Peak Performance

George King: The Shard Climber George King, widely recognised as The Shard Climber, is a young pioneer in the world of extreme sports and urban free climbing. His most talked-about achievement was scaling London’s iconic Shard in 2019 at the age of just 19, a stunt that catapulted him into the global spotlight. George King BASE jumps from the buildings he climbs, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. He has also climbed the Lotte Tower in Seoul, South Korea, and the Stratosphere Tower in London, Copenhill, and Copenhagen, Denmark. With each climb, George King has further confirmed his reputation as a daredevil urban climber. As a result of his radical feats and likeable, down-to-earth character, George has gained work as a TV presenter for Channel 4, presenting two extreme sports specials. In 2020, George was featured in a Channel 4 documentary called The Boy Who Climbed The Shard. It has currently gained an extraordinary 1.6M views on YouTube. A popular and engaging speaker, George talks openly on fear management, touching on the theme of neurodiversity, specifically ADHD, with his first-hand knowledge of the subject. More about George: Fearless Pursuit: Conquering the Heights Within From a very young age, George was intrigued by fear. He was consumed by curiosity about fear and was obsessed with unravelling its mysteries so sought to understand, control and harness it. His mission is to transform people’s lives through changing their relationship with their fears, because everyone has fears, whether they like to admit it or not. From Hindrance to Superpower: Reclaiming Strength through Neurodiversity Growing up, academic success within traditional educational settings eluded George, leading to premature (and often underestimated) judgments of his intelligence and pace of learning. His journey took a significant turn for the worse following an ADHD diagnosis, which resulted in him being medicated with Ritalin. This treatment, however, felt like it stripped away my essence, transforming me into someone I hardly recognised. George feels strongly that if it’s necessary to give a child a drug for them to be normal in school, that’s a clear sign that schooling is not for them. During this challenging period, George began to forge mental strategies to redirect the energies of his ADHD from a debilitating hindrance into a powerful and positive force. This experience taught him to view ADHD not as a limitation but as a unique strength or superpower when harnessed and directed appropriately. As a consequence, he chose to discontinue medication, having learned to navigate and manage his ADHD effectively on his own terms. Central to his mission is empowering other individuals grappling with neurodiversity issues to reclaim control over their personal narrative and find what works for them from a position of knowledge.

“We’ve got some big ambitions and some massive challenges. If I can’t get my top team performing, we’ll never do it”. “We talk about teamwork and collaboration, but the truth is, we have silos and people pulling against each other. How do we get people working together?”. “We’ve risen to number two in the world. How do we get to number one?”. “The big problem is, we need a step change in mindset. We need to start thinking like winners… like champions!”. “We’ve got a bunch of really good people that are overwhelmed and stressed. What we need is a highly focused team, firing on all cylinders”. “We talk a lot about values, culture and empowering people, but if I’m honest, we don’t really do it. Until now, we’ve been getting away with it, but we need to start making it happen… and fast!”. “We’re light on leadership. We have enough managers, but we need more genuine leaders”. “How do we keep winning? Not once, but year after year after year? That’s the holy grail for me!”. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, Simon Hartley can help. He is a globally renowned sport psychology consultant and world class performance coach. For almost 30 years, he has been driven performance at the highest level of sport – English Premier League, Bundesliga, international rugby and cricket, Formula One and the G.B. Olympic programmes. In total, the teams and athletes I’ve worked with have amassed well over 40 world championships and world records. During the last 20 years, he has brought his experience to business, driving personal transformations and building world-leading teams. Simon provides unique insights and a “behind the curtain” view into world class organisations and elite sports teams. He shares lessons he’s learned from Formula One pit crews and Americas Cup sailing crews. He also shares the winning strategies power their success, such as the ‘Hire Great People’ strategy he uses with teams like FC Bayern Munich, and the winning mindset approaches that he shares with international rugby teams such as England Rugby League and Fiji Rugby 7s. Through a masterful blend of his engaging style with enormous credibility, profound insights and tangible take aways, Simon creates immeasurable and long-lasting impact with his audiences.

