taught him to climb and sail.

Ben spent nine years as a member of the Great Britain rowing team, competing at six World Championships and three Olympics - culminating in gold in the coxed eights in Sydney. Before they did anything during training, Ben and his team asked themselves the question: “Will it make the boat go faster?” He encourages audiences to apply the same question to their own goals.

Ben Kay is a retired English international rugby union player who played Second row forward for Leicester Tigers and England.

Zoo Director, journalist, and author Benjamin Mee is the man behind bestselling book and Hollywood movie "We Bought A Zoo". His inspirational story is of one man's leap of faith, triumphing over personal tragedy, and the battle to succeed, whatever obstacles stand in the way.

Biz Stone is a co-founder of Twitter, Inc. and also helped to create and launch Xanga, Odeo, The Obvious Corporation and Medium. In 2012, Stone co-founded a start-up called Jelly Industries where he serves as CEO.

Blaire Palmer is a three times published Author, Keynote Speaker, Coach and Agent Provocateur.

Bradley Wiggins established himself as one of the world’s finest track endurance riders by collecting six Olympic medals across three Games, including individual pursuit gold at Athens 2004 and individual pursuit gold and team pursuit gold at Beijing 2008.

Brendan Hall's keynote presentation, 'Life and leadership on the world's most demanding yacht race' is a gripping narrative of an ocean yacht race on the edge, and a young skipper's determined journey to victory. At the age of 27, Brendan was selected to lead one of the ten teams competing in the 2009-10 Clipper Round the World race. He had no input on the selection of his 44 crew, but was tasked with turning them into a cohesive, competitive unit, able to take on the ultimate sailing challenge, a gruelling ten-month race around the globe. He knew that the key to success would be creating and sustaining a culture of high performance, autonomy, motivation and support- A race winning formula.

Brian O'Driscoll was the captain of the Ireland Rugby team from 2004 -2012 and captained Leinster Rugby from 2005 until the end of 2008 season. He captained the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. Registered at University College Dublin RFC, he played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster.

Brian is famed for winning the 4x400m relay with only one shoe. He is a two time European gold medalist, and goes down in the hearts of British fans as the epitome of perseverance and determination. Brian is now a coach and mentor.

Founder and CEO of Storkey Media, an integrated marketing agency, Caleb works internationally with a wide range of businesses, from multinationals through to highly disruptive and fast growth tech start-ups.

As founder of two leading children's charities, the Place 2 Be and the now defunct Kids Company. Place 2 Be is continuing to deliver services and Kids Company closed "following false sexual abuse allegations, which were taken to the media. The police investigated, and found no crime had been committed. They stated they "found no fault with Kids Company's safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults". Camilla continues her pioneering work in collaboration with several charities and her new book 'Kids' also a collaboration will be out soon.

Caspar Berry is the poker expert for several television shows, with his most recent credit being the poker adviser on recent James Bond movie, Casino Royal. Managing risk and decision making is key to Caspar's work and therefore his speaker ability allows him to direct the corporate world with a greater understanding of their decision making process.

Chandran leads what he believes is a pioneering concept - an organisation focused on the relationship of Asian society and values with those of the rest of the world. He is the founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, which is a think-tank dedicated to advancing an understanding of the impacts of globalisation through thought leadership and positive action to effect change. Nair is a renowned international speaker, writer and facilitator and leading expert on globalisation and development in Asia.

Chicco is Chairman of the Board of Roma Metropolitane, the company in charge of the construction of the new underground lines in Rome. He is also a Senior Partner at Rothschild Italia, a member of the Board of Directors of Lloyd Adriatico and RAS, Chairman of the Board of Telit Communications PLC and Chairman of the Board of E.V.A., a company developing hydropower generation plants. He is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the European Carbon Fund and also Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 20th World Energy Congress.

Chris Bertish takes on extreme stand-up paddle-boarding challenges, crossing channels and oceans around the world. The reason why, is a beautiful story.

Chris Boardman won the 4km individual pursuit at the Barcelona Olympics and broke the world hour record three times. His was the nation's first gold in cycling for over 70 years. The iconic image of the Lotus machine and pointy helmet linked Chris forever with cutting edge technology. This was reinforced with Chris leading the research & development team for GB Cycling in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they became the most successful British sporting team of all time. He is now Greater Manchester’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner and intends to bring continental levels of bike use to the UK.

Chris is a leading authority on Sales Management, Customer Experience, Employee Engagement & Satisfaction particularly within organisations where change is on the agenda.

Chris Gooder received his Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Manchester. He then spent a year of coaching for Arsenal Football Club in Singapore. Following this he went on to obtain a MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Brunel University.

Christian Horner OBE is the Team Principal of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One team, a position he has held since 2005. His motorsport career started as a race car driver, before he switched roles to become Team Principal of FIA F3000 and later GP2 Series team Arden International Motorsport in 1999.

Christian Majgaard is best known for gifting the world with LEGO as the companies Senior Director. Christian was responsible for their global brand, product and campaign development of their core business (toys) as well as their Theme Park and Media divisions. Acclaimed by Fons Tompenaars as one of 21 leaders for the 21st century, Christian is a highly respected figure in marketing and innovation. At Lego Christian's 25 year career with the company took in positions including Head of International Market Research and Head of EU Marketing. Christian now divides his time between creative and brand consulting, non-executive roles, writing and speaking.

Christina was the 174th president of the Law Society of England and Wales and the fifth woman to hold this office. During the presidential year 2018/19, Christina's main priorities were: diversity and inclusion - focusing on social mobility and women in leadership in the law; the future of the profession - including legal technology and leading the LawTech Policy Commission; promoting access to justice for all and mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession. Christina has been at the heart of UK law, law tech and women in technology, chairing government panels and thought leadership.

