Entrepreneurship

Why organisations work with Tan Le A working neurotech CEO. EMOTIV’s brainwear is used by researchers and enterprises in over 140 countries and cited across more than 4,000 peer-reviewed studies. Her view of where neurotechnology meets business is built on shipped products and enterprise pilots with companies like Dell and JLL. A defined thesis for the next decade. Her book The NeuroGeneration sets out how brain science, AI, and consumer-grade neurotechnology are converging into a new generation of human-machine integration. Leadership audiences leave with a structured way to think about a domain most have only encountered through headlines. Credibility at the level boards take seriously. She holds a board seat at ASX-listed QBE Insurance Group, sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Neurotechnologies and Brain Science, and writes for the Forbes Technology Council. The cognitive workplace, made tangible. EMOTIV’s enterprise products measure attention and cognitive stress in everyday work settings. For leadership teams thinking about productivity and wellbeing as separate questions, she shows how cognitive measurement is starting to bring them together. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of EMOTIV, the Silicon Valley neurotechnology company whose EEG-based brain-computer interface technology is used in over 140 countries and validated across more than 4,000 peer-reviewed studies Author of The NeuroGeneration: The New Era in Brain Enhancement That Is Revolutionizing the Way We Think, Work, and Heal (BenBella/Simon & Schuster, 2020), endorsed by Klaus Schwab and David Eagleman Non-Executive Director of QBE Insurance Group, an ASX-listed multinational insurer with over 11,700 employees across more than 27 countries Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Neurotechnologies and Brain Science, and a WEF Young Global Leader since 2009 Three-time TED speaker; her TEDxWomen talk “My Immigration Story” has been viewed more than 1.4 million times Recipient of the Industrial Research Institute Achievement Award (2018), Young Australian of the Year (1998), Fast Company Most Influential Women in Technology (2010), Forbes 50 Names You Need to Know (2011), and National Geographic Emerging Explorer (2013); her portrait is held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Biography Wireless EEG technology has crossed out of the research lab into everyday environments. Offices, classrooms, and consumer products are starting to use brain data in ways that were impossible a decade ago. EMOTIV has been one of the companies opening that path. Tan Le founded EMOTIV in 2011 and runs it today. The company’s headsets and earbuds turn brain activity into usable data for researchers and enterprises in more than 140 countries, with citations across over 4,000 peer-reviewed studies. Pilots with Dell and JLL apply that measurement to attention and cognitive stress in real workplace settings. Her book The NeuroGeneration (Simon & Schuster, 2020) traces how brain-computer interfaces, neural stimulation, and AI are converging into human-machine integration that reshapes work, healthcare, and learning. The book carries endorsements from Klaus Schwab and David Eagleman. Le sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Neurotechnologies and Brain Science. She also holds a board seat at ASX-listed QBE Insurance Group and writes for the Forbes Technology Council. That biographical arc adds to the institutional credibility. She arrived in Australia as a four-year-old refugee from Vietnam and was named Young Australian of the Year at 21. Today, she runs one of the most cited platforms in mobile EEG research. Her portrait sits in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. Key speaking topics Brain-computer interfaces and neurotechnology The future of work and human-machine integration AI, automation, and cognitive augmentation Workplace wellbeing and cognitive performance Innovation and entrepreneurship in deep technology The ethics and governance of neurotechnology Reinvention and outsider thinking Ideal for Boards and CEOs setting long-range technology strategy in financial services, healthcare, technology, and consumer industries Chief Technology Officers and Chief Innovation Officers are thinking about the convergence of AI, neurotech, and human performance CHROs and Chief People Officers looking for substantive content on cognitive workplace design beyond the wellness category Founders and growth-stage entrepreneurs working at frontier-technology intersections Audience outcomes A clear-eyed view of which neurotechnology and brain-computer interface applications are operating today and which are still emerging The argument behind The NeuroGeneration, with concrete examples from enterprise pilots and clinical research A practical frame for how cognitive measurement is starting to change how leaders think about workplace productivity and wellbeing A view of the ethical and governance questions board-level decision-makers will face as neurotechnology moves into enterprise use Sharper questions to ask vendors and internal teams making claims about brain-related products

Why organisations work with Fredrik Eklund He has built and scaled one of the highest-grossing residential real estate teams in the United States, with $4.6B in sales in 2022 and $3.77B in 2023, so his advice on client acquisition and closing is grounded in operator-scale results rather than theory. The Sell, his New York Times bestselling book with Penguin’s Avery imprint, gives audiences a named, testable ten-step framework for personal selling and pitching, which turns the keynote into a tool the team can use on Monday. A decade on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York gave him unusual fluency in performing under pressure and building a personal brand in public, a capability most commercial leaders are now being asked to develop themselves. He speaks from a dual-market perspective, having built businesses in both Stockholm and Manhattan and having worked previously at SEB across London, Singapore, and Tokyo, which plays well with global sales audiences who want more than a US-only view. His core argument, that everyone in a client-facing organisation is already in sales whether they realise it or not, lands with audiences beyond the sales team itself, including founders, partners, and professional-services leaders. Biography highlights Co-founder, with John Gomes, of the Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman, reported as the top-producing residential real estate team in the US in recent years. Author of The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone (Avery, 2015), a New York Times bestseller also released in Sweden and the UK. Original cast member of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York from its 2012 launch through 2022, across nine seasons of MDLNY and two seasons of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles. Co-star of Bravo’s Bethenny and Fredrik spin-off with Bethenny Frankel in 