Climate Action and Sustainability speakers

Why organisations work with Ricardo Hausmann He built the frameworks. Economic Complexity and Growth Diagnostics, now used by the IMF, the World Bank, and governments from South Africa to Sri Lanka, are his work. Audiences hear them from the person who originated them. Fifty country engagements deep. The Harvard Growth Lab has run more than 50 research initiatives across nearly 30 countries since 2006, under his direction. He brings what those projects revealed about why standard reform packages fail and where productive capability actually compounds. He has held the brief. Former Minister of Planning of Venezuela and the first Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank, where he founded the Research Department. He speaks to ministers, central bank governors, and global CFOs as someone who has been on their side of the table. Powershoring is his framing. The argument that energy-intensive production will migrate to countries with abundant green electricity, and that this rewires comparative advantage, originated in his Growth Lab work. Boards working out where to put the next decarbonised plant get the underlying logic from him. The vocabulary traces back to him. Original Sin, Dark Matter, Self-Discovery, and Powershoring are his coinages, now standard in IMF and central bank discourse on sovereign risk and the energy transition. Biography highlights Founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab; Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. Originator with César Hidalgo of the Economic Complexity methodology, published as The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity (MIT Press, 2014). Originator with Dani Rodrik and Andrés Velasco of the Growth Diagnostics framework, adopted by the World Bank as a long-running executive education course. First Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (1994-2000), where he founded the Research Department. Former Minister of Planning of Venezuela; former Chair of the IMF-World Bank Development Committee. Monthly columnist for Project Syndicate; research cited more than 60,000 times and covered by The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Biography Most standard development indicators fail to predict which economies will actually grow. They measure outputs and surface conditions, not the underlying productive capabilities that generate them. That gap is what Economic Complexity, the framework Ricardo Hausmann built with César Hidalgo at Harvard’s Growth Lab, set out to close. Hausmann founded the Growth Lab at Harvard Kennedy School in 2006. It has since run more than 50 country engagements across nearly 30 countries, identifying the binding constraints on growth and the industries that existing capabilities make possible. The Growth Diagnostics methodology, developed with Dani Rodrik and Andrés Velasco, is now taught at the World Bank and used by governments worldwide. Before Harvard he was on the other side of the brief. He served as Minister of Planning of Venezuela in the early 1990s, then became the first Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank, where he founded the Research Department. He has seen which policy frameworks survive contact with fiscal and political reality, and which collapse on first contact. His more recent work has moved into the geography of decarbonisation. Powershoring, a concept developed in the Growth Lab, argues that energy-intensive production will migrate to countries with abundant green electricity, rewiring global supply chains in the process. He writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate; the Growth Lab’s recent client roster runs from Bolivia and the UAE to Wyoming and Western Australia. Key speaking topics Economic complexity and country diversification Growth diagnostics Powershoring and the energy transition Sovereign risk, original sin, and dark matter Industrial policy in a decarbonising economy Latin American political economy Global supply chain reconfiguration Ideal for Boards and CEOs setting country exposure and supply chain strategy. CFOs and treasurers managing sovereign and currency risk in emerging markets. Heads of corporate strategy planning industrial investment under the energy transition. Multilateral institutions, finance ministries, and central bank leadership. Audience outcomes A working diagnostic for why some economies grow and others stall, built on the Economic Complexity framework. A sharper read on where productive capability is compounding and where it is decaying, with implications for supply chain placement and country exposure. The case for powershoring and the structural logic that will move energy-intensive production toward countries with abundant green electricity. What 50+ Growth Lab country engagements have revealed about why standard reform packages fail. The vocabulary that finance ministries and central banks now use to discuss sovereign risk: original sin, dark matter, self-discovery.

Why organisations work with Richard Nugee He wrote the climate strategy that a national defence ministry now operates against. That is a different order of evidence from advocacy work; he has done the institutional translation himself. He links climate to the things boards actually argue about: supply chain exposure, energy security, geopolitical instability, capital allocation under long horizons. He carries the credibility of a Lieutenant General with operational service in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, which lands with audiences that tune out conventional sustainability messaging. He still sits inside the policy machinery. As Co-Chair of the advisory board of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Climate, Nature and Security, and an advisor to the International Military Council on Climate and Security and the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, his framing reflects current government and alliance thinking. Biography highlights Lieutenant General (Retd), British Army, 36-year career in the Royal Artillery; CB, CVO, CBE; US Legion of Merit (2014) Chief of Defence People, Ministry of Defence, 2016 to 2020 Author, Ministry of Defence Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach (March 2021); delivered a 2025 National Emergency Briefing to UK parliamentarians on climate and nature as a national security threat Co-Chair, Advisory Board, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Climate, Nature and Security; former Non-Executive Director for Climate Change and Sustainability, Ministry of Defence Senior advisor, International Military Council on Climate and Security; advisor to the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and the University of Oxford Climate Change & (In)Security Project Chief Executive, The Scar Free Foundation; Chair, Royal NAAFI Board Recent podcast guest on climate, food, and security, including Bloomberg’s Zero, Cleaning Up, Real Zero, and Farm Gate Leaders Biography The Ministry of Defence published its first formal