Clare Bailey, The Retail Champion, is one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. Clare is renowned for her quick thinking, and an ability to backup her arguments with facts and figures. With unrivalled knowledge in retail, high streets and consumer matters, she offers unbiased and independent content.

Claude Littner is a British business executive and the current Chairman of Viglen, also known for his appearances on The Apprentice. In early 2015 it was announced that Littner was to become Lord Sugar’s aide for the 2015 series, replacing Nick Hewer.

The author of the Sunday Times best seller "Danger Close – Commanding 3 PARA in Afghanistan", Stuart Tootal was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his outstanding leadership of the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) in Afghanistan.

Originally trained as a product & industrial designer, Cris spent over a decade as a successful entrepreneur & CEO building an award-winning design group. He is now recognised globally as a thought leader on innovation strategy, leadership and culture.

The Athens Olympic Games was the pinnacle of a long but frustrating international athletics career for Kelly Holmes. Her Double Olympic Gold triumph changed her life forever and fulfilled her second childhood dream of becoming an Olympic Champion. She became the first British female athlete to win both the 800m and 1500m. Since retiring from international athletics, Kelly has started a new chapter in her life in the business world; establishing her own company Double Gold and her charity the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. She has also been active in raising the profile of school sport up the political agenda. Kelly became National School Sport Champion in 2006 for three years and pioneered the creation of National School Sport Week. She also led the creation of Girls Active set up with the Youth Sports Trust to capture the interest of disengaged female teenagers. She now has a number of ambassadorial positions for TeamGB, London 2012 sponsor BT, the Jaguar Academy of Sport alongside the honour of being President of Commonwealth Games England.

Until late 2014, Dan spent over 8 years at Google. For the last three years he was Managing Director, UK & Ireland – the biggest market for Google outside the US and the most advanced major country in terms of e-commerce and online advertising spending.

Lord Finkelstein's career is as broad in its scope as it is distinguished. It has encompassed being Editor of Connexion - Britain's first internet and data communications newspaper, directing the Social Market Foundation think tank and acting as a key advisor to the Conservative Party.

Daniel Susskind is Fellow in Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he teaches and researches. He worked for the British Government in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and also as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University.

There are not many athletes that can boast a sporting CV like Danielle Waterman.

Darren speaks on all things Timpson, the unique story behind Timpson's innovative approach to recruitment having worked closely with James Timpson OBE and Sir John Timpson CBE for many years. Service retailer Timpson's presence on the high street is highly regarded and trusted, the company employed not just ex-offenders, but people currently serving time for everything from tax fraud to homicide. Darren's key speaking topics include Timpson's maverick approach to bottoms up leadership to recruitment and looked after children and the Alex Timpson Trust.

Dave Ulrich is an academic advocating a radical transformation in HR, stating it is time for HR to step up and take a seat with the decision makers. Dave has published over 25 management books and over 200 articles and book chapters. His teaching and research addresses the question how to create an organisation that adds value to employees, customers, and investors? Dave studies how organisations change fast, build capabilities, learn, remove boundaries, and leverage human resource activities. Dave has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200 corporations.

David Clive Price is a global executive coach who is passionate about leadership and management development, talent and engagement, he brings 30+ years experience of senior leadership coaching, strategic advisory and change management roles to his delivery of global leadership programs.

David Coulthard MBE was one of the best of his generation. Now a pundit for Forumla One coverage, David is still very much involved in the sport. An excellent keynote speaker on the topics of motivation, teamwork and leadership, David can apply his peak performance skills from the racing world to a business audience.

David Flatman was a prop for Bath and the England national rugby union team and the former head of communications at Bath rugby.

In July 2017 David was appointed by Warner Bros and the Blair Partnership (agents for JK Rowling) in what is set to be a landmark role leading digital innovation across the Wizarding World franchise, including Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Prior to that David was Managing Director of Membership, Marketing and Consumer Revenue at the Guardian, responsible for all reader revenue. David played a key role in two of Britain's most high-profile campaigns: Director of Marketing at the London 2012 Olympic bid, and Director of Commercial and Marketing at the England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

David Millar is former British National Road Champion and Time Trial Champion, the only British Rider to have worn all the Leaders Jerseys from the Tour de France and one of only six British riders to have worn the Yellow Jersey. He was also the first of only two British riders ever to have worn the Leader’s Jersey in all three Grand Tours. Millar was banned for two years in 2004 after admitting taking banned performance enhancing drugs. During his ban and on his return to cycling in 2006 he worked with WADA and UKAD on various anti-doping initiatives and has become a voice for anti-doping within the sport. His final chapter in cycling saw him win Silver in the World Championships, stages of all three Grand Tours and write a best selling Autobiography. David retired from cycling at the end of 2014 season but remains actively involved in the sport.

David Sammel has over 30 years’ experience in coaching international players, 17 of whom have represented their countries in the Olympics, Davis Cup and FedCup.

Dennis Taylor's remarkable 18-17 victory over Steve Davis on the final black of the 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship has justifiably become regarded as one of the great moments in British sport. A record viewing audience of 18.5m were tuned to BBC Two, the largest after midnight figure ever recorded and BBC Two's best ever ratings. It was also, at the time, the largest British audience for a sporting event. Taylor's exuberant celebrations - complete with finger wagging, foot stamping and cue waving - provided the perfect release to the tension that had built as the match progressed towards its thrilling climax.

Dumi Oburota is the Nigerian-British entrepreneur credited for engineering Patrick Okogwu AKA Tinie Tempah's rise to stardom. He is also attributed to being behind strong acts like WizKid and asides music, he boasts a clothing label under his "Disturbing London" company. Now he is on a mission to make Disturbing London "a stamp of coolness for millennial, urban culture".