2018. Recipient, with John Gomes, of Douglas Elliman’s 2021 ICON Award for cumulative career sales of over $15B. Background in finance at SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore, and Tokyo, and studies at the Stockholm School of Economics, before relocating to New York to build his real estate career from scratch. Biography The Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman closed $4.6B in residential real estate in 2022 and $3.77B in 2023, figures that place it near the top of any serious ranking of US real estate teams. Fredrik Eklund co-founded that business with John Gomes. The scale matters because it is the evidence base for everything he says on stage about sales, client trust, and building a personal brand in a market where every competitor looks equally credible on paper. Eklund arrived in Manhattan in his mid-twenties with a finance CV from SEB in Stockholm, London, Singapore, and Tokyo, and no real estate contacts. Within a year he was nominated for Rookie of the Year by the Real Estate Board of New York. The through line from that start to today’s team is a clear operating idea: in commoditised markets, the product is the seller. The Sell, published by Penguin’s Avery imprint in 2015 and a New York Times bestseller, sets out that idea as a ten-step framework covering authenticity, pitch construction, negotiation, and closing. A decade on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York, from its 2012 premiere through his departure in 2022, turned Eklund into one of the most recognisable sales figures in American business media. It also taught him something less obvious that keynote audiences value. Senior people in client-facing roles, founders, partners, and relationship leaders, are now expected to carry a visible public profile. Eklund has been practising that craft, on camera and at scale, longer than most. For corporate audiences, the argument lands most sharply on two questions leaders are already asking. How do we train our best people to behave like owners of the client relationship rather than executors of a process, and how do we build the kind of personal credibility that moves a deal before the pitch starts. Eklund answers both from inside a live commercial operation, not from a classroom. Key speaking topics Personal selling and the close Personal brand for commercial leaders Client acquisition in commoditised markets Sales culture and high-performance teams Entrepreneurship and business building Negotiation and pitch craft Real estate and luxury markets Ideal for Sales kick-offs and revenue leadership offsites, particularly in financial services, real estate, professional services, and luxury sectors Partner, MD, and client-facing leader events where personal brand and relationship ownership are on the agenda Founder, entrepreneur, and growth-stage audiences building a commercial operation from scratch After-dinner and awards-night formats where a high-recognition keynote with commercial substance is wanted Audience outcomes A named ten-step framework from The Sell that teams can map directly onto their own pitch, pipeline, and closing process A sharper sense of what “personal brand” means in practical, revenue-linked terms, rather than as a social media activity Specific tactics for opening, holding, and closing a high-stakes client conversation in a commoditised market A harder view of what separates a top-tier sales operation from an average one, drawn from inside a team that has closed billions in annual volume Energy and confidence that translates into action the following week, not a feel-good moment that fades

Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship and business building Investment strategy and capital allocation Financial decision-making Personal finance and wealth management Venture investing and startup evaluation Leadership and business discipline Value creation and long-term investment thinking Ideal for Corporate leadership teams Entrepreneurs and startup founders Investors and financial services professionals Business conferences and leadership forums Audience outcomes Clear perspectives on evaluating business opportunities and investment risk Practical insights into building and scaling businesses Structured thinking about capital allocation and financial discipline Lessons from venture investing and startup decision-making Approaches to managing money and financial priorities Why organisations work with Kevin O’Leary Recognised public figure in business through Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den. Combines entrepreneurial experience with investment and media perspectives. Provides commercially focused insights on business growth, capital and financial strategy. Brings real-world examples from investing, entrepreneurship and television business evaluation. Biography Kevin O’Leary is recognised globally for his experience at the intersection of entrepreneurship, investing and business media. Known to audiences through Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den, he brings a direct, commercially focused perspective on building companies, evaluating opportunities and making disciplined financial decisions. O’Leary’s entrepreneurial career began with the founding of SoftKey Software Products, which later became The Learning Company. The business grew into a major player in educational software before being acquired by Mattel in a multi-billion-dollar transaction. This experience established his reputation as a founder who understands both the operational realities of scaling companies and the financial discipline required to create enterprise value. Alongside his work as an investor, O’Leary has built a portfolio of businesses including O’Leary Ventures and O’Shares Investments. His work focuses on capital allocation, long-term value creation and identifying businesses capable of sustainable growth. Earlier in his career he also co-founded O’Leary Funds, further extending his involvement in investment and asset management. O’Leary’s public profile expanded through television, where he became widely known as an investor on Shark Tank and previously as a panelist on Dragons’ Den. His television work has also included appearances on programmes such as Project Earth and CNBC’s Money Court, where he evaluates business proposals and financial disputes with a strong emphasis on commercial fundamentals. Beyond investing and television, O’Leary is the author of the Cold Hard Truth series of books on business and personal finance. His writing focuses on practical approaches to entrepreneurship, financial responsibility and wealth creation. He has also been involved in consumer ventures, including wine-branded products developed under the Kevin O’Leary name. For organisations and leadership audiences, Kevin O’Leary offers a perspective shaped by building companies, investing in entrepreneurs and evaluating businesses in highly competitive environments. His insights focus on financial discipline, opportunity assessment and the realities of scaling and sustaining successful enterprises.

