Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Why organisations work with Ellie Simmonds She speaks to inclusion from inside the experience, not from a research deck. Teams hear what belonging actually requires, from someone whose career was built in environments that were not designed for her. Her documentary work, including the BAFTA-winning “Finding My Secret Family”, gives her a vocabulary for difficult conversations about disability, identity and adoption that most speakers do not have. She brings elite high-performance credibility alongside the inclusion content. Audiences get eight Paralympic medals and the discipline behind them, without the detachment of a pure sports keynote. She is a working BBC Sport broadcaster, so she handles panels, Q and A and hosting at a professional standard, not as a one-off favour. Biography highlights Five Paralympic gold medals across Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016; eight Paralympic medals in total across four Games Appointed MBE in 2009 aged 14, the youngest recipient of the honour at the time; promoted to OBE in 2013 for services to Paralympic sport BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, 2008 Subject and presenter of “Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family” (ITV, 2023), winner of the BAFTA for Single Documentary, 2024 First contestant with dwarfism on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, series 20, 2022 Broadcaster for BBC Sport, including Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Paris 2024 Paralympics Biography At thirteen, Simmonds was the youngest British athlete at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics and left with two gold medals. The story could have ended as a prodigy footnote. Instead it became the first chapter of a fifteen-year career across four Paralympic Games, eight medals, and a public role that has stretched well beyond the pool. What made her visible beyond sport was the clarity with which she has always spoken about living with achondroplasia. The discipline that produced the medals is the same discipline she brings to conversations about difference, adoption and what inclusion actually asks of institutions. Her 2023 ITV documentary “Finding My Secret Family” followed her search for her birth mother and surfaced the historical attitudes to disability that shaped that adoption. It won the BAFTA for Single Documentary in 2024. She retired from competition after Tokyo 2020 and has built a second career as a broadcaster with BBC Sport, including coverage of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and the Paris 2024 Paralympics. She was the first contestant with dwarfism on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, a piece of visibility she treated with the same seriousness as her racing. For corporate audiences, the value is specific. She offers a first-person account of what inclusion feels like when it works and when it does not, backed by the credibility of an elite career and the communication range of a working broadcaster. Key speaking topics Disability inclusion and belonging in the workplace High-performance mindset and sustained excellence Resilience under public scrutiny Adoption, identity and family Representation in sport and media Managing transition out of an elite career Ideal for Chief People Officers and DEI leads building inclusion programmes that need more than policy language Employee resource groups focused on disability, neurodiversity or family and adoption Leadership development audiences looking at performance over a long career Organisations marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities, International Women’s Day or similar moments with substance Audience outcomes A first-person account of what daily inclusion requires, from someone who has navigated it in elite and public settings A clearer sense of how high performance is sustained across a decade and a half, and what falls away when it ends A vocabulary for talking about disability and difference at work without defaulting to either discomfort or platitude Language for leaders on representation that goes beyond visibility metrics

Why organisations work with Debbie Wosskow Three exits as founding CEO across PR, the sharing economy, and the women’s network category, giving boards a rare interlocutor who has personally taken capital, scaled a team, and sold the business. Co-Chair of the UK government’s Invest in Women Taskforce, which closed over £255m of committed capital for female founders in November 2024, the largest pool of its kind globally. Author of the 2014 government review “Unlocking the Sharing Economy”, the regulatory frame that legitimised platforms including Airbnb and Zipcar in the UK market. Operates inside the institutions that allocate capital and reputation: Senior Advisor at McKinsey, Non-Executive Director of Channel 4, Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board. Co-author with Anna Jones of “Believe. Build. Become” (Penguin, 2019), the playbook that emerged from the AllBright Academy and continues to anchor her keynote material on women in leadership. Biography highlights Founder and exited CEO of three businesses: Mantra (sold to Loewy Group), Love Home Swap (sold to Wyndham Destination Networks, $53m, 2017) and AllBright (co-founded with Anna Jones, exited 2022). Co-Chair, Invest in Women Taskforce, appointed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Non-Executive Director, Channel 4, since January 2024. Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Company. OBE for services to business; Freedom of the City of London. Author of “Believe. Build. Become” (Penguin, 2019) with Anna Jones, and the UK government’s “Unlocking the Sharing Economy” review. Biography The UK economy loses roughly £250bn a year because women start and scale businesses at a fraction of the rate of men. Debbie Wosskow has spent two decades building inside that gap, first as a founder and now as the operator who sits at the table where institutional capital is reassigned. The Invest in Women Taskforce she co-chairs closed over £255m of committed funding for female founders in November 2024, the largest dedicated pool of its kind anywhere. Her authority on the topic is not theoretical. Wosskow founded and sold Mantra in her twenties, built Love Home Swap into a subscription business that Wyndham Destination Networks bought for $53m in 2017, and co-founded AllBright with Anna Jones in 2016, exiting in 2022. Each business was venture-backed and each exit was completed under her as CEO. Government and regulators use her as a translator between policy and operating reality. She wrote the 2014 review “Unlocking the Sharing Economy” for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the document that shaped how the UK regulates platforms including Airbnb and Zipcar. She now sits as Non-Executive Director of Channel 4, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and Executive Chair of The Better Menopause, with a board seat on the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board. For senior audiences, the proposition is specific: an operator who has built and sold three companies, written the rules for one of the largest new market categories of the last decade, and now controls one of the most consequential pools of growth capital aimed at women in the UK. Her co-authored Penguin title “Believe. Build. Become” remains the public expression of that argument. Key speaking topics Female entrepreneurship and access to capital Scaling and exiting venture-backed businesses The sharing economy and platform regulation Women in leadership and the AllBright thesis Investing in women as economic strategy Building and selling businesses at pace Boardroom voice for entrepreneurs Ideal for Boards and ExCos commissioning a serious operator voice on female founders, capital allocation, and the economics of inclusion. CEOs, CFOs and investment committees rethinking how growth capital reaches female-led businesses. Financial services, professional services and corporate venture audiences seeking a credible UK policy and operator perspective. Female leadership networks and executive development programmes within FTSE-listed and global organisations. Audience outcomes A clearer operator account of what scaling and exiting a venture-backed business actually requires, drawn from three completed exits. A working understanding of the £255m Invest in Women Taskforce model and what it signals for corporate capital strategy. The argument and the evidence base behind investing in female founders as a growth lever, not a CSR line. Practical perspectives from “Believe. Build. Become” on building career and leadership capital as a woman in a senior commercial role. A direct read on how Westminster, the City and corporate boards are currently moving on female entrepreneurship.

