Motivation and Inspiration

Why organisations work with Macer Gifford He has built two functioning units from nothing, a Combat Medical Unit with Kurdish forces in Syria and Operation Golden Hour in Ukraine, both still saving lives. That is a rare proof point on creating capability under pressure. He has fought alongside Kurdish and Syriac forces against Islamic State and now serves as a reconnaissance infantryman and medic in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion’s 131st Battalion. The material is firsthand, not interpreted. His talks translate combat decision-making into language a board, a transformation team or a frontline manager can actually use, without the bravado that typically comes with the genre. He brings credible standing on two of the defining conflicts of the era, with published work in The Spectator and The Telegraph and regular appearances on BBC, CNN, MSNBC and Channel 4. He is the author of “Fighting Evil” (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, foreword by Andy McNab), a sustained piece of writing about why an ordinary person chooses to act when most do not. Biography highlights Volunteer fighter with the Kurdish YPG and a Syriac Christian unit in Syria, mid-2015 to 2017, including the Manbij offensive and the siege of Raqqa. Founder of a Combat Medical Unit with Kurdish forces in Syria, still operational, and of Operation Golden Hour, a battlefield first-aid training programme for Ukrainian and international volunteers. Reconnaissance infantryman and medic with the Ukrainian Foreign Legion’s 131st Battalion and the International Cossacks Expeditionary Force; awarded a medal by the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Author of “Fighting Evil: The Ordinary Man who went to War Against ISIS”, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, with a foreword by Andy McNab. Contributor to The Spectator and The Telegraph; regular interviewee on BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Channel 4, ITV, Sky News and LBC. Reading for a Master’s in Security, Peace-building and Diplomacy at Loughborough University London. Biography A foreign exchange trader from Cambridge with no military background flew to northern Syria in 2015 and joined the Kurdish YPG. Over the next three years, that decision became one of the longest tours by any British international volunteer in the war against Islamic State, ending at the siege of Raqqa. The interesting question is not why he went, it is what he learned about command, fear and group cohesion when the people around him were untrained, frightened and being killed. Out of that experience came a Combat Medical Unit, built from nothing with Kurdish forces, that still operates in north-east Syria. He repeated the pattern in 2022. Ten days before Russia’s full-scale invasion he was on the ground in Ukraine, and within weeks he had launched Operation Golden Hour, a battlefield first-aid programme that has trained domestic and international volunteers across the conflict. He now serves as a reconnaissance infantryman and medic with the 131st Battalion, was decorated in connection with the liberation of Kherson, and writes about the war for outlets including The Spectator and The Telegraph. His memoir, “Fighting Evil”, carries a foreword by Andy McNab and sits alongside regular appearances on BBC, CNN, MSNBC and Channel 4. For an organisation thinking seriously about leadership when the systems break, the practical question is simple: who actually has done it, and can explain it. Gifford can. Key speaking topics Leadership and decision-making under extreme uncertainty Building teams and capability from scratch in hostile conditions Courage, fear and individual moral choice Frontline lessons from Syria and Ukraine Humanitarian action and combat medicine in conflict zones The fight against Islamic State and the war in Ukraine Ideal for Senior leadership offsites and CEO forums focused on resilience and crisis decision-making Transformation, change and operations leaders dealing with high ambiguity and human risk Defence, security, NGO and public-sector audiences working in unstable environments Conferences and dinners that need a serious, firsthand voice on the conflicts shaping the decade Audience outcomes A direct account of how trust, command and morale actually function when conditions deteriorate A practical view of how small groups build capability quickly when no system supports them A frame for thinking about courage and individual responsibility that does not collapse into cliche A clear-eyed sense of what is happening on the ground in Syria and Ukraine, from someone still serving there

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

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

