Inclusive Leadership

Why organisations work with Frederika Roberts An applied positive psychology MSc and doctoral research base, rather than the wellness-industry credentialling that dominates this space. Author or co-author of five published works on character education and whole-school wellbeing, including titles with Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Sage. European Representative for IPPAed, giving access to current global research on positive education before it filters into mainstream practice. Working content for both education sectors and workplaces, covering character strengths, psychological safety, and Appreciative Inquiry as a change method. Operates in English, Italian, French, and German, which matters for European multi-site organisations and international school groups. Biography highlights MSc in Applied Positive Psychology; doctoral researcher in Education focused on whole-school wellbeing. European Representative for IPPAed, the International Positive Psychology Association’s Positive Education division. Founder of Educate to Flourish CIC, a social enterprise embedding wellbeing into school communities. Co-author, “Character Toolkit for Teachers” (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2018) and “Character Toolkit Strength Cards” (2020). Co-editor, “The Big Book of Whole School Wellbeing” (2021); author, “For Flourishing’s Sake” (2020) and “Recipe for Happiness” (2013). Member of the Professional Speaking Association and the Global Speakers Federation; iPPL Expert Member. Biography Wellbeing has become one of the most over-claimed and under-delivered categories in organisational life. Initiatives proliferate; engagement and mental health indicators rarely move with them. The gap is methodological. Most wellbeing work is built on motivational content rather than on the published research that the field of positive psychology has produced over the last two decades. Roberts works inside that research base. She holds an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and is completing doctoral research on whole-school wellbeing using Appreciative Inquiry, a change methodology that focuses organisational attention on what is already working and how to build from it. As European Representative for IPPAed, the International Positive Psychology Association’s Positive Education division, she connects practitioners with current academic findings before they reach the trade press. Her published output gives organisations a clear sense of how she translates evidence into practice. “Character Toolkit for Teachers” (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2018) and the “Character Toolkit Strength Cards” (2020) provide working tools rather than abstract frameworks. “The Big Book of Whole School Wellbeing” (2021), which she co-edited, sits across the major contributors in the field. “For Flourishing’s Sake” sets out how policy and practice can be redesigned to put flourishing at the centre. She founded Educate to Flourish CIC to take this work into schools as a social enterprise, and extends the same practice into workplaces, drawing on character strengths, psychological safety, and strengths-based approaches. The work is unusual in the wellbeing market for being explicitly research-grounded and equally credible in front of educators, HR leaders, and policy audiences. Key speaking topics Positive psychology in organisational and educational settings Whole-school and whole-organisation wellbeing Character education and character strengths Appreciative Inquiry as a change method Psychological safety and strengths-based culture Mental health and flourishing at work Ideal for HR and people leaders responsible for wellbeing strategy beyond surface-level programmes School leaders, MAT executives, and university leadership teams Conference audiences in education, public sector, and not-for-profit Boards or executives in family-owned and values-led organisations rethinking culture Audience outcomes A working understanding of what positive psychology research has actually shown about wellbeing and performance. Specific tools from character strengths, Appreciative Inquiry, and strengths-based practice that can be applied immediately. A sharper distinction between wellbeing programmes that produce change and those that do not. Language and a model for connecting individual flourishing to organisational outcomes.