Why organisations work with Charlotte Sweeney She has the rare credential of having written a UK government-commissioned policy review on women on boards, the 2014 Sweeney Review for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which directly shaped the Enhanced Code for executive search firms. Leaders FIRST gives her a named diagnostic framework, drawn from work with more than 3,000 senior leaders, that identifies the five reasons inclusion change actually stalls inside a business. That is unusual in a field dominated by training products without a thesis. Her co-authored book Inclusive Leadership, published by FT Publishing and shortlisted for the CMI Management Book of the Year 2018, gives executive audiences a substantive reference rather than a slide deck. Twelve years of running Charlotte Sweeney Associates means she briefs at C-suite level on what has actually worked, and what has quietly failed, across financial services, FMCG, luxury, healthcare, and professional services. She is credible in the current climate where DEI is contested. She talks about inclusion as a leadership discipline, not a political position, which is what most boards now need. Biography highlights OBE, 2017 New Year Honours, for services to Women and Equalities. Author of the 2014 Independent Review of the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms, commissioned by the UK Business Secretary. Co-author, Inclusive Leadership (FT Publishing, 2016), shortlisted for CMI Management Book of the Year 2018. Founder and CEO, Charlotte Sweeney Associates, established 2012. Chartered Management Consultant; 2025 MCA Inclusion Award winner; finalist, Times Management Consultant of the Year 2025. Named among HR’s Most Influential Thinkers; former member of the Forbes HR Council. Biography Most inclusion programmes fail at the same point. The strategy is signed off, the metrics get published, and within eighteen months the leadership team has rotated, the budget has been clipped, and the work has lost its centre of gravity. Sweeney has spent more than two decades watching this pattern, first inside global financial services, then through her own firm. She founded Charlotte Sweeney Associates in 2012 and has since advised C-suites and boards across financial services, FMCG, luxury, hospitality, healthcare, and manufacturing. The firm’s signature framework, Leaders FIRST, was built from input from more than 3,000 senior leaders and isolates the five barriers that actually stop inclusion work landing: fear, ignorance, relinquishing responsibility, systemic inertia, and time. Her credibility on policy is not theoretical. In 2014 she authored the independent review for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, commissioned by Business Secretary Vince Cable, into the executive search firms’ Voluntary Code of Conduct on women on boards. The review directly shaped the Enhanced Code that followed. She received an OBE in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to Women and Equalities. The book she co-authored with Fleur Bothwick, Inclusive Leadership, was published by FT Publishing and shortlisted for the Chartered Management Institute’s Management Book of the Year 2018. It is the reference she leaves with executive teams who want a serious working text rather than a training deck. In 2025, the Management Consultancies Association named her firm winner of its Inclusion Award, and the Times shortlisted her for Management Consultant of the Year. Key speaking topics Inclusive leadership at board and C-suite level Diversity, equity and inclusion strategy Culture transformation Women on boards and senior pipeline Leaders FIRST: barriers to culture change Wellbeing in the workplace Inclusion in a contested political climate Ideal for CHROs, Chief People Officers and Chief Inclusion Officers redesigning DEI strategy after political and budget pressure Boards and executive committees holding the line on inclusion as a governance issue, not a campaign Executive search and talent functions reviewing pipeline practice for senior appointments CEOs leading culture transformation where prior inclusion programmes have lost momentum Audience outcomes A clear read on why most DEI programmes lose executive support, drawn from named patterns across sectors The Leaders FIRST diagnostic, which gives leaders a shared language for the five barriers to culture change A defensible position on inclusion that holds up under board scrutiny in the current political environment Practical reference points from a UK government policy review and a decade of C-suite advisory work A senior peer voice on what separates inclusion theatre from inclusion as an operating discipline

Why organisations work with Bonnie Greer She has sat on both sides of the table that boards rarely bridge: working artist and critic, and Deputy Chairman of the British Museum. That shapes how she reads institutional risk. Her five years as Chancellor of Kingston University give her a direct view of how younger cohorts now test the legitimacy of large institutions. As a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of a Langston Hughes biography, she brings a historical reading of race, class and representation that resists slogan-level answers. Her BBC Question Time and Newsnight Review record means she is practised at holding a position under pressure in front of a sceptical audience, which is what most boardrooms now need to rehearse. Biography highlights OBE for services to the Arts, 2010 Birthday Honours. Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, elected July 2022. Deputy Chairman, Board of Trustees, the British Museum, from 2009; Trustee from 2005. Chancellor, Kingston University, from 2013. Author of Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction (2011) and the memoir A Parallel Life (2014). Regular BBC Question Time panellist and contributor to BBC Newsnight Review. Biography Culture is no longer a soft topic on the board agenda. It is where reputational risk, workforce expectation and public trust now meet, and it is the area where leadership teams most often find they are underprepared. Bonnie Greer has spent a career at that intersection, as a working playwright and critic and as a senior governor of two of the UK’s most scrutinised public institutions. She was appointed to the British Museum’s Board of Trustees in 2005 and served as its Deputy Chairman from 2009, through a period when museums were being forced to rethink their relationship with history, acquisition and audience. She went on to serve as Chancellor of Kingston University from 2013, which gave her a sustained view of how the next