climate strategy in March 2021. The author was a serving Lieutenant General who had spent the previous year inside the department turning climate from an environmental concern into a defence planning question. That strategy now shapes how UK Defence approaches emissions, estate, capability and resilience over a thirty-year horizon. Richard Nugee’s military career ran for thirty-six years in the Royal Artillery, with operational tours in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan. As Chief of Defence People from 2016 to 2020 he was responsible for personnel policy across the armed forces, the civil service side of Defence, and the veteran community. His honours include the CB, CVO and CBE, and the US Legion of Merit for service in Afghanistan. The climate review changed his second career. He held the Non-Executive Director seat for Climate Change and Sustainability at the Ministry of Defence from 2021. He now co-chairs the advisory board of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Climate, Nature and Security. He advises the International Military Council on Climate and Security, the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and the University of Oxford Climate Change & (In)Security Project, and is Chief Executive of The Scar Free Foundation and Chair of the Royal NAAFI Board. What he offers commercial audiences is the discipline of a defence planner applied to climate. He talks about resource competition, supply chain fragility, infrastructure exposure and the cost of inaction in language that boards used to hearing risk papers, not green narratives. The argument lands because it comes from someone who has had to make it stick inside a department that does not tolerate vague claims. Key speaking topics Climate change as a national security risk Defence and sustainability strategy Geopolitical implications of climate Supply chain and resource resilience Net zero and capital allocation Leadership in large, change-resistant institutions Veterans, personnel and people strategy Ideal for Boards and executive teams setting climate, ESG and net zero strategy with real capital at stake CSOs, sustainability leads and risk officers wanting to reframe climate as security and operating risk Defence, aerospace, energy and critical infrastructure organisations with exposure to geopolitical and resource volatility Leadership audiences in large, regulated or change-resistant institutions Audience outcomes A working definition of climate as a security and supply chain risk, not a compliance or PR issue Specific examples of how a national defence ministry has translated climate into planning, capability and capital decisions A sharper view of the geopolitical second-order effects of climate, from resource competition to migration to alliance pressure Language for talking about climate to audiences that are sceptical of standard sustainability framing

Why organisations work with Rick Kelsey A working broadcaster, not a hired host. Kelsey is currently on air at Times Radio and BBC Business, which means he interviews real cabinet ministers and CEOs in his day job and brings the same posture to a corporate stage. Twelve years inside BBC newsrooms, including World Service and Newsbeat, plus editorial leadership of the Newscast podcast through the pandemic where audience grew by over 30 percent. Genuine subject command in personal finance and energy. He has written hundreds of BBC articles on mortgages, pensions, interest rates and the green-energy transition, so he can host a finance or sustainability brief without notes. Audience-building credibility outside corporate stages. As a presenter on The Running Channel, a YouTube channel of over 700,000 subscribers, he understands how to keep a non-captive audience listening, which translates directly to internal events. A track record across awards formats that punish weak hosts: the LEAF Awards, RFIx Financial Awards and European Hospitality Awards. Biography highlights Presenter at Times Radio, BBC Business and Spotify, covering personal finance, politics and energy. Twelve years at the BBC across television, radio and online, including World Service and Newsbeat. Edited the BBC’s Newscast podcast through the COVID-19 pandemic, with audience growth of over 30 percent. Co-host of The Running Channel on YouTube, with more than 700,000 subscribers. Author of hundreds of BBC personal-finance articles on mortgages, savings, pensions and energy bills. Hosted the LEAF Awards, RFIx Financial Awards and Gala Dinner, and the European Hospitality Awards. Biography Most corporate stages fail in the same way. The host is too cautious to push, the panel runs to the brief, and the audience leaves with a cleaner version of what they already believed. The fix is rarely a more polished MC. It is someone who interviews for a living and treats the stage as a newsroom. Rick Kelsey is that profile. He presents at Times Radio, BBC Business and Spotify, and spent twelve years on BBC staff across World Service and Newsbeat before leaving in 2022. Through the pandemic he edited Newscast, the BBC’s flagship politics podcast, and is credited with audience growth of more than 30 percent during that period. His specialist territory is personal finance and energy. He has written hundreds of BBC articles on mortgages, savings, pensions, interest rates and the green transition, and has interviewed UK prime ministers across multiple cycles. That base means a financial-services or utilities brief does not need scripting; he can take the room into the substance and out again. Outside the BBC he co-hosts The Running Channel, a YouTube property of more than 700,000 subscribers. Combined with awards-night work for the LEAF Awards, the RFIx Financial Awards and the European Hospitality Awards, the result is a host who can carry a 90-minute live show, keep an executive panel honest, and read when the room needs the next question rather than a longer answer. Key speaking topics Event hosting and panel moderation Awards-night presenting Personal finance and cost of living Mortgages, savings and interest rates Energy transition and renewable energy UK politics and policy Broadcast journalism and media Ideal for Internal communications and brand teams running town halls, leadership offsites and customer events. Financial services and consumer-finance audiences where a host needs to speak the subject fluently. Energy, utilities and sustainability conferences requiring a moderator across solar, wind and hydrogen briefs. Industry awards nights where the host carries the room from open to close. Audience outcomes A live event that holds executive attention from open to close, with crisp transitions and on-time running. Panels that produce something the audience did not already know, because the moderator pushes past the prepared answer. A finance or energy session translated into language a mixed corporate audience can act on. A presenter the audience associates with the BBC and Times brands, lifting the perceived production value of the event.

