Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Why organisations work with Speech Thomas His B.R.A.V.E. framework (Bold, Resilient, Adaptable, Vulnerable, Encouraging) is proprietary, named IP built from firsthand experience navigating commercial failure, personal loss, and creative reinvention across a multi-decade career, not a theoretical model adapted from management literature He integrates live musical performance structurally into the keynote itself, creating a shared emotional experience that makes the framework’s principles felt rather than simply heard – a format no other leadership speaker with equivalent platform credibility replicates The vulnerability pillar of B.R.A.V.E. carries specific weight: his origin story involves growing up in statistically one of the most difficult environments for Black youth in America and losing both his grandmother and brother in the same week; circumstances that directly shaped the framework’s architecture His 16 Bars documentary – in which he led a songwriting and recording collaboration inside a Virginia jail – provides independently verified, third-party evidence that his approach to creativity and leadership character works in conditions far more demanding than any corporate conference room The Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship, a 501(c)3 he established in 1992, has directed over $1M in educational stipends to students from underserved communities – demonstrating that the «encouraging» principle of B.R.A.V.E. is operational, not rhetorical Biography highlights Founder, lead vocalist and producer of Arrested Development; two-time Grammy winner: Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance (1993) Arrested Development’s debut album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of… achieved multi-platinum certification in the United States «Tennessee» named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s «500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll» Solo single «Like Marvin Gaye Said» held #1 on Japan’s Tokio 100 chart for seven consecutive weeks; solo album Spiritual People certified Gold by the RIAJ Producer and collaborator on 16 Bars (2018), an award-winning documentary following a music rehabilitation programme inside Richmond City Jail — winner of Best Documentary at the Downtown L.A. Film Festival Creator of the B.R.A.V.E. leadership framework, now delivered as a keynote at corporate, association and government conferences globally Founder of the Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship (501(c)3, est. 1992), which has provided over $1M in stipends to university students from at-risk communities across three decades Biography The qualities most organisations say they want from their leaders – courage under pressure, the ability to adapt without losing direction, the willingness to be honest when honesty is costly – are precisely the ones that conventional leadership development struggles to instil. Why? Because they cannot be taught from a slide deck. They are formed through experience, reinforced through narrative, and transmitted most effectively when the person articulating them has actually lived them. Speech Thomas built his B.R.A.V.E. framework (Bold, Resilient, Adaptable, Vulnerable, Encouraging) from a career that required each of those qualities under genuine pressure. As the founder and lead vocalist of Arrested Development, he led a group that achieved two Grammy Awards and multi-platinum sales for a debut album that ran directly against the dominant commercial trends of its era. When the group disbanded, he rebuilt independently, building a substantial solo career across five albums and finding his largest audience in Japan – territory he entered without the infrastructure that had supported the group’s earlier success. What distinguishes his keynote from the standard musical-career-as-leadership-metaphor format is that the framework is specific and teachable, and the performance is structural rather than decorative. Speech integrates live music into the keynote itself because the argument he is making – that vulnerability and creative courage are leadership competencies, not personality traits – is demonstrated more effectively through song than through slides. His 16 Bars documentary, in which he led a songwriting and recording programme inside Richmond City Jail, provides third-party evidence that this methodology produces results in conditions that test it genuinely. The Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship, which he established in 1992 following his brother’s death and which has since distributed over $1M to students from underserved communities, is where the «encouraging» pillar of B.R.A.V.E. becomes most legible. For boards and senior leadership teams evaluating whether a speaker’s values are substantive or performative, it is a credible and verifiable answer. Key speaking topics B.R.A.V.E. leadership framework Leadership character development Creativity and the artistic process as organisational tools Storytelling and voice in leadership communication Resilience and adaptability under pressure Music, culture and social impact Criminal justice reform and rehabilitation through creative practice Ideal for Senior leadership and executive teams exploring the relationship between character, culture and organisational performance CHROs and talent development leaders building leadership pipeline programmes that go beyond technical capability Conferences in creative industries, media, entertainment and arts sectors DEI and culture transformation events requiring a speaker whose credibility is built from lived experience rather than consultancy Audience outcomes A named, five-part leadership framework (B.R.A.V.E.) that individuals can apply to their own professional context A reframe of vulnerability from personal risk to leadership asset – with a credible, tested example of why it matters Practical perspective on how storytelling and creative expression function as tools for communication, not just culture A more concrete understanding of what distinguishes leadership under pressure from leadership in comfortable conditions Where a live performance element is included: a shared emotional experience that anchors the session’s themes in a way that participants recall and reference beyond the event itself