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 Leon Rolle A first-hand recovery story told by a working musician with a Grammy-nominated, BRIT-winning back catalogue, not a wellness practitioner reaching for cultural relevance. Credibility with younger employees and apprentice cohorts that traditional wellbeing speakers struggle to hold, built on Rudimental’s chart presence and his media profile. Physical proof behind the mental health argument: completion of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins and the London Marathon, used to make the link between body and mind concrete rather than abstract. A voice that travels across audience types in one event, from an apprentice intake to a leadership dinner, because the source material is biography, not theory. Biography highlights Member of Rudimental, the British drum and bass band behind the UK number one single “Feel the Love” featuring John Newman. BRIT Award winner for British Single of the Year in 2014 for “Waiting All Night”. MOBO Award winner for Best Album in 2013 for the debut record “Home”. Former Arsenal FC academy footballer before moving full-time into music. Completed Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, one of only two recruits to finish the selection process in his series. Soccer Aid participant in 2019, playing for Harry Redknapp’s Rest of the World team, and Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2023. Biography Most workplace mental health conversations stall in the same place. The language is correct, the policies are in place, and the people the message is meant to reach quietly opt out. Locksmith is what changes the temperature in the room. He arrives with the credibility of a working career, a chart-topping band, and a recovery story that he has lived rather than studied. Leon Rolle came up through the Arsenal academy before music took over. As one third of Rudimental with Piers Aggett and Kesi Dryden, he is part of the group behind “Feel the Love” with John Newman, which went to number one in the UK in 2012, and the debut album “Home”, which took the 2013 MOBO Award for Best Album. “Waiting All Night” won the BRIT for British Single of the Year in 2014. The platform is real and the audience knows it. What he speaks about is the part the platform did not fix. Tour cycles, anxiety and the practical work of getting back to a functioning baseline sit at the centre of the keynote. Fitness is the mechanism he points to: training, running, and the long endurance commitments that gave him a way back. He completed Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins as one of only two recruits to finish his series, and has run the London Marathon. These are evidence points, not anecdotes. For corporate audiences the value is reach. Apprentice intakes and younger employees listen to him because of the music. Senior teams listen because the story is specific, structured and free of the wellness vocabulary that has worn thin in most organisations. Key speaking topics Mental health in the workplace Resilience and stress management Fitness and physical health as recovery infrastructure Motivation and inspiration for apprentice and early-career audiences Mental health storytelling for younger workforces After-dinner and entertainment speaking Ideal for HR, wellbeing and culture leads commissioning mental health programming for mixed audiences Apprentice intakes, graduate cohorts and early-career employee networks Internal town halls, conferences and away-days where the wellbeing slot needs to land rather than fill time After-dinner and entertainment briefs that also need a substantive personal story Audience outcomes A concrete account of what mental health recovery looked like for a working professional, not a clinical overview A working link between physical training and psychological resilience, evidenced by named endurance commitments Language that younger employees and apprentices recognise and respond to Renewed permission for senior teams to talk about their own pressures in workplace settings

Why organisations work with Kellie Maloney A first-hand account of coming out inside professional boxing, one of the least forgiving commercial environments in sport, given by someone who managed a world heavyweight champion. A direct, unsanitised perspective on suicide, depression and recovery in the LGBT+ community from someone who has lived it and chosen to talk about it publicly. Credibility on female participation in sport grounded in actual commercial activity, having returned to promotion in 2020 to back female boxers at the start of their careers. Public profile built through Celebrity Big Brother, two documentaries and a published autobiography, giving the story reach beyond a corporate audience. Biography highlights Managed Lennox Lewis to the undisputed world heavyweight title between 1989 and 2001. Guided four further fighters to world titles plus British, European and Commonwealth champions. Named Transgender Champion at the 2015 Glamour Women of the Year Awards. Author of Frankly Kellie: Becoming a Woman in a Man’s World, Blink Publishing, 2015. Subject of Amazon Prime documentary From Frank to Kellie (2020) and feature