Duncan is CEO of Pareto Systems, a leading business development firm for professionals and corporations in knowledge-for-profit industries. Duncan is also an industry author and has published several books including the best-seller: BREAKTHROUGH Business Development, Take Your Business to The Next Level. As a speaker in high-demand, Duncan travels extensively throughout North America and around the world, conveying dynamic and fact-rich presentations. Duncan has a way of leaving his audience excited about implementing his processes that have been proven to pave the way to meaningful and measurable results in both their personal and professional lives.

Eamonn Quinn is currently an Executive Chariman of Kelsius Limited and has a wealth of experience within the food retail sector.

Ed Buckingham is a truly inspirational and a motivational man. Working for the Royal Mail for 28 years, an adventurer and author from his native origin of Cornwall. Coming from a background of hill and coastal walkers Ed has through sheer hard work and determination turned himself into a world class athlete. At the culmination of his quest, he emerges as a capable climber, fit and strong, competing in triathlons running full and ultra marathons, climbing mountains and delivering the post.

Edgar Perez is a business consultant for billion-dollar private equity and hedge funds and Council Member at the Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint Global Advisors, Research International and Internal Consulting Group, with subject matter expertise in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and deep learning, cyber security and financial regulation.

Ellis has headed a national newspaper business, turned around the Greyhound Bus operation in the US and ran Simon Cowell’s Syco Corporation before he took charge of Scottish media group DC Thompson, steering them into the digital age with interests from local newspapers to cloud computing. Highly engaging speeches, full of original thinking and humour, Ellis shows how to deal with disruptive forces, create a positive culture and inspire enthusiasm throughout the organisation.

Fleur Sexton is an inspirational Businesswoman who is the founder of PET-Xi Training, a high-energy training specialist whose multi-award-winning training teams have, since 1995, worked to help over 150,000 people identify training goals and unlock their potential. Starting from humble beginnings, Fleur has built up a company from her bedroom into a multi award-winning company and is now dedicated to motivating women to find their voice and fulfill their potential.

Floyd Woodrow, the MD of Chrysalis worldwide coaches elite international athletes and sporting teams, the worlds leading banks, financial services companies, governments, education institutions, police forces, emergency services and international corporations on all aspects of elite performance and leadership. Floyd's extraordinary experiences and skills give him a unique and diverse speaking ability.

Now CEO of Belstaff, Fran Millar was CEO of Team Ineos and former TEAM Sky's Head of Winning Behaviours and Director of Business Operations and later CEO, Fran headed up the business and people functions within the world’s most successful cycling team. Fran is a huge hit with audiences both in the UK and internationally. Her passion for her subject coupled with her natural delivery style is always well received. She is one of the most engaging speakers that we have ever worked with and which an entire audience can relate to.

Captain of the Victorious 1995 country-unifying Rugby World Cup Team - The Springboks, Francois Pienaar is a remarkable athlete, trained lawyer and an ambassador for multi-racial sports and civil rights. Captain of the Victorious 1995 country-unifying Rugby World Cup Team - The Springboks, Francois Pienaar is a remarkable athlete, trained lawyer and an ambassador for multi-racial sports and civil rights. He reached the highest peak in rugby union when he captained his country, South Africa, to World Cup victory in 1995. He was portrayed by Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood's blockbuster Invictus. In 2005, Francois was seconded by First National Bank as CEO for the 2011 Rugby World cup bid. Having been named Newsmaker of the Year, he is his country's most celebrated icon after Nelson Mandela. He was portrayed by Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood's blockbuster Invictus. In 2005, Francois was seconded by First National Bank as CEO for the 2011 Rugby World cup bid. Having been named Newsmaker of the Year, he is his country's most celebrated icon after Nelson Mandela.

Fraser Doherty is an entrepreneur and the founder of SuperJam. He started at the age of 14 selling home-made jam to neighbours, and now supplies over a million pots each year to 2,000 supermarkets across the world - from Russia to Australia.

Gavin Duffy is best known for taking businesses from concept in the Den to success in retail or online in just a matter of months.

Geoffrey Holt is an English sailor from Portsmouth, Hampshire. Paralysed in an accident at the age of eighteen, in 2007 he became the first quadriplegic yachtsman to sail solo around Great Britain.

George Gregan is a retired Australian Rugby Union player who held the record number of international caps for any rugby union player.

Gerald Ratner is a British Businessman who took over the family business of Ratners Jewellery, becoming one of Britain's most high-profile businessmen. He took the company from 130 stores to one with over 2,500, and increased its revenue by over tenfold. Despite losing his business, he has been immensely successful with his string health clubs and new jewellery store, 'Gerald Online', which is the largest in its sector.

Gerd is considered a leading voice on a wide range of topics including digital transformation and the discovery of digitally native business models.

Harriet Green OBE has a proven track record for developing and implementing strategies for profitable growth and increasing shareholder value in global technology, logistics, travel and consumer sectors. Harriet received her OBE for services to electronics in 2010.

Hayley Barnard is a prominent keynote speaker, consultant and trainer to top-level executives throughout the UK and Europe. She is a subject matter expert on Diversity and Inclusion, Inclusive Leadership and Unconscious Bias. She advises boards of corporations on how they can become more profitable and innovative through inclusion of diversity.

Helen Glover MBE was one of the most prominent sporting stars to emerge from the 2012 Olympic Games, typifying the ideal that hard work breeds success. Alongside her rowing partner, Heather Stanning, Helen wrote herself into the British history books by not only winning Team GB’s first Gold of the Games but claiming British Rowing’s first ever female Gold medal.

A superb speaker, Helen Sharman OBE enthuses her audience about Space, STEM and the wonders of science. She describes the meticulous training and preparation, learning Russian, the launch and landing, how weightlessness feels, her science experiments, the team spirit, and adjusting to life back on Earth. Awarded the OBE in 1993, Helen Sharman is a full-time scientist, a pioneer, a role model for young people (of all ages!) and an inspiration.