Why organisations work with Jaz Ampaw-Farr She gives leadership teams a vocabulary for wellbeing and inclusion that lands with sceptical senior audiences, because the argument is framed through performance and culture rather than through HR policy. Her toolkit is specific and teachable. The Failure CV, Jazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the 10% Braver model are named devices line managers can pick up the next day. The credibility sits in two places that rarely combine: a trained teacher with thirty years of front-line education work, and two 2025 honorary doctorates from the University of Hull and Bishop Grosseteste University for contribution to leadership, resilience, wellbeing and diversity. She is a working broadcaster and writer, not a consultant performing. Co-presenter on CBBC’s Hard Spell Abbey, TEDx speaker with a talk above 140,000 views, author of “Because of You, This Is Me” with Ian Gilbert, and 2025 Diversity in Cannes Programmer’s Choice winner for the short film Re-Story Your Life. Buyers book her for rooms that have heard the standard resilience keynote before and did not change anything afterwards. The measurable difference is that leaders leave with a small number of named practices they are willing to try in public. Biography highlights Co-writer and co-presenter, CBBC spelling series Hard Spell Abbey. TEDx speaker, “The Power of Everyday Heroes” (TEDxNorwichED), 140,000+ views. Author, “Because of You, This Is Me: The stories we tell, the stories we change and the power of everyday heroes” (Crown House Publishing, with Ian Gilbert). Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Hull, 2025. Honorary Doctor of the University, Bishop Grosseteste University, 2025. Programmer’s Choice Award, 2025 Diversity in Cannes Film Festival, for the short film Re-Story Your Life. Speaker of the Year and Best Live Gig, The Speaker Awards UK, 2022. Contestant, BBC The Apprentice Series 9. Biography Five teachers changed the trajectory of a homeless teenager raised in foster care. Decades later, she trained as a teacher herself, and the question of what those five adults actually did, practically, at work, on ordinary days, became the spine of her professional work. That question is the reason organisations book her. It has a usable answer, and it applies inside businesses as much as inside schools. The public platform built up from there. A TEDx talk, “The Power of Everyday Heroes”, now carries more than 140,000 views. “Because of You, This Is Me”, written with Ian Gilbert for Crown House Publishing, turned the argument into a book for educators and leaders. A stretch on BBC’s The Apprentice and co-presenting credits on CBBC’s Hard Spell Abbey gave her the broadcast fluency that makes the live keynote work in front of an impatient senior room. The body of work is named, not generic. 10% Braver treats courage as a daily operational habit rather than a mindset. The Failure CV reframes psychological safety as something a leader practises in public. Jazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs repositions wellbeing as infrastructure for performance. In 2025, the University of Hull and Bishop Grosseteste University both conferred honorary doctorates for her contribution to leadership, resilience, wellbeing and diversity, and her short film Re-Story Your Life won the Programmer’s Choice Award at the Diversity in Cannes Film Festival. What a senior HR or culture buyer is actually getting is a speaker who can hold a room that has already heard the standard resilience keynote, and leave it with a small number of specific things the organisation’s line managers are willing to try on Monday. Key speaking topics Workplace wellbeing and psychological safety Inclusive leadership and belonging Resilience as an operational practice Storytelling for leaders and culture builders Employee engagement and human connection at work Personal courage and the 10% Braver model Culture and performance in high-pressure teams Ideal for CHROs and heads of people building a culture and wellbeing agenda that has to land with a sceptical executive audience Leadership teams running an inclusion, belonging or psychological safety programme that has stalled at policy and needs to move into daily practice Education, health and public sector leadership audiences working through sustained workforce pressure Internal conferences where the brief is to reset the tone before a demanding year, not to deliver a technical update Audience outcomes A named set of practices (Failure CV, 10% Braver, Jazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs) that line managers can use in conversations the next week. A sharper internal language for wellbeing and inclusion that links directly to performance and retention. Permission for senior leaders to be visible about uncertainty and failure in front of their teams. A reframing of resilience as an organisational responsibility, not a personal character test. A live example of storytelling used to shift a room, which leaders can study and borrow from.

Why organisations work with Kamal Ahmed Senior insider perspective on how a national broadcaster makes editorial decisions under political and commercial pressure, drawn from running the BBC News Board. First-hand operating experience building a Gen Z newsroom from zero, with concrete views on where younger audiences actually go for information and what they reject. Practical authority on misinformation as an organisational risk, not an abstract policy debate, grounded in the founding thesis of The News Movement. A working broadcaster’s craft as a moderator and on-stage interviewer, including current podcast hosting at The Telegraph, useful when the brief is high-stakes panel or fireside rather than keynote. A named voice on race, identity and belonging in British public life, supported by his Bloomsbury memoir, when the audience and brief warrant it. Biography highlights Editorial Director, BBC News (2018 to 2021); member of the BBC News Board and BBC Sounds Board. BBC Business Editor (2014 to 2016) and BBC Economics Editor (2016 to 2018). Co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief, The News Movement. Former Director of Audio, The Telegraph; co-host of The Daily T podcast. Author, The Life and Times of a Very British Man (Bloomsbury, 2018). Vice-President, Society of Editors; Trustee, Media Trust. Biography Most boards still plan their external communications as if a national newspaper front page or a BBC Six O’Clock News bulletin is where the audience meets them. Younger employees, customers and investors mostly do not. They meet brands inside short-form video, group chats and platforms whose editorial logic looks nothing like a newsroom’s. Closing that gap is the work Kamal Ahmed has spent the last five years on. He came to it from inside the institution it is reshaping. As Editorial Director of BBC News between 2018 and 2021, sitting on both the BBC News Board and the BBC Sounds Board, he was responsible for editorial standards across the largest English-language news operation in the world. Before that he was BBC Economics Editor and BBC Business Editor, and before that Business Editor at The Daily Telegraph and Political Editor at The Observer. In 2021 he co-founded The News Movement with former Dow Jones chief executive Will Lewis, building a