generation of graduates now read institutional legitimacy. Her authorial work sharpens the same themes. Langston Hughes: The Value of Contradiction, published in 2011, is a study of a writer who refused to resolve the contradictions of American race and class into a usable slogan. Her 2014 memoir A Parallel Life traces her own route from the South Side of Chicago to British public life. The Royal Society of Literature elected her a Fellow in 2022. She is one of the most recognised commentators on BBC Question Time and was a regular contributor to Newsnight Review, including the 2009 Question Time edition opposite Nick Griffin that became a reference point for how public institutions handle hostile argument on live television. Key speaking topics Culture, representation and institutional credibility Public discourse and the management of contested argument Governance of cultural and educational institutions Race, class and history in organisational life Storytelling as a leadership tool Creativity and freedom of expression at work Ideal for Boards and executive committees of cultural, educational and public-facing institutions CHROs and Chief People Officers working on inclusion, representation and workforce voice Communications and corporate affairs leaders preparing for contested public conversations University leadership teams and professional services partners with significant public-sector exposure Audience outcomes A sharper reading of how culture and representation now shape institutional reputation Confidence to hold a position on contested social questions without defaulting to compliance language A more historical frame for current debates on race, class and public trust A clearer sense of where governance, artistic voice and public accountability intersect

Why organisations work with Ayanna Howard Her lab produced the first peer-reviewed algorithms quantifying how robot mistakes erode human trust – including in emergency scenarios where people followed automated systems away from clearly marked exits. That finding reframes the AI governance question from “is our system accurate?” to “are our people dangerously deferring to it?” Her book Sex, Race, and Robots (2021) makes a specific, falsifiable argument: AI bias originates with the designer, not the data. That argument changes where leadership teams assign accountability – and what they need to do before deployment, not after. She holds board seats at Autodesk and Motorola Solutions while running one of the largest engineering schools in the US. She understands AI decisions from lab to boardroom, and she speaks to both with equal authority. Zyrobotics, the company she founded from her Georgia Tech research, has commercialised AI for children with motor and cognitive challenges – she has direct product experience of translating research into regulated, real-world applications. As the 2021–2022 ACM Athena Lecturer and a Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, and the National Academy of Inventors, her credentials carry weight in technical due diligence conversations as well as executive ones. Biography highlights Dean of the College of Engineering, The Ohio State University – first woman in the role; manages a $360M annual budget, 12 departments, and 11,900+ students Senior Robotics Researcher and Deputy Manager, Office of the Chief Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory – contributed to Mars rover and arctic robotics programmes Named 2021–2022 ACM Athena Lecturer for fundamental contributions to accessible human-robotic systems and AI Author of Sex, Race, and Robots: How to Be Human in the Age of AI (Audible Studios/Brilliance Audio, 2021) Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, and National Academy of Inventors; elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Independent director, Autodesk Inc. and Motorola Solutions Inc. boards Founder, Zyrobotics – Georgia Tech spin-off developing AI-powered educational and therapy products for children with special needs Named to Forbes America’s Top 50 Women in Tech and Business Insider’s 23 Most Powerful Women Engineers; featured in TIME, Vanity Fair, CNN, and NPR Biography When an AI system makes a flawed decision, most organisations blame the data. Ayanna Howard’s research makes a harder argument: bias in AI is a design failure, and it traces directly to who builds the system. Her audiobook Sex, Race, and Robots (2021) put that argument to a public audience. Her more than 250 peer-reviewed publications put it to the scientific record. Her experimental work sharpens the stakes. Howard’s Human-Automation Systems Lab produced the first algorithms to quantify how robot mistakes erode human trust – including in emergency scenarios, where research subjects followed an automated guide away from clearly marked exits. The implication is direct: humans are overtrusting AI systems in ways that matter for consequential decisions in healthcare, hiring, and security. Her authority on these questions reaches across three distinct domains. She spent twelve years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – as Senior Robotics Researcher and Deputy Manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist – developing autonomous systems for Mars and arctic terrain. She then led one of the US’s most productive human-robotics labs at Georgia Tech. She now serves as Dean of Engineering at The Ohio State University – its first female dean – overseeing twelve departments, a $360M budget, and more than 11,900 students. Howard also holds board seats at Autodesk and Motorola Solutions, and founded Zyrobotics, which translates her research into AI-powered educational and therapy products for children with special needs. She is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, and the National Academy of Inventors, and the 2021–2022 ACM Athena Lecturer. For boards and leadership teams asking serious questions about AI governance, she offers peer-reviewed research, institutional scale, and direct commercial accountability – in the same person. Key speaking topics AI bias and responsible system design Human overtrust in automated systems Human-robot interaction and trust Assistive and healthcare robotics AI governance and ethics AI in business: risk and opportunity Engineering leadership and workforce diversity in STEM Ideal for Corporate boards and C-suite leaders with AI governance responsibility Chief Technology Officers and Chief Digital Officers overseeing AI deployment R&D and innovation leadership in technology, healthcare, and manufacturing organisations Engineering and technology leadership development programmes Audience outcomes A specific reframe of AI accountability: bias is a design responsibility, not a data problem – with implications for who in the organisation owns it Evidence-based understanding of how humans overtrust automated systems, and what that means for governance and deployment decisions Practical criteria for evaluating AI systems before they are placed in consequential roles Clearer understanding of where workforce diversity in technical teams changes AI outcomes – and how to make the case internally A more confident, evidence-grounded position for boards and leadership teams facing AI adoption decisions