Why organisations work with Oswald Rodrigo Pereira He has summited five eight-thousand-metre peaks without supplementary oxygen or Sherpa support, a credential held by a small population of climbers worldwide and one that gives his risk material a basis no simulation can replicate. He has been on the active end of two high-altitude rescues, including the 2023 evacuation of 84-year-old Carlos Soria from Dhaulagiri, and uses both as worked examples of crisis decision-making rather than as anecdote. His twelve years as a television journalist before mountaineering give him a working method for information triage under deadline, which he applies directly to how leadership teams handle incomplete data. He directs and shoots his own documentary work in the death zone, including The Silent Escape, which gives his sessions visual evidence at a level most speakers in the resilience category cannot match. Biography highlights Five eight-thousand-metre summits without supplementary oxygen: Broad Peak, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Makalu, Kangchenjunga Ten Himalayan and Karakoram expeditions in seven years, including two winter K2 attempts Director of The Silent Escape, awarded Best Mountain Film at the Krakow Mountain Festival 2023 and screened in more than twenty countries Co-led the 2023 high-altitude rescue of climber Carlos Soria on Dhaulagiri Twelve-year prior career as a television journalist in Poland covering politics, economics and sport Law studies at the University of Warsaw and the University of Lisbon Biography The death zone above eight thousand metres is the highest-stakes operating environment a person can voluntarily enter. Judgement degrades, oxygen falls below half of sea-level value, and the consequences of a slow decision are irreversible. Oswald Rodrigo Pereira has worked in that environment for seven years, on ten expeditions, and has summited five of its peaks without supplementary oxygen. His route to the mountain ran through journalism. Twelve years in Polish television covering politics, economics and sport gave him a working discipline around information under deadline. The pivot came on a winter K2 expedition, where he went as a correspondent and stayed as a climber. He now films what he climbs. The documentary The Silent Escape premiered in Seoul in October 2023, won Best Mountain Film at the Krakow Mountain Festival, and has since screened in over twenty countries. Two rescues anchor his crisis material. The 2023 evacuation of 84-year-old Carlos Soria from Dhaulagiri, reported in detail by Explorersweb, required him and climbing partner Bartek Ziemski to return to altitude with stretcher and oxygen after their own summit and ski descent. The decisions in that sequence, who moves, in what order, with what margin, are the substance of his risk and decision-making sessions, not the dressing. What he offers leadership audiences is not motivation. It is a working description of how a small team triages information, allocates physical and cognitive reserve, and decides what to abandon when conditions change faster than the plan. The translation to boardroom risk is left to the audience, deliberately, and that is the strongest test of whether the material lands. Key speaking topics Risk management in extreme conditions Decision-making under sustained pressure Crisis response and rescue operations Resilience and recovery Information triage from journalism to crisis leadership High-altitude filmmaking and storytelling Personal transformation and physical reinvention Ideal for Executive teams and boards running risk, safety, or crisis-response remits Operations and field leaders in industries with consequential physical risk (energy, construction, logistics, defence) Leadership offsites focused on decision-making under pressure Conferences in insurance, security, or resilience adjacent sectors Audience outcomes A concrete picture of how a small team makes consequential decisions when information is partial and time is short Two worked examples of high-altitude crisis response, used to surface the structure of good and bad calls under load A framing of risk that separates the avoidable from the inherent, and treats the inherent as something to be managed rather than removed Footage and first-person material from inside the death zone that gives the abstract content concrete weight