Why organisations work with Robert Swan Lived proof that renewable energy can meet extreme operating conditions, drawn from the 2018 South Pole Energy Challenge powered by solar, advanced biofuels and lithium batteries in temperatures below minus forty. A founder’s perspective on the Antarctic Treaty’s 2041 review window, which gives leadership teams a concrete date and policy anchor for long-range climate scenario work. Two decades of practical engagement with corporate sustainability through the 2041 Foundation, having taken more than 4,000 young leaders from over 35 countries to Antarctica. A first-walked-to-both-Poles credential, recognised with the Polar Medal and OBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II, that gives ESG and energy-transition messages cut-through with sceptical senior audiences. A position recognised by the UN and UNESCO, useful when a board wants the climate conversation framed by someone who has worked the policy side as well as the field. Biography highlights First person in history to walk to both the South Pole (1986) and the North Pole (1989). Awarded the Polar Medal (1988) and appointed OBE (1995) by HM Queen Elizabeth II. Founder of the 2041 Foundation, dedicated to the preservation of Antarctica and to scaling renewable energy. Co-author of Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth’s Last Wilderness with Gil Reavill, published by Broadway Books. Led the South Pole Energy Challenge in 2017 to 2018, the first polar expedition powered solely by renewable energy, reaching the Pole on 15 January 2018. UN Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and Special Envoy to the Director General of UNESCO (1994). Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Biography The Antarctic Treaty’s environmental protocol comes up for potential review in 2041. That date is the operating premise of the 2041 Foundation, established by Robert Swan after his 883-mile walk to the South Pole in 1986 and his subsequent trek to the North Pole in 1989. The Foundation has since taken more than 4,000 young leaders from over 35 countries to the Antarctic to study what is at stake. The exploration credentials are the platform, not the point. Swan was awarded the Polar Medal by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1988 and appointed OBE in 1995. He was named UN Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and, in 1994, Special Envoy to the Director General of UNESCO. The intellectual work that followed is about how serious organisations move from climate language to climate decisions. The clearest evidence of that work is the South Pole Energy Challenge of 2017 to 2018. Swan and his son Barney travelled the final 600 miles to the geographic South Pole on solar power, advanced biofuels and lithium batteries, with NASA-designed ice melters for water. They reached the Pole on 15 January 2018. The expedition was not a stunt. It was a controlled proof that renewable systems can deliver in operating conditions most boardrooms will never face. For organisations weighing energy-transition strategy, supply chain redesign and long-range climate scenarios, Swan offers something most ESG speakers cannot: a corroborated record of testing the technology in the most hostile environment on earth, and a Foundation built around the year by which the policy framework for Antarctica may be rewritten. Key speaking topics Climate action and Antarctic stewardship Renewable energy in operating conditions Sustainability leadership for boards and executives Long-range environmental policy and the 2041 horizon Resilience and team leadership under extreme conditions Youth engagement and the next generation of climate leaders Ideal for CEOs, COOs and board members setting net zero and energy-transition strategy Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads moving from disclosure to operational delivery Energy, industrial and resource sector leadership teams reviewing renewable deployment Graduate, early-career and emerging leader programmes focused on climate and stewardship Audience outcomes A grounded sense of what renewable systems can do in extreme operating conditions, taken from the South Pole Energy Challenge. A clearer reading of the 2041 policy horizon for Antarctica and what it implies for long-range scenario planning. Renewed conviction at senior level that climate ambition can survive contact with real budgets and real operations. A vocabulary for resilience and team performance under sustained pressure, drawn from two completed polar walks.

Why organisations work with Robyn Dwyer Two decades anchoring business news for BBC, ITN, Sky and TalkTV translates directly to the stage: she can interview a CEO with the editorial discipline of a newsroom rather than the deference of a corporate compere. She works fluently in French and English, which makes her a practical choice for Paris-based forums, pan-European leadership meetings and bilingual customer events without a second host. Her live anchoring at CGTN keeps her sharp on the running stories executives are being asked about, including energy, retail, China exposure and sustainability, so she chairs from current information rather than a briefing pack. She has interviewed business figures from Sir Richard Branson to the head of Citroen, alongside political leaders and bankers, which is the relevant proof point for boards putting their own leadership on stage opposite her. Biography highlights Presenter for CGTN, anchoring live news programmes, documentaries and special events. Former anchor of TalkTV’s flagship evening news programme. Business news experience at BBC, ITN, Sky and CGTN spanning more than two decades. Conceived and presented a US elections programme for TRT World. Radio news credits at Classic FM, Magic Radio, Smooth Radio, Absolute Radio, LBC and Share Radio. Fluent in French, with on-air work across Istanbul, Paris, Sydney and London. Biography Conferences are where leadership teams expose themselves in front of customers, regulators and their own people. The person chairing the day decides whether that exposure becomes useful tension or polite filler. Robyn Dwyer has spent more than twenty years on the working side of that question, first as a business journalist for the BBC and ITN, then as an anchor for Sky and TalkTV’s flagship evening news programme. Her current seat at CGTN keeps her in daily contact with the live agenda boards are wrestling with: energy markets, retail conditions, China exposure, the sustainability transition. Hosts who only emerge for events tend to drift into generic moderation. Dwyer chairs from a newsroom, which is a different discipline. The interviewee list is the relevant proof. Sir Richard Branson, the head of Citroen, political leaders, bankers and environmental stakeholders have all sat opposite her on air. That experience reads on stage. Senior executives are interviewed properly rather than handed a microphone, and the panel does not collapse into talking points. A working command of French, plus on-air experience in Istanbul, Paris, Sydney and London, makes her a practical pick for European and bilingual programmes that would otherwise need two hosts. The differentiator is straightforward: a journalist who chairs, not a presenter who reads. Key speaking topics Conference moderation and panel chairing Live business interviews with senior executives Bilingual French and English event hosting Sustainability and the energy transition Retail, consumer and finance briefings China business and politics UK news and political context for international audiences Ideal for CEO, CFO and CMO led customer forums and partner conferences that need a credible business interviewer on stage. Boards and investor relations teams running flagship results events, capital markets days and AGM-adjacent forums. Communications, marketing and event leads at European and bilingual French-English organisations. Sustainability, energy and retail sector convenings where the chair needs to handle technical executives without losing the room. Audience outcomes A flagship event held to time, with senior executives interviewed in a way the audience trusts. Panels that produce a usable point of view rather than a round of position statements. Bilingual French and English programming covered by a single host without quality drop-off. Q and A handled with newsroom judgement on which questions to take, redirect or close. A chair record the comms team can point to when the next sponsor or board member asks who is hosting.