Why organisations work with Adele Bates Her classroom experience covers every major UK school setting: mainstream primary and secondary, pupil referral units, alternative provision, and special schools. School leaders can bring her to a mixed-audience CPD day knowing the examples hold up across every context in the room. Her approach is informed by funded comparative international research. In 2019, she received a full grant to research Finland’s inclusive education system. Research in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica followed. What she recommends draws on documented practice from functioning systems across three countries. Her book, published by Corwin/SAGE, has been used by headteachers to rewrite whole-school behaviour policies from scratch. It provides a structured, chapter-by-chapter framework that school leaders can put to immediate institutional use. She writes for TES, SecEd, and Headteacher Update, reaching school leaders at scale. Audiences in her sessions often arrive knowing her work, which changes the quality of the conversation. Her TEDx 2020 talk and BBC Radio 4 appearances as the network’s expert on teenagers and behaviour give her name recognition well beyond the education conference circuit. Biography highlights Author, “Miss, I Don’t Give A Sh*t”: Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools (Corwin/SAGE) TEDx 2020 speaker BBC Radio 4 expert on teenagers and behaviour Trainer for the National Education Union and Amnesty International Education WeAreTheCity Rising Star Award, Education category Funded international researcher in behaviour and inclusion: Finland (2019), Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica Biography Behaviour policies give teachers a sequence of steps. They rarely explain what to do when those steps stop working. For more than 20 years, Adele Bates taught in the settings where that gap matters most: mainstream primary and secondary schools, pupil referral units, alternative provision, and special schools. Her book, “Miss, I Don’t Give A Sh*t”: Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools, is published by Corwin/SAGE. It gives school leaders a structured framework for rebuilding behaviour culture from the ground up. Headteachers have used it to rewrite their school’s behaviour policy from scratch. In 2019, she received a full grant to research Finland’s inclusive education system, observing classes and interviewing teachers across several schools. She has since carried out school-based research in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Those visits inform how she frames what is achievable, with reference to systems that have solved problems UK schools are still working through. She is BBC Radio 4’s expert on teenagers and behaviour and gave a TEDx talk in 2020. She writes regularly for TES, SecEd, and Headteacher Update. She trains for the National Education Union and Amnesty International Education. School leaders who book her often know her work before she arrives. Key speaking topics Inclusive behaviour in schools Social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) in education Trauma-informed practice Whole-school behaviour culture and consistency Pupil engagement and relationship-led teaching Equality, bias, and inclusion in education Staff confidence and wellbeing in schools Ideal for Headteachers and senior leadership teams in mainstream and specialist schools Classroom teachers and subject leaders seeking practical behaviour frameworks Multi-academy trust (MAT) CPD and professional development leads National education organisations and education conference organisers Audience outcomes A clearer account of why SEMH-driven behaviour does not respond to sanctions, and what the evidence suggests actually works Practical strategies for rebuilding positive relationships with disengaged pupils, applicable from the next lesson A framework for evaluating whether a school’s behaviour policy is built to support or to separate A sharper understanding of how equality, bias, and inclusion connect to behaviour patterns across a whole school Tools for strengthening staff confidence and consistency in challenging classroom situations

Why organisations work with Azeem Rafiq Primary-source authority on how a major British institution mishandled a discrimination complaint, with the parliamentary record, Cricket Discipline Commission outcomes, and governance changes to evidence it. A working answer to the question every CHRO privately asks: what happens to the person who reports, after they report? Rafiq describes the years that followed his disclosure, not only the moment of speaking out. Lived credibility on the gap between policy and practice. The policies at Yorkshire existed. They were not implemented. The reform conversation he triggered is now standard reading for sport, regulators, and corporate ER teams. A name that lands with sceptical audiences. Boards and senior teams who have seen too many polished DEI keynotes engage differently with a speaker whose testimony is a matter of parliamentary record. Biography highlights Former professional cricketer for Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire CCC; captained England under-15 and under-19 sides. Appointed Yorkshire CCC’s youngest captain and first of Asian heritage in 2012. Gave evidence to the DCMS Select Committee in November 2021; witness statement published by the committee. Triggered a Cricket Discipline Commission process that upheld charges and led to the resignation of Yorkshire’s chair and a board reset under Lord Kamlesh Patel. Author of It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism (Hachette, 2024), longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2024. Submitted further written evidence to Parliament’s Sport Governance inquiry in 2022. Biography Yorkshire County Cricket Club had policies for racism, bullying and player welfare. They were not enforced. When a complaint was raised internally in 2018, the institutional response was to manage the complainant rather than the