About James Peach Award-winning global marketing leader (Ex-Uber, Ex-Coca-Cola, Ex-Vinted, Ex-Innocent), world cyclist and adventurer, leadership and performance coach. James has built some of the world’s most successful household brands in tech and consumer goods, leading award-winning marketing and creative teams across Europe and North America. James spent two years cycling a lap of the world solo and unsupported, covering over 41,000 kilometers across 38 countries. He has hiked solo across three continents, and even pioneered the first triathlon to span an entire nation. As the Founder of The Growth Project, James is redefining the way we think about growth and how we achieve ambitious goals – moving beyond the traditional ‘growth mindset’ to a new, more actionable framework. The Growth Project explores how we can use the lessons of the past and adopt a set of behaviours to accelerate future growth, unlocking new ways for individuals, teams and business cultures to thrive. A highly relatable, entertaining and sought-after speaker, James captivates audiences with humor, energy, and meaningful takeaways. His talks offer a refreshing departure from the every day and inspire audiences to think differently about life and work. “I’ve seen a lot of speakers over the years, and James is the best I’ve encountered—a normal person who has done extraordinary things.” — Nestlé

Jeff Salzenstein: Own Your Zone of Excellence™ High performers face relentless pressure to consistently produce and perform at optimal levels, professionally and personally. Our personal wellness needs and professional bottom line goals are critical to overall success, but they’re often misaligned. High performers are in dire need of simple solutions that can be consistently called upon to perform better while reducing stress and burnout. As a two-time All-American, national champion, team captain at Stanford University, and former top 100 world-ranked tennis player, Jeff knows what it takes to perform at the highest levels. Now a speaker and performance coach, Jeff has dedicated his life to helping others achieve more success without sacrificing their well-being. Jeff understands high-stakes competition and the performance it takes to win in business and life. The real key? Achieving success without losing ourselves—individually or as an organization. His Own Your Zone of Excellence methodology empowers leaders and teams to access their full potential while navigating pressure. His framework is built on principles designed to drive sustainable growth and enhance leadership: Rapid Stress Reduction: Tools to calm the nervous system and unlock flow states Mindset Shifts: Reframing challenges into opportunities for growth. Emotional Regulation: Boosting focus, energy, and creativity. Rest and Recovery: Practical strategies to build resilience and bounce back stronger. Owning your Zone of Excellence means thriving, not just surviving. It equips leaders to handle adversity, inspire their teams, and create lasting impact. Jeff is passionate about helping organizations redefine success and elevate performance. He brings insights from years of elite competition and leadership to transform how teams operate under pressure. Partnering with Jeff is an opportunity to inspire change, foster well-being, and achieve sustainable success.

Why organisations work with Matthias Schmitt He has scaled and exited the companies his audience is still inside. wealthpilot reached over 100,000 European customers under his co-founding, and Skigaudi became Germany’s leading student winter festival brand. His Expansion State Method is a named, proprietary coaching framework, not a borrowed model. It is designed specifically for founders navigating the gap between commercial success and personal meaning. He addresses burnout from inside the experience, having walked out of his own companies after hitting it. The credibility with senior operators is earned, not theoretical. He works in the territory most leadership programmes avoid: nervous system regulation, identity after exit, and the practical mechanics of sustaining decision quality under sustained pressure. Entrepreneur Asia Pacific named him to its Top Five Life Coaches to Watch in 2024, which gives the work external editorial validation in a category usually short of it. Biography highlights Co-founder of wealthpilot, a Munich-based FinTech SaaS serving over 100,000 European customers Co-founder of Skigaudi, Germany’s leading winter festival brand for students Founder of the Expansion State Method, a proprietary coaching framework for post-exit founders Named to Entrepreneur Asia Pacific’s Top Five Life Coaches to Watch in 2024 Trained in NLP, behavioural science, nervous system regulation, and meditation as applied to executive performance Works publicly under the title “Chief Fulfillment Officer,” focused on post-exit founders and conscious leaders Biography The exit is supposed to be the win. For many founders, it is also the moment the architecture they built their identity on disappears. The high-performance habits that scaled the company keep firing into an empty room. Matthias Schmitt co-founded wealthpilot, a Munich FinTech that scaled past 100,000 European customers, and Skigaudi, the leading German winter festival brand for students. He exited and hit burnout. The recovery became the work. Today he coaches post-exit entrepreneurs and senior leaders through that transition, using a proprietary framework he calls the Expansion State Method. The practical content draws on