A true rags-to-riches story, Herman Mashaba created the cosmetics brand Black Like Me. He started by selling his products from the boot of his car, and it mushroomed into the multimillion Rand enterprise it is today. Recently, he has also started up operations in the UK.

Ian Goldin is Director of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford. Ian was Vice President of the World Bank from 2003-6 and prior to that the Bank's Director of Development Policy from 2001-3. From 1996 to 2001 he was Managing Director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa and served as an adviser to President Mandela. He succeeded in transforming the bank to become the leading agent of development in the 14 countries of Southern Africa.

Ian McGeechan is a Scottish former Rugby Union player and coach. His nickname is "Geech".

Ian Robertson is a Scottish broadcaster, writer and former international rugby player. He is best known as a rugby union commentator for BBC Radio.

Over half a million people around the world have heard Jack Black speak or have participated in one of his programs. He is committed to providing unique and bespoke presentations, ensuring his audiences leave with easy to use yet powerful tools and techniques that directly improve their performance.

James Timpson is not only the Chief Executive of Timpson but also a cobbler and prison recruiter with a firm belief in upside down management.

In January 1999, Jamie and a climbing partner were trapped for five nights on the storm bound icy summit of a French mountain. Despite surviving, both hands and feet were amputated. Since this he has learned to walk again, take up skiing, run marathons and iron man triathlons and remarkably returned to climb once more in the mountains that he loves so much.

Jamie Carragher played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool for 17 years and is now currently a pundit for Sky Sports.

Jane Young is a technology entrepreneur and the founder of social business company Kanbee, using futurism and change expertise to help organisations redefine what it means to do business in the modern world.

Jas is a former Red Arrows leader and fighter pilot. He joined the RAF aged 18 and after completing flying training he went on to be the youngest ever pilot to fly the Tornado ground attack aircraft on the front-line. Hawker has undertaken a number of non-flying appointments within the Ministry of Defence, advising senior military officers and civil servants on strategic and operational matters; specifically developing national contingency and crisis plans and advising on capability development. He has practical experience of operational level campaign planning having deployed to Afghanistan as a Senior Air Advisor.

Jason Averbook is a leading analyst, thought leader, consultant and keynote speaker in the area of human resources, the future of work and the impact technology has on the future.

Jeffrey has been hailed by bankers as ‘the world’s most important financial crime journalist.’ With his trademark New York humour, he points out what legitimate business can learn from organised crime. The Laundrymen author may also refer to the novel he was asked to write in the name of Donald Trump.

Since 1996 he has spoken to over 500,000 people at live events and given over 2000 keynote speeches. You may have seen Jeremy on television or online this year. He has been featured in/on Fox, CBS, CNBC and many more large media outlets.

Jim Harris is a one of North America’s foremost management consultants, authors and thinkers on disruptive innovation, leadership, innovation, organizational change, future trends and mitigating risk

Joanna Rowsell Shand MBE is a GB Cyclist, Olympian and 5x World Champion.

Joanna Wilde is a Chartered Psychologist who specialises in the application of psychology within complex work organisations.

Joe McEwan is a knowledgeable keynote speaker who tells the inspiring story of his journey from a university student to the Head of Digital and Communities for Innocent smoothies.

John Amaechi OBE partners with organisations to help leaders move from being transactional to transformational. He focuses on improving performance, solving intractable people problems and creates thriving workplaces despite the challenges and disruption of the modern world. Prior to founding his own firm, John spent several years as a professional athlete, becoming the first Brit to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

John Barnes MBE is of Jamaican and Trinidadian origin, who currently works as a commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport.

The success of Phones 4U was as much the barometer as anything else. Starting with the opportunistic sale of a job lot of bricklike Motorola handsets, Mr Caudwell tapped into the sudden boom in mobile communications to build a national retail chain selling 26 phones every minute and employing as many as 3,000 in his home town of Stoke alone.

After beginning a career training as an accountant, John was forced to give up his apprenticeship and focus his efforts on rescuing his father’s business, working as a minicab driver to make ends meet during this period. Having helped his family firm and following the birth of his two sons, John was inspired to start his own business and came to the conclusion that he could run his own minicab business a lot more successfully than the companies he had worked for. Founded in Battersea in 1975 with just one car, Addison Lee now carries 10 million passengers and couriers 1 million deliveries a year.

John is a world leading management thinker and economist; his work has been mostly concerned with the application of economics to the analysis of changes in industrial structure and the competitive advantage of individual firms. John is a distinguished academic, a successful businessman, an adviser to companies and governments around the world, and an acclaimed columnist. Looking at all aspects of economics from investment to monetary supply, industry and markets to government and world finance, John provides an illuminating, accessible, and often surprisingly amusing analysis of the complexities of money.

To become a Tornado pilot, you have to be a part of the creme de la creme, with very few being able to withstand the immense levels of G-force needed to control and pilot successfully. John Peters was drafted into the Gulf War as a fighter pilot in 1991, where his story becomes macabre. John, and fellow navigator John Nicol, were shot down and captured by the military of Iraq. Their bruised and battered faces were broadcasted to the world as a symbol of Saddam Hussein's tyranny and ruthlessness. John now runs his successful company, Monkey Business, advising, coaching, and consulting major companies on leadership issues including uncertainty, organisational learning, and trust and failure.

John Petter is the head of BT’s Consumer division and specialises in consumer proposition development, marketing and commercial strategy and call centre management.

John Sawers is a former British diplomat and senior civil servant. He was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and was previously the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

When Jonathan was seven years old he read a book about the first escape artist Harry Houdini. From that moment Jonathan knew that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of such a great man and be an escape artist too. While performing his escapes Jonathan has been hanged, buried alive, locked in a box covered in 200,000 bees and burned at the stake to name just a few. Jonathan has also developed his ability to withstand pain. From being hit with a baseball bat to handling hot coals, pushing needles through his skin, and even walking on tacks in bare feet; Jonathan somehow seemingly has the ability to disconnect his bodies pain receptors.