Why organisations work with Annie Lush She has led from inside the crew on the Volvo Ocean Race and The Ocean Race Europe, where a wrong call at 3am in the Southern Ocean is not a case study, it is a survival event. Leaders hear an operator, not a commentator. She was part of Team SCA in 2015, the first all-female crew to win a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in 25 years. The lessons on what the crew built internally to close that gap translate directly to leadership teams rebuilding performance from behind. She has raced with Offshore Team Germany in mixed international IMOCA crews, giving her concrete material on how diverse, multilingual teams actually resolve disagreement at speed, rather than in the abstract. She is a match racing world champion and a 2012 Olympian, so the content on head-to-head tactical decision-making is first-hand, not borrowed. She speaks in English and Spanish and works in European, UK and international programmes without an interpreter layer. Biography highlights London 2012 Olympian, Women’s Elliott 6m match racing (7th, with Lucy and Kate MacGregor). ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Champion, Newport 2010, with further world-champion titles earlier in her match racing career. Member of Team SCA in the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race; crew of the first all-female Leg 8 win (Lisbon to Lorient) in a quarter century. Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 with Team Brunel; The Ocean Race Europe 2021 and 2025 with Offshore Team Germany aboard the IMOCA “Einstein”. Cambridge Blue in rowing, sailing and rugby; member of the Cambridge crew that won the 2001 Women’s Boat Race by the narrowest margin in the race’s history. Works in English and Spanish. Biography A Volvo Ocean Race crew is four or five sailors living inside a 65-foot boat for weeks at a time, making dozens of consequential decisions a day on half-sleep. When Team SCA crossed the line at Lorient in June 2015, it was the first leg win by an all-female crew in 25 years of the race. Annie Lush was on board. That context matters for a boardroom because the sailing is the secondary story. The primary story is how a small, mixed, multilingual crew decides together when the weather model is wrong, the rival boat has picked the other side of a front, and the person on watch has been awake for 20 hours. Lush has been inside that decision loop across four offshore campaigns, including two Volvo Ocean Races and The Ocean Race Europe in 2021 and 2025 with Offshore Team Germany. Her match racing record sharpens the tactical side. She is a world champion in the Women’s Match Racing class and a London 2012 Olympian in the Elliott 6m, a boat-on-boat discipline where the reading of the opposing skipper is as important as the boat speed. Before any of that, she was a Cambridge Blue in three sports and part of the crew that won the 2001 Women’s Boat Race by the smallest margin in its history. What leaders take from her is not a metaphor about sailing. It is a working account of how trust inside a small team is built before the pressure arrives, how followership is a skill in its own right, and how a crew handles the gap between the plan on the chart table and what the sea actually does. Key speaking topics High-performance teamwork under sustained pressure Decision-making with incomplete information Leadership and followership in small mixed teams Resilience and mental endurance in extreme environments Building trust inside a crew before it is tested Performance culture and learning from losing legs Women in elite mixed-gender professional environments Ideal for Executive committees and senior leadership teams heading into a period of sustained operational pressure Transformation leads and programme directors running long-duration, multi-country teams Sales and commercial leadership offsites where decision quality under load is the theme CHROs and culture leads working on trust, followership and mixed-team performance Audience outcomes A concrete picture of how an elite offshore crew rebuilds trust after a bad leg, transferable to a team after a missed quarter Language for the difference between leadership and followership, and why strong teams need both inside the same person A usable test for when to change plan at sea, and how that maps to changing plan mid-quarter in business A more honest view of diversity in high-pressure teams, drawn from mixed international IMOCA crews rather than policy decks Specific examples of decisions made with thin data and short sleep that senior leaders recognise from their own weeks

Why organisations work with Anne Hoyer She has built IoT and digital innovation functions inside SAP, CGI France and Danfoss. Boards get a practitioner’s view of why these programmes stall before ROI arrives. Her Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador position gives her privileged access to one of the world’s most studied Smart City programmes, which she translates into concrete lessons for corporate and municipal leaders. She works natively in the partnership economics of modern technology: when to build capability in-house versus when to co-create with hyperscalers and scale-ups. Leadership teams leave with a sharper model of how their own tech ecosystem should be structured. A former radio and podcast host before moving into tech, she brings communications discipline to the stage that IoT speakers often lack. Complex material reaches commercial audiences cleanly. Biography highlights Head of Partnerships in Digital Services at Danfoss, leading partnership strategy as the group operates as a Microsoft-managed ISV. Previously headhunted to CGI Business Consulting France in 2018 to launch the firm’s SAP Advanced Technology practice. Began her technology career at SAP, reaching a global IoT role in Barcelona within the Leonardo IoT and Predictive Maintenance portfolio. Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador since 2019 with Copenhagen Capacity, representing the city globally on technology and urban sustainability. Named one of the 30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech by Inc.com (2017), shortlisted as Future CIO of the Year by Information Age (2018), and selected as a Global Rising Star by SAP. Chairs the Advisory Board at Smart IoT London and founded Group Saint Honoré, a consultancy supporting tech scale-ups on commercial go-to-market. Biography IoT promised an operational revolution. The industry is still learning to deliver one. Most projects are orphaned between IT and the business, starved of the partner ecosystem that actually makes them scale. This is the terrain Anne Hoyer works in. Her career has tracked that problem from three different angles. At SAP, she progressed to a global IoT role in Barcelona covering Leonardo IoT and Predictive Maintenance Services. In 2018 she was headhunted to CGI Business Consulting in France to launch the firm’s SAP Advanced Technology practice. She now leads partnerships inside Danfoss’s Digital Services function, brokering alliances between big tech, system integrators and scale-ups while the group operates as a Microsoft-managed ISV. The Copenhagen connection runs deeper than geography. Since 2019 she has served as an official Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador with Copenhagen Capacity, representing the city internationally on technology and urban sustainability. Copenhagen has been named among the world’s smartest cities, and she carries its case study material directly into her corporate keynotes. The stagecraft has history. Before joining SAP in 2015, Anne hosted a weekly show on Danish commercial radio and co-created Trendpodding, the first fashion podcast in Denmark. The communications discipline of those years still shows on stage. Board audiences hear the strategic case without getting lost in the architecture. Her external recognition tracks the work: Inc.com’s 30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech (2017), Information Age’s Future CIO of the Year shortlist (2018), and SAP’s Global Rising Star. She also chairs the Advisory Board at Smart IoT London and founded Group Saint Honoré, a consultancy supporting tech scale-ups on commercial go-to-market. Key speaking topics IoT and data-driven innovation Smart cities and urban sustainability Digital transformation in industrial sectors Partnership and ecosystem strategy Women in technology Innovation leadership Ideal for CDOs, CTOs and Chief Innovation Officers running IoT or digital transformation programmes Industrial, energy and manufacturing leadership teams moving from product to software and service models Smart city and municipal leadership teams responsible for urban technology strategy Women-in-tech networks and early-career technology talent programmes Audience outcomes A clearer read on why IoT and digital innovation programmes lose momentum inside large organisations, and where the interventions actually sit Working lessons from one of the world’s most studied Smart City programmes, with direct transfer value into corporate transformation agendas A sharper view of how a leadership team should structure partnerships with hyperscalers, scale-ups and research institutions Confidence that IoT and innovation investments can be sequenced for commercial return when the business case leads the technology choice For younger technology audiences, a credible path from non-technical backgrounds into senior IoT and innovation roles

Why organisations work with Anna Watkins Her credentials are rare in combination: Olympic gold in the double sculls with Katherine Grainger, a PhD in applied mathematics, and a consulting role at McKinsey. Senior audiences take the performance argument seriously because she can defend it with data. The double sculls is a two-person boat where partnership quality determines the outcome, which gives her a first-hand perspective on the specific dynamics of co-leadership, founder pairs, CEO-CFO partnerships and any two-person high-stakes team. As a Cambridge Natural Sciences graduate who came late to her sport, fast-tracked through the World Class Start programme, her story speaks directly to the experience of people being asked to operate at a level they were not originally trained for. Her post-sport work as a data scientist and consultant means she speaks to corporate audiences in their own vocabulary rather than asking them to translate sporting metaphors into a business context. She has earned her platform on DEI topics through substantive work, as a Founding Patron of the Women’s Sport Trust and a former director of the British Athletes Commission, rather than from an athletic profile alone. Biography highlights Olympic gold medallist, women’s double sculls, London 2012, with Katherine Grainger; Olympic record in the semi-final Olympic bronze medallist, double sculls, Beijing 2008; World Champion 2010 and 2011 Appointed MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing PhD in Applied Mathematics, University of Reading; Natural Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge Data scientist and consultant at McKinsey, advising engineering firms and sports teams on analytics Founding Patron of the Women’s Sport Trust; former director of the British Athletes Commission Biography Two people in a boat, three years unbeaten, one Olympic record set in the semi-final of the London 2012 women’s double sculls. Anna Watkins won gold in that final with Katherine Grainger, having also taken bronze in Beijing four years earlier. The sport is the headline, but the reason she works as a speaker is that the performance story is backed by academic and commercial credentials that sport-to-business speakers rarely carry. She came to rowing late, picking it up recreationally in 2001 as a Natural Sciences undergraduate at Newnham College, Cambridge, and was fast-tracked into the national team through the World Class Start programme. A decade of international rowing produced two Olympic medals, two world titles, and two World Rowing Crew of the Year awards with Grainger. The MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours followed for services to the sport. Her second career is quantitative. A PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Reading led into a role at McKinsey as a data scientist and consultant, working with engineering firms and sports teams on analytics strategy. That work informs how she speaks to corporate audiences. The sessions are structured around the mechanics of how elite performance is actually produced, including selection, training load, partnership dynamics and the role of data in decision-making, rather than the metaphor-heavy stories