documentary Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story (2025). Returned to boxing promotion in 2020 with a focus on female fighters at the start of their careers. Biography Professional boxing is not where most people would expect a public gender transition to begin. Kellie Maloney spent nearly three decades inside it, managing Lennox Lewis from 1989 to 2001 to the undisputed world heavyweight championship and steering four more fighters to world titles. Her standing in the sport was earned in a culture that did not make room for what came next. In August 2014 she announced publicly that she would live as Kellie. The decision was effectively forced by tabloid pressure rather than chosen on her own timing, a detail that matters when organisations talk about psychological safety. The aftermath included Celebrity Big Brother, the 2015 Glamour Women of the Year Transgender Champion award, the autobiography Frankly Kellie: Becoming a Woman in a Man’s World, and a period of severe depression that culminated in a suicide attempt and recovery. She now speaks about identity, mental health and inclusion from inside the experience, not from theory. The Amazon Prime documentary From Frank to Kellie and the 2025 feature Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story give the material a reach most corporate speakers do not have. Her audience is HR, DEI and wellbeing leaders who want a session that lands emotionally and tells the truth about what inclusion costs the people it is aimed at. In 2020 she returned to boxing promotion with a stated commitment to female fighters at the start of their careers. That detail closes the circle. The story is not only about transition; it is about going back into the same hard commercial environment as a different person and changing what it is willing to back. Key speaking topics Identity and transition in commercial environments LGBT+ inclusion in male-dominated cultures Mental health, depression and suicide prevention Resilience after public exposure Female participation in sport Personal courage and reinvention Ideal for HR, DEI and ERG leads designing inclusion programmes that have to work in practice Wellbeing and mental health leads building suicide prevention and crisis support content Sports, security, construction, manufacturing and other traditionally male-dominated sectors Internal events tied to Pride, Mental Health Awareness Month, or International Women’s Day Audience outcomes A clearer picture of what inclusion policies look like from the perspective of the person they are written about. A direct, lived account of depression, suicidal crisis and recovery in the LGBT+ community. An honest read on how hard cultures can change, and what individuals inside them carry when they do. Renewed willingness to ask colleagues about mental health rather than assume.

Why organisations work with Martine Wright A first-hand account of recovery from catastrophic injury that gives leaders concrete language for talking about adversity, mental health, and return to work without slipping into platitudes. Paralympic-level perspective on marginal gains, team performance, and selection, drawn from competing for Great Britain in sitting volleyball at London 2012 rather than from a textbook. Credibility on inclusion and belonging that comes from being inside the disability sport system, not commenting on it. Useful for ERG launches, accessibility programmes, and culture work where lived authority matters. An MBE, the BBC Helen Rollason Award, and a Sports Book Award-winning memoir give buyers external validation that holds up in front of senior audiences. Consistent broadcast presence with the BBC and Channel 4, including Rio 2016 and Invictus Games, which translates into stage presence and timing that work in front of 10,000-seat audiences and intimate leadership rooms alike. Biography highlights Survivor of the 7 July 2005 London bombings; was the last person extracted alive from the Aldgate carriage and lost both legs above the knee. Member of Great Britain’s women’s sitting volleyball team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and later team captain. Appointed MBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to sport. Recipient of the BBC Helen Rollason Award at the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Author of Unbroken: My Story of Survival from 7/7 Bombings to Paralympic Success (Simon and Schuster, 2017), winner of Autobiography of the Year at the 2018 Sports Book Awards. Broadcaster for the BBC and Channel 4, including roving reporter at the Rio 2016 Paralympics and Invictus Games coverage. Biography The Aldgate bomb on 7 July 2005 killed seven people in a single Circle Line carriage. Martine Wright was the last person brought out alive. She lost roughly eighty percent of her blood, spent a week in a coma, and underwent ten months of surgery and double above-knee amputation. The detail that matters for a corporate audience is what came after: a deliberate