Considered the man who won England their famous World Cup victory under the leadership of Sir Clive Woodward. Becoming one of the most famous rugby players alive when his drop goal in the dying seconds of the game won the tournament for England. One of the most decorated players in the game, becoming the highest international points scorer and a role model of professionalism and sportsmanship. The public success was only part of the story, however, and Jonny speaks frankly and inspiringly about the pressure of expectation and the mental health implications of leading a life defined by others.

A BAFTA Games Awards judge, former marketer and serial entrepreneur, Jude Ower founded her gaming-for-good company Playmob in 2011. The startup works with games studios like Niantic, EA, and Rovio to engage millions of players to take positive social action. The London-based company has raised millions for charities and non-profits like WWF, Oxfam and The Cybersmile Foundation. Jude was Awarded an MBE in 2016 for services to entrepreneurship

Justin gives an extraordinary insight into the behaviours, processes and leadership issues which make for a world class team. With breathtaking cockpit footage, he shows how to reproduce performance year after year, in spite of manifold risks and a constantly changing team.

With over thirty years of experience working in and leading large businesses, Justin brings in-depth knowledge of retail transformation and operations as well as a good historic understanding of the M&S business and values. Justin is currently Vice Chairman of Terra Firma, where he acts as an adviser to the General Partner. Prior to this, Justin was the CEO of Sainsbury’s between 2004 and 2014, where he led the business through a major turnaround which led to nine years of profit growth. Before joining Sainsbury’s, Justin was Head of Food at Marks & Spencer where he was one of the pioneers of the development of the Simply Food business. He held prior roles at Asda, Haagen-Dazs, PepsiCo and Mars and was a board member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Justin was also a member of the UK Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

Lord Karan founded Cobra Beer in 1990 when he was £20,000 in debt and up against all odds. Since that time, Cobra has grown into an operation with offices on four continents and exports to over 45 countries, with brewing operations in five countries. Cobra Beer is now one of the fastest growing beer brands in the UK and one of the most innovative young companies in the country. Karan is widely respected for his entrepreneurial spirit. He is one of the first two Visiting Entrepreneurs ever appointed at Cambridge University and serves as National Champion of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.

Kevin Eyres is the former European managing director of LinkedIn and the Talent Champion for the Tech City Investment Organisation. Kevin is currently angel investor, board member of Essentia Analytics and CDI Apps for Good, as well as the founder of GreyBella Ventures.

As a CEO, chairman, founder and investor Kevin has enjoyed success in sectors including automotive, data, technology, manufacturing, brand marketing and professional services. He has repeatedly led teams to achieve extraordinary performance in companies ranging from 7 to 7,000 employees. One recognised as the best private equity investment of the year, another nominated as the World’s 7th most innovative company. Passionate about the development of leadership skills he is frequently sought to reinvigorate teams and companies.

Once one of the FBI's Most Wanted because he hacked into 40 major corporations just for the challenge, Kevin Mitnick is now a trusted security consultant to the Fortune 500 and governments worldwide. Kevin and The Global Ghost Team™ now maintain a 100 percent successful track record of being able to penetrate the security of any system they are paid to hack into using a combination of technical exploits and social engineering. Kevin's presentations are akin to "technology magic shows" and include live demonstrations of the latest hacks and cyber threats.

Lawrence Dallaglio is a retired English Rugby Union player and former captain of the English national team.

When thinking of Lord Alan Sugar it is difficult not to imagine the dreaded words ‘you’re fired’. However, it’s good to learn that although he doesn’t mince his words and definitely doesn’t suffer fools gladly, Lord Sugar is actually a considerate man and a philanthropist. He says what he means and can come across as abrupt at times, but his sense of humour is evident, as is his genuine desire to improve both the business and life experience of others.

Lord Sebastian Coe is now known for his successful political career and his crucial role in bringing the Olympic Games to London in 2012 but he first came to the attention of the world as the fastest middle-distance runner of his generation. Using his political skills, his strategic know-how and a true passion for sport, Lord Coe won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics in London. Seven years later the Prime Minister thanked him for "lifting the hearts of the nation" after organising the most successful Games of modern times. By talking about the setbacks as well as victories, he shows his audience how he beat the competition by facing down everything in training: "You don't become a champion by turning up and hoping to get lucky."

tuart Rose has spent all his career in retail joining Marks & Spencer plc in 1971. He left to join the Burton Group in 1989, becoming a director in 1993. Following the Group’s demerger in 1997 he became Chief Executive of Argos plc during the bid by GUS. In 1998 he became Chief Executive of Booker plc which was merged with the Iceland Group in 2000. He then became Chief Executive of Arcadia Group plc in November 2000 and left in December 2002 following its sale to Sir Philip Green. He was named Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer plc in May 2004 and became Chairman in 2008, standing down in January 2011. He was Chairman of The British Fashion Council from 2004 – 2008, Chairman of Business in the Community from 2008 – 2010 and a Non-Executive Director of Land Securities from 2003-2013. He is Chairman of Ocado, Fat Face, Oasis Healthcare Group and a Non-Executive Director of Woolworths (South Africa). He is also Chairman of The Healing Foundation, a medical charity.

Lynda Gratton a British organisational theorist, consultant, and Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and the founder of the Hot Spots Movement, known for her work on organisational behaviour.

Maggie Alphonsi MBE is an English women's rugby player who plays as a flanker for Saracens W.R.F.C. and England. She is of African-Caribbean descent. She was Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in 2010.

In presentations Major General Jonathan Shaw CBE separates threats from hype, shows how human error is the main area of weakness and explains how to embed the necessary behavioural changes. He also explores the part cyber plays in the politics of power and describes an armed forces model of leadership that’s far more progressive than many imagine.