most sporting speakers rely on. The DEI and governance work sits alongside. She is a Founding Patron of the Women’s Sport Trust, a former director of the British Athletes Commission, and holds honorary doctorates from Keele and Staffordshire and an honorary fellowship from Reading. For leadership teams looking at high-stakes partnerships, sustained performance or the credible use of data, Watkins brings the unusual combination of a room that believes her medal and a speaker who can also defend the maths. Key speaking topics Peak performance and sustaining excellence over time Partnership dynamics in two- and three-person high-stakes teams Data, analytics and judgment under pressure Coming back from injury, setback and loss of form Women in elite sport and leadership Translating elite-sport disciplines into corporate performance Ideal for CEOs, executive teams and senior leadership groups focused on sustained performance rather than first-time breakthroughs Founder and co-CEO pairs and other two-person leadership partnerships under commercial pressure Leadership programmes, off-sites and all-hands where an evidence-based peak performance voice is required DEI, women-in-leadership and sport-business audiences looking for a speaker with governance credentials as well as a medal Audience outcomes A concrete view of what actually produces elite performance, from selection through training to partnership design Specific lessons on the mechanics of a high-performing two-person team and how they apply to CEO-CFO, founder and co-leader partnerships A more rigorous framing of how analytics inform rather than replace judgment under pressure Reference points from elite rowing, McKinsey client work and named corporate audiences including Visa, Nationwide, Siemens and the NHS

Why organisations work with Anastasia Graham-Yooll She has reported conflict from the inside, as part of the CNN team that won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, and more recently on the Iran war. Few moderators on a geopolitics panel have stood that close to the story. She has produced for outlets at opposite ends of the political spectrum, from CNN and Al Jazeera English to Fox News and News Nation. For a board-level panel on a divisive issue, that means a chair who can hold a partisan room without being read as taking a side. Two decades of editorial work across CNN International, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English means she can shape a programme arc, brief speakers in advance, and keep a session on the record without drift. As a Ukrainian journalist based in London, she brings primary-source authority on the fracturing rules-based order that few UK-based moderators can match. She brings a working position on press freedom, journalist mental health, and neurodiversity in newsrooms to media, culture, and people-focused programmes. Biography highlights Co-recipient of the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, as part of the CNN team. Over two decades of broadcast and production experience across CNN International, CNN en Español, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English. Recent reporting spans the political spectrum, including production work on the Iran war for the US networks Fox News and News Nation. Founder and Executive Director of HGY Media Ltd, a London-based documentary production and media consultancy firm. Former media consultant to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, advising on communications for its agribusiness and food-security strategy. Public advocate for press freedom, ethical storytelling, journalist mental health, and neurodiversity in newsrooms. Biography A geopolitics panel is only as good as the person in the chair. Put partisan voices in the same room and most moderators either pick a side or let the session drift into headlines. The discipline of holding that room, pressing each speaker on substance while staying neutral, is what Graham-Yooll has built over two decades of broadcast journalism. She was part of the CNN team that won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Breaking News Coverage of the war in Ukraine, reporting in the earliest days of the Russian invasion. Her career runs across CNN International, CNN en Español, Bloomberg TV, and Al Jazeera English. More recently she has produced coverage of the Iran war for the US networks Fox News and News Nation, and royal coverage with the Associated Press’s AP 360. Reporting for outlets at opposite ends of the political spectrum is itself the credential. It is why she can chair a divided room without being read as partisan. Away from live coverage, she founded HGY Media Ltd, a London production and consultancy firm working on documentary projects and purpose-driven campaigns on human rights, conflict communication, and freedom of expression. Her earlier advisory work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, on communications around agribusiness and food security, gives her technical footing on the sustainability and supply-chain questions that increasingly sit inside the geopolitical brief. She also speaks on the working conditions inside modern newsrooms, from the mental health toll of conflict coverage to the case for neurodiversity in editorial teams. For media, culture, and people programmes that want substance over presenter polish, that track is the draw. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and conflict reporting Editorial impartiality across the political spectrum Press freedom and ethical storytelling Editorial leadership and narrative strategy Neurodiversity in the newsroom Mental health in journalism The geopolitics of food security Ideal for Conference organisers seeking a panel chair for geopolitics, defence policy, or Ukraine and Middle East programmes Boards and policy forums that need a neutral chair for politically divided or high-stakes sessions Corporate communications and policy forums on press freedom, disinformation, and crisis communications Media, HR, and culture programmes on newsroom mental health and neurodiversity Audience outcomes A panel that stays editorially controlled, on record, and on time, with each speaker challenged on substance Geopolitical context on Ukraine, the Middle East, and the wider European security picture from a journalist with frontline reporting credit A read on how the same story is framed differently across the political spectrum, from US partisan media to international broadcasters A direct view of what ethical storytelling and press freedom mean for organisations operating in politically volatile markets The practical case for neurodiversity and mental health support in high-pressure editorial and communications teams