Why organisations work with Roland Mouret He has lived the entire commercial cycle of a creative brand, from the global hit of the Galaxy dress to losing the rights to his own name in 2005, buying them back in 2010, and the brand entering administration in 2021. He talks about that as a practitioner, not a case study. He is one of very few designers who can describe what happens when capital structure and creative authorship come into conflict, and what a founder retains when the legal name is no longer theirs. He is the published author of “Roland Mouret: Provoke, Attract, Seduce” (Rizzoli), a monograph documenting twenty years of work, which gives audiences a clear point of entry into how his thinking on craft and identity holds up across decades. He acted as mentor to Victoria Beckham on the launch of her fashion line, a relationship he discusses publicly and which gives commercial audiences a credible view of how creative authority gets transferred between brands. He is an active voice on sustainability in luxury fashion, including the #SwitchToBlue circular hanger campaign with Arch & Hook and the British Fashion Council, and brings a designer’s view of where the industry’s environmental claims actually break down. Biography highlights British Designer of the Year, Elle Style Awards, 2002. Designer of the Galaxy dress, the defining red-carpet silhouette of the mid-2000s, worn by Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johansson, Victoria Beckham, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan Markle. Author of “Roland Mouret: Provoke, Attract, Seduce”, published by Rizzoli with Alexander Fury. Founder of the eponymous Roland Mouret label, sold internationally and acquired by Han Chong’s SP Collection (parent of self-portrait) in 2022. Launched the #SwitchToBlue circular hanger initiative with Arch & Hook, supported by the British Fashion Council. Mentor to Victoria Beckham at the launch of her fashion line in 2008, featured in her 2024 Netflix documentary. Biography The Galaxy dress arrived in spring 2006 and became the defining red-carpet silhouette of the decade. Vogue ran the line that for weeks you could not open a magazine without seeing it on a Hollywood A-lister. Less than two months later, its designer had walked away from the company, and lost the legal right to use his own name. That fracture is the centre of Roland Mouret’s story. He is the self-taught French designer, raised above a butcher’s shop in Lourdes, who launched his first London collection in 1998 and won British Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards in 2002. He is also the founder who spent five years getting his name back, finally buying the trademark in 2010 with backing from Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment. The work since has been a study in what a designer rebuilds when the brand has to be reassembled around the same hands. He published “Roland Mouret: Provoke, Attract, Seduce” with Rizzoli, mentored Victoria Beckham on the launch of her own line in 2008, and pushed the industry on circular packaging through the #SwitchToBlue hanger campaign with Arch & Hook and the British Fashion Council. The brand entered administration in November 2021 and was acquired by Han Chong’s SP Collection the following year. For audiences, the value is the directness of the account. He speaks about creative authorship, capital, and the moments where the two stop agreeing, from inside the experience of a designer whose name has been on the door, off the door, and back on it. Key speaking topics Creative entrepreneurship in luxury fashion Brand authorship and ownership of the founder name Sustainability and circularity in the fashion industry The economics of independent design houses Reinvention after commercial loss Mentorship and creative succession Craft, draping, and the female silhouette Ideal for Founder-led creative businesses, design studios, and luxury brands navigating capital partners or succession CMOs and brand leaders working on authorship, identity, and the commercial weight of a name Sustainability and procurement leads inside fashion, retail, and consumer goods looking at circular packaging and supply After-dinner audiences in creative industries, hospitality, and luxury where storytelling and craft are central Audience outcomes A specific account of how a creative founder loses, then recovers, control of their own brand, with the legal and commercial mechanics named. A working view of where sustainability claims in fashion hold up and where they collapse, drawn from a designer’s daily decisions on fabric, factories, and packaging. A clearer sense of how mentorship between creative founders actually functions, taken from the relationship with Victoria Beckham. A direct read on the economics of an independent luxury house, including the conditions under which one tips into administration.