NLP, behavioural science, nervous system regulation, and meditation, applied to the specific problem of how senior operators sustain decision quality and meaning after the pressure that organised their lives lifts. Entrepreneur Asia Pacific named him to its Top Five Life Coaches to Watch in 2024. The recognition matters because the category he works in, founder coaching, is crowded with generalists. The differentiator here is operational time served at the level his clients are leaving. Key speaking topics Burnout recovery for founders and senior operators Post-exit identity and purpose Peak performance without collapse Nervous system regulation for high-pressure leadership Sales leadership and revenue performance Purpose-led business building Ideal for Founder communities, scale-up CEO peer groups, and post-exit networks Sales leadership offsites where revenue performance and team wellbeing are both on the table Private wealth and family office audiences working with HNW and UHNW founders Executive development programmes addressing sustained performance and burnout risk at senior levels Audience outcomes A clearer read on where current performance habits are producing diminishing returns Specific practices for nervous system regulation under sustained executive pressure A language for the post-exit transition that senior operators rarely have available Permission to treat fulfilment as a performance variable, not a soft topic

Why organisations work with Devon Harris He has lived the exact scenario most leadership talks only describe. Competing at three Olympics after a crash, rebuilds, and a decade of comebacks is not a story, it is a working model for how teams recover from public failure. His credibility carries two rare sources at once: Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and three Olympic Games. Few speakers can frame resilience from both an officer’s training and an athlete’s start line. His Keep On Pushing Foundation, founded 2006, gives the keynote a real institutional spine. Audiences hear from someone who built something durable outside the sport, not a retired athlete trading on a moment. He is a practised corporate keynote with long-standing Fortune 500 clients across pharma, tech, logistics and industrials. Buyers get a speaker who knows how to land a message in a sales kickoff or a leadership offsite, not a sports story recycled on stage. The Jamaican bobsled story is globally recognised shorthand for underdog execution. He uses it as a working case study in team formation under scrutiny, not as a nostalgia piece. Biography highlights Three-time Winter Olympian: Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Nagano 1998. Founding member of the Jamaica national bobsled team; captain in 1992 and 1998. Graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; retired as a Captain in the Jamaica Defence Force. Named WOA Olympian for Life at PyeongChang 2018 by the World Olympians Association. Founder, Keep On Pushing Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) supporting education in disadvantaged communities. Author of «Keep On Pushing: Hot Lessons from Cool Runnings» and the children’s book «Yes, I Can! The Story of the Jamaican Bobsled Team.» Biography The 1988 Jamaican bobsled team crashed on Olympic ice in Calgary with the world watching. Devon Harris was in that sled. Four years later he was back, as captain. Four after that, he was on the ice again. The story that became Cool Runnings is the entry point, but the working material is what happened between the Games. Before the sled, there was Sandhurst. Harris graduated from the Royal Military Academy and took a Queen’s Commission in 1985, serving as an officer in the Jamaica Defence Force until he retired as a Captain. That dual formation, British military training layered on a childhood in Kingston’s Olympic Gardens, is where his view of composure under pressure comes from. It is also why his framing of team performance feels closer to an officer’s debrief than an athlete’s highlight reel. In 2006 he founded the Keep On Pushing Foundation, which funds education for children in disadvantaged communities and started by backing a breakfast program at his own primary school in Kingston. The World Olympians Association named him an Olympian for Life at PyeongChang 2018 for his work beyond sport. He has written two books, including a motivational volume that draws on the Sandhurst-to-Olympics arc and a children’s book on the bobsled story. He now works primarily with leadership and commercial teams at Fortune 500 organisations across pharma, technology, logistics, and industrial sectors. The argument he brings into those rooms is operational. Performance is not a mindset to adopt, it is a set of habits rehearsed under pressure, and the teams that keep pushing when the plan breaks are the ones that built those habits before the crash. Key speaking topics Resilience and performance under pressure Team