Business Continuity and Crisis Management

Meet Tara Renze Tara Renze is an author, keynote speaker, emotional intelligence & positive intelligence practitioner, podcaster, thought-leader, wife and mother and is redefining how we unleash purpose, level up our success and create sustainable happiness and fulfillment in all aspects of our lives. After two decades of success in corporate leadership and social selling, she started writing and keynote speaking to empower others to “be who they came to be” and create, own and live the life they desire, envision and deserve. Tara has a true passion and talent for guiding others to harness and realize their full potential. Early Beginnings and Corporate Success Tara Renze’s journey to empowerment and inspiration began in the competitive arena of corporate America. At CareerBuilder.com, her exceptional leadership and sales acumen were quickly recognized, earning her the coveted “Sales Leader of the Year” accolade. Tara’s impact expanded as she took the helm of the national new hire sales training program and served as a national sales manager consultant, shaping the future of sales leadership with her innovative approaches and insights. Transition to Social Selling and Entrepreneurship Building on her corporate success, Tara ventured into the world of social selling with Stella & Dot. Here, she founded a nationwide, multi-million-dollar business, blending her corporate expertise with entrepreneurial spirit. This phase of her career not only showcased her business acumen but also her ability to connect with and inspire a new generation of women entrepreneurs. Current Role as a Beacon of Authenticity and Empowerment Today, Tara Renze is a beacon for those seeking to “be who they came to be.” Her grandmother’s transformative note to her son in 2007 became the cornerstone of Tara’s mission. As an author, keynote speaker, and emotional intelligence practitioner, Tara has dedicated her life to empowering others. Her work is supported by her impressive educational background, with a degree from the University of Kansas and leadership studies at the Wharton School and Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Tara’s influence extends through her books, such as “Be Who You Came To Be” and the collaborative children’s book “Be Who You Came To Bee,” along with her eagerly awaited “Perfectly Flawed.” Her “Be Who You Came To Be” merchandise line further embodies the spirit of her empowering message. Trusted by Leading Brands Tara’s credibility is underscored by her collaborations with renowned brands such as Aflac, T-Mobile, Amazon, American Century Investments, Baxter, the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), Farmasi, and many more. These partnerships reflect the trust and value placed in her expertise and the universal appeal of her empowering message. Personal Life and Advocacy Her favorite titles in life are wife to Scott, mom to Ben and Jack, daughter, sister and friend. Her dogs, Olive & Phog, are by far her biggest fans. Tara enjoys traveling, cooking, fitness, live music, all things sports and dancing in the kitchen. Beyond her professional achievements, Tara is a passionate advocate for breast cancer awareness, inspired by the battles faced by her loved ones.

Why organisations work with Sam McAlister She is the negotiator who landed the 2019 Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew on the Epstein scandal, after almost a year of patient access work with Buckingham Palace. Few speakers can teach reputational negotiation from inside a case at that altitude. She teaches negotiation as a Visiting Senior Fellow in Practice at the LSE Law School, which gives the methodology academic structure, not just war stories. Her book Scoops, published by Oneworld in 2022, was adapted as the Netflix film Scoop in 2024 with Billie Piper. The material has been stress-tested by film, television and law school audiences. Two careers, criminal defence at 25 Bedford Row and a decade as a Newsnight booker, mean her toolkit covers cross-examination, hostile interview preparation, and the negotiation tactics that actually work when the counterparty has every reason to walk away. Biography highlights Visiting Senior Fellow in Practice, London School of Economics Law School, teaching negotiation. Former BBC Newsnight interviews producer for approximately ten years; left in 2021 after voluntary redundancy. Trained criminal defence barrister, 25 Bedford Row chambers, London. Author of Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews (Oneworld Publications, 2022). Subject of the 2024 Netflix film Scoop, portrayed by Billie Piper. Secured the 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew on the Epstein scandal; the programme received a 2020 BAFTA Television Award nomination for News Coverage. Biography The BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew aired in November 2019 and ended his public life. The booker who spent close to a year negotiating that access was Sam McAlister, then a producer on the programme and previously a criminal defence barrister at 25 Bedford Row. That career sequence matters. Cross-examination teaches a particular discipline: prepare the question for the answer you actually want, do not flinch when the room shifts, do not concede the frame. Booker work at a national news programme adds a second discipline, the patient, repeated conversation with a reluctant counterparty who can leave the table at any moment. McAlister now teaches that craft formally. She is a Visiting Senior Fellow in Practice at the LSE Law School, where her remit is negotiation. Her 2022 memoir Scoops, published by Oneworld, became the source material for the 2024 Netflix film Scoop, with Billie Piper in the lead. The Newsnight programme that anchors both was nominated at the 2020 BAFTA Television Awards in the News Coverage category. What this gives a corporate audience is rare: a working method for the conversations leaders most often delegate or duck. How to keep a reluctant counterparty in dialogue. How to prepare for an interview where every answer is reputationally live. How a calm, prepared, well-briefed presence wins access that money and seniority cannot. Key speaking topics High-stakes negotiation Crisis communication and reputational risk Persuasion and influence Media interviews and executive preparation Composure under public scrutiny Access and relationship-building with reluctant counterparties Ideal for CEOs, board chairs and general counsel facing reputational scrutiny or media exposure Heads of corporate affairs, communications and investor relations Senior leaders preparing for hostile interviews, regulatory hearings or contested negotiations Women’s leadership programmes and executive development cohorts focused on persuasion under pressure Audience outcomes A working frame for negotiating access and agreement when the counterparty has every reason to refuse. A practical method for preparing executives for high-pressure interviews, including the questions they hope no one asks. A read on what reputational risk looks like from the journalist’s side of the table, before it lands on yours. Tools for staying composed and on-message when the room turns adversarial.