Key speaking topics Technology governance and regulation Data privacy and consumer protection Digital public policy Platform safety and accountability Legal risk in high-growth technology companies State and federal regulatory environments Ideal for Executive leadership teams in technology-driven organisations Legal, compliance and risk professionals Public policy and government affairs leaders Boards overseeing digital transformation and data strategy Audience outcomes Clear understanding of how major technology platforms structure privacy and policy functions Insight into the intersection of regulation, innovation and growth Practical perspective on managing legal and reputational risk at scale Greater clarity on engaging with policymakers and regulatory bodies Why organisations work with Chris Kelly Direct experience building governance frameworks inside a global technology company. First-hand insight into privacy, regulation and public policy at scale. Board-level perspective across technology, media and sports organisations. Combines legal expertise, public policy experience and investment insight in a commercially relevant context. Biography Chris Kelly brings first-hand experience of building privacy, legal and public policy frameworks inside one of the world’s most influential technology companies. As Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer, first General Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy, he helped establish the governance structures, safety principles and regulatory engagement strategies that supported the company’s rapid global growth. His work placed him at the centre of complex questions around data privacy, consumer protection and the relationship between innovation and regulation. He contributed to the development of social networking safety principles in collaboration with state attorneys general, shaping how emerging digital platforms engaged with policymakers and addressed public scrutiny. Beyond his executive career, Chris has operated at board and investor level across technology and media businesses, including leadership roles connected to Fandor and MoviePass. He is also part of the Sacramento Kings ownership group and has served in an executive board capacity, bringing governance insight from both high-growth ventures and established organisations. Earlier in his legal career, he worked in private practice and represented Netscape in litigation related to the Microsoft antitrust case, as well as Diamond Multimedia in litigation concerning early MP3 player technology. This foundation in complex technology litigation informs his practical perspective on regulatory risk and competitive markets. Chris ran for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of California, adding direct electoral and public policy experience to his corporate background. He holds degrees from Georgetown University, Yale University and Harvard Law School. For senior leaders and boards navigating digital risk, regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder expectations, Chris offers grounded insight into how technology companies structure governance, engage with regulators and balance growth with accountability.

Key speaking topics Personal growth and human development Learning innovation and education design Workplace culture and organisational transformation Work-life integration Leadership and personal performance Mindfulness and personal development practices Learning platforms and digital education models Ideal for Corporate leadership teams exploring culture and performance development Organisations focused on learning innovation and workforce development Conferences on personal growth, leadership, and organisational culture HR and talent development leaders seeking new approaches to employee development Audience outcomes Perspective on integrating personal growth with organisational culture Understanding of alternative approaches to learning and development Insights into designing engaging learning experiences Frameworks for thinking about work-life integration Ideas for applying personal development principles in professional environments Why organisations work with Vishen Lakhiani Founder-led perspective from building a global education and personal growth platform. Combines entrepreneurial experience with ideas on learning, culture, and personal development. Author of internationally bestselling books on mindset, leadership, and personal growth. Relevant to organisations exploring modern approaches to workforce learning and organisational culture. Biography Vishen Lakhiani is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a global personal growth and education platform that says it has served more than 20 million students worldwide across 195+ countries. His work focuses on personal development, learning innovation, and organisational culture, exploring how individuals and organisations can rethink performance, wellbeing, and human potential. Through Mindvalley and its ecosystem of learning initiatives, including Mindvalley University and the Quest learning platform, Lakhiani has developed new approaches to education and personal development. His work examines how learning design, mindset, and workplace culture can influence both individual performance and organisational transformation. He is the author of several internationally recognised books on personal growth and leadership. The Code of the Extraordinary Mind is a New York Times bestselling title translated into more than 20 languages. His book The Buddha and the Badass is also a New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller, exploring the relationship between personal development and professional achievement. Lakhiani frequently speaks about integrating personal growth with organisational culture and leadership development. His ideas centre on work-life integration, modern learning systems, and practical ways organisations can support human development within the workplace. Mindvalley has also gained recognition for its workplace culture and office design, including attention connected to Inc.’s “coolest offices” distinction. Lakhiani is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council and continues to advocate new approaches to learning, leadership, and organisational culture.

