Resilience & Stress Management

Why organisations work with Mike Brown Twenty years at the top of a brutally competitive professional sport, with 382 appearances for Harlequins and 72 England caps, gives leaders a credible voice on what it takes to keep performing through injury, deselection, and reinvention. Named 2014 Six Nations Player of the Championship, the only England player ever to win the award, alongside 2014 Premiership Player of the Season, evidence of standards held at the very top, not a single peak season. Lived experience of the back end of a career: leaving Harlequins after sixteen years, two seasons at Newcastle, finishing at Leicester, and retiring with the fourth most Premiership appearances of all time. Useful for audiences thinking about late-career identity, transition, and what high standards look like once the spotlight moves. Speaks from within elite team cultures under Eddie Jones, Stuart Lancaster, and Conor O’Shea, not as an outside observer. Biography highlights 72 England caps, 2007 to 2018, three Six Nations titles 382 appearances for Harlequins over sixteen seasons, two Premiership titles, one European Challenge Cup 2014 RBS Six Nations Player of the Championship and 2014 Premiership Rugby Player of the Season Retired at the end of the 2024 to 2025 season, the fourth most Premiership appearances in the league’s history Recurring co-host on RugbyPass Offload, one of the most-listened rugby podcasts Appointed Sporting Director at Esher RFC in December 2025 Biography Few players in the modern professional era have stayed at the top for as long as Mike Brown. Sixteen seasons at Harlequins, 72 caps for England, three Six Nations titles, and a career that ended with the fourth most appearances in the history of Premiership Rugby. The longevity matters because rugby does not allow it by accident. The 2014 Six Nations was the season that defined him. He was named Player of the Championship, the only Englishman ever to win the award, and Premiership Player of the Season in the same year. The recognition came after a decade of work that started with a debut in a record defeat to South Africa and ran through deselection, injury, and the public end of his Harlequins career in 2021. What Brown brings to a corporate audience is not the highlight reel, it is the sustained standard. He played under Eddie Jones, Stuart Lancaster and Conor O’Shea, and has been candid in interviews on RugbyPass Offload about the cost of holding his own performance to that standard for so long. Leaders responsible for tired teams recognise the territory. Since retirement he has moved into rugby media as a regular voice on RugbyPass Offload and into a Sporting Director role at Esher RFC. The second act sharpens the keynote material. He is now talking about high performance from both sides of the line, as the player who lived it and the executive who has to build it again from the ground up. Key speaking topics Sustained high performance Resilience and recovery from setback Team standards and accountability Elite team culture Career transition and reinvention Mental discipline under public pressure Ideal for Senior leadership teams and boards working through sustained pressure or restructure Sales and commercial teams under repeated quarterly performance demands HR and L&D programmes on resilience, standards, and high-performance culture Sports, broadcast, and member-organisation audiences Audience outcomes A clear-eyed account of what it takes to hold elite standards across a twenty-year career, not a single season Lived perspective on managing setback, public scrutiny, and deselection without losing competitive edge A working view of how elite team cultures actually function under high-profile coaches Reference points senior leaders can use when their own teams are fatigued by repeated change

Why organisations work with Andy Goode A name and voice that audiences already know from broadcast rugby coverage, which shortens the trust-building gap between the speaker and the room on the night. Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame status and a five-title Leicester Tigers career give the credibility a rugby audience tests for in the first two minutes of any after-dinner slot. Co-hosts The Rugby Pod with Jim Hamilton and Dan Biggar, so he brings live, current insight into the modern professional game, not nostalgia from a finished career. Comfortable across formats: keynote, after-dinner, awards host, panel moderator, Q&A with current players, which suits sponsors and hospitality programmes that need one person across a full event. When the brief calls for it, he speaks substantively on team performance, recovery from setback and reinvention after sport, drawing on a career that included two retirements, multiple club moves and a post-playing media reinvention. Biography highlights Five English Premiership titles with Leicester Tigers (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007). Two Heineken Cup winners’ medals (2001, 2002). 17 England caps between 2005 and 2009, debut against Italy in the Six Nations. 