leadership in high-scrutiny environments Composure and decision-making in volatility Sustained execution after public failure Goal-setting and long-cycle performance Diversity and inclusion in team formation Personal accountability in commercial teams Ideal for Senior leadership teams navigating extended periods of pressure, change, or public setback Sales kickoffs and commercial teams at the start of demanding quarters or transformations Board and executive offsites focused on team composure, resilience, and sustained performance Large culture and engagement events where a credible keynote anchor is required Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for talking about resilience as rehearsed behaviour, not individual grit Specific techniques Harris uses to reset composure after setbacks, drawn from Olympic and military practice A frame for how high-performing teams form quickly under scrutiny and keep performing after failure A renewed sense of personal accountability for the habits that compound into sustained performance

Why organisations work with Maria Conceicao A first-person account of running a registered charity in Bangladesh for twenty years while financing it through endurance feats few professional athletes attempt. A specific lens on resilience as a long horizon discipline, drawn from summiting Everest and K2, completing the Explorers Grand Slam, and running ultramarathons across seven continents. Concrete material on starting with nothing: from working as a cleaner in Portugal to building an education programme that has served more than 600 children in Dhaka’s slums. A voice that lands with mixed corporate audiences, with keynote appearances at Harvard Alumni events, Mindvalley, and the John C. Maxwell annual event. A founder’s perspective on social impact that is operational, not aspirational. The Maria Cristina Foundation is registered in three jurisdictions and supports active enrolment in Dhaka schools. Biography highlights First Portuguese woman to summit Mount Everest (2013) and K2 (2024). First Portuguese person and 17th woman globally to complete the Explorers Grand Slam (2024). Ten Guinness World Records across ultramarathon, Ironman and endurance disciplines (2014 to 2023). Founder of the Maria Cristina Foundation, established 2005, registered in the UK, USA and Portugal. Author of A Woman on Top of the World (2022), Butterfly Stories Vol 1 and 2 (2023), Altered Path (2023) and The World Needs Superheroes (2024). Keynote speaker for Harvard Alumni events, Mindvalley summits and the John C. Maxwell annual event. Biography A routine layover in Dhaka in the early 2000s set the trajectory. Maria Conceicao was working as an Emirates flight attendant when she walked into the slums of Bangladesh. Within months she had sold her belongings, cancelled a planned trip and returned to set up a school. The Maria Cristina Foundation followed in 2005 and has supported more than 600 children since. Funding a registered charity from a flight attendant’s salary was never going to scale, so the endurance work began. She had no athletic background. She learned to climb, run and swim well enough to set ten Guinness World Records, summit Everest and K2, ski to both poles, and complete the Explorers Grand Slam as the first Portuguese person and the seventeenth woman in the world to finish it. The commercial proposition for corporate audiences is the discipline underneath those numbers. Twenty years of running a foundation in Dhaka through every cycle of regional disruption. Ten records earned without sponsorship infrastructure most professional athletes rely on. Four published books, all written while training and fundraising. Keynote appearances at Harvard Alumni events, Mindvalley and the John C. Maxwell annual event. Her early life is part of the credibility, not a footnote. She lost her adoptive mother Cristina at nine, worked as a cleaner in Portugal as a young woman, and built every credential from there. The foundation is named for Cristina. Key speaking topics Resilience under sustained pressure Self-leadership and composure Purpose-driven leadership Humanitarian entrepreneurship Endurance and goal setting Founder-led social impact Ideal for CHROs and people leaders rebuilding engagement after periods of fatigue or restructure Senior leadership offsites focused on resilience and self-leadership Conferences for purpose-led organisations, foundations and ESG functions Female leadership networks and emerging leader programmes Audience outcomes A first-hand account of decision-making at altitude, where margins are physiological and consequences are immediate. A working definition of resilience as a twenty-year practice, not a coping technique. Specific examples of operating a registered charity across three jurisdictions while funding it through personal endurance challenges. A reframing of what is possible from a starting point of no resources, no network and no formal training.