social-first newsroom designed for audiences under thirty rather than retro-fitting an existing brand to them. The thesis was direct: misinformation is not solved by quality journalism in the wrong format. He served as Editor-in-Chief through the launch phase in London and New York. Alongside the operating work, he is a Bloomsbury-published author on race, identity and Britishness, an inaugural winner of the CFA Society’s Ethical and Professional Standards Award, Vice-President of the Society of Editors and a Trustee of Media Trust. The combination matters: he can speak to the leadership room about trust and media as a senior editor who has run them, and as a builder who has tried to construct what comes next. Key speaking topics Trust in media and institutions Gen Z audiences and the future of information Misinformation as organisational risk Editorial leadership under pressure The economy and business after the BBC Race, identity and belonging in British public life Ideal for Communications, brand and corporate affairs leaders rebuilding external narrative CHROs and internal communications leads facing engagement gaps with under-thirty employees Boards reviewing reputational and information-environment risk Conference and summit organisers needing a moderator with broadcast craft and editorial authority Audience outcomes A clear read on where trust now sits across generations, and what that costs organisations that ignore it A concrete picture of how Gen Z audiences receive, interrogate and share information A sharper view of misinformation as a board-level operating risk rather than a policy abstraction A practitioner’s account of how a national newsroom makes decisions, useful for leaders who are interviewed, scrutinised or covered

Why organisations work with Rachel Johnson A Fleet Street interviewer’s instincts brought to the chair: she can press a guest, draw out a quiet panellist, and reset a stalling session in real time. Three decades inside British political and media life, from FT economics desk to LBC Sunday nights, gives her the reference points to host conversations that range across business, politics and culture without losing thread. The Difficult Women body of work, on LBC and in print, is a credible platform for events that want a substantive conversation about women, power and public voice rather than a conference-circuit keynote. Comfort with the broadcast register, sharpened by Question Time, Have I Got News For You and Sky News’ The Pledge, translates directly to large-stage audiences who expect a host to be quick on their feet. Biography highlights First female graduate trainee at the Financial Times, 1989, with a year on secondment to Foreign Office Policy Planning. Ninth editor of The Lady magazine, 2009 to 2012, founded 1885. Sunday-night presenter on LBC and host of the LBC original podcast Rachel Johnson’s Difficult Women. Columnist for the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Mail on Sunday, The Oldie and The Big Issue. Regular panellist on Question Time, Have I Got News For You and Sky News’ The Pledge. Author of nine books, including the Notting Hell trilogy, A Diary of The Lady, and Rake’s Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis. Biography Most conference panels sag because the chair is a placeholder. The work of holding a room, pressing a guest without breaking rapport, and finding a usable line in the last two minutes is closer to broadcast journalism than to public speaking, and it shows the moment a session is in trouble. That craft is what Rachel Johnson brings to a stage. Her training is Fleet Street: first female graduate trainee at the Financial Times in 1989, three years at BBC Radio Four, then years as a Washington columnist before returning to edit The Lady, the oldest women’s weekly in the world. The instincts that come from that route, the ability to find the question that matters and ask it without flinching, are what hosts and chairs are paid for. Her current platforms keep those instincts live. She presents Sunday nights on LBC, hosts the LBC original podcast Rachel Johnson’s Difficult Women on women who have had to be a pain in the backside to get where they are, and writes regular columns for the Mail on Sunday, The Oldie and The Big Issue. Question Time, Have I Got News For You and Sky News’ The Pledge are routine appearances rather than career events. She is also an author of nine books, including the Notting Hell trilogy, A Diary of The Lady and the political memoir Rake’s Progress, and a board member of Bright Blue and Intelligence Squared. For organisations, the practical value is narrower and clearer than that career suggests: a senior, very experienced host who can run a serious conversation without it becoming dull, defensive, or off-message. Key speaking topics Panel chairing and event hosting Interview and on-stage conversation Women, power and public voice Media, journalism and the British political scene After-dinner and awards-night hosting Current affairs commentary Ideal for Conference organisers needing a senior chair for panels with high-profile or media-trained guests Editorial dinners, awards evenings and member events that need a confident host with a journalistic register Internal leadership events on women, power and public voice Off-the-record fireside conversations with senior business or political figures Audience outcomes A panel that actually moves, with guests pressed on the questions the audience came to hear answered Conversations on women and public voice grounded in named contemporary examples rather than abstract framing A host who can switch register from board-room formal to after-dinner warm without losing the room Coverage of current affairs and political context that buyers can use as scene-setting for their own programme

Why organisations work with Martina Navratilova Open Era record holder for Grand Slam titles, with the longevity to back any conversation about high performance held over decades, not a single peak. A genuine first-mover on visibility: came out in 1981 when the cost was immediate and financial, and stayed in the public conversation on equality for forty years. Distinctive credibility on the cost of conviction. Few speakers can describe trading endorsement income for a values stance from personal experience. A working broadcaster and commentator across Tennis Channel, BBC Wimbledon and Sky Sports, comfortable with live-format conversations, Q and A, and interview settings as well as keynote. Honorary Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and recipient of the ITF Philippe Chatrier Award, the sport’s highest honour for service beyond the game. Biography highlights 59 Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles, the Open Era record. Nine Wimbledon singles titles, an all-time record for any player. 