423 senior club appearances and 3,934 points across Leicester Tigers, Saracens, CA Brive, the Sharks, Worcester Warriors, Wasps and Newcastle Falcons. Second-highest points scorer in Premiership Rugby history and former record holder. Inducted into the Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame, June 2021. Co-host of The Rugby Pod with Jim Hamilton and Dan Biggar; rugby pundit and analyst for major UK broadcasters including BT Sport and TalkSport. Biography Few fly-halves have stood in front of a Premiership pack across as many seasons as Andy Goode. He arrived at Leicester Tigers from school in 1998 and was inside the squad through the club’s record run of four straight Premiership titles, then returned for a second spell that produced a fifth title in 2007 and made him the all-time leading points scorer in the league, a record he held until Charlie Hodgson overtook him. The career that followed is what gives the after-dinner material its range. Saracens, then Brive in the French Top 14, a short spell with the Sharks in Super Rugby, then Worcester Warriors, Wasps and Newcastle Falcons. Across 423 senior games he scored 3,934 points and earned 17 England caps between 2005 and 2009. He was inducted into the Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame in 2021. The second career has been built on the same instincts that ran a back line for nearly two decades. Goode reads the game on air the way he ran it on the pitch, which is why The Rugby Pod, co-hosted with Jim Hamilton and Dan Biggar, has become the most-listened-to rugby podcast in the world. He works as a pundit and analyst across major UK broadcasters and is a familiar voice to anyone following the modern professional game. For corporate audiences he is most often booked as a host, after-dinner speaker or awards MC for events where rugby is the hospitality currency. The substance, when the brief asks for it, is the same substance the playing career rested on: a team’s habits under pressure, the discipline of recovery from setback, and what an elite career looks like when the playing chapter ends. Key speaking topics Professional rugby and the modern game Team performance under pressure Career reinvention after elite sport After-dinner speaking and event hosting Awards and ceremony hosting Panel moderation and player Q&A Ideal for Corporate hospitality programmes built around rugby (Six Nations, Premiership Rugby, Rugby World Cup) Sponsor activations and client dinners during the rugby calendar Industry award ceremonies and gala dinners requiring a recognisable sports host Sports clubs, rugby unions and member organisations running fundraising events Audience outcomes A room that warms up quickly because the host already has the audience’s recognition A credible voice on the current state of the professional game, not generic sports anecdotes A storyteller who can hold the centre of a long-format dinner without slipping into stand-up For motivational briefs: a first-person account of resilience, repeated reinvention and elite-sport team culture

Why organisations work with Jill Scott A first-hand account of the dressing-room culture that produced England’s first major senior football trophy in 56 years, told by a player who was inside it across nine major tournaments. A career built in the connecting roles, not the headline ones. Scott can speak credibly to the people in any organisation whose value is hard to measure but visible the moment they leave. Mainstream reach without loss of credibility. She is recognisable from I’m A Celebrity and A League of Their Own, which makes her sessions land with audiences beyond the usual sports-keynote crowd. An honest perspective on the long arc of a career: from one of the first central FA contracts through to MBE, retirement, and a second life in business and broadcast. Biography highlights 161 senior caps and 27 goals for England across 16 years. Member of the England squad that won UEFA Women’s EURO 2022. One FA WSL title, three FA Cups and multiple Continental Cup wins with Manchester City; FA Women’s Premier League Cup and FA Women’s Cup with Everton. MBE for services to women’s football. Inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. Winner of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2022; team captain on Sky’s A League of Their Own. Co-owner of Boxx2Boxx Coffee, Manchester, opened in 2021. Biography England had not won a senior major football trophy in 56 years when the Lionesses lifted the EURO 2022 trophy at Wembley. Jill Scott was on the pitch in the closing minutes of that final, her ninth major tournament for her country and her last as a professional. The career behind that moment is more instructive than the moment itself. Scott played 161 times for England, signed one of the first central FA contracts offered to women, and built a club record at Everton and Manchester City that included a WSL title, three FA Cups and a string of domestic honours. She was, in the football vocabulary, a box-to-box midfielder. The role rarely makes highlight reels. It is the role that holds a team together. That is the through-line of her speaking work. Scott talks about what it takes to stay useful to a high-performing group for fifteen years: how role clarity beats reputation, how culture is set by the people who do the unglamorous work, how you keep standards when nobody is watching. She speaks from inside the dressing room, not from a coaching manual. The post-football chapter has given her a second platform. She won I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2022, captains a team on Sky’s A League of Their Own, and co-owns Boxx2Boxx Coffee in Manchester with her partner Shelly Unitt. The MBE and the National Football Museum Hall of Fame entry sit alongside that work as the formal record. Key speaking topics Team performance under pressure Culture and standards inside elite squads Role clarity and the value of connecting players Resilience across a long career Women’s sport and professional pathways Life after elite performance Ideal for Leadership and management offsites where culture and team chemistry are the agenda HR, talent and people-function audiences working on engagement and retention Conferences seeking a credible women’s-sport voice with mainstream broadcast recognition Customer or partner events that need a recognisable speaker who can hold a room without an academic frame Audience outcomes A specific account of what set the EURO 2022 squad apart from the squads that fell short before it A working definition of the connecting roles in a team and how to value them Stories from inside nine major tournaments that illustrate standards, recovery, and squad cohesion A view from a player who watched women’s football professionalise around her, and what that says about institutional change