Why organisations work with Jason Redman A named decision framework, Get Off the X, that translates combat crisis response into language a commercial team can use when a project, customer or market situation collapses. A New York Times bestselling author of The Trident and Overcome, the second built on interviews with Admiral William McRaven, General Stanley McChrystal and Jocko Willink. Combat credibility that is specific and documented: wounded by machine gun fire outside Fallujah in 2007, awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and the Purple Heart, returned to active duty and commanded again. Works with Fortune 500 audiences including NASCAR, NFL and MLB organisations, Dell and McDonald’s, which gives him a tested range across corporate, sports and operational cultures. Founded Wounded Wear and the Combat Wounded Coalition, so the resilience content is not theoretical. He has built and run an organisation whose entire purpose was helping people rebuild after catastrophic loss. Biography highlights Retired US Navy SEAL Lieutenant, 21 years of service, 11 enlisted and roughly 10 as an officer. Awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor, the Purple Heart and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; holder of the US Army Ranger Tab. New York Times bestselling author of The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader (William Morrow). Author of Overcome: Crush Adversity with the Leadership Techniques of America’s Toughest Warriors (Center Street, 2019). Founder of Wounded Wear, which evolved into the Combat Wounded Coalition, a non-profit supporting combat-wounded warriors and families of the fallen. Keynote speaker for Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organisations including NASCAR, the NFL and MLB, and global employers such as Dell and McDonald’s. Biography Outside Fallujah in September 2007, a SEAL assault team walked into heavy machine gun fire. Their commander was hit multiple times, including a round to the face. He kept directing the fight. That commander was Jason Redman, and the next several years of surgeries, rehabilitation and return to duty became the foundation of the leadership method he now teaches to corporate and sporting organisations. Redman spent 21 years in the US Navy, 11 as an enlisted SEAL and nearly a decade as a SEAL officer. His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart. His first book, The Trident, is a New York Times bestseller and is unusual among military memoirs for the candour with which he documents early leadership failure. The book works because he describes being broken as a leader before he describes being rebuilt as one. His second book, Overcome, moves the argument out of his own story and into a wider frame. He interviews Admiral William McRaven, General Stanley McChrystal, Jocko Willink and others to draw out the specific mental and behavioural patterns that let people function in catastrophic conditions. The result is a usable framework rather than a war story. That framework, anchored by Get Off the X and the REACT model, is what he teaches when organisations bring him in to work on crisis response, decision quality and team accountability. The programmes sit on top of operating experience. He founded Wounded Wear, which became the Combat Wounded Coalition, to help combat-wounded service members and Gold Star families rebuild. He also runs Pointman for Life and Get Off the X coaching work. Fortune 500 organisations, including Dell and McDonald’s, and major sporting bodies across the NFL, MLB and NASCAR, have used him to put a language around leadership under pressure that their own teams can carry into the next difficult quarter. Key speaking topics Leadership under pressure Crisis response and decision-making Team accountability and ownership Resilience after setback High-performance team culture Mission planning and execution Personal and organisational recovery Ideal for CEO, COO and senior operating leaders facing a live crisis, restructure or turnaround. Executive teams rebuilding after a failed strategy, product or market entry. Sales, trading and high-pressure commercial functions where decision quality under stress is the core job. Professional sports and performance organisations where team culture and recovery from loss shape the season. Audience outcomes A shared vocabulary for crisis response, anchored by Get Off the X and the REACT model, that leaders can use in live situations. A sharper view of what personal accountability looks like when the plan has failed and blame is the easier option. A usable model for rebuilding a team after a public setback, drawn from Redman’s own command experience and recovery. A clearer understanding of how elite operators think about preparation so that the first decision in a crisis is not the worst one.