167 singles titles and 1,442 match wins, both Open Era records. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame; recipient of the ITF Philippe Chatrier Award and BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award. Honorary Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. Author of “Martina Navratilova: Being Myself” and three published mystery novels. Biography Few athletes have had to decide whether to spend their earnings on a public position. In 1981, after a New York Daily News interview, Navratilova became one of the first global sports stars to be openly gay. The financial cost was immediate and measured in lost endorsements. She kept playing, kept winning, and kept the position. The tennis record itself is the foundation. 18 singles majors, 31 women’s doubles majors, 10 in mixed doubles, nine Wimbledon singles titles, 1,442 career match wins. She played her final match at the 2006 US Open, winning the mixed doubles a month short of her fiftieth birthday. The longevity is unmatched in the modern game. What she brings to organisations is the rarer asset behind that record: the discipline to hold a position publicly while continuing to perform at the highest professional level. She has spoken and written about the cost of that, including a public breast cancer diagnosis in 2010 and the decision to coach with the trans pioneer Renée Richards in the early 1980s. She is direct about what conviction costs and what it returns. Beyond the playing career, she is a working broadcaster across the Tennis Channel, BBC and Sky Sports, an author of fiction and non-fiction, an Honorary Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and the recipient of the sport’s Philippe Chatrier Award. The breadth is unusual; the consistency of the underlying argument across all of it is what serious audiences respond to. Key speaking topics Resilience and sustained high performance Conviction and visibility at professional cost LGBTQ advocacy and the history of athlete activism Peak performance and longevity in elite careers Health, recovery and return after illness Equality, diversity and inclusive leadership Ideal for Senior leadership audiences where a values-based message needs the weight of personal experience behind it DEI, Pride and ERG keynotes where credibility matters more than topical commentary Sales conferences, partner summits and incentive audiences where an iconic athlete anchor is the brief Boards and executive teams thinking about sustained performance under public scrutiny Audience outcomes A grounded sense of what conviction actually costs and what it builds over time A working frame for performance held over decades, not over a quarter Direct insight into the experience of being a first-mover on visibility in a hostile environment A renewed argument for equality and inclusion rooted in lived experience rather than policy language

Why organisations work with Sebastian Wachter He arrives in a wheelchair with a Master’s in business mathematics, a career as a stock analyst, and a Bundesliga rugby record. The audience cannot file his argument under inspirational story and move on. His thesis, set out in Change Mindset (BoD, 2020) and excerpted in WirtschaftsWoche, treats change resistance as a managerial problem with named mechanisms, not a motivational gap. He won the European Speaker Award 2019 in front of a jury drawn from Daimler, Lufthansa and Siemens, which is the buyer profile that commissions him. He works fluently in German and English, which matters for DACH-region corporates running cross-border transformation programmes. Biography highlights Master of Science in Business Mathematics, with an exchange semester at the University of Texas at Austin. Former stock analyst in a private bank before founding Barrierefrei im Kopf UG. Bundesliga wheelchair rugby player with German national team experience. Author of Change Mindset: Veranderungsprozesse ins Rollen bringen! (BoD, 2020), with a chapter excerpt carried by WirtschaftsWoche’s Management-Blog. Winner of the European Speaker Award 2019. Television and radio appearances on ARD, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Radio Gong and SWR’s Nachtcafe. Biography Most change programmes do not fail at the design stage. They fail at the moment when the people inside the organisation decide, often quietly, that the new direction is something happening to them rather than something they own. This is the gap Sebastian Wachter writes about and the gap his keynotes are designed to close. His own credibility on the subject is mathematical before it is motivational. He holds a Master of Science in Business Mathematics, spent an exchange semester at the University of Texas at Austin, and worked as a stock analyst in a private bank. The accident that left him with roughly 95% muscle paralysis came at 24, after the analytical training, not before it. He treats change as a managerial problem with mechanisms, not a feel-good lesson drawn from biography. That argument is set out in Change Mindset: Veranderungsprozesse ins Rollen bringen!, published in 2020 and excerpted in WirtschaftsWoche’s Management-Blog. The book reframes change resistance as a question of accountability, role clarity and the willingness of senior managers to keep asking for help once the plan is signed off. The European Speaker Award 2019, judged by representatives from Daimler, Lufthansa and Siemens, recognised the same content in keynote form. He works in German and English, founded the Wurzburg-based firm Barrierefrei im Kopf UG, and continues to play Bundesliga wheelchair rugby. The work he is booked for sits at the point where a transformation programme has stalled and the executive team needs the workforce to re-engage on its own terms. Key speaking topics Change mindset and stalled transformation programmes Growth mindset and managerial resilience Diversity and inclusion in the workforce Team accountability and role clarity Resilience after personal and organisational setback Communication and collaboration across functions Ideal for Executive teams and transformation leads running multi-year change programmes that have lost momentum DACH-region corporates with mixed German- and English-speaking audiences HR directors and culture leads addressing inclusion and engagement together Leadership offsites where the brief is to reset accountability across senior managers Audience outcomes A working definition of why change programmes stall at the point of behavioural commitment, not strategic design. A vocabulary for separating constraint from excuse inside a leadership team. A concrete account of how role clarity, accountability and asking for help operate together in change execution. A different reference point for what resilience looks like in practice, drawn from a verifiable biographical record rather than abstraction.