Why organisations work with Ruggero Schleicher-Tappeser He reads the technology stack underneath the energy transition with a physicist’s precision: why photovoltaics keeps falling in cost, where power electronics and battery chemistry are going next, and what this implies for capital plans that assume a slower curve. He has run the policy machinery, not just commented on it. As Acting Secretary General of the Alpine Convention he negotiated across eight national governments on a treaty that links climate, transport and spatial planning. He led the European xGWp effort to rebuild gigawatt-scale photovoltaic manufacturing, which gives him an operating view of why European clean-tech capacity collapsed and what it would take to rebuild any of it. He combines this with thirty years of regional and EU policy work through the EURES Institute he founded in Freiburg, so the analysis lands at the level boards actually act on: investment, location, regulation, time horizon. Biography highlights Founder and director of the EURES Institute for Regional Studies in Europe, Freiburg, for fifteen years from 1989. Acting Secretary General of the Alpine Convention, 2004 to 2007. Consultant to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in its formative period. Coordinator of the European xGWp / European Gigawatt Fab initiative to rebuild European PV manufacturing, 2013 to 2015. Co-author of “European Transport Policy and Sustainable Mobility” (Routledge, 2000) and “Nachhaltigkeit trotz Globalisierung” (1998, with Christian Hey). Trained physicist (Diplom Physiker, Switzerland); writes and consults from Berlin in German, English, Italian and French. Biography The energy transition is being treated by many leadership teams as a communications and reporting problem. It is in fact an industrial, technological and capital allocation problem, and the gap between the two framings is widening. That gap is the territory Ruggero Schleicher-Tappeser has worked in for four decades. His starting point is unusual. He trained as a physicist in Switzerland, then spent fifteen years building and running the EURES Institute for Regional Studies in Europe, a Freiburg think tank that worked through how energy, transport and spatial policy actually combine at regional level. From there he moved into multilateral practice as Acting Secretary General of the Alpine Convention from 2004 to 2007, the international treaty body covering sustainable development across the Alpine states. The industrial chapter of the work followed. Between 2013 and 2015 he coordinated xGWp, a European initiative that brought together the main European solar research institutes and the world’s largest PV equipment manufacturer to attempt to rebuild gigawatt-scale photovoltaic manufacturing in Europe. He has also advised the International Renewable Energy Agency in its development phase. The published work, including “European Transport Policy and Sustainable Mobility” (Routledge, 2000) and “Nachhaltigkeit trotz Globalisierung” (1998, with Christian Hey), runs along the same line. What this gives a board room is rare. Most speakers on energy and climate either describe the policy or sell the technology. Schleicher-Tappeser explains why the cost curve of photovoltaics is structural rather than accidental, why the next decade of the transition will be decided by power electronics and battery chemistry as much as by any climate summit, and what European industrial exposure looks like once those facts are taken seriously. Key speaking topics Energy transition and decarbonisation strategy The economics and physics of photovoltaics European industrial policy and clean-tech manufacturing Climate policy and capital allocation Sustainable transport and mobility Regional and multilateral sustainability governance Ideal for Boards and executive committees of energy, utility and industrial companies setting capital allocation against transition scenarios Policy and regulatory leaders in European institutions, national ministries and regional authorities Investors and asset owners with material exposure to clean-tech supply chains and energy infrastructure Sustainability and strategy leaders translating climate commitments into operating and procurement decisions Audience outcomes A clearer reading of why photovoltaic costs continue to fall and what that means for adjacent technologies A working view of the four technology pillars (photovoltaics, power electronics, batteries, semiconductors) shaping the next phase of the transition A sharper sense of European industrial exposure in clean-tech and what credible responses look like A grounded policy-and-capital frame for setting net zero ambition against actual delivery constraints A line of sight from regional policy mechanics to multilateral treaty practice, useful to leaders working across both

Why organisations work with Sarah Begum First-hand experience of the climate impact on indigenous communities. Her Cannes-premiered film Amazon Souls came out of two weeks living with the Huaorani people in Yasuní National Park, where oil exploitation and rainforest loss are present conditions, not projections. Most corporate audiences get this material from researchers. She was there. Brings a broadcast journalist’s discipline to sustainability talks. Before climate became her primary topic, she was presenting news in Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis and reporting features for GHOne TV in Ghana. That training shapes how she handles a corporate room, with concrete stories and the pacing of a working journalist. Connects indigenous climate stories to practical sustainability strategy. As a STEM Ambassador and host of Spaced Out!, where she interviews NASA scientists and space entrepreneurs, she brings the technology side of ESG, from satellite data to climate monitoring, into corporate conversations about climate action. Credibility that holds up on both sides of the room. Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society and the Captain Scott Society’s Spirit of Adventure Award (2014) place her inside the exploration establishment. The Guardian’s San Miguel Rich List 2016 named her one of the world’s top 17 trailblazers, alongside her BAFTA-recognised short for Nespresso Talents 2018. Biography highlights Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society Director of Amazon Souls (2013), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and distributed worldwide Broadcast journalist: presented news from Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis and reported features for GHOne TV in Ghana Host of Spaced Out!, a podcast and TV series on the space industry featured on Space Channel Winner of the Captain Scott Society’s Spirit of Adventure Award (2014); finalist for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship 2014 Named one of The Guardian’s top 17 trailblazers in the San Miguel Rich List 2016 Biography Yasuní National Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. It also sits above some of South America’s largest untapped oil reserves. The Huaorani people, who have lived in Yasuní for generations, have been the ones negotiating that collision. Sarah Begum spent two weeks living with the Huaorani in 2010. She was 21, studying television and film, and funded the expedition herself. The documentary she brought back, Amazon Souls, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and was distributed worldwide, endorsed by rainforest organisations including Rainforest Alliance, Sky Rainforest Rescue and Rainforest Foundation. Her work since has followed the same method: travel to places most people will never go, and report back in terms corporate and general audiences can use. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she has presented news from Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis, reported features for GHOne TV in Ghana, interviewed Jane Goodall for BBC Focus magazine, and directed the BAFTA-recognised short Who Would Have Thought… for Nespresso Talents 2018. The Captain Scott Society awarded her its Spirit of Adventure Award in 2014 for the Darien Gap expedition. Her talks carry this method into boardrooms. A STEM Ambassador and host of the space-industry series Spaced Out!, she reports on how satellite data and space-based research now underpin corporate sustainability strategy, drawing on interviews with NASA scientists and space entrepreneurs. Key speaking topics Climate justice and indigenous communities ESG strategy and corporate sustainability Women in STEM and exploration The space sector and Earth sustainability Immersive journalism and cultural storytelling Climate action and frontline impact Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers, Heads of ESG, and Corporate Responsibility teams looking to move past reporting frameworks International Women’s Day, DEI, and employee resource group events where frontline storytelling anchors the conversation Conferences on sustainability, climate action, and the space sector where a primary-source perspective adds weight Leadership programmes and awaydays seeking to reconnect senior teams to the human stakes of their climate commitments Audience outcomes What oil exploitation and rainforest loss actually look like for the communities on the frontline, told by someone who has spent time with them A human frame for ESG reporting, drawn from indigenous advocacy, international journalism, and space-sector research A model for how first-hand reporting can be translated into storytelling that changes internal conversations about sustainability Named examples of how the space sector contributes to climate data and corporate sustainability strategy

Why organisations work with Sarah Marquis Her resilience framework is built from 20,000 kilometres of solo survival across six countries – not organisational theory or athletic competition, but multi-year immersion in conditions where poor decisions had direct physical consequences The mental tools she teaches – anticipating failure, adapting without external support, maintaining decision quality under depletion – are documented in Wild by Nature, her Macmillan-published account of the Siberia-to-Australia expedition, giving audiences a framework they can return to and apply National Geographic’s formal recognition of her as Adventurer of the Year 2014 and resident explorer in 2015 is a credibility anchor that travels across cultures, sectors, and geographies – rare in the resilience speaker category Her human-nature connection argument gives organisations a sustainability and purpose narrative grounded in decades of firsthand field evidence – a usable complement to ESG conversations that otherwise rely on data and policy With 500+ talks delivered in English and French to audiences ranging from the Swiss Army and Tetra Laval to the Olympic Museum, she brings a track record across defence, corporate, and cultural institutions that few speakers working the resilience topic can match Biography highlights National Geographic Adventurer of the Year 2014; named resident National Geographic Explorer in 2015 Author of Wild by Nature (Macmillan), the English-language account of a 20,000 km solo expedition from Siberia to Australia European Adventurer of the Year 2013 TED speaker (2011); has addressed the Geographical Society 500+ talks delivered in English and French globally, including the Olympic Museum, Tetra Laval, and the Swiss Army Profiled in The New York Times Magazine and by National Geographic Biography The most honest test of resilience is not how people respond to a single crisis. It is how they function when pressure extends for months, the plan has failed more than once, and there is no team behind them. Most organisations have no direct experience of what that actually requires – and their resilience frameworks rarely reflect it. Sarah Marquis has that experience in documented form. From 2010 to 2013, she walked 20,000 kilometres alone from Siberia through the Gobi Desert, into China, Laos, Thailand, and across Australia. Her book Wild by Nature, published by Macmillan, is the detailed account of surviving dengue fever in the Laos jungle, temperatures of -49°C in Mongolia, and over 1,000 consecutive nights in a tent across six countries. The mental tools she describes – failure anticipation, adaptation without support, instinctive decision-making under physical depletion – are specific, practised, and written down. National Geographic named her Adventurer of the Year in 2014 and a resident explorer in 2015. She has given more than 500 talks in English and French to corporate and institutional audiences including Tetra Laval, the Swiss Army, and the Olympic Museum, and has spoken for TED and the Geographical Society. The New York Times Magazine has profiled her work. Her more recent expeditions – a survival traverse of the Kimberley in north-west Australia in 2015, a solo three-month crossing of the Tasmanian primary rainforest in 2018, and a return to the Great Victoria and Gibson Deserts in 2023 – mean her material is current. It is not a retrospective account of one significant achievement. It is a body of evidence that continues to grow. Key speaking topics Resilience under sustained pressure Mental tools for extreme performance Adaptive decision-making under adversity Solo survival and self-reliance Human-nature connection Overcoming adversity and fear Sustainability and environmental awareness Ideal for Senior leadership teams preparing for high-stakes transformation or extended operational pressure C-suite and board-level audiences focused on organisational resilience and performance under uncertainty HR and L&D leaders designing resilience and peak performance programmes Corporate sustainability teams seeking a purpose narrative grounded in firsthand environmental evidence Audience outcomes A specific, practised framework for building resilience that holds under sustained pressure – not just acute crisis Practical mental tools for maintaining decision quality when plans fail and external support is unavailable, drawn from documented multi-year field conditions A reframe of fear and discomfort as navigable data rather than obstacles, grounded in expedition experience rather than theory Greater clarity on the gap between conceptual resilience and practised resilience, with concrete starting points for closing it A credible, experience-based narrative for connecting organisational purpose to sustainability and the natural environment