decision, sustained over years, to treat recovery as work rather than a wait. That work led to elite sport. Wright took up sitting volleyball during rehabilitation, made the British squad, and was selected for the home Paralympic Games at London 2012, where Team GB fielded a women’s sitting volleyball side for the first time. She later captained the team and earned forty international caps. The 2012 BBC Helen Rollason Award and a 2016 MBE for services to sport followed. Her memoir Unbroken (Simon and Schuster, 2017) won Autobiography of the Year at the 2018 Sports Book Awards and remains the primary text behind her speaking. Alongside the book, she has built a steady broadcast career with the BBC and Channel 4, covering the Rio 2016 Paralympics and Invictus Games, which gives her a level of stage craft most lived-experience speakers do not have. What organisations actually book her for is the translation. Wright takes the language of marginal gains, team selection, mental health, and belonging out of the abstract and grounds it in specific decisions she made and watched others make. NatWest, the NHS, John Lewis, Deloitte, Salesforce, Pfizer, and Aon are among the named clients on her own record. The room leaves with usable vocabulary for the conversations leadership teams already know they need to have. Key speaking topics Resilience and recovery from adversity Mental health and return to work Inclusion, disability, and belonging in the workplace Marginal gains and high-performance teams Change and uncertainty Paralympic sport and elite competition Leadership through crisis Ideal for CHROs and people leaders rolling out wellbeing, mental health, or return-to-work programmes DEI leads and ERG sponsors building disability inclusion and belonging work Leadership teams briefing staff through restructures, crises, or major change programmes All-staff conferences and town halls where the brief calls for an authentic, high-impact keynote rather than a research talk Audience outcomes A vocabulary for talking about adversity, mental health, and recovery that does not feel scripted. Specific examples of how marginal gains and team selection work inside an elite sport environment, drawn from London 2012. A sharper sense of what disability inclusion looks like from inside the experience, useful for shaping ERG and accessibility work. A reset on what is actually possible after a catastrophic setback, anchored in a verifiable personal story rather than abstract motivation.

Why organisations work with Isaac Kenyon He carries three credentials in one room: working energy-transition geoscientist, trustee of Mind, and record-setting endurance athlete. That triangulation lets him speak to wellbeing, sustainability and performance without losing the audience on any of them. His lived mental health story is paired with a formal governance role at a national mental health charity, which raises the credibility floor for sessions on burnout and men’s mental health well above the standard adventurer-speaker offer. The Climate Explorers CIC platform gives him a real operating context for sustainability content. He is talking about ESG and nature-based solutions as a founder running campaigns, not as a commentator. Kenyon’s expedition material (Atlantic row, waterbike crossing, weighted Ironman) is used as evidence for specific arguments about teaming, recovery and decision-making, rather than as standalone motivation. Biography highlights Co-founder of Climate Explorers CIC, a community interest company campaigning on nature-based climate solutions. Trustee of Mind in Mid Herts, the regional arm of national mental health charity Mind. BSc (Hons) Geology and MSc Geoscience, Royal Holloway, University of London; works as an energy transition geoscientist. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Geological Society of London, and member of the Scientific Exploration Society. Completed the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in 40 days, finishing sixth in 2019. World-record London Marathon run in a brain costume, raising funds and awareness for men’s mental health. Biography Most workforces are not short of wellbeing content. They are short of credible voices who can connect resilience, purpose and sustainability without sliding into slogans. That is the gap Isaac Kenyon fills, with a portfolio that holds together because every claim is backed by a role he actually performs. He is a working energy-transition geoscientist trained at Royal Holloway, University of London, with a BSc in Geology and an MSc in Geoscience. He co-founded Climate Explorers CIC, a community interest company that builds campaigns around nature-based climate solutions and eco-adventure. The sustainability content in his keynotes is grounded in that operating reality, not in commentary. The wellbeing line is anchored just as concretely. Kenyon is a trustee of Mind in Mid Herts, the regional arm of the national mental health charity, and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Geological