complaint. That is the gap most organisations underestimate, and it is the gap Azeem Rafiq has spent the past five years describing in evidence. His professional record is on the public file: junior international captain for England, professional contracts at Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, and the youngest captain in Yorkshire’s history. The reason senior audiences listen now is not the career. It is the witness statement, published by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and the Cricket Discipline Commission findings that followed. The reform consequences are documented. Yorkshire’s chair resigned. Lord Kamlesh Patel was installed to rebuild the board. The England and Wales Cricket Board was forced to confront governance failures it had previously minimised. Rafiq’s 2024 book with Hachette, It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism, was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and remains one of the more honest published accounts of what happens after a whistleblower stops being useful to the institutions briefly aligned with them. What he offers senior audiences now is closer to a case study than a story. He talks about the specific points at which a complaint becomes politically inconvenient, about the role of HR, legal and PR functions in absorbing or deflecting it, and about the human cost on the person at the centre. It is the content most diversity programmes do not have access to. Key speaking topics Institutional racism and culture reform Whistleblowing and speak-up systems in practice Inclusion when policy and practice diverge Governance and accountability in sport Mental health and family impact of public disclosure The aftermath of speaking out Ideal for CHROs, employee relations leads and DEI heads in organisations re-examining their speak-up architecture. Boards and audit committees with whistleblowing oversight responsibilities. Sports governing bodies, regulators and member organisations confronting culture inquiries. Senior leadership offsites where the inclusion conversation has gone stale. Audience outcomes A concrete picture of how a major institution failed to act on its own policies, and the operational reasons why. A more accurate read on what protection a whistleblower actually receives once a complaint enters the system. Specific questions to test inside their own organisation, drawn from cricket’s governance failures. Renewed seriousness about the personal cost of disclosure, useful for anyone designing or sponsoring a speak-up channel.

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

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

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

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

Why organisations work with Sally Penni MBE She founded and chairs Women in the Law UK, the largest professional development network for women in the legal profession in the country, giving her firsthand evidence of what inclusion looks like when it is built as an institution rather than announced as a policy. Her authority on diversity is grounded in active legal practice at Kenworthy’s Chambers, a Bencher position at Gray’s Inn, and appointment to the International Criminal Court list of counsel. The argument carries weight because the practitioner is real. Through the Talking Law podcast she has interviewed Lord Pannick KC, Jolyon Maugham KC, the Treasury Solicitor and other figures at the top of the UK legal system, building a body of recorded conversation about leadership, culture and reform inside one of the most conservative professions. Her board portfolio spans the Royal Exchange Theatre, Arawak Walton Housing Association, the Access to Justice Foundation and a part-time judicial role at the Valuation Tribunal, so the perspective on inclusion is informed by governance experience across cultural, housing, legal and judicial settings. She was awarded an MBE specifically for diversity, social mobility and law, a recognition of practical contribution rather than profile, and one that signals to senior buyers that the work has stood up to external scrutiny. Biography highlights Practising barrister at Kenworthy’s Chambers, Manchester, specialising in criminal, employment, public, and data protection law. Founder and chair of Women in the Law UK, the professional development organisation she established in 2012. MBE for services to diversity, social mobility, and law, Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020. Two honorary doctorates in law, from Manchester Metropolitan University (2022) and the University of Salford (2023). Bencher of Gray’s Inn. Appointed to the list of counsel for the International Criminal Court. Companion of the Chartered Management Institute (CCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA); author of the Talking Law book series; TEDx speaker. Host of two podcasts, Talking Law and The Law and Guidance Podcast. Talking Law features senior UK legal figures including Lord Pannick KC and the Treasury Solicitor. Non-Executive Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre and Arawak Walton Housing Association; Trustee, Access to Justice Foundation; part-time judge, Valuation Tribunal for England. Biography The legal profession is one of the most credentialled and slowest-moving institutions in British public life. It is also one of the places where the gap between stated values and lived experience is most visible. Sally Penni MBE has spent her career working that gap from the inside, as a practising barrister, an institution-builder and a public voice on what inclusion actually requires. She practises at Kenworthy’s Chambers in Manchester across criminal, employment, public and data protection law, and sits as a part-time judge on the Valuation Tribunal for England. She is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and on the International Criminal Court list of counsel. The institutional standing matters because it is the basis on which the rest of the work is taken seriously inside the