Majora Carter is responsible for the creation & successful implementation of numerous green-infrastructure projects, policies, and job training & placement systems.

In 2007, Buckingham started The Marcus Buckingham Company (TMBC) to create management training programs and tools dedicated to promoting the strengths revolution. The company helped him to launch a coordinated series of products in conjunction with the publication of Go Put Your Strengths to Work.

Nine times Grand Prix winner Mark Webber’s fairytale journey from Queanbeyan kid to world-class athlete is an enthralling and entertaining story full of inspiration and amusing anecdotes. Mark retired from Formula 1 in 2013, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Porsche.

Martin Johnson CBE is an English former rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester.

Professor Merlin Stone is one of the UK's top experts in marketing, customer management and customer insight. After a long career in management, research, management consulting and universities, he now runs his own consulting, research and training practice.

Over his speaking career, Michael has successfully presented at over 2500 conferences in the last 15 years as a speaker at events around the world. As a professional speaker Michael shows audiences how to clearly understand the future of their own role in business, the changing requirements of the workplace and how to connect more with their company and colleagues.

Michael Lynagh is a former Australian Rugby Union player who played as a Fly-half.

Michael O’Neill is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional footballer. Michael currently manages the Northern Ireland international football team.

'The Game Changer' Mike Forde is former Director of Football Operations at Chelsea Football Club, responsible for all areas of Chelsea FC's performance and team operations. Mike is widely recognised as a World authority in the British Premier League and European soccer and elite US professional sport for driving innovation and cutting edge methods.

Minter Dial is the President and founder of the boutique agency, The Myndset Company.

As Chief Business Officer for Google [X], the search giant’s very much-envied R&D division, Mo led some of the tech world’s most innovative projects at a time that was becoming the climax of a successful career in technology. Whilst on paper he was doing well, he often felt unfulfilled. He applied his engineering skills to the problem and after almost a decade developed a model which placed happiness in overall context of the experiences and expectations of life. His work became the international bestseller, Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy.

Hack has turned adversaries into allies throughout the world. Her pioneering work on engagement leadership and her unique framework Strategic Relational Engagement (SRE™) is based on decades of real-life success in bringing together diverse stakeholders to find common ground and achieve great goals. Named one of Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior, Hack works with executives of Fortune 500 companies, heads of state, and leaders of global organizations.

Nick's passion for running is clear, but his meaningful topics are the basis of some truly inspirational messages too. He covers areas such as understanding potential; embracing failure; perseverance and determination, and how to value the time we have on our planet. His personal stories bring these issues to life with enthusiasm and character. Nick may be a runner first and foremost, but his messages reach further. He’s not on a crusade to get everyone into lycra, but simply to spread the message that everyone, regardless of age, background, and commitments can excel at anything they put their minds to.

Nick Fry is the Former CEO and co-owner of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 and was responsible for building the teams that won the 2014 and 2009 F1 Drivers and Constructors Championships.

Nick Jenkins is the founder of Moonpig.com, the online greeting card website – an idea that started whilst at university.

Nicola Adams OBE was the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title, she is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist in the women's flyweight division.

Norman Lamont, Baron Lamont of Lerwick, is a British politician and former Conservative MP for Kingston-upon-Thames. He is best known for his period serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer, from 1990 until 1993.

Pamela Cookey has become the face of England Netball after 11 years of playing for her country and three years as captain.

Parag Khanna is a leading global strategist, world traveler, and best-selling author. He is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is also the Managing Partner of Hybrid Reality, a boutique geostrategic advisory firm, and Co-Founder & CEO of Factotum, a leading content branding agency.

Patrick has helped household names in business, NGOs and a range of government departments and ministries to be innovative in their responses to opportunities and challenges.

Paul has won 5 championships belts in 3 different weight categories from light-middleweight, middleweight and super-middleweight but actually fought in a incredible 5 different weight.

Paul is the founder of Intelligencr, an innovation scouting firm he started in Tokyo in 2008. He has recently been at the helm of the road-to-market strategy for the Ubuntu phone OS, in Europe and China.

Paula Radcliffe is the current women's world record holder in the marathon with her time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds.

Paula Reid is an inspirational speaker, adventurer, and best-selling author. Paula, with two months notice and no sailing experience, became a core crew member of the Global Challenge 2004-5: the ‘World’s Toughest Yacht Race’, Paula raced 35,000 miles the ‘wrong way’ around the world. Paula has completed 91 things on her list of things to do before she dies – including walking on hot coals, paddling down the Mekong, walking across the country, running the marathon and kayaking the length of the Thames. Paula combines extreme sailing stories and analogies with business expertise to create leadership and performance development that is unique, powerful and deep rooted. She influences and inspires at conferences, meetings and events as a keynote speaker and through interactive workshops. She has also been a shareholder and director of three businesses, and understands about Leadership, Strategy, Motivation & Mental Toughness from both an extreme adventure and a business-leader point of view.

Peter Casey is the Founder and Chairman of Claddagh Resources and is also a writer and business and political commentator.

Pippa Malmgren is an American policy analyst. She served as Special Assistant to the President of the United States for Economic Policy on the National Economic Council and former member of the U.S. President's Working Group on Financial Markets.

Ricardo Baron Baretzky, the first Democratic President of European Centre for Information Policy and Security (ECIPS), led the International Policy and Security Council (IIPSC), the New World Council of ECIPS to the longest global Cyber policy expansion in our history, including the creation of CyberPOL. He is the founder of Baretzky Foundation which focuses on tackling a number of the Worlds' greatest challenges.

Steve has an unparalleled reputation for giving people an edge – as well as the confidence to overcome defeat. His specialist interest is in the working of the human mind and how it can reach optimum performance applied to all walks of life. He works with Liverpool Football Club, England Football and Sky ProCycling, and has current and past involvements in many other Olympic and non-Olympic Sports, including British Cycling, England Rugby, World Championship Snooker and Premier league Football.