Why organisations work with Erika Lucas Her accelerator, run in partnership with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, has supported more than 220 women and minority-owned startups since 2017. She draws on live operating experience, finding and scaling founders that most capital systems miss. Her venture fund, VEST Her Ventures, invests in women-led companies in the care economy and the future of work. She brings a current portfolio view of where workforce shifts and regulatory pressure are opening commercial opportunities, and the market is under-pricing. She speaks the language of the full capital stack. As a former private equity Partner and as Director of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, she is fluent in public incentives, PE, VC, and bank credit, which matters for boards making complex allocation decisions. Her TED talk, “America’s Trillion Dollar Blindspot,” makes a market-sizing case for capital flowing to overlooked founders. That is the register that senior leaders and investment committees respond to. She operates from Oklahoma City, away from the coastal hubs from which most speakers on this topic come. For companies building workforce, consumer, or policy strategies outside a handful of metros, her ground-level view is difficult to source elsewhere. Biography highlights Co-founder of StitchCrew, its accelerator with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, has supported more than 220 women and minority-owned startups since 2017 Founder and General Partner of VEST Her Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in women-led companies in the care economy and future of work TED speaker: “America’s Trillion Dollar Blindspot” (TEDxOU) Host of the VEST Her Podcast, examining the structural barriers to women’s economic advancement Board of Directors at Arvest Bank; Fellow at the Just Economy Institute; Member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association Former Partner at a US and European private equity firm; former Director of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, where 38 international companies located or expanded during her tenure Biography Only a sliver of venture capital reaches women and founders of colour. The commercial cost of that pattern is usually understated. Whole categories of customers, markets, and operators are being systematically under-priced by capital that is trained to look in the same handful of places. StitchCrew was built on that reading of the market. Co-founded with her husband Chris in 2016, it runs an accelerator in partnership with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and has supported more than 220 women and minority-owned founders. The positioning matters. It sits in the middle of the country, not on a coastal hub, and the deal flow reflects markets that most East Coast or Bay Area funds never see. The logic extended into investment. VEST Her Ventures, founded in 2022, backs early-stage women-led companies in the care economy and future of work, two sectors where demand is visibly running ahead of available capital. The fund came together in weeks. Two million dollars was raised in two months, entirely from women limited partners based in the middle of the country. The throughline runs back through her earlier career. She was a Partner at a private equity firm with investments in the United States and Europe, and Director of Trade and Foreign Direct Investment at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, where 38 international companies located or expanded during her tenure. She sits on the board of Arvest Bank, is a Fellow at the Just Economy Institute, and hosts the VEST Her Podcast, where the repeated question is what it would take for American capital to stop leaving its most profitable markets untouched. Key speaking topics Access to capital and overlooked markets Entrepreneurship and the new majority economy The care economy and future of work Women in leadership and ownership Venture capital and economic inclusion Economic mobility and public-private strategy Ideal for Corporate boards and Chief Investment Officers are looking for the next source of portfolio growth Private equity and venture investment committees assessing deal flow and diversification CHROs and heads of talent building workforce and care infrastructure strategies Economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, and regional leadership forums are working on commercial inclusion Audience outcomes A sharper commercial argument for investing in overlooked founders and markets, drawn from a live accelerator and an active venture portfolio A clearer map of where venture and growth capital actually lands in the United States, and which geographies and founder profiles it consistently misses Named sectors where consumer and workforce change is already running ahead of investment capital, including the care economy and the infrastructure of work A vocabulary for discussing inclusion in commercial terms, usable with boards, investment committees, and senior executives who are sceptical of fairness-led framing