profession. In 2012 she founded Women in the Law UK, now the country’s largest professional network for women in legal practice. Her Talking Law podcast, and a second show, The Law and Guidance Podcast, have built a record of conversation with senior figures of the bar, including Lord Pannick KC and the Treasury Solicitor. Through the same network she has built a substantial body of work on women’s health at work, including menopause, and the legal duties employers carry. Outside the law she sits on boards across theatre, housing, and access to justice, including the Royal Exchange Theatre, Arawak Walton Housing Association, and the Access to Justice Foundation. That work has been recognised on its own terms. An MBE in 2020 for diversity, social mobility, and law, honorary doctorates in law from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2022 and the University of Salford in 2023, and appointment as a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. The recognition points at one thing: a body of work that has changed institutions rather than commented on them, recorded in the Talking Law books drawn from the same conversations that built the podcast. Key speaking topics Inclusive and values-based leadership Women in leadership and the legal profession Diversity, equity and social mobility Mentorship and talent development Governance and board-level standards Wellbeing and resilience in professional careers Law, regulation and the future of the legal profession Women’s health, menopause, and the law at work Ideal for General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers and senior in-house legal teams setting standards on inclusion and culture Chief People Officers, CHROs and DEI leads designing inclusion strategy for professional and regulated workforces Boards, NEDs and chairs reviewing governance standards on diversity, social mobility and access Senior partners and managing partners at law firms, chambers and professional services firms Employers and people teams developing menopause and women’s-health policy under employment-law obligations Audience outcomes A clearer view of what inclusive leadership requires when the organisation is regulated, conservative and resistant to change Direct reference points from inside the legal profession on building durable institutions for under-represented talent A sharper standard for distinguishing inclusion as governance from inclusion as communication Practical perspective on mentoring, sponsorship and progression at senior levels A grounded view of employers’ legal duties around menopause, women’s health, and workplace inclusion, from a practising barrister rather than a consultant

Why organisations work with Preet Chandi A verifiable record of decision-making under conditions most leaders will never face: solo, unsupported, 70 days on the Antarctic ice with no extraction option if a decision goes wrong. Two distinct authority sources in one speaker: 16 years as a British Army physiotherapist with operational deployments in Nepal, Kenya and South Sudan, and four Guinness World Records on Antarctic expeditions. Credibility on inclusion that is grounded in lived experience rather than commentary: the first woman of colour to ski solo to the South Pole, with an MBE for the expedition itself, not for advocacy work around it. A speaker leadership teams remember twelve months later. The Antarctic story is concrete, structured around preparation, setback and recovery, and lands in a register the board, the engineering function and the graduate intake all recognise. Biography highlights MBE, 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for her solo expedition across Antarctica. Four Guinness World Records on Antarctic expeditions, including the longest solo unsupported one-way polar ski expedition and the female speed record to the South Pole. Captain in the British Army, served 16 years as a physiotherapist with operational deployments in Nepal, Kenya and South Sudan. MSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine; trained Nordic skier and ultramarathon runner, including the Marathon des Sables. Author of “The Explorer’s Guide to Going Wild: Find Adventure Anywhere”, published with Hachette. Covered extensively by Guinness World Records, BBC, and the British Army; judge for Women in Defence UK Awards. Biography The hardest part of a solo polar expedition is not the cold. It is the absence of anyone else to confer with when a decision needs making and the cost of getting it wrong is your life. Preet Chandi spent 40 days alone on the Antarctic ice in 2022, then returned twice more, breaking records on each expedition. She is one of nine women in history to ski solo to the South Pole and the first woman of colour to do so. Her subsequent expeditions set the record for the longest solo unsupported one-way polar ski journey, at 922 miles over 70 days, and the female speed record to the South Pole, completed in 31 days, 13 hours and 19 minutes. The records were ratified by Guinness World Records. The MBE, awarded in the 2022 Birthday Honours, was for the expedition itself. The background underneath the expeditions matters. Preet served 16 years as a physiotherapist in the British Army, reaching the rank of Captain, with operational deployments in Nepal, Kenya and South Sudan. She holds an MSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine. The military discipline shapes how she frames what she did on the ice: planning, contingency, recovery, and the management of the mind when conditions remove every external prop. Audiences get a serious account of how composure is built and held when help is not available. The story is unusual because it is verifiable at every step, and because Preet talks about the setbacks, the recalibration, and the days she wanted to stop, in the same plain register as the record-breaking finishes. Key speaking topics Resilience under sustained pressure Self-belief and identity in high-stakes environments Decision-making in isolation Diversity and representation at the edges of endurance