Why organisations work with Sir Gareth Southgate His England management tenure is the subject of a published case study at Harvard Business School – one of the few occasions in sport where a coaching approach has been formally codified as an executive leadership model. He rebuilt a national team culture from a position of public failure and sustained performance across four consecutive major tournaments. That track record gives his thinking on culture change and sustained delivery a foundation most leadership authors lack. Dear England: Lessons in Leadership (Sunday Times instant bestseller, 2025) sets out the specific reasoning behind his decisions under pressure – on accountability, psychological safety, selection, and standing behind unpopular choices – in a form directly applicable to organisational leadership. He led through personal, very public failure – the Euro ’96 penalty miss that defined a decade of his public identity – and through two consecutive tournament final defeats. His account of resilience starts from having lived the worst-case scenario, not from having studied it. During intense national debates on race, identity, and protest, he articulated a values position publicly and held a diverse squad together through that pressure. Organisations navigating social or political tension inside teams get a practitioner account of what that demands in practice. Biography highlights England men’s senior manager 2016-2024; 102 matches, 61 wins – more major tournament games won than any other England manager in history Only the second England manager to reach a major tournament final, after Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966; reached consecutive European Championship finals in 2021 and 2024 Knighted in the King’s New Year Honours 2025; previously appointed OBE in 2019 Visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School; his England tenure is the subject of a published HBS leadership case study Author of Dear England: Lessons in Leadership (Cornerstone, 2025) – an instant Sunday Times bestseller; delivered the 2025 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC One, joining Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde, and the Prince of Wales as past speakers in the series Two-time BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award (2018 and 2021); playing career spanning over 500 appearances for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, and Middlesbrough, with 57 England caps Biography When Gareth Southgate took charge of England in 2016, the national team had just been knocked out of the Euros by Iceland. Public confidence was at a low. Over eight years and four major tournaments, he rebuilt the team’s culture entirely. The result was consecutive European Championship finals and a record for the most major tournament games won by any England manager. His approach is now the subject of a case study taught at Harvard Business School. The method was deliberate cultural architecture rather than tactical adjustment. Southgate prioritised psychological safety, shared values, and a team identity that held under pressure. His open letter to England fans during COVID-19 inspired the award-winning West End play Dear England. It demonstrated how he treated transparency and personal vulnerability as leadership tools, not liabilities. Southgate delivered the 2025 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC One, joining Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde, and the Prince of Wales as previous speakers in the series. Dear England: Lessons in Leadership became an instant Sunday Times bestseller; the Guardian described it as articulating a moral vision that went beyond the reach of contemporary British politics. He was knighted in the King’s New Year Honours 2025 for services to association football. The fractured starting point, intense public accountability, and need to build individual and collective performance simultaneously – these are not challenges unique to sport. His insights are drawn from eight consecutive years at the sharp end of that problem, not from theory. Key speaking topics Leadership under sustained public scrutiny Culture transformation and team identity Values-based accountability Resilience and performance through failure Psychological safety and trust in high-stakes teams Inclusive leadership and diversity of thought Decision-making in high-pressure environments Ideal for Senior leadership teams and C-suite executives navigating cultural or strategic transformation CHROs and people leaders working on team culture, inclusion, and performance under pressure Board-level and executive leadership development programmes Organisations in high-scrutiny sectors – financial services, public institutions, large consumer-facing businesses – where leadership decisions carry public accountability Audience outcomes A concrete model for building values-led culture that outlasts individual results cycles First-hand perspective on decision-making under public pressure: how values, not tactics, determine outcomes over time Practical insight into what psychological safety looks like in a high-accountability, high-visibility environment A framework for holding team identity together through failure, scrutiny, and competing stakeholder demands An honest account of how personal and public setback can become the foundation of leadership credibility rather than a liability

Key speaking topics High-performance team leadership Formula 1 team management Competitive strategy in elite sport Organisational transformation Governance and regulatory environments Engineering leadership Operational excellence under pressure Ideal for Senior leadership teams Executive and board-level audiences Engineering and technical organisations High-performance and elite sport conferences Audience outcomes Clear understanding of how Formula 1 teams are structured and led Practical insights into building and sustaining high-performance cultures Perspective on managing performance under regulatory and competitive constraints Lessons in operational leadership during periods of organisational transition Real-world examples of strategic decision-making in complex environments Why organisations work with Otmar Szafnauer Direct experience leading multiple Formula 1 teams at board and team principal level. Proven track record of guiding teams through ownership transitions and competitive rebuilding. Combines engineering expertise with executive-level commercial and governance experience. Brings practical insight from operating in one of the world’s most competitive and regulated sporting environments. Biography Otmar Szafnauer brings decades of senior leadership experience from the pinnacle of global motorsport, where performance, governance and operational precision determine competitive success. He has held team principal and executive roles across multiple Formula 1 organisations, leading complex teams in one of the most demanding and regulated environments in sport. At the Silverstone-based Formula 1 team that evolved from Force India to Racing Point and Aston Martin, he served in senior leadership for more than a decade, including as Team Principal and CEO. During this period, the team progressed to regular points-scoring performance, achieved a 4th place finish in the Constructors’ Championship, and secured a Formula 1 race victory. He later led the BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team as Team Principal, guiding the organisation to a 4th place Constructors’ Championship finish under the Alpine name. His leadership experience spans competitive rebuilding, ownership transition and performance management at board and operational level. Earlier in his career, Szafnauer held senior roles within Honda’s Formula 1 programme, rising to Vice President of Honda Racing Development. His responsibilities included executive leadership and involvement in regulatory-facing work within the sport’s governance structures. An engineer by training, he holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Wayne State University and a master’s degree in business and finance from the University of Detroit Mercy. He began his career at Ford Motor Company before moving into Formula 1 leadership roles in the late 1990s. Alongside his motorsport career, he founded the software company Soft Pauer and serves as its chairman, reflecting his continued interest in technology and data-driven performance.