Why organisations work with Sue Barker A rare first-hand account of two distinct elite careers, professional tennis and three decades of live BBC broadcasting, with the practical detail of how each transition was managed. Sustained composure on live television. Hosting Wimbledon, Sports Personality of the Year and A Question of Sport for decades is a working example of executing under scrutiny that few corporate audiences will encounter directly. Credibility with senior, mixed-gender audiences. Recognised by the Royal Television Society and the Crown across three honours, which lands with boards and partner-track audiences in a way generic motivational speakers do not. Strong fit as an awards host, panel chair and after-dinner speaker for corporate events that need a recognisable public figure with broadcast-grade interviewing craft. Biography highlights French Open singles champion, 1976; world No. 3, 1977; eleven WTA singles titles. Host of BBC Wimbledon coverage, 1994 to 2022. Host of A Question of Sport, 1997 to 2021. Host of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, 1994 to 2012. First woman to win the Royal Television Society best sports presenter award, 2001. MBE (2000), OBE (2016), CBE (2021); Sunday Times bestselling author of Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story. Biography The 1976 French Open final was won by a 20-year-old from Devon who had been picked out for coaching at age ten by Arthur Roberts, the coach behind Angela Mortimer’s three Grand Slam titles. That win, eleven WTA singles titles and a world ranking of No. 3 made the first career. The second was longer and arguably harder. After retiring from professional tennis in 1984, Barker moved into broadcasting through Australia’s Channel 7 and Sky, then joined the BBC in 1993. From 1994 she anchored Wimbledon for the corporation, a role she held for almost three decades, alongside A Question of Sport from 1997 and Sports Personality of the Year from 1994. Three Royal honours followed: MBE, OBE and CBE. For corporate audiences, the substance is the craft underneath the visibility. Holding a live two-week tournament on air, running a long-running studio format, and interviewing elite performers in defeat as well as victory are working demonstrations of composure, preparation and reinvention. Her two Sunday Times bestsellers, Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story, document the same material in print. She is most often booked as an awards host, panel chair or after-dinner speaker, where the value sits in broadcast-grade interviewing and the standing she brings to the room. The keynote content on resilience and performing under pressure is drawn directly from those two careers, not assembled from theory. Key speaking topics Resilience and reinvention across a long career Performing under pressure on live broadcast Women in sport and sports media Teamwork in elite competition Awards hosting and panel chairing Interviewing elite performers Ideal for Corporate awards ceremonies and gala dinners needing a recognised public figure to host Leadership offsites where resilience and career reinvention are the brief Conferences requiring a panel chair or interviewer with broadcast-grade craft Client and partner events where brand recognition and audience appeal matter Audience outcomes A first-hand account of how composure is built and held across decades of public performance Specific examples of managing a career transition from elite sport into a second profession A practitioner’s view of women’s progress in sport and sports broadcasting since the 1970s An interviewer’s perspective on what elite performers say about pressure and recovery

Why organisations work with Lisa Ventura An MBE-recognised authority on the cultural and behavioural side of cyber security, the area boards now name as their largest residual exposure once tooling is in place. Founder of Cyber Security Unity, a global community of practitioners, which gives her live cross-industry visibility into what is actually working against social engineering, phishing, and insider risk. A practical voice on neurodiversity and inclusion in cyber security hiring, useful for organisations trying to widen a tight talent pool without diluting capability. Speaks to the human cost inside security teams, burnout, imposter syndrome, and workplace harassment that quietly degrade incident response and retention. Author of “The Rise of the Cyber Women” series, with credibility built through the practitioner community rather than vendor marketing. Biography highlights MBE, King Charles III Birthday Honours 2023, for services to cyber security and diversity and inclusion. Founder, Cyber Security Unity (formerly the UK Cyber Security Association). Author of “The Rise of the Cyber Women: Volume One and Two” and “The Varied Origins of the Cyber Men: Volume One”. Winner, “Outstanding Contribution to Cyber Security”, SC Magazine Awards Europe. Winner, “Cyber Security Personality of the Year”, UK Cyber Security Awards. Listed on IT Security Guru’s Most Inspiring Women in Cyber Security (2022, 2024), We Are Tech Women Top 100, and IFSEC Global Influencers. Biography The cybersecurity industry sells controls. What has been slower to sell is culture. Most organisations now have endpoint protection, SIEM platforms, and incident response retainers. The breaches that still happen are almost always human, a click, a credential, a process gap, an exhausted analyst missing a signal at 3 am. That is the territory Lisa Ventura works in. She founded Cyber Security Unity, a global community organisation for cyber security practitioners, on the view that the industry remains fragmented and works in silos. Her consulting work with security leadership teams focuses on collaboration, awareness, and the cultural conditions that determine whether a security programme actually changes behaviour or just produces compliance evidence. Her books “The Rise of the Cyber Women,” Volumes One and Two, and “The Varied Origins of the Cyber Men,” Volume One, profile the routes practitioners take into the industry. The point is practical, not celebratory. Cybersecurity has a hiring problem, and one of the cheapest ways to widen the pipeline is to take neurodiversity and non-linear career paths seriously. Ventura is openly autistic and uses that experience to make the business case to CISOs and HR teams who are losing talent they could keep. In 2023, she received