sport Preparation and contingency planning Recovery after setback Mental performance for senior leaders Ideal for Leadership offsites where the cohort is fatigued from repeated change and needs a credible voice on composure. DEI and women’s leadership programmes wanting a speaker whose authority is anchored in achievement rather than commentary. Sales kick-offs, all-hands and conference openings where the brief is to set a tone of resolve without resorting to generic motivational content. Defence, healthcare and high-risk operating environments where the audience recognises military and clinical credibility. Audience outcomes A specific account of how preparation, contingency and self-talk hold up under genuine isolation. A reframing of setback as a structured stage of any ambitious plan, not a deviation from it. Confidence that the standard reasons given for not starting something difficult are weaker than they sound. A vocabulary for talking about pressure, fear and recovery that senior teams can use without embarrassment. A story audiences can retell internally to colleagues, anchored to named records and named places.

Why organisations work with Raven Baxter She brings the credibility of a working scientist with a doctorate in the science of learning, which means her communication advice rests on evidence about how people actually absorb technical content, not marketing instinct. She has hosted Pfizer’s flagship podcast Science Will Win across two seasons, giving her demonstrated experience translating drug discovery and oncology research for general audiences inside a regulated commercial environment. Her body of work, including viral hip-hop science videos and TEDx talk “You Don’t Look Like a Scientist,” gives her unusual reach into communities most science communication never touches. She founded Fervae, the first social media management platform built specifically for working scientists, which positions her as a builder of the infrastructure science communication has been missing, not only a practitioner. Her recognitions, Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, Fortune 40 Under 40 in Health, Ebony Power 100, signal credibility across science, health, and culture audiences in a way few single speakers can claim. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of Fervae, a social media management platform for scientists, announced at Science Talk 2026. President and Executive Director of The Science Haven, a 501(c)(3) advancing STEM equity through programmes including Stellar Dreams, an astronomy education partnership with Celestron, CuriosityStream, and NASA. Host of Pfizer’s Science Will Win podcast (Seasons 5 and 6) and creator-host of The Science of Life with Dr. Raven Baxter. Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science (2022), Fortune 40 Under 40 in Health (2020), Ebony Power 100 (2022), AAUW Woman of Distinction (2022). Director of Development and Partnerships, and Chair of the Ethics Consortium, at the Association of Science Communicators. Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and the Science of Learning, University at Buffalo, with a dissertation on culturally responsive science communication. Biography Most science communication still treats audiences as a problem to be managed: simplified, talked down to, or routed through a press release. The result is that technical organisations are surprised, repeatedly, by how little of their work is understood outside their own walls. Raven Baxter’s career has been built on closing that gap with method, not charisma alone. Trained as a molecular biologist at Buffalo State College and as a learning scientist at the University at Buffalo, she earned her doctorate with a dissertation on culturally responsive science communication, anchoring her practice in research about how technical content actually lands. She went on to host Pfizer’s Science Will Win across two seasons, taking drug discovery and oncology research to audiences a regulated pharmaceutical company could not reach through conventional channels. She is now Founder and CEO of Fervae, a social media management platform built specifically for working scientists, announced at Science Talk 2026. Alongside Fervae, she leads The Science Haven, a 501(c)(3) advancing STEM equity, and serves as Director of Development and Partnerships and Chair of the Ethics Consortium at the Association of Science Communicators. The recognitions track her dual reach across science and culture: Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, Fortune 40 Under 40 in Health, the Ebony Power 100, the AAUW Woman of Distinction Award, and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Her TEDx talk “You Don’t Look Like a Scientist” is her clearest single statement of why representation matters to the credibility of science itself. Key speaking topics Science communication strategy Inclusive STEM representation Health and biomedical communication Diversity in scientific research and innovation Public trust in science Culturally responsive communication and education Building infrastructure for science communicators Ideal for Heads of communications, public affairs, and corporate affairs at pharma, biotech, and healthcare organisations Chief diversity officers and CHROs in science-led and technical industries University and research institution leaders responsible for public engagement and outreach Foundations and nonprofits investing in STEM education, equity, and workforce pipeline Audience outcomes A clearer view of why technical credibility and cultural credibility have to live in the same person for science to be trusted across audiences. Specific examples of how working scientists and communicators are using digital platforms to reach communities that traditional outreach has missed. A working sense of what culturally responsive science communication looks like in practice, drawn from her own research and field work. A more honest read of where institutional science communication is falling short, and what infrastructure has been missing.