Why organisations work with Jack Becker He converts a specific carrier-deck method, Crew Resource Management, into an operating routine that safety, sales, and operations teams can run every week. His Brief-Execute-Debrief-Perfect process gives leaders a common language for accountability that does not rely on personality or tenure. He has run this playbook across all seven regions of GE Power and Water, with a reported 60 percent drop in OSHA recordable mishaps inside that footprint. As a former Landing Signals Officer, he brings a rare fluency in how to give and receive hard feedback in the moment without breaking trust. He speaks credibly to both the boardroom and the line: the same framework has been used with Truist Bank, American Heart Association, Allied Transportation, and BP. Biography highlights Former U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighter pilot with over 2,000 supersonic flight hours Combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and former Landing Signals Officer aboard nuclear-powered aircraft carriers Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, BS in Political Science with emphasis on organisational leadership Founder and CEO of Flight Level Solutions, Inc., a human performance and execution consultancy Keynote client roster includes GE, Truist Bank, American Heart Association, Allied Transportation, and BP Signature keynote franchise “Supersonic Success,” with adaptations for sales, safety, patient safety, and athletic performance Biography On a carrier deck, a small mistake becomes a fatal one in seconds. That environment produced the discipline at the centre of Jack Becker’s work: the Crew Resource Management routine that navy aviators use to brief every mission, execute it, then debrief it line by line before the next flight. Becker flew the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet in the U.S. Navy, including strike missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and served as a Landing Signals Officer responsible for waving fighter jets onto the deck of nuclear-powered carriers. He came out of that career with more than 2,000 supersonic flight hours and a conviction that what made his squadrons reliable was not talent but a repeatable operating rhythm. Flight Level Solutions, the consultancy he founded and now runs as CEO, translates that rhythm into a corporate routine: Brief, Execute, Debrief, Perfect. Safety, sales, and operations leaders use it to tighten pre-work, force honest after-action conversations, and reduce the compounding cost of small errors. Named engagements include GE Power and Water, where the firm reports a 60 percent drop in OSHA recordable mishaps across its seven regions, as well as Truist Bank, American Heart Association, Allied Transportation, and BP. The argument he brings to a stage is a practical one. High-consequence performance does not come from heroics; it comes from a team that briefs the same way every time, holds each other to the plan, and tells the truth in the debrief. That is the routine he trains leaders to install. Key speaking topics Crew Resource Management for corporate teams Leadership and decision-making under pressure Briefing, execution, and debrief discipline Human error reduction and operational reliability Team communication and psychological safety Safety culture in high-consequence environments Sales execution and performance cadence Ideal for Safety and operations leaders in industrial, energy, transport, and healthcare settings Sales leadership and revenue teams that need a shared execution cadence Executive development programmes focused on decision-making under pressure Patient safety, clinical operations, and quality leadership in healthcare systems Audience outcomes A concrete four-part operating routine, Brief-Execute-Debrief-Perfect, that teams can run the week after the keynote A practical vocabulary for giving and receiving hard feedback in the moment, drawn from LSO practice Specific tactics used by fighter squadrons to cut avoidable error and tighten handoffs A clearer view of how psychological safety and accountability coexist inside high-performing crews Worked examples from carrier aviation mapped onto corporate settings in safety, sales, and operations

Why organisations work with Nick Fry He ran the management buyout of Honda’s F1 team for a nominal sum in 2009, then won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships that same season. There are very few executives anywhere who can speak from inside a turnaround that extreme. He has led at two distinct scales of performance organisation: a 700-person independent team operating on survival economics, and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 as a global OEM works operation. Most senior teams need both lenses. His career predates F1 by 24 years at Ford Motor Company, including running Aston Martin Lagonda through the DB7 launch. He speaks credibly to industrial leaders, not only to motorsport audiences. He served roughly five years as a UK Business Ambassador under Prime Ministers Brown and Cameron, giving him a working view of how British engineering competes globally. His book “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), with a foreword by Bernie Ecclestone, sets out the Brawn GP year in operational detail rather than as motorsport nostalgia. Biography highlights CEO of Brawn GP, the team that won the 2009 Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in its only season. CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 from 2010 to 2013, following Mercedes’ acquisition of Brawn GP. Co-author of “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), foreword by Bernie Ecclestone. UK Business Ambassador appointed by Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Non-Executive Chairman of McLaren Applied, appointed October 2021. 24 years at Ford Motor Company, including Managing Director of Aston Martin Lagonda during the DB7 programme. Biography In late 2008, Honda withdrew from Formula One with almost no notice. The team based in Brackley had weeks to find a buyer or close. The CEO, with technical director Ross Brawn, negotiated a management buyout for a nominal sum, secured an interim engine supply from Mercedes, and ran the operation through the winter on a fraction of its previous budget. The team won both World Championships the following season, with Jenson Button taking the Drivers’ title. Brawn GP existed for one year, and won everything available to it. That season is the central case Nick Fry now teaches. He set it out in “Survive. Drive. Win.” (Atlantic Books, 2019), co-written with Ed Gorman and with a foreword by Bernie Ecclestone. The book is a working account of how leadership decisions are made when the organisation has no margin, not a victory memoir. Mercedes acquired the team in 2010 and Fry stayed on as CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 until 2013, taking a 700-person independent operation into integration with a global OEM works programme. Before Formula One, he spent 24 years at Ford Motor Company. Roles included product planning