Why organisations work with Jamie Siminoff He has the full founder arc on the record: invented a product category in a garage, pitched it on national television and walked out without a deal, rebuilt from near-bankruptcy, and sold to Amazon for about 1 billion dollars. He has run the acquired business inside Big Tech, giving buyers a rare view of what integration, reporting lines, and product autonomy look like after a landmark exit. He has repeated the cycle: founded Honest Day’s Work, sold it to Latch Inc., took the CEO seat at the acquirer, then returned to Amazon as a VP running Ring and adjacent smart home units. Most speakers have one exit story; he has a sequence. The Shark Tank rejection is specific and documented, which makes the resilience material credible rather than motivational. It is cited by the Sharks themselves as one of the biggest misses in the show’s history. He co-authored “Ding Dong: How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject to Everyone’s Front Door” with Andrew Postman, published in November 2025, which gives buyers a named, durable reference point for the material. Biography highlights Founder and original CEO of Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018 for approximately 1 billion dollars. Pitched DoorBot on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2013 and left without a deal; returned to the show as a guest Shark in 2018. Earlier founder of PhoneTag, the first voicemail to text service, and Unsubscribe.com, both acquired. Founder of Honest Day’s Work, acquired by Latch Inc. in 2023; subsequently appointed CEO of Latch. Rejoined Amazon in 2025 as Vice President running Ring and related smart home businesses, leading a pivot to AI. Babson College, Class of 1999, and Honorary Doctor of Laws from Babson in 2021, where he delivered the undergraduate commencement address. Co-author with Andrew Postman of “Ding Dong: How Ring Went From Shark Tank Reject to Everyone’s Front Door,” published November 2025. Biography Ring began as DoorBot, a Wi-Fi video doorbell built in a garage in 2011. By 2013 it was on Shark Tank, where every investor passed. The company was close to running out of money. Seven years later, Amazon bought it for roughly 1 billion dollars. That arc is the material Siminoff brings to the stage, and he brings it with the receipts. The more useful part of the story for serious operators is what happened between the rejection and the exit. Siminoff rebuilt the product and the brand, raised from Kleiner Perkins, Qualcomm Ventures, Goldman Sachs, DFJ Growth and Sir Richard Branson, and built Ring into a category defining consumer technology business. After the Amazon acquisition he stayed inside the company for five years, running Ring alongside Blink, Amazon Key and adjacent smart home lines. Most founder talks stop at the exit. His continues through integration. He has since extended the pattern. He founded Honest Day’s Work, sold it to Latch Inc. in 2023, stepped in as Latch’s CEO, and in 2025 rejoined Amazon as a Vice President running Ring and nearby smart home units, now pivoting the category toward AI. In November 2025 he published “Ding Dong” with Andrew Postman, the first full account of how Ring actually got built. A Babson graduate and Honorary Doctor of Laws from the same institution, he is one of a small group of founders who can speak to rejection, category creation, acquisition, and re-entry as connected stages of one working life. Key speaking topics Consumer technology product invention and category creation Scaling from prototype to acquisition Founder resilience through investor rejection Operating an acquired business inside Big Tech Smart home, connected devices, and AI in consumer hardware Brand building in hardware startups Hiring and team building in early stage companies Ideal for Founders, CEOs and product leaders in consumer technology and connected hardware Corporate innovation, strategy and M and A teams working on acquisition integration Investor audiences and startup ecosystems running portfolio or founder programmes Entrepreneurship centres and executive education audiences in business schools Audience outcomes A concrete, non-generic view of what it takes to get a hardware startup from prototype to billion-dollar exit. A working model for how to treat a high-profile rejection as distribution rather than a verdict. Specific insight into how an acquired category runs inside a company like Amazon, and what that means for teams going through similar integrations. A clear read on where consumer smart home and home security technology are heading as AI becomes the core layer of the product. Hiring and early team construction principles drawn from building Ring from a Craigslist hire list to a company sold for 1 billion dollars.

Why organisations work with Norliza Pavlakos Her resilience frameworks are built on a documented commercial track record: she turned a single struggling tailoring store into a five-location franchise serving the Australian Open, Melbourne Grand Prix, and Marriott Hotels – constraint tested under real conditions, not studied from a distance. Three named frameworks – The Conviction Effect, The One-Day Reset, and The Power of Nothing – give organisations structured tools for decision-making under pressure, rapid performance recovery, and reframing resource constraint as a strategic asset. She built the mental health infrastructure before the speaking career. The Support Pages (formerly Mind Hub) is a mental health directory used by GPs across Australia, where clients can review therapist profiles before booking support. The depth is operational, not rhetorical. The 2021 Toastmasters Golden Gavel – awarded annually since 1959, with previous recipients including Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, and Muhammad Yunus – is an independently verified platform credential, not a bureau-issued ranking. Dell, Microsoft, Zurich, Emirates Airlines, and Coca-Cola have booked her for leadership sessions, not general motivation events – consistent evidence that the frameworks land at a corporate, not personal-development, level. Biography highlights 2021 Toastmasters International Golden Gavel recipient – the organisation’s most prestigious annual honour, previously awarded to Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, and Muhammad Yunus Built Finest Alterations from a single struggling store to a five-location tailoring franchise, with clients including the Australian Open, Melbourne Grand Prix, and Marriott Hotels Founder of The Support Pages (formerly Mind Hub), a mental health directory used by GPs across Australia