Why organisations work with Annabel Croft A working broadcaster across BBC Wimbledon, Sky Sports, Eurosport, Amazon Prime and ITV, which means she runs an awards stage or a panel with the timing and composure of someone who does it on live television every season. Her resilience material is grounded in a specific event: walking away from professional tennis at 21 after burnout, then rebuilding a thirty-year media career. That gives the keynote a verifiable spine that few sports speakers can match. Senior buyers get an event host who is also a credible keynote option on peak performance and reinvention, which collapses two suppliers into one for sports nights, gala dinners and conference plenaries. Profile recognition with UK corporate audiences is high after BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2023, which lifts ticket pull for client-facing events without requiring a celebrity-only booking. Biography highlights Former British No. 1 women’s tennis player; youngest Briton to play at Wimbledon for nearly 100 years. Junior Wimbledon and Australian Open champion (1984); WTA Virginia Slims of San Diego title (1985). Represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup and Wightman Cup. Tennis presenter and pundit for BBC, Sky Sports, Eurosport, Amazon Prime and Discovery; on-court interviewer at the 2024 Wimbledon Finals. Presented Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt and ITV’s The Interceptor. Fourth-place finalist, BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2023. Biography A working life in elite sport often ends earlier than the athlete planned. Croft retired from the professional tour at 21, after a decade as one of Britain’s most-watched young players, including becoming the youngest Briton to play at Wimbledon for nearly a century. The interesting part of her biography starts after that. She built a broadcasting career that has now run for more than three decades. She has presented and commentated on tennis for the BBC at Wimbledon, Sky Sports, Eurosport, Amazon Prime and Discovery, and conducted on-court interviews at the 2024 Wimbledon Ladies’ and Men’s Finals. Her early television work spanned mainstream entertainment, including fourteen episodes of Channel 4’s Treasure Hunt and ITV’s action series The Interceptor. For corporate audiences her value is twofold. As a host and moderator, she carries the calibration of someone who chairs live broadcast moments under pressure every season. As a speaker, she draws on the specific content of leaving a defining career at 21 and constructing a second one in public: what reinvention costs, how peak performance habits transfer, and how to manage the end of a role you did not choose to leave. Her recent fourth-place finish on BBC Strictly Come Dancing in 2023 broadened her reach to general UK corporate audiences and added a current point of recognition for client-facing dinners and awards. Key speaking topics Resilience and reinvention after an early career end Peak performance habits transferred from elite sport to working life Career change and identity beyond a defining role Sports broadcasting and media Event hosting and awards moderation Panel chairing and on-stage interviewing Ideal for Corporate awards dinners, gala evenings and sports nights seeking a host with broadcast credibility Conference plenaries needing a panel chair or on-stage interviewer at executive level Sales kick-offs and partner events looking for a peak-performance and resilience keynote Client hospitality at major sporting fixtures, particularly tennis Audience outcomes A first-hand account of how an elite athlete rebuilds a working life after the defining role ends Practical points on the daily habits that translate from professional sport into commercial roles A clear view of how broadcasters prepare and recover under live pressure A polished, current host presence that sets the tone of the room from the opening minute

Why organisations work with Sue Barker A rare first-hand account of two distinct elite careers, professional tennis and three decades of live BBC broadcasting, with the practical detail of how each transition was managed. Sustained composure on live television. Hosting Wimbledon, Sports Personality of the Year and A Question of Sport for decades is a working example of executing under scrutiny that few corporate audiences will encounter directly. Credibility with senior, mixed-gender audiences. Recognised by the Royal Television Society and the Crown across three honours, which lands with boards and partner-track audiences in a way generic motivational speakers do not. Strong fit as an awards host, panel chair and after-dinner speaker for corporate events that need a recognisable public figure with broadcast-grade interviewing craft. Biography highlights French Open singles champion, 1976; world No. 3, 1977; eleven WTA singles titles. Host of BBC Wimbledon coverage, 1994 to 2022. Host of A Question of Sport, 1997 to 2021. Host of BBC Sports Personality of the Year, 1994 to 2012. First woman to win the Royal Television Society best sports presenter award, 2001. MBE (2000), OBE (2016), CBE (2021); Sunday Times bestselling author of Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story. Biography The 1976 French Open final was won by a 20-year-old from Devon who had been picked out for coaching at age ten by Arthur Roberts, the coach behind