on the Ford Escort RS Cosworth and the RS200, and Managing Director of Aston Martin Lagonda during the DB7 launch and the move from handbuilt-only production at Newport Pagnell to higher-volume manufacturing at Bloxham. He then ran Prodrive as Managing Director from 2001, before joining BAR and Honda in Formula One. He served roughly five years as a UK Business Ambassador, appointed by Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron. He is currently Non-Executive Chairman of McLaren Applied, the company awarded the FIA contract for the 2026 Formula One engine control system, and Chairman of the esports organisation Fnatic. Key speaking topics Leadership under existential pressure Turnaround and restructure in high-performance organisations Decision-making with incomplete information Integration of a small operation into a global parent British engineering and high-performance manufacturing Formula One as an operating model Ideal for CEOs and senior executives facing a forced restructure, funding shock, or major integration Boards weighing the leadership profile required for a turnaround Industrial, engineering, and manufacturing leadership teams Operating committees in performance-driven cultures, including motorsport, aerospace, and elite engineering Audience outcomes A working account of how a senior team made decisions during a survival period in which conventional planning was not possible. A clear view of how leadership behaviours need to change between a small independent organisation and an integrated works operation inside a global OEM. Specific examples of which Brawn GP decisions worked, which did not, and what the CEO would do differently with hindsight. A more honest reading of what Formula One actually demonstrates about high-performance management, separated from the marketing version.

Why organisations work with Chile Eboe-Osuji Led the International Criminal Court through its most politically contested period, including the 2020 US sanctions imposed on the Court’s senior officials. He speaks from direct experience of how international institutions hold together under political pressure. Wrote End of Immunity (2024), published by Prometheus, a study of accountability for heads of state. The book traces the legal history from Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles through Nuremberg to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It gives boards and policy teams a grounded read on where prosecutions of sitting leaders are heading. Has judged at the appellate level and prosecuted at the trial level, across the ICC, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Holds academic appointments at Stanford Law School, Harvard’s Carr Center, and UCLA. Very few voices in the field speak from both the bench and the prosecution table. First ICC official, current or former, to receive the Goler T. Butcher Medal from the American Society of International Law. It is the field’s most recognised honour for contributions to international human rights law. Serves as a sitting judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice since April 2025. His commentary on international law reflects active judicial practice. Biography highlights 4th President of the International Criminal Court, 2018 to 2021; ICC judge from 2012 to 2021 Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, sworn in April 2025 Former Legal Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights under Navi Pillay (2010-2012); earlier senior prosecution counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including the Charles Taylor appeals Author of End of Immunity (2024) and International Law and Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts (2012); editor of Protecting Humanity (2010) Goler T. Butcher Medal, American Society of International Law (2022); first ICC official, current or former, to receive the honour Herman Phleger Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School; Senior Fellow at the Carr Center, Harvard Kennedy School; Paul Martin Senior Professor at the University of Windsor Biography In 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the most senior officials of the International Criminal Court, including the Court’s Prosecutor. The Court’s President at the time was Chile Eboe-Osuji. His answer was to hold the Court’s course and defend its mandate publicly, including on BBC HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur and at the Council on Foreign Relations. He came to the presidency as a career international lawyer. Earlier he had been senior prosecution counsel at the UN tribunals for Rwanda and Sierra Leone, including the Charles Taylor appeal. He then served as Legal Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva under Navi Pillay. Elected to the ICC bench in 2011, he presided over the Kenya cases and the Gbagbo and Blé Goudé appeals before becoming President in 2018. His 2024 book End of Immunity, published by Prometheus, is the work he has been building toward across his career. It traces the legal history of head-of-state accountability from Article 227 of the Treaty of Versailles through Nuremberg to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Rules making leaders answerable for aggression and crimes against humanity rest on foundations far older than contemporary politics. Those rules matter to anyone whose organisation operates across borders. Since leaving the ICC he has taught at Stanford, UCLA, and Harvard’s Carr Center, and held the Paul Martin Senior Professorship at the University of Windsor. He was appointed to the bench of the Caribbean Court of Justice in January 2025 and sworn in that April. For leadership teams trying to understand how international law is actually read by the people who decide it, few voices carry more weight. Key speaking topics International law and the rules-based global order Accountability for heads of state and political leaders Geopolitical risk and armed conflict Sanctions, sovereignty, and state immunity Prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity The International Criminal Court and the future of international justice Ideal for Boards and executive teams at organisations operating across multiple jurisdictions Chief Risk Officers, General Counsel, and heads of political-risk functions with exposure to sanctions regimes and cross-border conflict Policy leaders and public-affairs executives at firms whose business is shaped by state action and international law Institutional investors and capital allocators pricing geopolitical risk into cross-border decisions Audience outcomes An authoritative read on where international criminal law is heading, from someone who has written both the rulings and the books A grounded sense of why state accountability, sanctions, and head-of-state prosecution are relevant to commercial decisions The vocabulary to discuss live geopolitical situations (Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa) with legal precision A direct answer to the question most boards are now asking: is the rules-based international order actually holding?