to refer patients to vetted therapists Founded Australia’s first Miss India International Pageant from zero start-up capital at age 23, drawing 4,000 attendees Founder of the Liza Pavlakos Foundation, a registered Australian charity Author of Conviction (memoir, 2023) and The Indefatigable Entrepreneur (business memoir, 2026) Biography The assumption built into most resilience training is that someone has studied pressure from a safe distance. Pavlakos built five businesses from zero capital, including a tailoring franchise that grew from one struggling store to five locations serving the Australian Open and the Melbourne Grand Prix. Toastmasters International awarded her the 2021 Golden Gavel, the organisation’s most prestigious annual honour, previously given to Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, and Muhammad Yunus. The award recognises communication and leadership, not survival. It reflects what she does with the experience, not simply that she has it. Her mental health work is structural. The Support Pages, formerly Mind Hub, is a mental health directory used by GPs across Australia, where clients can review therapist profiles before booking support. The platform exists because she built it, not because she talked about the need for one. From that experience, she developed three named frameworks: The Conviction Effect, which addresses analysis paralysis when pressure compresses time and information; The One-Day Reset, a rapid recovery protocol when burnout or setback threatens performance continuity; and The Power of Nothing, which reframes severe resource constraint as decision-making advantage. Dell, Microsoft, Zurich, and Emirates Airlines have booked her for leadership sessions, not general motivation events. Key speaking topics Decision-making and leadership conviction under pressure Resilience and performance recovery Mental health infrastructure and workplace wellbeing Entrepreneurial leadership and operating under constraint Personal narrative and organisational mindset High-performance team culture Ideal for Senior leadership teams and executive programmes where decision quality under sustained pressure is a live operational concern CHROs and wellbeing leads building psychological resilience into the leadership pipeline Women in leadership conferences where the intersection of commercial achievement and extreme adversity carries specific weight High-performance teams in fast-moving industries where recovery speed after setback is a measurable business outcome Audience outcomes A named model for eliminating analysis paralysis and making faster, cleaner decisions under conditions of incomplete information (The Conviction Effect) A practical 24-hour recovery protocol for maintaining performance through setbacks without extended downtime (The One-Day Reset) A concrete reframe of resource constraint and underestimation as leadership advantage, with specific application to uncertain operating conditions (The Power of Nothing) Clearer understanding of where and how decision quality degrades under sustained pressure, and what structural responses are available Awareness of what genuine mental health infrastructure looks like in practice, from a founder who built it

Key speaking topics Gen Z audiences and consumer behaviour Influencer marketing strategy Social media-led brand building Creator economy and digital marketing Youth culture and digital trends Entrepreneurship and startup growth Multi-generational workplaces Ideal for Marketing and brand leadership teams Digital and social media strategy leaders Corporate audiences seeking insight into younger consumers Organisations exploring creator-led marketing Audience outcomes Clearer understanding of how Gen Z audiences engage with brands online Practical insight into influencer and creator-led marketing models Perspective on how social media platforms shape modern brand growth Lessons from building and exiting a digital marketing business Why organisations work with Timothy Armoo Combines entrepreneurial experience with practical insight into influencer marketing and youth-focused digital platforms. Brings first-hand perspective from building and selling a creator-economy marketing agency. Helps organisations translate social media and Gen Z trends into strategic marketing decisions. Provides relevant insights for brands adapting to creator-led and platform-driven marketing environments. Biography Timothy Armoo is an entrepreneur recognised for his work at the intersection of Gen Z culture, influencer marketing, and social media-led brand growth. He co-founded Fanbytes, an influencer and social media marketing agency focused on helping brands engage younger audiences through creator platforms and emerging digital channels. Fanbytes built its reputation working with major brands and developing campaigns designed for youth-driven platforms and creator ecosystems. The company was later acquired by global digital marketing agency Brainlabs in an eight-figure deal, reflecting the growing importance of influencer-led marketing within modern brand strategy. Armoo’s work has earned industry recognition, including inclusion in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe in the Media & Marketing category. He has also been named in the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 list of London’s most influential figures in digital advertising and marketing. Alongside his entrepreneurial work, Armoo is the author of What’s Stopping You?, published by Penguin. Earlier in his career he founded EntrepreneurXpress, a teen business media project focused on entrepreneurship and young founders. Today he shares insights drawn from building and exiting a digital marketing business, helping organisations understand how younger audiences engage with brands and how social media and creator platforms are reshaping modern marketing.