an MBE for services to cyber security and to diversity and inclusion. The recognition is useful shorthand for what she actually does in a room: she translates cybersecurity from a technical risk into a leadership and culture problem, and she has the practitioner network to back the argument. Key speaking topics Cyber security awareness and culture change The human layer of cyber risk Neurodiversity in cybersecurity hiring and retention Social engineering and phishing defence Burnout, stress, and mental health in security teams Cloud security collaboration Women and underrepresented groups in cybersecurity careers Ideal for CISOs and security leadership teams running awareness programmes that have stalled CHROs and talent leads trying to widen the cybersecurity hiring pipeline Boards and audit committees treating cyber as a culture and conduct issue, not only a control issue Industry conferences and corporate events on cybersecurity, technology workforce, and inclusion Audience outcomes A clearer view of where human factors sit inside the organisation’s actual cyber risk picture Specific, applicable approaches to awareness training that move behaviour, not just completion rates A practical case for treating neurodiversity as a hiring advantage in security teams Recognition of the burnout patterns that quietly damage incident response capability Cross-sector reference points from a practitioner community rather than a vendor stack

Why organisations work with Matt Bishop He has run reputation for two of the most-watched teams in global sport, including through the spygate-era recovery at McLaren and the high-profile relaunch of Aston Martin F1 in 2021. Few comms leaders have operated at that level of public exposure. He brokered Sebastian Vettel’s BBC Question Time appearance on climate, the first time a Formula 1 World Champion debated sustainability on the programme. That is a worked example of using a star principal to advance a contested corporate position without losing either. As founder ambassador of Racing Pride, set up with Stonewall in 2019, he has translated DEI from policy language into action inside an industry that historically resisted it. His advocacy is operational, not declarative. He spent over a decade as a senior journalist, including eleven years editing F1 Racing magazine. He understands the room he is briefing because he sat in it. His current firm Diagonal Communications was built specifically for crisis, reputation and DEI counsel in high-stakes commercial environments, which is the lens he brings to a corporate audience. Biography highlights Chief Communications Officer, McLaren Racing, 2008 to 2017 Chief Communications Officer, Aston Martin F1 Team, 2021 and 2022 seasons Editor of F1 Racing magazine, 1996 to 2007, with monthly worldwide circulation around 1.25 million copies Founder ambassador of Racing Pride, established 2019 in collaboration with Stonewall Founder, Diagonal Communications, 2023, advising automotive and motorsport clients Author of the novel The Boy Made the Difference (2020) and co-author of Emerson Fittipaldi’s autobiography Emmo: a Racer’s Soul (2014) Biography A driver, a sponsor and a regulator can each move within hours of the same press conference. In Formula 1 the gap between reputation event and commercial consequence is unusually short, and the leaders inside the team have to make calls in that gap. Matt Bishop ran communications through that environment for almost fifteen years. He joined McLaren Racing as Chief Communications Officer in 2008 and stayed until 2017, a period that included some of the most contested reputational moments in the team’s modern history. He then took on the launch communications for W Series, the all-female single-seater championship, before returning to F1 in 2021 as Chief Communications Officer of the relaunched Aston Martin team. There he worked closely with Sebastian Vettel on climate advocacy, including arranging Vettel’s appearance on BBC Question Time in 2022. Before McLaren, Bishop edited F1 Racing magazine for eleven years, growing it to a monthly worldwide circulation of around 1.25 million copies and serving as Editorial Director of Haymarket Motorsport Publications. The journalism background matters because it shapes how he counsels principals: he has been on the receiving end of corporate communications and knows when it is working and when it is not. His advocacy work runs in parallel. In 2019 he co-founded Racing Pride with Stonewall to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion in motorsport, and his 2020 novel The Boy Made the Difference draws on his volunteering at London Lighthouse during the HIV/AIDS crisis. In 2023 he founded Diagonal Communications, a consultancy focused on crisis, reputation and inclusion counsel for automotive and motorsport clients. Key speaking topics Communications leadership in elite sport Crisis communications and reputation management LGBTQ+ inclusion in traditionally closed industries Diversity, equity and inclusion in motorsport Working with high-profile principals on contested issues Sustainability communication and climate advocacy Media strategy under public scrutiny Ideal for Chief Communications Officers, Heads of Corporate Affairs and CMOs facing high-stakes reputation events CHROs and DEI leads in industries where inclusion has historically been resisted Boards and executive teams briefing public-facing principals on contested topics Sponsorship, partnership and brand teams operating in or alongside elite sport Audience outcomes A clear view of how reputation decisions get made under live public pressure, drawn from inside two F1 teams A working sense of how to brief a high-profile principal on a contested issue without losing the principal or the position Specific examples of inclusion moving from policy to practice in an industry that resisted it A sharper read on the relationship between media operations, sponsor expectation and team performance Language and structure for crisis communications that can be used the same week