Why organisations work with Hollie McKay She has reported from inside Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, Iran’s borderlands, and Myanmar, and stayed in Kabul through and after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Her geopolitical analysis is built on direct access to actors most analysts only read about. Her work documenting ISIS atrocities against the Yazidi has been used as evidentiary material in war-crimes proceedings. That standard of source verification carries directly into how she briefs corporate audiences on risk. As Research Director at GlobalStrat Ltd., she leads conflict analysis and threat forecasting for a Washington D.C. geopolitical risk firm. Her commentary appears in The Cipher Brief and the Wall Street Journal. Author of Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield, with a foreword by Jocko Willink, and the photo-led volume on the fall of Afghanistan with Jake Simkin. Both books work as primary-source material for executives trying to understand asymmetric threats. She is a 40 Under 40 Honoree of the Middle East Policy Council and a 2022 Media Fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, two credentials that signal recognition from serious foreign-policy institutions, not media bureaus. Biography highlights Investigative and international affairs correspondent for Fox News Digital for more than fourteen years, covering Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Iran, Yemen, Russia, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Latin America. Research Director, GlobalStrat Ltd., Washington D.C., leading geopolitical risk, conflict analysis, and threat forecasting. Contributing writer at The Cipher Brief on nuclear deterrence, regional conflict, and state security. Author of Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield (Di Angelo Publications, 2021) and Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule (Di Angelo Publications, 2022). 40 Under 40 Honoree, Middle East Policy Council; 2022 Media Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Honorary board member, EMERGENCY USA; human rights and cultural consultant to Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). Biography Geopolitical risk has moved from an annual board paper to a live operating variable. Most of what reaches the boardroom is filtered through several analytical layers before it gets there. Hollie McKay’s work sits at the other end of that chain. For more than fourteen years at Fox News Digital, she reported as an investigative and international affairs correspondent across Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Iran, Yemen, Russia, Pakistan, and Myanmar. She embedded with US and allied forces, interviewed captured ISIS fighters, and documented sexual-violence cases against the Yazidi at the evidentiary standard used in war-crimes proceedings. When the Taliban returned to Kabul in 2021, she stayed. That body of work is now the foundation for her current role as Research Director at GlobalStrat Ltd., the Washington D.C. geopolitical risk firm where she leads conflict analysis and threat forecasting. Her commentary appears in The Cipher Brief on nuclear deterrence, Iran, and state security, and in the Wall Street Journal. Her two books, Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield and Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule, are primary-source documents on how violent non-state actors behave once they hold ground. For corporate audiences, the value is specific. She translates situations most executives only read about, sanctions regimes, supply-chain choke points, the operational reality of doing business in fractured states, into briefings grounded in named actors and verifiable events. The 40 Under 40 honour from the Middle East Policy Council and the 2022 Media Fellowship at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies are markers of credibility inside the foreign-policy institutions that serious organisations rely on. Key speaking topics Geopolitical risk and conflict forecasting Terrorism, insurgency, and the behaviour of violent non-state actors Afghanistan after the US withdrawal and Taliban rule The war in Ukraine and Russia’s strategic posture Iran, the Middle East, and nuclear deterrence War crimes, accountability, and post-conflict justice Reporting and truth-telling under hostile-regime pressure Ideal for Boards and risk committees with exposure to Middle East, Eastern Europe, or Central Asia operations Chief Security Officers, Heads of Geopolitical Risk, and General Counsel scoping country-level threat Defence, energy, and extractives leadership teams with personnel or assets in fragile states Strategy and corporate affairs functions briefing executive committees on sanctions and political risk Audience outcomes A grounded read on how the fracturing rules-based order is reshaping country-level risk, drawn from direct reporting rather than secondary analysis Specific case material on Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iran, and ISIS that audiences can apply to their own exposure mapping A clearer picture of how violent non-state actors, sanctioned regimes, and intelligence services actually operate, and what that means for corporate decision-making Sharper questions to put to internal risk and security functions after the session

Why organisations work with Toby Lewis He holds a vantage point that has no real equivalent on the speaker circuit: founding member of the NCSC, former intelligence services practitioner, and now leader of a 100-person commercial threat analysis operation at Darktrace. The through-line from state-level intelligence to enterprise AI-powered defence is his alone. His analysis of AI in cybersecurity is drawn from active operational practice, not research. He leads the team at Darktrace that applies self-learning AI to live customer environments daily, meaning he knows precisely where AI reduces risk and where it creates false assurance. His NCSC career spanned the WannaCry attack: the event that transformed the cybercrime landscape from nation-state espionage to ransomware dominance. That firsthand account of that inflection point gives boards a concrete historical anchor for understanding the threat environment they are operating in today. As State Threats Task Force Member at the Royal United Services Institute, he works on the geopolitical dimension of cyber threat: which nation-state actors are active, and what commercial organisations in the crossfire need to understand. He has translated national security incident management methodology into practical frameworks that enterprise security operations can actually use, not as analogy, but as direct application. Biography highlights Global Head of Threat Analysis at