Why organisations work with Shela Gobertina von Trapp She brings twenty years of sustainability operating experience to a story most people only know from the screen: founding partner of the Circular Electronics Partnership and a decade leading corporate sustainability at Office Depot across the US and Europe. She gives boards and leadership teams a usable frame for decisions whose payoff sits well beyond the current leadership’s tenure, which is the practical problem behind most long-term commitments. She is the one speaker who can connect a globally recognised family legacy directly to corporate questions of brand stewardship and long-term value, which makes the argument land rather than feel borrowed. In her previous role at the Global Electronics Council, managers of the EPEAT ecolabel, she worked inside the procurement standards and circular-economy roadmaps that large buyers actually use. Biography highlights Founder of Celebrity Legacy, including its advisory practice von Trapp Consulting, and co-founder of the Georg & Agathe Foundation, home to the heritage project vonTrapp.org and vonTrapp.art, an e-commerce initiative supporting cultural heritage Founding partner of the Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP), the cross-industry roadmap toward a circular electronics value chain by 2030 Former Director of Global Relations & Partnerships at the Global Electronics Council, managers of the EPEAT environmental ecolabel Roughly a decade in corporate sustainability at Office Depot, a Fortune 500 company, across the United States and Europe Master’s in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University, with a Bachelor’s in Environmental Analysis and Policy awarded Magna Cum Laude Great-granddaughter of Captain Georg von Trapp and Agathe Gobertina Whitehead, and granddaughter of Johanna von Trapp, portrayed as Marta in The Sound of Music Biography Most companies plan in quarters and report in years. The choices that shape a brand compound over decades, long after the leaders who made them have gone. Sustainability lives in that gap, judged on short cycles and paid for over much longer ones. Shela Gobertina von Trapp spent two decades working that gap from inside large organisations. At Office Depot, a Fortune 500 company, she led corporate sustainability across the United States and Europe. At the Global Electronics Council, managers of the EPEAT ecolabel, she became a founding partner of the Circular Electronics Partnership, an industry roadmap toward a circular electronics value chain by 2030. What makes her perspective unusual is its source. She is a great-granddaughter of Captain Georg von Trapp and Agathe Gobertina Whitehead, and a granddaughter of Johanna von Trapp, portrayed as Marta in The Sound of Music. She has spent years researching how that family held its identity through war, exile, and reinvention, and what allowed the name to outlast the people who carried it. She now puts the same question to companies in commercial terms: how does a brand earn the right to last? Drawing on the family archive and her sustainability work, she helps boards treat reputation and environmental commitment as assets that are stewarded across generations, the way the von Trapp name was. Key speaking topics Corporate sustainability and the circular economy Long-term value and legacy thinking Brand longevity and stewardship Heritage and historical preservation Leadership lessons from the von Trapp family Values-based and purpose-driven leadership Sustainable procurement and electronics circularity Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG teams moving from reporting cycles to long-term substance Boards and family businesses weighing brand stewardship and succession across generations Heritage brands and organisations whose long-term reputation is itself a core asset Leadership and culture programmes wanting a substantive story about values that outlast their founders Nonprofit leaders, foundations, and cultural institutions balancing mission with long-term stewardship Audience outcomes A way to test today’s decisions against their consequences decades out, not just the current cycle A concrete account of how one family held its name through war and exile, and why that matters for institutions that want to last Sustainability reframed as a long-horizon asset that boards steward, illustrated with circular-economy examples from the electronics industry Reputation and brand understood as inheritances, built deliberately or eroded by default

Why organisations work with Shiulie Ghosh A live news anchor’s instincts on stage. Two decades fronting breaking coverage at the BBC, ITV, and Al Jazeera English means she handles a panel that has gone off-script the way she handled a rolling news studio. A working subject base in the topics global summits actually convene around: health, climate, sustainable development, food systems, and humanitarian affairs. She is not learning the brief on the train. Trusted repeatedly by the World Health Organization and UN bodies, including chair roles at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum. A track record reporting from inside the stories that shape the room, from Kosovo and the Asian Tsunami through the Arab Spring, the killing of Bin Laden, and the death of Nelson Mandela. That experience reads in how she handles serious subject matter on stage. Biography highlights Launch anchor for Al Jazeera English when the channel went on air from Doha on 15 November 2006, then a senior anchor for the international channel until the end of 2015. Former Home Affairs Editor at ITV News and a former BBC News journalist, with a career in network television news that began as a BBC News trainee in 1990. Currently a presenter at TRT World’s London bureau and director of her own UK media services company, Aero Productions Ltd. Named Best Television News Journalist at the BT Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards in 2001, and won the Association of International Broadcasting’s Editor’s Choice Media Excellence Award for hosting Every Woman. Chair of high-level panels at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum, with regular moderating work for WHO and UN agencies. Author of the Daughter of Kali urban fantasy trilogy, Kingdom of Salt, Mark of the Djinn, and Realm of Sirens, all published since 2018. Biography The hardest job at most senior summits is not being on the panel. It is running the panel. Whoever holds the chair decides whether four prepared statements turn into an actual exchange, whether a minister gets pressed or politely deferred to, and whether