Why organisations work with Dr Ranj Singh Clinical authority on health and wellbeing, drawn from active NHS paediatric emergency practice and membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, not a wellness brand. A broadcast track record that translates into the room: five years as resident doctor on ITV’s This Morning, two BAFTA Children’s Awards for Get Well Soon, and a Sunday Times bestseller in Save Money Lose Weight. First-person credibility on LGBTQ+ inclusion as a Sikh-heritage gay clinician, recognised with the 2019 Attitude Award for advocacy on ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ representation. A communicator who has spent a career simplifying medical information for non-specialist audiences, including pandemic misinformation work, which means complex health and inclusion content lands with employees who would tune out a textbook talk. Biography highlights NHS clinician specialising in paediatric emergency medicine; member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health since 2007. Resident doctor on ITV’s This Morning, 2016 to 2021. Co-creator and host of CBeebies’ Get Well Soon and Get Well Soon Hospital; winner of BAFTA Children’s Awards in 2016 and 2018. Sunday Times bestselling author of Save Money Lose Weight (Transworld, 2019); children’s titles with Oxford University Press and Hachette. Attitude Award winner, 2019, for representation of ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ people in media. Honorary doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church University, February 2025, for contributions to public life and medical science. Biography Most workforces have heard the wellbeing message before. They have sat through resilience modules, downloaded the meditation app, and still report record sickness absence. The reason is rarely the content. It is who is delivering it. That is the problem Singh’s profile is built to solve. He is a working NHS paediatric emergency doctor and a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, with the clinical grounding to talk about physical and mental health without slipping into the language of corporate wellness. Five years as the resident doctor on ITV’s This Morning, alongside two BAFTA Children’s Awards for Get Well Soon, gave him the rarer skill of making medicine intelligible to viewers who are not patients yet. The same mix shapes his work on inclusion. As a gay clinician from a Sikh background, Singh writes and speaks about LGBTQ+ representation with the authority of someone who has lived the question. The Attitude Award in 2019 recognised that body of media advocacy. His Sunday Times bestseller Save Money Lose Weight, columns for Attitude and NetDoctor, and his pandemic work countering health misinformation extend the same instinct into print and public health. In February 2025 Canterbury Christ Church University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his contribution to public life and medical science, a useful marker of how seriously the clinical and academic community takes the broadcast persona. Key speaking topics Employee mental health and wellbeing Health communication for non-clinical audiences LGBTQ+ inclusion and intersectional identity Burnout and pressure in high-stakes professions Public health, misinformation and trust Diversity, representation and lived experience Ideal for CHROs, heads of wellbeing and DEI leads building credible mental health and inclusion programmes Healthcare, life sciences and public-sector audiences seeking a clinician’s voice Internal conferences and employee networks marking Pride, Mental Health Awareness Week, or South Asian heritage moments Leadership audiences in regulated industries where trust and communication matter as much as policy Audience outcomes A clearer language for talking about mental and physical health at work, grounded in clinical reality rather than wellness slogans Sharper understanding of how identity, family expectation and culture shape who speaks up about health and who stays silent Practical reframes for managers on supporting LGBTQ+ employees and ethnic minority staff without performative gestures Confidence to address health misinformation in workforces, including on vaccines, diet and mental health A more honest conversation in the room about pressure, burnout and asking for help