Society of London and Scientific Exploration Society. His own experience of burnout sits alongside a governance role at a mental health charity, which is what raises the credibility floor on his men’s mental health and resilience material. The expeditions are where the arguments land. A 40-day row across the Atlantic, finishing sixth in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. A London Marathon was completed in a brain costume to set a record for men’s mental health. A waterbike crossing of the UK from Orkney to the Isles of Scilly. Kenyon uses each one to make a specific point about decision-making under fatigue, team behaviour at the limit, and what sustainable performance actually costs. Key speaking topics Resilience and burnout recovery Sustainable high performance Mental health and men’s wellbeing Climate action and nature-based sustainability Purpose-driven culture Team performance under pressure Energy transition and ESG storytelling Ideal for CHROs, heads of people and wellbeing leads dealing with workforce burnout and engagement. ESG, sustainability and corporate responsibility teams are looking for a credible voice that links climate to culture. Leadership offsites and conferences where resilience and purpose need to land in the same session. Organisations running men’s mental health, Mental Health Awareness Week or sustainability campaigns that need a named, accredited voice. Audience outcomes A clearer view of how burnout shows up in teams and what leaders can actually do about it. A working language for talking about sustainability and wellbeing as a single agenda, not two parallel ones. Specific decision-making lessons drawn from extreme endurance contexts and applied to workplace pressure. Practical entry points for men’s mental health conversations that often stall in corporate settings. A reframing of purpose that connects individual resilience with organisational and environmental responsibility.

Why organisations work with YuJin Wong He treats mental fitness as a performance discipline with measurable inputs, not a wellness theme, which gives HR and operational leaders something they can run beyond awareness days. His R.O.C.K formula, trademarked and built out across the book Mental Rockstar, gives audiences a named structure to take into Monday morning rather than a motivational hit that fades by the weekend. He is the first speaker in Asia to hold the Certified Speaking Professional designation from Asia Professional Speakers Singapore, a credential held by fewer than 5% of professional speakers worldwide. His material is built from a corporate insider lens. As a former lawyer and investment banker, he speaks to the specific pressure profile of finance, professional services, and high-output commercial environments rather than to a general wellness audience. He brings an Asia-anchored perspective on mental fitness, which matters for regional headquarters, APAC workforces, and global firms whose employee mental health programmes have so far been designed in the US or UK. Biography highlights First speaker in Asia to earn the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from Asia Professional Speakers Singapore. Author of Mental Rockstar: How to build mental toughness, face your fears, embrace change and unleash greatness (2020), built on the trademarked R.O.C.K formula. Certified by the International Sports Science Association and the Mental Toughness Research Institute (USA). Hosts the Mental Toughness for Business segment on MONEY FM 89.3, Singapore’s business radio. Former lawyer and investment banker with more than fifteen years working with corporate audiences on resilience, stress, and peak performance. Named recipient of Asia’s Innovation Leadership Award (2022), Asia’s Best Brands Award (2018), and the Global Brands Awards (2017). Biography Employee mental health has become an executive line item without becoming an executive capability. Most large employers now report a wellbeing programme, an EAP contract, and a calendar of awareness moments. Engagement scores, attrition, and presenteeism keep telling a different story. YuJin Wong works at exactly that gap. His material treats mental fitness the way operational leaders already treat physical fitness or safety, as a set of trainable behaviours with measurable inputs, not a campaign about awareness. The trademarked R.O.C.K formula, set out across his 2020 book Mental Rockstar, gives organisations a named structure to teach, repeat, and reinforce inside teams. His credibility with commercial audiences comes from inside the room rather than outside it. Before mental fitness work, he was a corporate lawyer and then an investment banker, before a personal collapse pushed him to rebuild around resilience and peak performance training. That history is why his material reads to finance, professional services, and sales leaders as a description of their environment, not an external commentary on it. The