Darktrace, leading 100+ analysts across major global time zones Founding member of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Deputy Technical Director for Incident Management, NCSC – role responsible for coordinating UK government response to major cyber incidents Former British Intelligence Services: career began in nation-state espionage and APT analysis State Threats Task Force Member, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Expert commentator, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Newsnight; keynote speaker at WIRED Smarter, CyberUK, SANS CyberThreat, and Cheltenham Science Festival CISSP certified; MEng (Engineering), University of Bristol Lead contributor, inaugural CyberFirst Girls Competition Biography Nation-state espionage defined the early threat landscape that Toby Lewis entered. He spent those years inside the British intelligence services, working directly on state-level threats. When the UK established the National Cyber Security Centre, he was among its founding members, and went on to serve as Deputy Technical Director for Incident Management – the role that coordinated the UK’s national response to major incidents, including the period when WannaCry reshaped the entire cybercrime landscape from espionage to ransomware. That career built something specific: the ability to read how a threat moves through an organisation once inside, not just how it gained entry. Since joining Darktrace in 2021 as Global Head of Threat Analysis, Lewis leads a team of over 100 analysts applying AI and machine learning to that same challenge; across enterprise environments, globally, in real time. His approach to AI in cybersecurity is deliberately practical. Darktrace’s methodology is built on learning normal network behaviour and flagging deviations rather than cataloguing attacker signatures. Lewis has applied this model across the full threat spectrum. His concurrent role as State Threats Task Force Member at the Royal United Services Institute adds a geopolitical dimension: which actors are active, and what they are likely to target next. Boards and risk leadership teams engage him because he can explain why most security operations are structurally positioned to fail at the moment they are needed most. What genuine operational readiness requires is the subject of his work, and the argument he makes on every platform he speaks from. Key speaking topics Cyber threat intelligence and threat landscape analysis AI and machine learning in cybersecurity Incident management and security operations Nation-state threats and geopolitical cyber risk Ransomware and the evolution of organised cybercrime Security operations design and maturity Human factors in cyber defence Ideal for CISOs, CTOs, and board-level risk and audit committees Security operations and incident response leadership Technology and risk leadership forums in financial services, critical infrastructure, and public sector organisations Senior leadership teams evaluating AI-driven security investment Audience outcomes A clearer picture of how sophisticated threats develop inside enterprise environments, not just how they arrive Practical understanding of where AI-driven security genuinely reduces risk versus where it creates false assurance Grounded awareness of how nation-state threat actors operate and what this means for commercial organisations in adjacent industries A framework for evaluating incident response readiness against current and emerging threat profiles Insight into how national-level cyber defence methodology translates into enterprise security operations

Lorraine Heggessey – Trailblazing Media Executive and Transformational Leader Lorraine Heggessey is a trailblazing business leader who has driven success and transformation across several high-profile roles in the public, private, and third sectors. Throughout her career in television broadcasting and production, she has been instrumental in creating and leading some of the UK’s most successful programmes. She brings extensive experience in leading change, developing talent to achieve their full potential, and championing diversity. As the first female Controller of BBC One, Lorraine led the channel to become the most-watched in Britain, overtaking its main rival, ITV1, for the first time. Managing an annual budget of £1 billion, she revitalised Saturday nights with flagship hits such as Strictly Come Dancing and the revival of Doctor Who. She also expanded the drama line-up with enduring favourites including Spooks and Waking the Dead. Lorraine went on to become CEO of TalkbackThames, where her creative leadership and ability to inspire talent revitalised the company’s programming portfolio. Under her direction, a new digital division was launched, and successful entertainment shows like Britain’s Got Talent and Take Me Out were introduced. Her tenure resulted in profits increasing by over 50% within her first two years. In 2012, seeking a new challenge, Lorraine secured private equity investment to build an independent production group through acquisitions and start-up backing. As Executive Chair, she led Boom Pictures through multiple deals, creating the UK’s 7th largest independent production company—valued at around £100 million, with offices worldwide. The company was later acquired by ITV in 2015 and renamed the Twofour Group. Lorraine then took a unique turn in her career as CEO of The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Tasked with professionalising and expanding the Foundation, she helped refine its venture philanthropy model—supporting initiatives tackling major social challenges, such as mental health through the Heads Together campaign and assistance for wounded, sick, and injured veterans. Throughout her career, Lorraine has not shied away from controversy. She was known for dismissing Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon for drug use, famously turning the tables on reporter Roger Cook in a Channel 4 documentary, and securing the first televised interview with notorious criminal Mad Frankie Fraser for a crime history series. In 2023, she became the first senior television executive to publicly speak out about Russell Brand’s behaviour in a Channel 4 documentary. For nearly a decade, Lorraine has advised Channel 4’s Growth Fund, supporting small and medium-sized production companies to achieve creative and commercial success. She also chairs two charities—the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and The Grierson Trust, which promotes documentary excellence and provides opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds. A Fellow of the Royal Television Society and regular BAFTA and RTS judge, Lorraine is a frequent contributor to The Today Programme, Newsnight, and various media podcasts.