Why organisations work with Ralf Schumacher Six Grand Prix victories with Williams between 2001 and 2003, including the team’s most recent 1-2 finish at the 2003 French Grand Prix with Juan Pablo Montoya. Performance at the front of one of the most publicly measured competitions in international sport. Still inside the sport every race weekend as Sky Deutschland’s Formula 1 co-commentator since 2019. His read on team strategy and driver dynamics reflects the current grid, not the one he raced on. Active operational role in motorsport beyond broadcasting: shareholder at Mücke Motorsport since 2013, where he mentors young Mercedes-Benz drivers, and co-team manager at US Racing since 2015 with Gerhard Ungar. Insider perspective on the data-driven culture that defines modern F1, where 1,800-person organisations align around fortnightly race deadlines and pit crews execute roughly 36 tasks in under two seconds. Biography highlights Six Formula 1 Grand Prix wins, 27 podiums, and 180 race starts across 11 seasons (1997 to 2007). Drove for Jordan, Williams, and Toyota in Formula 1; raced in DTM with Mercedes-Benz from 2008 to 2012. Won the 1995 Macau Grand Prix in Formula 3 and the 1996 Japanese Formula Nippon championship in his debut season. Co-commentator and pundit for Sky Deutschland’s Formula 1 coverage since 2019, alongside Timo Glock. Shareholder and mentor at Mücke Motorsport since 2013; co-team manager at US Racing since 2015. With brother Michael Schumacher, the only siblings to have each won Formula 1 Grands Prix. Biography Williams’ most recent 1-2 finish in Formula 1 came at the 2003 French Grand Prix. Ralf Schumacher led, Juan Pablo Montoya followed. It was the fifth of six Grand Prix victories Schumacher recorded across an eleven-season Formula 1 career with Jordan, Williams, and Toyota. The competitive ground that produced those results is unusual. A top Formula 1 team employs around 1,800 people, only a small fraction of whom ever attend a race. Performance depends on aligning that population around a calendar of two dozen race weekends where the deadlines are non-negotiable and the result is broadcast live. Drivers occupy one corner of that operation, with measurable output every fortnight. Since 2019, Schumacher has been a co-commentator for Sky Deutschland’s Formula 1 coverage, alongside Timo Glock. The role keeps his analysis current rather than archival. Each race weekend places him back inside the same strategy calls and driver dynamics he speaks about on stage, which is a meaningful gap between him and former drivers who left the sport a decade ago. Off the broadcast he runs an operational role in motorsport. Since 2013 he has been a shareholder and mentor at Mücke Motorsport, supporting young Mercedes-Benz drivers, and since 2015 he has been co-team manager at US Racing. In August 2024 he returned to racing at the Nürburgring, sharing a Ligier JS P320 LMP3 car with his son David in the Prototype Cup Germany. Seventeen years after his last Formula 1 start, he still occupies a working seat in the sport on both sides of the camera. Key speaking topics Team performance in Formula 1 Data-driven decision-making and marginal gains Risk management and safety culture in elite competition Talent development and mentoring Leadership through technological and regulatory change The business and economics of Formula 1 Ideal for Sales and commercial leadership teams in markets that grade performance every quarter Operations and engineering leaders accountable for repeatable execution against fixed deadlines High-potential and emerging-leader programmes inside multinationals DACH-region corporate audiences and German-speaking conferences Audience outcomes A vocabulary for performance under continuous pressure, drawn from one of the most publicly measured competitive environments in the world. Specific examples of how Formula 1 teams align around fortnightly race deadlines, and where that translates to corporate operating rhythm. An honest account of what F1’s data-driven culture actually produces, beyond the slogan of “marginal gains”. The view of talent development from inside the system that mentors Mercedes-Benz drivers.