institutional signal is clear. He was the first speaker in Asia to earn the Certified Speaking Professional designation from Asia Professional Speakers Singapore, a credential held by fewer than 5% of professional speakers globally. He holds further certifications from the International Sports Science Association and the Mental Toughness Research Institute in the United States, and hosts the Mental Toughness for Business segment on MONEY FM 89.3, Singapore’s business radio station. Key speaking topics Mental fitness as an organisational capability Resilience and stress mastery for commercial environments Peak performance under sustained pressure Burnout prevention in high-output workforces Confidence and self-leadership for senior individual contributors Mental toughness for sales and revenue teams Ideal for CHROs and heads of wellbeing redesigning mental health programmes beyond awareness campaigns Sales leadership and revenue teams operating under sustained quota pressure APAC regional leadership and global firms briefing mental fitness work for Asian workforces Professional services and financial services firms managing burnout risk inside high-output teams Audience outcomes A working understanding of mental fitness as a trainable capability rather than a mood or trait The R.O.C.K formula as a shared vocabulary for teams to use after the session A specific read on the stress and burnout signals that precede performance loss Practical behaviours for sustaining output under pressure without normalising overwork Confidence that mental health work can be taken back into the organisation as a leadership task, not a clinical referral

Why organisations work with Oli France He brings continuously updated, documented evidence rather than a single career anecdote. The Ultimate Seven Project, currently mid-sequence, gives every keynote a fresh expedition reference point that has happened in the last twelve months. His material is built around named, verifiable terrain, including Iraq’s highest peak, militia-controlled forest in DR Congo, the Aleppo region of Syria, and the 405-mile solo crossing of frozen Lake Baikal hauling a 60kg sledge. The Death Valley to Denali expedition, a 3,588-mile, 64-day journey covered by BBC, The Times and National Geographic, gives the keynote a credible decision-making case study with real, named risk variables. He is the founder of Wild Edge and host of The Wild Edge Podcast, which means his speaking content is built on conversations with operators in extreme environments, not borrowed leadership theory. He works fluently across formats: small executive groups, conference audiences of 500-plus, and virtual delivery, with named bureau credits across UK and European corporate, healthcare, and industrial buyers. Biography highlights Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and qualified Winter Mountain Leader, holding a BA in Outdoor Leadership and the British Mountain Leader summer and winter awards. Author of The Trail of the Mountain Folk (2017), based on a 108-day solo winter crossing of the mountainous spine of Asia from Hong Kong to Istanbul, covering eleven countries and fourteen mountain climbs. Founder of Wild Edge, host of The Wild Edge Podcast. Currently completing The Ultimate Seven, a world-first series of human-powered journeys from lowest point to highest summit on each continent, being filmed by True to Nature for broadcast. Death Valley to Denali, 3,588 miles in 64 days, the first person this century to complete the journey by human power. Coverage in BBC, The Times, National Geographic and Red Bull. Has led expeditions in over 75 countries including Iraq, DR Congo, Somalia, Socotra, Siberia, Tajikistan, and the Aleppo region of Syria. Biography Lac Assal in Djibouti is the lowest point on the African continent. Kilimanjaro is the highest. Oli France cycled and climbed the 1,636 miles between them in 28 days, the first leg of an ongoing world-first sequence called The Ultimate Seven. The South America leg followed in January 2025, 1,730 miles from Laguna del Carbon to Aconcagua in 34 days, through 49 mph Patagonian winds and 43-degree desert heat. The pattern matters because it is not a single career chapter. France runs a continuously updated expedition record, each leg of the project giving him fresh, documented material on planning under unknowns, leading small teams through compounding risk, and holding composure when the route ahead is genuinely unclear. The Death Valley to Denali leg in spring 2024 was covered by the BBC, The Times, National Geographic and Red Bull. His credentials sit underneath the work, not in front of it. France is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, holds a BA in Outdoor Leadership and both summer and winter British Mountain Leader awards. His first book, The Trail of the Mountain Folk, was published in 2017 after he travelled overland alone from Hong Kong to Istanbul across the spine of Asia in winter, eleven countries and fourteen