Why organisations work with Amy Cappellanti-Wolf She has held the CHRO seat at Dayforce, Cohesity, Symantec and Silver Spring Networks, including taking Silver Spring Networks public on the NYSE in 2013. Her HR career runs from Frito-Lay and The Walt Disney Company through Sun Microsystems and Cisco, so she can speak credibly to consumer, entertainment and enterprise tech leadership teams in their own language. At Dayforce she runs people strategy at an HR technology vendor and acts as “Customer Zero” for the company’s AI-powered HR releases, which gives her an unusually concrete view of where AI lands in real HR operations. She works at board and committee level on talent and rewards, currently as Compensation Committee Chair at Softchoice and as a director or advisor at D-Wave Quantum, Betterworks and Wellist. Recognised externally on people and tech leadership: National Diversity Council Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology, Silicon Valley Business Journal Women of Influence, and the Forbes Human Resources Council. Biography highlights EVP and Chief People Officer, Dayforce, since April 2024. Former CHRO at Cohesity, Symantec and Silver Spring Networks; led people strategy through Silver Spring Networks’ 2013 IPO. Earlier senior HR roles at Cisco Systems (2001 to 2009), Sun Microsystems, The Walt Disney Company and Frito-Lay (PepsiCo). Compensation Committee Chair at Softchoice (TSX: SFTC); board and advisory roles at D-Wave Quantum, Betterworks and Wellist. Forbes Human Resources Council member since 2018; National Diversity Council Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology. Inducted into the Roll of Distinguished Alumni, WVU’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics, in 2019. Biography Few CHROs have stood in the room for a Cisco-era leadership build, a Disney creative organisation, a Symantec security business and a Silver Spring Networks IPO. Amy Cappellanti-Wolf has. That cross-section is what gives her practical authority on what culture and talent actually take when a company changes shape. Her current seat sharpens the point. As EVP and Chief People Officer at Dayforce, she runs people strategy inside an HR technology vendor and uses Dayforce’s own platform as “Customer Zero” for AI-powered HR releases. That gives her a working view of where AI lands in payroll, performance and workforce planning, not as a forecast but as a live deployment. Boards use her where rewards, governance and people risk meet. She chairs the Compensation Committee at Softchoice, sits on the board at D-Wave Quantum, and advises Betterworks and Wellist. Her recognition track record, Forbes HR Council, the National Diversity Council Top 50 in Technology, Silicon Valley Business Journal Women of Influence, sits alongside the operating record, not in place of it. For senior buyers, the practical value is specific. She can talk credibly to a CHRO planning an IPO, a CEO integrating an acquisition, an HR team rebuilding engagement after a restructure, or a board asking what AI in HR really changes. The answers come from having done it, not from observing it. Key speaking topics People strategy through IPO, M&A and divestiture AI in HR and the future of the people function High-performance culture in scaling tech companies Diversity, equity and inclusion as an operating discipline Leadership and talent for enterprise transformation The CHRO as a board-level voice on people risk Ideal for CHROs and senior HR leaders preparing for IPO, M&A or large-scale restructure CEOs and boards weighing the people implications of AI deployment in core operations Compensation and talent committees considering rewards, succession and culture risk Technology, consumer and entertainment leadership teams running concurrent transformations Audience outcomes A clear sense of how to sequence people priorities through IPO, integration and restructure A practical view of where AI changes HR operations now, drawn from a live enterprise deployment Sharper questions for boards and executive teams on culture, rewards and talent risk Concrete language for inclusion outcomes that survive a politically contested environment

Why organisations work with Alexandra Shulman She ran British Vogue for a quarter of a century across three recessions and the collapse of the print advertising model, and can speak with evidence about what protects a consumer brand’s authority through structural change. She has first-hand judgement on the fashion and luxury economy that organisations rarely access at this level, including on body image, diversity on the cover, and the commercial consequences of editorial choices. Her work on the Vogue centenary issue with the Duchess of Cambridge, documented by BBC Two, is a case study in how a legacy title uses a single moment to reset its cultural position. As a monthly Business of Fashion columnist and Mail on Sunday writer, she has a continuing, named public record on industry shifts, so audiences get a point of view grounded in current analysis, not reminiscence. Her three books, including the Sunday Times bestseller Clothes and Other Things That Matter, give her a body of published work on women, consumer culture, and the business of appearance that goes beyond the editor role. Biography highlights Editor-in-Chief, British Vogue, 1992 to 2017, the longest-serving editor in the title’s history. Editor of British GQ, 1990 to 1992, before moving to Vogue. CBE (2018) for services to fashion journalism; OBE (2005) for services to the magazine industry. Author of Inside Vogue: A Diary of My 100th Year (2016) and the Sunday Times bestseller Clothes and Other Things That Matter (Cassell, 2020), alongside two novels. Monthly columnist, The Business of Fashion, from 2017; regular columnist, The Mail on Sunday. Subject of the BBC Two documentary Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue (2016). Strategic advisor to the online fashion marketplace Atterley. Biography British Vogue was a profitable but narrow title when Alexandra Shulman took it over in 1992. Over the next 25 years, she grew monthly circulation to around 200,000, ran the magazine through three recessions, and held its cultural authority as the advertising base of print magazines collapsed around it. When she left in 2017, she had edited more issues of British Vogue than anyone in its history. The commercial case for her voice starts there. The work was not only editorial. It was running a consumer brand at the top of a crowded category, deciding every month which photographers, writers, models and stories earned