Why organisations work with Bradley Scanes Five seasons inside the Red Bull Racing operation during four consecutive Verstappen world titles, with direct ownership of preparation, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and rehabilitation. The reference point is operational, not anecdotal. A career that crosses Olympic gymnastics, Olympic basketball, Premier League football medical leadership, and motorsport, which means his framing of high performance is not tied to one sport’s culture. Clinical foundations through the NHS plus two postgraduate physiotherapy degrees, which gives him a physiological grounding most performance speakers in this category do not have. Active current practice with endurance racing teams at Le Mans and Daytona and with Ironman World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay, so the examples are current, not retrospective. Biography highlights Five-year tenure as Human Performance Consultant and Physiotherapist at Red Bull Racing, working directly with Max Verstappen, 2019 to 2024 Four-year Olympic cycle as performance coach with British Gymnastics, including work with Max Whitlock Four years with Team GB Olympic Basketball Former Head of Medical at Southend United FC; clinical foundation in the NHS BSc Sport and Exercise Science (Loughborough); MSc Physiotherapy; MSc Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and Research (distinction) Founder and Director of Elite Formula PT; creator of the Complete Sports Practitioner mentorship programme and the Formula 1 Series Course Biography Formula 1 has the shortest feedback loop in elite performance. Decisions made on Thursday show up in a stopwatch on Sunday, and the operating environment inside a top team is built around removing every variable that could cost a tenth of a second. For five seasons, that environment was Bradley Scanes’ workplace. As Human Performance Consultant and Physiotherapist at Red Bull Racing from 2019 to 2024, he was responsible for Max Verstappen’s physical preparation, recovery, sleep, nutrition, and rehabilitation across the four world championship campaigns that defined the team’s modern era. The work sat inside an organisation of more than 1,800 staff where a pit stop is measured in tenths and a tyre temperature is a strategic input. The route in was unusual. Loughborough sport science, then a Masters in physiotherapy, then a second Masters in advanced musculoskeletal physiotherapy with distinction. NHS clinical work. Head of Medical at Southend United FC. Four years with Team GB Olympic Basketball and a full Olympic cycle with British Gymnastics, including campaigns with Max Whitlock. By the time he reached Red Bull, the question of how athletes perform under pressure had been examined from five different sports and two clinical settings. He now runs Elite Formula PT, coaches Ironman World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay, and works across endurance racing teams competing at Le Mans and Daytona. The training programmes he has written for the next generation of sports practitioners, including the Formula 1 Series Course, are taught from inside that current practice, which is why senior corporate audiences come away with operating language they can actually use the following Monday. Key speaking topics High-performance culture Recovery and sleep as performance variables Team execution under pressure Marginal gains and continuous improvement Safety, risk and learning culture in elite sport Leadership lessons from Formula 1 Composure and decision-making under load Ideal for Executive leadership teams stress-testing how they perform under sustained pressure Operations and transformation leaders looking at cycle time, error rate, and team execution Sales and commercial leadership teams preparing for high-stakes quarters People and talent leaders rebuilding cultures around recovery, focus and sustained output Audience outcomes A working vocabulary for recovery, sleep, and composure as measurable inputs to senior performance A concrete picture of how a top F1 team reduces error and increases cycle precision under time pressure Reference points from Olympic and motorsport environments that translate to corporate execution A sharper sense of how elite teams treat safety, risk and learning culture as performance levers rather than compliance