Roman Nicholas is a self-made, award winning entrepreneur with an interest in retail.

His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques. He is best known for the TV series Ray Mears’ Bushcraft, Survival with Ray Mears and Wild Britain with Ray Mears.

Having worked with over 10,500 CEOs and 150,000 managers in 36 countries, and having built up multiple start-up companies in the UK, Dubai, and Bahrain, Reg has developed into an influential and profound businessman, and a specialist in human capital management and human potential development. Reg is also a best-selling author, having huge success with multiple books on the topics of corporate social responsibility and maximizing human potential.

René has the experience of serving as a main board director for blue-chip companies, managing massive investments. René is also one of the UK's leading business gurus specialising in leadership and culture, drawing from his own unique experiences at Marks & Spencer, Pepsi, IPC Media and the Inland Revenue. He is author of Corporate Voodoo and Spike with a unique style that is dynamic, assertive, authoritative and interactive, René brings together the gravitas of blue chip business with the theatre of television and radio.

Professor Richard Susskind OBE FRSE is an author, speaker, and independent adviser to international professional firms and national governments. He has advised on numerous government inquiries and, since 1998, has been IT Adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England. His main area of expertise is the future of professional service and, in particular, the way in which the IT and the Internet are changing the work of lawyers. He has worked on legal technology for over 30 years. He has written and edited numerous books, including Expert Systems in Law, Tomorrow’s Lawyers, and has written around 150 columns for The Times. His work has been translated into 10 languages and the latest book The Future of the Professions is co-authored with his son Daniel Susskind.

Over the last decade Rick O'Shea has established himself as integral part of BBC Wales’ Rugby Flagship Scrum V & also hosts the weekly rugby show on BBC Radio Wales.

Rita McGrath is regarded as one of the world’s top experts on strategy and innovation with particular emphasis on developing sound strategy in uncertain and volatile environments. Her ideas are widely used by leading organisations throughout the world, who describe her thinking as sometimes provocative, but unfailing stimulating. She fosters a fresh approach to strategy amongst those with whom she works.

Robbie’s passion is to help others to understand the human mind as a manageable machine; supporting them to develop the insight and practical skills conducive to achieving self-fulfilment in life.

Robbie Fowler played as a striker from 1993 to 2012. Fowler was known for being a natural scorer with an instinctive goal-poaching ability.

Robert Phillips is the author of the ground-breaking and controversial Trust Me, PR is Dead; a Visiting Professor at Cass Business School; and co-founder of Jericho Chambers. Robert advises major companies and organisations committed to a better society and the common good – helping them navigate towards meaningful change through what they do, not what they say.

Robin Sharma is a respected global leadership expert and motivational speaker. He has a proven record of success in the field, and is a bestselling author of 11 books on the subject. During the last fifteen years, Robin has been sharing cutting-edge leadership insights, helping organisations grow leaders at all levels, and bringing their high potential employees to their next level of excellence. He is ranked as one of the top 5 leadership gurus in the world in an independent global survey of over 22,000 businesspeople by leadershipgurus.net.

An accomplished businessman and public speaker whose experience is unique having worked at a Director/CEO level in five global companies across multiple industries at times of rapid change. He has run businesses with turnovers between £400m and £2bn, with millions of customers and thousands of staff. Whilst at BBC, Roger delivered 3 successful businesses creating and adding over £750m of value to the BBC. He was also instrumental in the overall BBC wide change programme.

Roger Martin-Fagg is an economist who combines insight into the financial and policy worlds with management strategy.

Overnight, Ronan Harrington went from senior leadership positions at the British Foreign Office and Extinction Rebellion to being diagnosed with a debilitating lifetime chronic illness. He’s learned the hard way how to lead under pressure and stay strong in the face of adversity. Ronan now teaches on the KPMG Executive Leadership Programme and is a resilience specialist at Tough Cookie, advising leading organisations including Sky, Meta and Accenture on how to create healthy, high performing cultures.

Having started his career as an actor, Ross Kemp has gone on to prove himself as a successful documentary maker having received a BAFTA for his series on gangs and many other nominations and awards for his television work. Ross now has his own production company so if you're looking for a speaker with a diverse career experience and equipped with motivational and teamwork skills, then Ross will be the perfect speaker for you.

He is the internationally bestselling author of two major books on strategy and enterprise innovation, which have been published to date in over 20 languages. Rowan is co-founder of www.innovationexcellence.com – the online home of the global innovation community. The portal, which builds on an international group of around 5,000 members from over 150 countries, offers an arsenal of resources from today's innovation thought leaders and practitioners that is aimed at helping every company achieve innovation excellence.

As a moderator, Roy works on high-profile conferences for some of the world's largest and most respected organisations. He has been asked back time and again to moderate 'private' conferences for the Olympic movement held in Lausanne, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro. He has moderated conferences for the world's largest trade association - the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) in Rome, Dubai, Cape Town, Istanbul, New York and their flagship event RECON in Las Vegas (attended by 53,000 delegates).

The UK's longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, since leaving the Commons John has acted as EU ‘rapporteur’ on climate change, and as himself in an ad for an online comparison site. With Pauline he’s also made films on the class system and the north/south divide.

World Cup winner Sarah Hunter is a stalwart of English Rugby. Recognised for her Services to Rugby with a MBE in 2014, she has become a leading inspirational role model for the women’s and girls’ game.

Mumpreneur, Investor and Dragon, Sarah has won multiple entrepreneurial and business awards and has appeared on television programmes as a business expert including 'The Restaurant' and Dragon's Den. Sarah is a popular speaker in the UK and internationally on topics including all aspects of money saving, Leadership and Teamwork, Business Turnarounds, Food, Restaurant, Retail, Leisure industries and Entrepreneurism.