Why organisations work with Jonny Benjamin He brings a globally tracked story (the Find Mike campaign reached more than 319 million people) into a corporate room without it becoming a tribute act. The point is what changed in the bystander, not the bridge. He has built two of the institutions he speaks about. Beyond, the youth mental health charity, and This Can Happen, the workplace conference, are not anecdotes; they are operating organisations he co-founded. He pairs lived clinical experience of schizoaffective disorder with a public campaigning record recognised by Rethink Mental Illness (first Janey Antoniou Award) and an MBE for suicide prevention. That combination changes how senior audiences listen. His material works as a managerial primer, not a memoir reading. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of what to say in the first ninety seconds when a colleague signals they are not okay. Biography highlights Awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to mental health and suicide prevention. Founder of Beyond, a youth mental health charity established in 2018 funding interventions in UK schools and colleges. Co-founder of This Can Happen, the workplace mental health conference launched in 2017. First recipient of the Janey Antoniou Award from Rethink Mental Illness (2013) for campaigning on severe mental illness. Co-author with Britt Pfluger of “The Stranger on the Bridge” (Pan Macmillan, 2018, foreword by HRH The Duke of Cambridge) and “The Book of Hope: 101 Voices on Overcoming Adversity” (Pan Macmillan, 2021). Subject of the Channel 4 documentary “The Stranger on the Bridge” (2015), which charted his successful search for Neil Laybourn, the stranger who intervened on Waterloo Bridge in 2008. Biography Most workplace mental health programmes are well written and quietly underused. The policy is in the handbook, the EAP is on the intranet, and the manager who notices a struggling colleague still hesitates to say the first sentence. Jonny Benjamin’s work sits in that hesitation. His own story explains the angle. Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his early twenties, he wrote “The Stranger on the Bridge” with Britt Pfluger to chart how he came to be on Waterloo Bridge in 2008 and what the stranger, later identified as Neil Laybourn, actually did in those minutes. The 2014 Find Mike campaign that reunited them reached more than 319 million people and became a Channel 4 documentary the following year. What followed is what makes him useful to serious organisations. He co-founded This Can Happen in 2017, the workplace mental health conference now used by HR and wellbeing leads to benchmark practice, and founded the youth charity Beyond in 2018 to fund early intervention in UK schools. Rethink Mental Illness gave him the first Janey Antoniou Award in 2013; the MBE followed in 2017. In a corporate room he resists the inspirational frame. The talk is closer to a briefing for managers and colleagues on the specific moves that make a workplace one where people speak up early, and the specific failures that keep them quiet. Key speaking topics Workplace mental health and psychological safety Suicide prevention and early intervention Severe mental illness and stigma in the workplace Wellbeing strategy and line-manager capability Youth mental health and the school-to-work transition Storytelling as a tool for cultural change Ideal for CHROs, wellbeing leads and DEI directors building the next iteration of a mental health strategy. Line manager and senior leadership development programmes where the brief is on confidence in difficult conversations. All-staff conferences where the organisation wants a mental health session that engages the room without slipping into platitude. Education sector audiences (schools, universities, sector bodies) addressing youth mental health and pastoral practice. Audience outcomes A direct account of what helped and what did not, from someone with diagnosed severe mental illness rather than a generalist commentator. A clearer sense of the small interventions that change outcomes, drawn from the bystander side of his own story. Practical language for managers and colleagues to use in the first conversation, not the third meeting. A sharper read on why workplace wellbeing programmes underperform and what closes the gap between policy and behaviour. An informed view of youth mental health drawn from Beyond’s grant-making and school work in the UK.