Why organisations work with Adam Smith The Real Junk Food Project is not a case study from a consultancy report. Smith built it from a single Leeds cafe in 2013 to a network of 120+ projects across seven countries, which makes his argument about the scalability of surplus redistribution operationally evidenced, not theoretical. The Pay As You Feel model challenges the assumption that pricing must track cost-price. For organisations navigating social value procurement, circular economy strategy, or food retail margins, that challenge is commercially relevant. Smith has given parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste, which means his framing has direct policy credibility – useful for organisations managing regulatory and reputational exposure on ESG commitments. His current work at Surplus to Purpose, which diverted 506 tonnes of food in 2023, keeps his insight current. He is not drawing on a legacy project. The Telegraph named him one of the 50 most influential people in UK Food & Drink (Food & Drink Power List, 2017). His argument has been stress-tested in public, not just on stage. Biography highlights Founded The Real Junk Food Project in Leeds in December 2013; the network grew to 120+ projects across seven countries within four years TEDx speaker at TEDxWarwick (2015): “Let’s REALLY Feed the World” Named one of 50 most influential people in UK Food & Drink, The Telegraph Food & Drink Power List (2017) FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts) Gave parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste Yorkshire Awards 2025 Community Hero Award; Canal & River Trust Unsung Hero of Leeds (2022) CEO of Surplus to Purpose since 2022; appeared on Channel 4’s Inside the Superbrands Observer Food Monthly Awards runner-up across TRJFP projects in Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds (2017, 2018) Biography The UK food industry wastes an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of food annually. Most of it is edible. In December 2013, Adam Smith opened a single cafe in Armley, Leeds, that served meals made entirely from intercepted surplus. He called the pricing model Pay As You Feel. Within four years, that cafe had become a network of 120+ projects operating across seven countries. The model did not succeed because it was charitable. It succeeded because it demonstrated a functional alternative to the assumption that surplus has no commercial value – and that communities, schools, and organisations could participate in redistribution at scale without requiring philanthropy as a precondition. Smith stepped back from The Real Junk Food Project in 2019 and, in 2022, took on the leadership of Surplus to Purpose – a social enterprise built on the same structural argument but with a more explicit focus on the environmental costs of food waste in the supply chain. Surplus to Purpose diverted 506 tonnes of food in 2023. He has given parliamentary evidence to an All-Party Parliamentary Group on food waste, and The Telegraph placed him on its Food & Drink Power List in 2017 as one of the 50 most influential people in the sector. The TEDxWarwick talk from 2015 covers the core argument clearly. Food waste is a corporate supply chain decision, not a consumer behaviour problem. The organisations with the most leverage to change it are the ones that benefit most from not changing it. Key speaking topics Surplus food redistribution and supply chain waste Pay As You Feel and alternative pricing models Purpose-led business model design Social enterprise at scale ESG and food system accountability Corporate responsibility in the food supply chain Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads in food retail, hospitality, and manufacturing Procurement and supply chain leadership in organisations with food or FMCG exposure Strategy and transformation teams working on circular economy frameworks Social value and impact leads in public sector and corporate foundations Audience outcomes A working model for how surplus redistribution operates at scale – not a concept, but a documented case with known failure points and operational evidence A concrete example of how pricing can be decoupled from cost-price to deliver both social value and commercial viability Clarity on where corporate supply chains generate waste and why existing incentive structures keep that waste in place A framework for distinguishing between ESG commitments that reduce reputational risk and changes that alter the underlying supply chain economics

Why organisations work with Brenda Romero Forty-plus years inside a creative industry as designer, studio CEO and educator, with credits on roughly 49 shipped titles including the Wizardry series, Jagged Alliance, Ghost Recon and Empire of Sin. A working perspective on running an independent creative business: she co-founded Romero Games in Galway in 2015 and has built it through publisher deals, original IP and the realities of indie studio economics. An unusual record on the question of how design carries meaning. Her Train (2009) and the broader The Mechanic is the Message series are studied in academic literature as examples of game mechanics used to communicate difficult historical material. Formal industry recognition that buyers can reference without explanation: BAFTA Special Award (2017), GDC Ambassador Award (2015), Fulbright Scholar (2014). An educator’s clarity. As Director of the MSc in Game Design and Development at the University of Limerick (2016 to 2019) she taught the craft to a graduate cohort, and co-authored Challenges for Game Designers with Ian Schreiber, a standard text in the field. Biography highlights Co-founder and CEO, Romero Games Ltd, Galway, Ireland (2015 to present). BAFTA Special Award, 2017, for creative contribution to the games industry. Game Developers Choice Ambassador Award, 2015. Fulbright Scholar, 2014. Director, MSc in Game Design and Development, University of Limerick, 2016 to 2019. Designer of Train (2009) and the The Mechanic is the Message series; works held by the Strong National Museum of Play; TED speaker on games for understanding. Biography Most discussions of innovation get stuck at the level of culture. Romero’s career is a sustained argument that it is really a question of craft. She began at Sir-tech Software in 1981 on the Wizardry role-playing series, and has since