Keith Wyche is a nationally recognized business transformation leader, C-suite executive, and bestselling author who helps organizations thrive through change, drive measurable DEI impact, and develop resilient, high-performing talent. With over 30 years of executive experience across Walmart, AT&T, IBM, Pitney Bowes, and SuperValu, he empowers audiences to overcome business challenges such as navigating rapid organizational change, boosting diverse talent pathways, and building cultures of inclusion for bottom-line growth.​ Keith Wyche is currently Vice President of Community Engagement and Support at Walmart, wielding a reputation as one of the highest-ranking African-American executives in the US. He draws on proven success leading multi-billion dollar divisions through transformation including Cub Foods and Acme Markets, engineering double-digit growth and reversing years of decline. His workshops and keynote sessions are designed for senior leaders, managers, and employees aiming to master leadership, change management, and DEI at every level.​ What Business Challenges Does Keith Address? Change Management: Strategies to lead and sustain organizational transformation in industries facing technological upheaval, market disruption, and evolving customer needs.​ DEI & Culture Building: Enterprise-wide frameworks to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, bridging manager and employee gaps, jumpstarting initiatives, and linking inclusion directly to business results.​ Leadership Development: Scalable insights into personal brand, visibility, and executive skillsets that prepare leaders for the realities of the C-suite, including conflict management and strategic decision-making.​ Talent Advancement: Real-world strategies for career progression, mentorship, and networking to break through the “good is not enough” barrier, helping diverse talent and majority associates alike to excel.​ Authority & Recognition Author of “Corner Office Rules,” “Good Is Not Enough,” “Swag Is Not Enough,” and “Diversity Is Not Enough” with NAACP Image Award nominations.​ Named a Top 100 African-American Executive by both Black Enterprise and Savoy Magazine.​ Multiple recognitions and board appointments, including the National Urban League and Brinks Company.

Why organisations work with Patrick Leddin A co-authored New York Times bestseller with James Patterson, Disrupt Everything and Win, that has been licensed by FranklinCovey as a global corporate training programme. Few keynote speakers have their material adopted as a productised curriculum at that scale. A working research base at Vanderbilt Owen, where he runs the Disruption Project. The frameworks in the keynote (the 5 roles of disruption, the 16 behaviours of successful disruptors) are grounded in field research, not consulting anecdotes. A career that has actually run leadership at every scale he speaks about: a ranger-qualified Army infantry officer, KPMG consultant, FranklinCovey practitioner, and co-founder of an Inc. 5000 firm. Senior audiences recognise the difference. A direct line into the Stephen M.R. Covey and FranklinCovey leadership canon, which is the operating language for L&D functions inside many large enterprises. Biography highlights Associate Professor of the Practice of Business Studies, Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management. Teaches Corporate Strategy, Negotiation, Advanced Marketing, and Crisis Leadership. Co-author with James Patterson of Disrupt Everything and Win: Take Control of Your Future (Little, Brown, 2025), an instant New York Times bestseller. Author of The Five-Week Leadership Challenge, a Wall Street Journal bestseller introduced by Stephen M.R. Covey. Subject-matter source for FranklinCovey’s Disrupt Everything: Innovate for Impact corporate training programme, launched October 2025. Host of the Leadership Lab podcast, with on-record interviews including Stephen M.R. Covey, Patrick Lencioni, Liz Wiseman, Chris Voss, and Marshall Goldsmith. Former U.S. Army airborne infantry ranger-qualified officer, former KPMG Consulting and FranklinCovey practitioner, co-founder of Wedgewood Consulting Group and Leddin Group. Biography Disruption used to be the event a leadership team planned for. It is now the operating condition. The question that follows is harder than the one most leadership development is built to answer: what does a leader actually do, day to day, when the disruption never stops arriving? That question is the subject of Disrupt Everything and Win, the New York Times bestseller Patrick Leddin co-authored with James Patterson. The book grew out of the Disruption Project at Vanderbilt Owen, where Leddin teaches Corporate Strategy and Crisis Leadership. The research produced specific output: five roles people play inside a disruption, sixteen behaviours that distinguish successful disruptors, eight tools leaders can use to convert disruption into progress. FranklinCovey has since licensed the material as a global training programme, Disrupt Everything: Innovate for Impact. The credibility behind that work is operational. Leddin served as a ranger-qualified U.S. Army infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne, ran large client engagements at KPMG Consulting and FranklinCovey, and co-founded Wedgewood Consulting Group, an Inc. 5000 firm that was acquired in 2012. His earlier book, The Five-Week Leadership Challenge, was introduced by Stephen M.R. Covey and reached the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. He hosts the Leadership Lab podcast, where his guests have included Patrick Lencioni, Liz Wiseman, Chris Voss, and Marshall Goldsmith. The argument senior teams come for is concrete. Disruption is not a communication problem to