Sarah Wood OBE is co-founder and CEO of video ad tech company Unruly, where she ensures the company delivers the most awesome social video campaigns on the planet. Sarah was named one of 15 Women to Watch in Tech by Inc. and one of 10 London-Based Entrepreneurs to Watch by Forbes.

Former Scotland and British and Irish Lions rugby player now commentating on rugby sevens and Sky Sports.

Sean Fitzpatrick is a former Rugby Union player who represented New Zealand and is widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to come from that country.

Shaun Smith has developed some of the latest thinking and practice around this subject, helping organisations world-wide create a compelling customer experience that achieves brand differentiation and long-term customer loyalty.

Simon Sinek is an optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together. Described as "a visionary thinker with a rare intellect," Simon teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. With a bold goal to help build a world in which the vast majority of people go home everyday feeling fulfilled by their work, Simon is leading a movement to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.

Ben Ainslie is the most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, being a four-time Olympic gold medalist. He rose to prominence in the Atlanta Games after being beaten into silver by Brazilian Robert Scheidt. In Sydney he took his revenge, establishing a fourteen-point lead over his rival in the final race. Remarkably, he went on to win in Athens, Beijing and London.

Sir Clive Woodward saw a successful Rugby Union career playing for Leicester Tigers, England and the British and Irish Lions. Off the pitch, Clive experienced a flourishing career in coaching, at his peak leading the England International team to world cup victory in Sydney in 2003.

As Cycling Performance Director at Beijing, Dave Brailsford was widely credited as the driving force behind Team GB's phenomenal results. Dave himself was crowned BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year and this supreme success was repeated at London 2012; the team stormed home with twelve medals, including eight golds. Dave speaks proficiently about the importance of focus, motivation and teamwork, and how leaders must deal with different people and their reactions to success and failure.

Sir Trevor Soar KCB OBE achieved the fastest promotion of any Admiral in recent history and his career path gave him not only leadership experience at sea but also across the highest levels of defence, change management and procurement and acquisition, chairing or being a member of the most senior defence boards.

Steve Davies had had a lifetime of experiences operating in complex and challenging environments. He has held senior positions in the private and third sectors, and in the military, and has an incredible record of achievement in each.

Known for dominating snooker during the 1980s when he won the World Championship six times and was ranked world number one for seven consecutive seasons.

Steve Wells advises global corporations on the transformative potential of disruptive technologies and how brands can leverage them to create distinctive identities in a fast changing world and drive exponential growth and improvement. He has a particular focus on the new models of leadership, collaboration, and innovation required to sustain and differentiate brands in a rapidly changing reality. Steve delivers fully researched and customised client presentations for each keynote.

Stewart Wood was an Oxford lecturer who became a full time political adviser to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, first at the Treasury and subsequently in 10 Downing Street. He then became a Shadow Cabinet member under Ed Miliband.

One of the longest serving and most successful leaders of a blue-chip company and a highly regarded businessman, Stuart Hampson was chairman of the John Lewis Partnership for 14 years.

Tanya Byron is best known for her work as a child therapist and specialises in emotional resilience in both young people and adults.

Soccer pundit, Terry Venables has a warm, embracing smile and seemingly endless flow of anecdotes which keep him in high demand for both Media and corporate work.


Tim Peake was the first British European Space Agency astronaut to visit the International Space Station for Expedition 46/47, where his work captured the hearts and minds of millions. He has a background as a test pilot and a British Army Air Corps officer and he is also a STEM ambassador and best-selling author. Tim shares all the unique insights on leadership, fear and risk management, motivation and collaboration that his incredible career as a test pilot and astronaut has afforded him. He draws on his own out-of-this-world experiences to inspire audiences with his recipe for mission success and Peak(e) performance. Tim is a champion for science, innovation, exploration and adventure and delights audiences with his fascinating stories of life in space, breath-taking photographs and his unique perspective of planet earth.

Timo Kiuru is a true global citizen having worked in cities as diverse as Seoul, Istanbul, San Diego, New York, Miami, Barcelona, Paris, Seattle, Tokyo, Helsinki, Abu Dhabi, London, Kazan, Stockholm, Porto, Toronto, Las Vegas, Tallinn, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Tom Oliver has shared his secrets on leadership, innovation and creativity with Bono, Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra and Richard Branson and is in high demand as a global keynote speaker and consultant.

Tom is the co-author of ‘In Search of Excellence’, the book that changed the way the world does business and is often cited as one of the best business books around. Sixteen books and almost thirty years later, Tom is still at the forefront of the management guru industry. Whilst some ‘gurus’ keep on repeating the same mantras year-in, year-out, CNN stated that Tom is one man that is constantly re-inventing himself and finding the newest ways to help business.

One of the top 20 most influential HR thinkers, Professor Hope-Hailey is a leading researcher in the fields of business strategy, HR, and change.

Will Greenwood is one of England’s greatest ever rugby players. In a professional career that spanned 11 years and 55 international caps he established a reputation as an unsurpassed mid-field creator. The second highest international try scoring centre of all time, he was an integral part of England’s victorious World Cup campaign of 2003, a character and leader in one of the most successful team dynamics seen in recent times.

William joined the Virgin Group in 1987, progressing his way through the ranks to eventually becoming Sir Richard Branson's Special Adviser and 'right hand man'. In his time at Virgin, he projected the Virgin brand into new ventures, including telecoms and financial services. He later became the President of Virgin Galactic, the companies spaceline business venture. Since leaving Virgin in 2011, Will went on to being non-executive director of Stagecoach Group plc., and then most recently appointed as Chairman of the British Government's Transport Systems Catapult, developing new transport technology.

Yves Doz is the Solvay Chaired Professor of Technological Innovation at INSEAD where he holds the Solvay Chaired Professorship of Technological Innovation.