the audience leaves with a sharper view of the issue or a vaguer one. Ghosh has spent more than two decades inside that craft. She came up through British network television news. A BBC News trainee in 1990, then eight years at the BBC, then ITV News from 1998, where she rose to Senior Correspondent and Home Affairs Editor. In 2006 she became one of the launch anchors of Al Jazeera English, opening the channel’s broadcast from Doha and remaining a senior anchor until late 2015. Today she anchors at TRT World’s London bureau and runs her own media services company, Aero Productions, in Buckinghamshire. The work that takes her on stage now is moderation. She chairs panels at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum, and works regularly with WHO and UN agencies on debates covering global health, climate, sustainable development, food systems, and humanitarian affairs. The reporting CV is part of why those organisations book her: she has filed from Kosovo, from the Asian Tsunami, from the Arab Spring, on the killing of Bin Laden, on the death of Nelson Mandela. Recognition has come from inside the industry. She was named Best Television News Journalist at the BT Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards in 2001 and picked up the Association of International Broadcasting’s Editor’s Choice Media Excellence Award for Every Woman, a series on women’s issues worldwide. Outside the studio she is also a published novelist, with the Daughter of Kali urban fantasy trilogy, Kingdom of Salt, Mark of the Djinn, and Realm of Sirens all in print since 2018. Key speaking topics Conference moderation and panel chairing Global health and the World Health Assembly agenda Climate, sustainability, and energy transition convening Humanitarian affairs and international development Food systems and food security Diversity in international broadcasting Ideal for CEOs, communications directors, and event leads commissioning a chair for an annual conference, AGM, or investor day Heads of public affairs at NGOs, multilaterals, and global health bodies running ministerial panels or donor convenings Sustainability and ESG leads running summits on climate, energy transition, or food systems Internal communications teams running senior leadership town halls or all-hands events that need a credible external host Audience outcomes A panel that produces actual exchange between speakers, not four parallel statements Tight stage timing across complex multi-stakeholder agendas, including ministerial slots Subject-literate questioning on health, climate, energy, and humanitarian topics, without primer-level explanation from the room A room that leaves with a clearer sense of where the speakers actually agreed and disagreed

Why organisations work with Stefan Hyttfors He translates AI, climate and geopolitical signals into the specific operating choices a board actually has to make, rather than leaving leaders with a trend deck. His thesis in Yoga for Leaders connects disruptive technology to human behaviour, which gives the room a usable language for the cultural side of transformation, not just the technology side. Two-time Swedish Speaker of the Year, with more than 1,000 engagements across 40+ countries, including IKEA, Microsoft, H&M, Spotify, Deloitte and AstraZeneca. A journalist’s instinct for narrative means complex foresight content lands with senior, mixed-discipline audiences without being diluted. Nordic register, low on hype, high on argument, which suits boards that have already heard the standard Silicon Valley futurism pitch and want something sharper. Biography highlights Author of Yoga for Leaders: How to manage self-disruption in a world of self-destruction, LID Publishing, 2016. Twice named Swedish Speaker of the Year by Talarforum. TEDx speaker, including “We don’t need jobs” (TEDxArendal) and “Can we really trust human intelligence?” (TEDxStockholm). Former photo journalist at Expressen and Photo Editor-in-Chief at a Swedish daily; trained economist. Co-founder of Swedish PR agency Wenderfalck. Client roster includes IKEA, Microsoft, Klarna, Spotify, H&M, Deloitte, AstraZeneca, Gartner, Ericsson, BMW, Toyota, Unilever, Nike, Skanska and E.ON. Biography Most organisations still treat foresight as a forecasting exercise. The default question is what is going to happen, and the default output is a slide of trends. The harder question, what kind of organisation can keep deciding well when the trend lines stop being reliable, is the one Stefan Hyttfors works on with leadership teams across Europe. His thesis is that disruption is misread when it is treated as a purely technological event. In Yoga for Leaders: How to manage self-disruption in a world of self-destruction, published by LID in 2016, he sets technology alongside human behaviour and argues that the binding constraint on adaptation is rarely the tool, it is the mind of the leader using it. That argument has carried into his current work on AI, climate, and geopolitical instability, where he frames the leadership task as composure under accelerating change rather than mastery of any single trend. The credibility sits on volume and range. More than a thousand keynotes across forty-plus countries, twice named Swedish Speaker of the Year by Talarforum, TEDx talks at Arendal and Stockholm, and a client list that runs from IKEA, H&M and Spotify to Microsoft, Deloitte and AstraZeneca. His training as a journalist and economist shows in how the material is built: trend data on one side, behavioural and cultural argument on the other, no filler in between. What buyers tend to single out is the tone. Hyttfors is sceptical of futurism that sells inevitability, and equally sceptical of leadership content that ignores the technology shift underneath. The talk lands as a working brief for the next twelve months, not a prediction about 2035. Key speaking topics Strategic foresight under accelerating change Artificial intelligence and the future of work Digital transformation and behavioural change Leadership in unstable conditions Sustainability and climate as strategic variables Disruptive technology and business model change Trust as a commercial differentiator Ideal for Board and ExCo offsites setting direction under AI, climate and geopolitical uncertainty CHRO and CPO audiences re-scoping workforce strategy around AI capability CSO and strategy leadership teams refreshing planning assumptions for the next cycle Industry conferences in financial services, technology, industrials and consumer where future-of-business framing anchors the programme Audience outcomes A working language for distinguishing signal from noise across AI, climate and geopolitical shifts A clearer view of where their own organisation is over-indexed on predictability and under-indexed on adaptive capacity A behavioural read on why transformation programmes stall, beyond the usual technology or governance explanations Specific prompts for the conversations the leadership team should be having internally in the next two quarters