Angela Mortimer’s three Grand Slam titles. That win, eleven WTA singles titles and a world ranking of No. 3 made the first career. The second was longer and arguably harder. After retiring from professional tennis in 1984, Barker moved into broadcasting through Australia’s Channel 7 and Sky, then joined the BBC in 1993. From 1994 she anchored Wimbledon for the corporation, a role she held for almost three decades, alongside A Question of Sport from 1997 and Sports Personality of the Year from 1994. Three Royal honours followed: MBE, OBE and CBE. For corporate audiences, the substance is the craft underneath the visibility. Holding a live two-week tournament on air, running a long-running studio format, and interviewing elite performers in defeat as well as victory are working demonstrations of composure, preparation and reinvention. Her two Sunday Times bestsellers, Calling The Shots and Wimbledon: A Personal Story, document the same material in print. She is most often booked as an awards host, panel chair or after-dinner speaker, where the value sits in broadcast-grade interviewing and the standing she brings to the room. The keynote content on resilience and performing under pressure is drawn directly from those two careers, not assembled from theory. Key speaking topics Resilience and reinvention across a long career Performing under pressure on live broadcast Women in sport and sports media Teamwork in elite competition Awards hosting and panel chairing Interviewing elite performers Ideal for Corporate awards ceremonies and gala dinners needing a recognised public figure to host Leadership offsites where resilience and career reinvention are the brief Conferences requiring a panel chair or interviewer with broadcast-grade craft Client and partner events where brand recognition and audience appeal matter Audience outcomes A first-hand account of how composure is built and held across decades of public performance Specific examples of managing a career transition from elite sport into a second profession A practitioner’s view of women’s progress in sport and sports broadcasting since the 1970s An interviewer’s perspective on what elite performers say about pressure and recovery

Why organisations work with Greg Rusedski A first-hand account of competing in a Grand Slam final under exceptional public pressure, the 1997 US Open played in the days after the death of Princess Diana, told by someone who was on the court. A 16-year tour career and 15 ATP titles, anchored by a serve that held the world record at 149 mph, giving him direct authority on the relationship between preparation, technique, and execution. Nearly two decades inside the BBC Wimbledon commentary box, which gives him a working analyst’s read on the modern game, useful for audiences who want sport informed by craft, not nostalgia. A confident, warm after-dinner presence, regularly booked for corporate dinners, hosting, awards, and tennis hospitality, where the brief is engagement rather than abstract leadership theory. Biography highlights 1997 US Open singles finalist; first Briton in the US Open final in more than 60 years. Career-high ATP World No. 4; British No. 1 in 1997, 1999, and 2006. 1999 Grand Slam Cup champion; 15 ATP singles titles. 1997 BBC Sports Personality of the Year and ITV Sports Champion of the Year. BBC Wimbledon commentator since 2008, with previous broadcast roles at Sky Sports and Eurosport. Ambassador for Borne, the medical research charity for premature birth. Biography Reaching a Grand Slam final is rare. Reaching one in the week after Princess Diana’s funeral, in front of a global audience expecting something more than tennis, is rarer still. The 1997 US Open final put Rusedski on Arthur Ashe Stadium against Pat Rafter, and made him the first British man in the US Open final in more than six decades. That season took him to ATP World No. 4 and to the 1997 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The serve, clocked at 149 mph, held the world record for years before Andy Roddick broke it. Across a 16-year career he won 15 ATP singles titles and the 1999 Grand Slam Cup, and was British No. 1 in 1997, 1999, and 2006. Since retirement in 2007, signalled live on the BBC alongside Sue Barker, he has been a fixture in the BBC Wimbledon commentary team, with earlier broadcasting at Sky Sports and Eurosport. The commentary work keeps him close to the technical detail of the modern game, which is what gives his speaking the texture of a working analyst rather than a retired pro. For corporate audiences his content is concrete: the preparation routines that kept him on tour for sixteen years, the small decisions inside a tight match, the experience of carrying national expectation, and the discipline of performing when the conditions are not the ones you trained for. Key speaking topics Performance under public pressure Elite tennis and the modern professional game Career longevity in individual sport Mindset and preparation in competition After-dinner sports storytelling Event hosting and corporate hospitality Ideal for Corporate dinners, awards nights, and client hospitality, particularly tennis-themed events around Wimbledon and the US Open. Sales and customer-facing teams that respond to first-hand sports performance content. Sponsor activations and partner events for brands in tennis, broadcasting, and premium hospitality. Audience outcomes A direct account of what it takes to compete in the late stages of a Grand Slam. Specific examples of how elite players prepare, recover, and reset between points and matches. A working commentator’s read on the current state of professional tennis. A confident, well-paced after-dinner experience built around real career moments rather than generic motivation.