the cover, and taking the commercial consequences. Her 2009 open letter to fashion houses, pushing back on sample-size-only clothes and the implications for body image on the page, is one example of an editorial call with direct business and cultural weight. Since leaving Vogue, she has kept a continuing public record on the industry as a monthly columnist for The Business of Fashion and as a Mail on Sunday writer. Her books include the diary-memoir Inside Vogue: A Diary of My 100th Year, written around the magazine’s centenary, and Clothes and Other Things That Matter, a Sunday Times bestseller that reads the wardrobe as a way into questions about work, ambition, ageing, and the female consumer. She was appointed OBE in 2005 and CBE in 2018. She advises the online fashion marketplace Atterley. The BBC Two documentary Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue filmed her in 2016 assembling the centenary issue with the Duchess of Cambridge on the cover, a piece of work now used as a reference point for how legacy titles use a single edition to reset their place in the culture. Key speaking topics Brand authority in consumer media and luxury Creative leadership and long-tenure editorial judgement The business of fashion and the luxury economy Women, work, and the culture of appearance Body image, diversity, and the responsibility of the page Reinvention after a long institutional career Ideal for CMOs and brand leaders in luxury, beauty, retail, and consumer media Boards and executive teams of cultural or heritage brands working through audience and format change CHROs and leadership development programmes focused on long-tenure creative leadership and succession Conferences on women in business, consumer culture, and the creative industries Audience outcomes A named insider’s read on how fashion and luxury actually make commercial decisions. A working definition of brand authority that holds up across a generational shift in media. A clearer view of the trade-offs between editorial point of view and commercial reach. A usable perspective on long-tenure creative leadership: how to stay current, when to change, when to hold. A frank account of reinvention after a defining role, drawn from her own post-Vogue work.

Why organisations work with Sol Campbell One of a small group of footballers to have captained England and won a Premier League title undefeated, a credential that lands with audiences across generations and geographies. Speaks first-hand on what it costs to perform when public sentiment turns against you, drawn from a controversial 2001 free transfer between rival clubs and a 20-year career under tabloid scrutiny. Brings a distinct perspective on race, representation and institutional barriers in sport, grounded in his Westminster “Rainbow Lecture” on racism in football and his Lifetime Achievement Award from Sporting Equals. Adds gravitas and recognition to leadership, DEI and after-dinner programmes where audiences value an authentic voice from elite professional sport over a bureau-trained motivational template. Biography highlights 73 England caps; the only player to represent England at six consecutive major tournaments (1996-2006). Five seasons at Arsenal: two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, and a starting role in the 2003-04 “Invincibles” unbeaten league campaign. 503 Premier League appearances across Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Newcastle, placing him among the top fifteen on the all-time list. Captained Tottenham to the 1999 League Cup and Portsmouth to the 2008 FA Cup; PFA Team of the Year selections in 1999, 2003 and 2004. Subject of “Sol Campbell: The Authorised Biography” by Simon Astaire (2014), which addressed racism, identity and the cost of a public career. Managerial spells at Macclesfield Town and Southend United, and a 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from race equality charity Sporting Equals. Biography Few defenders of the Premier League era carried as much public weight as Sol Campbell. The 2001 transfer from Tottenham to Arsenal was one of the most contested moves in English football, and it framed a career played out under unusual scrutiny. What followed was two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, and a starting place in the Arsenal side that went a full league season unbeaten in 2003-04. For England he won 73 caps and is the only player to have represented the country at six consecutive major tournaments. He captained the side at 23, an early test of composure against the public expectation that comes with the armband. The arc of his playing career, 503 Premier League appearances and a captaincy at three clubs, gives him a long-form view of what holds a team together when pressure persists. Off the pitch, Campbell has been one of the more direct voices on race and institutional barriers inside English football. He used his authorised biography by Simon Astaire to address the question publicly, delivered a “Rainbow Lecture” at Westminster on racism in the game, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sporting Equals in 2023. His managerial experience at Macclesfield and Southend, both clubs in financial difficulty, gave him a second perspective on leadership inside organisations under structural strain. For corporate audiences he is a recognisable figure who can speak credibly on leadership identity, the discipline of high-performance teams, and the personal experience of being a senior figure under sustained external pressure. His value is in the specifics of what that career actually demanded, told without varnish. Key speaking topics Leadership under public pressure Captaincy and team identity in elite sport High-performance culture Race, representation and institutional barriers in sport Resilience across a long professional career Personal identity in a public life Ideal for Corporate leadership conferences and senior team off-sites DEI, race equity and employee resource group programmes After-dinner and award-ceremony audiences in finance, professional services and sport Sponsor activations and brand events tied to football and elite sport Audience outcomes A first-hand account of what captaincy and high-performance standards look like when held over a 20-year career. A direct perspective on race and representation in a professional environment, from someone who has spoken publicly about it for over a decade. Specific examples of how senior figures hold composure when public sentiment moves against them. Recognition value: a household-name speaker whose presence anchors a flagship event for audiences that follow English football.