be managed by the executive office. It is a leadership capability that can be specified, taught, and practised at every level of the organisation, and a board that treats it that way will outperform one that does not. Key speaking topics Leadership in disruption Crisis leadership Organisational change and culture Leadership pipeline development Negotiation and influence Corporate strategy under uncertainty Innovation as a leadership behaviour Ideal for CEOs, COOs, and senior leadership teams running through extended restructuring or market repositioning CHROs and chief learning officers building leadership pipelines that have to operate under continuous change Strategy and transformation leaders responsible for cultural readiness alongside operating model change Industry conferences in regulated sectors (financial services, healthcare, energy, government) where leaders manage repeated external shocks Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for the roles people play during a disruption, and a way to name which role is missing in their own team The sixteen behaviours that distinguish leaders who use disruption as fuel from those who absorb it as damage A concrete set of tools, drawn from the Vanderbilt research, that leaders can apply to a specific change they are already running A sharper view of the difference between managing crisis and building a leadership culture that expects disruption as a baseline

Why organisations work with Maria Belon A first-person account of catastrophic crisis delivered with the clinical precision of a physician, not the drama of a motivational speaker. The audience leaves with vocabulary, not adrenaline. Clinical and psychotherapy training that gives her a working language for fear, dissociation, and recovery that translates directly into leadership conversations about teams under pressure. A reference point that senior audiences already know. The story behind The Impossible carries instant recognition; Belon uses that recognition as a way in, then takes the conversation somewhere serious. Credibility on both sides of the room. An ESADE MBA and a teaching record in Human Resources at ESADE Business School mean she speaks the language of executive audiences before she ever turns to her own experience. A clear point of view on values and human connection as the operating system that holds organisations together when systems fail, drawn from what she observed in herself, her family, and the strangers around them. Biography highlights Survivor of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Khao Lak, Thailand, with her husband and three sons; sustained life-threatening injuries and underwent a two-year recovery. Spanish physician with additional training as a Humanistic Gestalt psychotherapist. MBA from ESADE; former Human Resources instructor at ESADE Business School. Story formed the basis of The Impossible (2012), directed by J.A. Bayona, with Naomi Watts nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal. Author of the illustrated children’s book Kokoro y el Mar, published by Editorial Libre Albedrio as the first title in her “Yo soy” collection. Speaker at international platforms including the World Business Forum and the Share Iuvare Business Convention. Biography The wave that struck Khao Lak on 26 December 2004 separated a family of five and gave one of them, a Spanish physician on holiday with her husband and three sons, two years of surgery and recovery before something like a normal life returned. Maria Belon now works with senior leaders on what that experience taught her about people under maximum pressure. Her professional background matters here. Belon trained as a physician and as a Humanistic Gestalt psychotherapist, and she holds an MBA from ESADE, where she later taught Human Resources. The combination is unusual. She can speak about the body’s response to trauma with clinical accuracy, and she can speak about organisations with the vocabulary executive audiences already use. What she offers a leadership team is not a survival story performed for effect. It is a precise account of what stayed intact when planning, control, and competence were all stripped away, and what that suggests for the way leaders prepare their people for the unplannable. She has tested the material across international audiences, including the World Business Forum and the Share Iuvare Business Convention. The work has continued in print. Her illustrated children’s book Kokoro y el Mar, published by Editorial Libre Albedrio, distils for a younger reader the same question that director J.A. Bayona once asked her, and that her keynotes return to: what do you bring back from the experiences that life forces on you. Key speaking topics Resilience under extreme adversity Crisis response and recovery Values and human connection in organisations Leadership in moments of breakdown Post-traumatic growth Wellbeing and the human side of performance Ideal for Executive teams and boards preparing for, or reckoning with, organisational crisis CHROs and people leaders building resilience and wellbeing into how their organisation operates Closing keynotes at senior leadership conferences where the brief is to leave the room changed, not informed Healthcare, emergency services and public sector leadership audiences whose work runs close to crisis Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for fear, loss, and recovery that leaders can use with their own teams. A sharper sense of which values actually carry weight when the systems of an organisation fail. An honest reference point for the difference between performance and presence in a crisis. Permission, often missing in senior rooms, to talk about the human cost of pressure without flinching.