shipped credits on roughly 49 titles across PC, console and mobile, including Jagged Alliance, Ghost Recon, Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes and Empire of Sin. In 2015 she co-founded Romero Games in Galway with John Romero, where she is CEO. The studio sits outside the conventional tech hubs, an operating choice rather than an aesthetic one, and a useful case study for any leader thinking about how to build a creative organisation away from the talent magnet cities. The work spans publisher partnerships, original IP and the day-to-day of running a creative business through cycles. Alongside the commercial work, Romero has used game design to address serious historical material. Train (2009) and the wider The Mechanic is the Message series treat the mechanics of a game, the rules players agree to follow, as the message itself. Train won the IndieCade Vanguard Award and is studied in academic literature on serious games and design ethics. The credentials line up around a consistent argument. BAFTA Special Award in 2017. GDC Ambassador Award in 2015. Fulbright Scholar in 2014. Director of the MSc in Game Design and Development at the University of Limerick from 2016 to 2019. Co-author with Ian Schreiber of Challenges for Game Designers, a standard text used in graduate programmes worldwide. Key speaking topics Creative leadership in technology and entertainment The discipline of design and managed innovation Building and running an independent creative studio Games as a medium for communicating complex ideas Women in technology and the games industry The economics of creative work and intellectual property Ideal for Leaders of creative, R and D, brand and product organisations. Boards and executive teams in entertainment, media and consumer technology. Innovation and transformation leads looking for a working studio perspective on creative output. Talent and learning leaders building creative capability inside a corporate environment. Audience outcomes A working operator’s view of how creative output is produced under commercial pressure. A clearer picture of what good design discipline looks like when the subject is hard or contested. Reference points from inside the games industry that translate into corporate creative function. A frank account of building a creative business outside the obvious geographies, with the trade-offs named.

Why organisations work with Bill Tolany He has run brand and marketing inside a category-defining grocer and operations inside Amazon’s ultra-fast delivery business, so he can talk about customer experience as both a marketing problem and a logistics problem. As Senior Director of Marketing at Whole Foods Market, he launched the integrated marketing team and grew alternative commerce sales by hundreds of millions of dollars; a specific commercial result, not a theme. His Amazon Prime Now experience as Regional General Manager gives him direct exposure to the operating model that consumer brands are now being benchmarked against. As Turnaround CEO of Greenling, he has carried the cost discipline and unit economics of a venture-stage e-commerce business, not just commentary on it. He moves easily between corporate transformation conversations and start-up advisory work, useful for buyers whose internal teams need to understand both worlds. Biography highlights Senior Director of Marketing, Whole Foods Market; founding leader of its integrated media team. Regional General Manager, Amazon Prime Now, during its launch and expansion phase. Turnaround CEO, Greenling, Inc., a mission-driven local food e-commerce business. Board Director, The Very Good Food Company Inc., appointed December 2020. Advisor to multiple consumer and technology start-ups. US patent holder. Biography Whole Foods Market and Amazon were two of the most studied consumer businesses of the last decade. Bill Tolany held senior roles at both before they merged, which is unusual for any operator working in modern retail. At Whole Foods Market he served as Senior Director of Marketing and founding leader of the integrated media team. The brief covered brand, social and mobile; the result, according to the company’s own later disclosures, was the launch of an integrated marketing function and growth of alternative commerce sales by hundreds of millions of dollars. His public commentary on Whole Foods’ social strategy, where roughly 85% of corporate tweets were customer responses, became a reference point for retailers thinking about brand as service. Amazon then recruited him as Regional General Manager for Prime Now, the ultra-fast local delivery business that pushed Amazon into the consumer experience grocers had previously owned. That role gave him direct exposure to how marketing, logistics and store operations have to be re-wired when a customer expects a one-hour window. He later ran Greenling, Inc. as Turnaround CEO, taking on the unit economics of a mission-driven local food platform rather than commenting on them. He sits on the Board of The Very Good Food Company Inc., a plant-based food business, and advises start-ups in media, education and e-commerce. The throughline is practical: how a consumer brand sustains a relationship with its customer when the delivery model, the marketing channel and the competitor set all change at once. Key speaking topics Customer experience in modern retail Marketing and commerce integration Digital transformation in grocery and food E-commerce operating models Brand building through service and social Start-up and corporate innovation Plant-based and mission-driven consumer businesses Ideal for CMOs and customer experience leaders in retail, grocery and consumer brands Heads of digital, e-commerce and omnichannel inside consumer businesses Leadership teams at food, beverage and mission-driven consumer companies Corporate innovation and venture teams working with consumer start-ups Audience outcomes A clearer view of how marketing, operations and logistics combine to produce customer experience in modern retail. Specific reference points from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Prime Now on how brand and commerce can be run as one system. Sharper questions to ask about the unit economics of e-commerce and ultra-fast delivery models. Perspective on how legacy consumer brands can work with and learn from start-up operators.