mountain climbs over 108 days. He founded Wild Edge to lead small groups into hard-to-reach terrain, and hosts The Wild Edge Podcast, where he interviews operators working at the extreme end of human performance. For senior audiences, the value is specific. France gives leadership teams a decision-making case study with real, named consequences: minefields, militia, illness, dehydration, weather windows that close inside an hour. The keynote is built for groups looking to test how their own composure holds up when the comfortable version of the plan stops working. Key speaking topics Resilience under sustained pressure High-performing teams in remote and high-risk environments Decision-making with incomplete information Self-leadership and composure Expedition planning and risk management Vision, commitment and ambitious goal-setting Ideal for Executive leadership offsites and CEO summits where the brief calls for a credible non-management voice on resilience and judgement Sales kick-offs, all-hands and conference keynotes seeking a specific expedition narrative rather than generic motivational content Programme leads responsible for high-stakes change rollouts, restructures or operational pressure points After-dinner and award ceremony slots where authority and storytelling matter equally Audience outcomes A working language for composure: how senior people hold their judgement together when the plan stops cooperating A specific, recent expedition case study attendees can reference with their own teams afterwards A reset on what counts as an obstacle and what counts as a decision under uncertainty A renewed appetite for ambitious, defensible goals tied to a credible planning method

Why organisations work with Liz Jackson She has been on both sides of the table: founder of a B2B marketing firm she ran for 17 years, and now Sales & Marketing Director at M&A advisor BCMS, where she works with owner-managers through valuation, growth-to-sale, and the transition into life after exit. She runs The Fellows Group, a network of more than 200 entrepreneurs who have already sold their companies through BCMS. Few speakers can draw on a live, operational community of post-exit founders for their material. Her credibility on resilience is earned, not borrowed. She lost her sight at 25, the same year she founded Great Guns Marketing, and built the business into a multi-site national operation while blind. The MBE in 2007 was for services to business, not for personal story. She turns the conversation about disability and inclusion into a problem-solving conversation. Her framing, that disabled people develop unusually strong problem-solving instincts because they have had to, gives leadership teams a sharper lens on adversity and capability than the standard inclusion talk. Biography highlights MBE, 2007, for services to business Honorary doctorate, Staffordshire University, 2012 Founder, Great Guns Marketing, a national B2B telemarketing business she led for 17 years Sales & Marketing Director, BCMS (Initium Corporate Finance), advising owner-managers on sale and transition Host of The Fellows Group, a network of 200+ entrepreneurs who have exited their businesses through BCMS Featured on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire Author of StartUp!, published by Pearson Prentice Hall Biography Great Guns Marketing was launched in 1998 by a 25-year-old with no degree, a £1,000 grant and a £4,000 loan from The Prince’s Trust. The same year, its founder lost her sight. Over the next 17 years the business grew into one of the UK’s leading B2B telemarketing firms, with offices across England, Scotland and Ireland. That arc is the foundation of Liz Jackson’s commercial credibility, but it is no longer her main subject. As Sales & Marketing Director at BCMS, the M&A advisor for owner-managed businesses, she now sits inside the transactions she once would have been on the other side of, coaching founders through valuation, growth-to-sale and the life that begins the day the cheque clears. She also hosts The Fellows Group, a network of more than 200 entrepreneurs who have exited their companies through BCMS. It gives her a working evidence base on what actually changes for founders after a sale, the parts that are well rehearsed and the parts that are not. That material sits behind her work on entrepreneurship, growth strategy and exit planning, and it is what distinguishes her from speakers whose entrepreneurial story stopped at the founding moment. Jackson’s MBE, awarded in 2007 for services to business, and her honorary doctorate from Staffordshire University in 2012 are the public markers of that record. The Channel 4 Secret Millionaire appearance and her book StartUp!, published by Pearson Prentice Hall, are the points where her story has reached a broader audience. Inside a leadership room, her sharpest material is on how owner-managers can run a business now with the discipline of a business that will one day be sold. Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship and scale-up leadership Growth strategy for owner-managed businesses Sale readiness and post-exit transition Sales and B2B customer acquisition Resilience and adversity in business building Disability, problem-solving and inclusion Networking and founder community Ideal for Owner-managers, founders and shareholder-directors of mid-market businesses M&A advisors, private equity portfolio companies and corporate finance audiences Sales and commercial leadership teams in B2B businesses DEI and leadership audiences seeking a substantive voice on disability and capability Audience outcomes A clearer picture of what running a business “to be sold” actually looks like operationally, not just financially Specific insight from a network of 200+ post-exit founders on what makes the transition succeed or fail A sharper framing of disability and adversity as a source of commercial problem-solving capability A direct account of how a national B2B business was built, and sustained, by a founder operating without sight

Why organisations work with Caitriona Ellis She connects employee financial wellness directly to retention, giving HR and reward leaders a way to frame money support as a workforce outcome rather than a soft benefit. Her credentials as a qualified financial adviser mean the content stands up to scrutiny, which matters when an employer is putting financial guidance in front of staff. She speaks from a first-person recovery from serious financial difficulty, so audiences who feel quietly ashamed about money see someone credible who has been where they are. Her corporate sessions carry no product sales or advice agenda, which lets an employer put financial guidance in front of staff without the conflict of interest that adviser-led content usually brings. Biography highlights Qualified financial adviser with an honours Commerce degree and a career background in the banking sector. Founder of the Financial Wellness Academy, running structured financial wellbeing programmes for individuals and organisations. Buy-to-let property investor who acquired six properties remotely in the North East of England within a single 12-month period. Fellow of the National Estate Agents Association, with a Level 4 qualification in Residential Estate Agency. Delivers keynotes, workshops, and financial wellbeing programmes to employers, behaviour-led and free of any product or advice agenda. Regular speaker and podcast guest on financial wellness, including Institute of Directors International Women’s Day events and International Women Connected. Biography Money is the wellbeing problem most employers leave out. Mental health and physical health have a place in the corporate programme; financial anxiety, which sits underneath both, usually does not. Caitriona Ellis built her work in that gap, founding the Financial Wellness Academy to bring structured financial education to people who carry money stress quietly. Her authority rests on two things that rarely sit together. She is a qualified financial adviser with an honours Commerce degree and a banking background, so the technical content is sound. She has also worked her own way out of serious financial difficulty, which is why audiences who feel exposed about money tend to trust her rather than tune out. That credibility extends into practice. She is an active buy-to-let property investor who acquired six properties remotely in the North East of England inside a year, and a Fellow of the National Estate Agents Association. Her corporate sessions carry no product sales or advice agenda, so an employer can offer staff real financial guidance without the conflict that adviser-led content invites. For an organisation, the argument she makes is concrete: employees who feel in control of their money are easier to keep. She frames financial wellbeing as a retention lever, the part of the employee relationship that engagement surveys miss and exit interviews reveal too late. Key speaking topics Employee financial wellbeing Financial literacy and money confidence Financial wellbeing and staff retention Women and money Personal resilience and financial recovery Property investment and income diversification Ideal for CHROs, reward, and benefits leaders building or reviewing an employee wellbeing programme. Employee resource groups and women’s networks running financial confidence sessions. Organisations whose staff are visibly affected by cost-of-living pressure and financial stress. Audience outcomes Audiences leave able to name the first practical steps to take control of their own finances, regardless of starting point. Employees who felt isolated about money see that the problem is common and addressable, lowering the shame that keeps it hidden. HR and reward attendees leave with a clearer case for treating financial wellbeing as a retention issue, not a perk. Audiences gain a basic working understanding of income diversification and longer-term financial planning.