Why organisations work with Tima Deryan A first-person account of summiting Everest in one of the deadliest seasons on the mountain, used as concrete material for how leaders prepare for, recover from, and execute under conditions where mistakes cost lives. A track record of physical first-ever achievements, including Everest, the Seven Summits, the South Pole, and Ojos del Salado, that gives weight to her arguments on goal-setting and persistence beyond the usual motivational register. A working coaching practice, not a one-off speaking circuit; she runs Mountain Gipsy as an ongoing platform, which means content is sharpened by repeated client work rather than rehearsed from a single book. A founder track record alongside the mountaineering, including the sustainable fashion brand Feministiya and earlier ventures, which gives her credibility on women’s leadership and entrepreneurship topics where bureaus often field speakers with only one of those two profiles. Biography highlights First Lebanese woman and youngest Arab to summit Mount Everest, 22 May 2019, age 26. First Lebanese woman to ski the last degree to the South Pole, December 2022. Completed the Seven Summits; first Arab woman to summit Ojos del Salado, the world’s highest active volcano. Founder and CEO of Mountain Gipsy; founder of Feministiya, a sustainability-focused fashion brand. Author of Curly Adventures: Mount Everest, a children’s book on her ascent. Certified mindset coach with a corporate keynote client list spanning multinationals across consumer goods, energy, and pharmaceuticals. Biography The 2019 Everest season was one of the deadliest on record. On 22 May, Tima Deryan reached the summit at 7:21 am, becoming the first Lebanese woman and the youngest Arab to do so. The technical and psychological work that produced that morning is what she now teaches. Deryan has since added the South Pole, the Seven Summits, and Ojos del Salado to a sustained record of high-altitude objectives. She is pursuing the Explorer Grand Slam, a list completed by fewer than 75 people globally and by only 15 women. The achievements matter for the keynote because the lessons are drawn from environments where decisions cannot be undone, not from a metaphor. Outside the mountains, she runs Mountain Gipsy as a coaching and speaking platform and founded Feministiya, a sustainable fashion brand focused on women’s rights and gender equality. That second track gives her substantive material on entrepreneurship and women’s leadership rather than the borrowed credibility some adventure speakers rely on. She is also a best-selling author of Curly Adventures: Mount Everest, a children’s book recounting her climb. Her corporate work includes keynotes and workshops for Procter & Gamble, Merck, Ford, Adidas, Henkel, Swarovski, Shell, and ADNOC. The repeated booking pattern across consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and energy reflects what she is most often commissioned for: a high-stakes story used as working material on goal-setting, team dynamics, and composure under pressure. Key speaking topics Goal-setting in low-margin environments Mindset and self-leadership under pressure Decision-making in high-stakes uncertainty Team dynamics on extended expeditions Women’s leadership and breaking first-ever barriers Entrepreneurship and sustainability Resilience and recovery from setback Ideal for CHROs and L&D leaders commissioning a high-stakes keynote on resilience and goal-setting Sales and commercial leadership teams working through stretch targets Women’s leadership networks and ERGs inside large multinationals Off-site events for senior teams that need a working narrative on composure under pressure, not a generic motivational session Audience outcomes A working framework for setting and pursuing objectives where failure has real cost A first-person account of how preparation, composure, and team trust hold up in extreme conditions A clearer view of what self-leadership looks like in environments without external validation A direct argument for persistence in goals that look unreasonable from the starting line

Why organisations work with Sally Penni She founded and chairs Women in the Law UK, the largest professional development network for women in the legal profession in the country, giving her firsthand evidence of what inclusion looks like when it is built as an institution rather than announced as a policy. Her authority on diversity is grounded in active legal practice at Kenworthy’s Chambers, a Bencher position at Gray’s Inn, and appointment to the International Criminal Court list of counsel. The argument carries weight because the practitioner is real. Through the Talking Law podcast she has interviewed Lord Pannick KC, Jolyon Maugham KC, the Treasury Solicitor and other figures at the top of the UK legal system, building a body of recorded conversation about leadership, culture and reform inside one of the most conservative professions. Her board portfolio spans the Royal Exchange Theatre, Arawak Walton Housing Association, the Access to Justice Foundation and a part-time judicial role at the Valuation Tribunal, so the perspective on inclusion is informed by governance experience across cultural, housing, legal and judicial settings. She was awarded an MBE specifically for diversity, social mobility and law, a recognition of practical contribution rather than profile, and one that signals to senior buyers that the work has stood up to external scrutiny. Biography highlights Practising barrister at Kenworthy’s Chambers, Manchester, specialising in criminal, employment, public and data protection law. Founder and chair of Women in the Law UK, the professional development organisation she established in 2012. MBE for services to diversity, social mobility and law, Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020. Honorary Doctorate, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2022. Bencher of Gray’s Inn. Appointed to the list of counsel for the International Criminal Court. Host of the Talking Law podcast, featuring senior UK legal figures including Lord Pannick KC and the Treasury Solicitor. Non-Executive Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre and Arawak Walton Housing Association; Trustee, Access to Justice Foundation; part-time judge, Valuation Tribunal for England. Biography The legal profession is one of the most credentialled and slowest-moving institutions in British public life. It is also one of the places where the gap between stated values and lived experience is most visible. Sally Penni MBE has spent her career working that gap from the inside, as a practising barrister, an institution-builder and a public voice on what inclusion actually requires. She practises at Kenworthy’s Chambers in Manchester across criminal, employment, public and data protection law, and sits as a part-time judge on the Valuation Tribunal for England. She is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and on the International Criminal Court list of counsel. The institutional standing matters because it is the basis on which the rest of the work is taken seriously inside the profession. In 2012 she founded Women in the Law UK, now the country’s largest professional network for women in legal practice. Her Talking Law podcast has built a record of conversation with senior figures of the bar, including Lord Pannick KC and the Treasury Solicitor. Outside the law she sits on boards across theatre, housing and access to justice, including the Royal Exchange Theatre, Arawak Walton Housing Association and the Access to Justice Foundation. The MBE in 2020 and the honorary doctorate from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2022 recognise something specific: a body of work that has changed institutions, not commented on them. For an organisation thinking seriously about inclusion as a leadership standard, that distinction is the point. Key speaking topics Inclusive and values-based leadership Women in leadership and the legal profession Diversity, equity and social mobility Mentorship and talent development Governance and board-level standards Wellbeing and resilience in professional careers Law, regulation and the future of the legal profession Ideal for General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers and senior in-house legal teams setting standards on inclusion and culture Chief People Officers, CHROs and DEI leads designing inclusion strategy for professional and regulated workforces Boards, NEDs and chairs reviewing governance standards on diversity, social mobility and access Senior partners and managing partners at law firms, chambers and professional services firms Audience outcomes A clearer view of what inclusive leadership requires when the organisation is regulated, conservative and resistant to change Direct reference points from inside the legal profession on building durable institutions for under-represented talent A sharper standard for distinguishing inclusion as governance from inclusion as communication Practical perspective on mentoring, sponsorship and progression at senior levels

Why organisations work with Chemmy Alcott A two-decade Team GB career across four Olympic Games gives her credible authority on what sustained high performance under public pressure actually demands, day to day. She is the first British female skier to win a run in a FIS Alpine World Cup event, a specific, verifiable breakthrough rather than a general claim of elite status. Her recovery from a career-threatening Lake Louise leg fracture, returning to compete at Sochi 2014, gives audiences a concrete case study in decision-making after physical shock. Lead presenter on BBC Ski Sunday and BBC Winter Olympics analyst across PyeongChang, Beijing and Milano Cortina, which makes her equally credible as conference host and panel chair, not only keynote speaker. Founded the X-Elle initiative for young women in sport and serves as an ambassador for Right to Play, Ski4Cancer, SnowCamp and United Learning, anchoring her message in sustained, named commitments rather than one-off charity work. Biography highlights Four-time Winter Olympian: Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014. Seven-time British overall national champion and eight-time British ladies’ overall champion. First British female ski racer to win a run in a FIS Alpine World Cup event; reached eighth in the world rankings. Lead presenter, BBC Ski Sunday; BBC Winter Olympics analyst across three Games. Finished fifth on ITV Dancing on Ice (2012), having taken up skating to rehabilitate a fractured leg. Founder of the X-Elle confidence-through-sport initiative; long-standing ambassador for Right to Play, Ski4Cancer, SnowCamp and United Learning. Biography A 50-bone childhood ski accident nearly ended Chemmy Alcott’s career before it began. She came back to compete in four consecutive Winter Olympic Games for Team GB, win seven British overall national titles, and become the first British female ski racer to win a run in a FIS Alpine World Cup event. The career was not a clean upward line. A serious crash at Lake Louise broke her leg and threatened her place at Sochi 2014. She rebuilt her physical base by switching to ice skating, reached the final stages of ITV Dancing on Ice, and returned to compete at her fourth Olympics. That sequence, injury, public reinvention, return, is the spine of her keynote work. Since retiring in 2014 she has anchored BBC Ski Sunday as lead presenter and served as a BBC Winter Olympics analyst across PyeongChang, Beijing and Milano Cortina. The broadcasting craft matters commercially: she is fluent on stage, holds a panel, hosts an awards room, and handles live conference moments without losing structure. Her work outside broadcasting is concrete rather than ornamental. She founded the X-Elle initiative to build young women’s confidence through sport, climbed Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Right to Play, and remains an active ambassador for Right to Play, Ski4Cancer, SnowCamp and United Learning. The through-line is the same one she takes to corporate audiences: there is no win or lose, only win or learn. Key speaking topics Resilience after physical and competitive shock Self-leadership and composure under pressure Growth mindset and learning from failure Peak performance in elite sport Women’s leadership and confidence in performance environments Olympic-level preparation and team dynamics Conference hosting, panel chairing and awards presenting Ideal for Sales, commercial and frontline teams rebuilding momentum after a tough cycle or restructure Women’s leadership networks and ERGs commissioning a credible elite-sport voice Conferences and awards events that need a senior host with broadcast pedigree, not only a keynote Sponsor and partner audiences in winter sport, automotive, outdoor and lifestyle categories Audience outcomes A direct, lived case study of returning to elite performance after a career-threatening injury A reframe of failure as usable information, anchored in specific Olympic-cycle decisions A practical view of how elite athletes manage public scrutiny, recovery and family life in parallel Energy and pace from a presenter who can host the rest of the day, not only deliver a keynote