Why organisations work with Tim Henman The pressure he performed under was not generic high-stakes pressure. It was sustained, nationally televised, and deeply personal, with British tennis’s entire public narrative resting on each Wimbledon fortnight for nearly a decade. That specific form of high-visibility, high-expectation performance is directly legible to leaders who carry organisational reputation on their results. His record demonstrates competitive consistency rather than isolated peaks: six Grand Slam semi-finals across all four major surfaces, across two distinct periods of competitive form, while sustaining a top-10 ATP ranking across multiple seasons. The argument he makes about sustained performance is grounded in measurable, verifiable results. As an AELTC board member, he speaks from a position few sports speakers occupy; not only as a former competitor, but as an active participant in the governance of one of the world’s most scrutinised sporting institutions, with direct experience of its most consequential decisions. His 2020 captaincy of Great Britain at the inaugural ATP Cup provides specific, recent experience of leading a team of elite, independent individuals in a compressed, high-pressure competition: a format with obvious organisational parallels for senior leaders managing high-performing, high-ego teams. Two decades immersed in Wimbledon – as competitor, board member, and BBC commentator – means he speaks from the inside of a complex sporting and commercial operation across all its dimensions, not from match-day memory alone. Biography highlights Former ATP world No. 4 in men’s singles; British No. 1 continuously from 1999 to 2005 Six Grand Slam semi-finals: four at Wimbledon (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002), plus the French Open and US Open (both 2004) 11 ATP singles titles, including the 2003 Paris Masters (ATP Masters 1000); 4 ATP doubles titles (15 combined) Olympic silver medallist, men’s doubles, 1996 Atlanta Games (with Neil Broad) OBE, 2004 New Year Honours, for services to tennis Board member, All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), the governing body of Wimbledon BBC Wimbledon commentator and analyst since 2008 Great Britain captain, inaugural ATP Cup, Sydney, 2020 Founder, Tim Henman Foundation (education and health support for disadvantaged young people) Biography For a decade, every British summer began with the same question: would this be Tim Henman’s year? The weight of expectation he carried – sustained, public, and deeply personal – shaped him as a competitor in ways that resonate directly with leaders. As Britain’s world No. 4 and British No. 1 from 1999 to 2005, he performed year after year under conditions few professional athletes encounter and fewer corporate high-performers can imagine. His record spans six Grand Slam semi-finals across all four major surfaces: four at Wimbledon, and semi-final runs at both the French Open and US Open in 2004, the latter confirming a second competitive peak well into his career. His 2003 Paris Masters title, won with consecutive victories over three top-ten players, remains one of British tennis’s landmark single-tournament performances. That consistency, sustained across two distinct periods and multiple surfaces, is the foundation of what he brings to the platform. Since retiring in 2007, Henman has not stepped back from elite sport. He joined the board of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, contributing to institutional decisions, including the management of the 2020 cancellation and the transition to AI-assisted line-calling, from inside Wimbledon’s governance. He captained Great Britain at the inaugural ATP Cup in Sydney in 2020, leading a squad that included Andy Murray. He has been a BBC Wimbledon commentator since 2008, translating elite performance for broad audiences across more than fifteen competitive cycles. The Tim Henman Foundation, which he founded to support disadvantaged young people through education and health, reflects a commitment that stretches well beyond the results sheet. Key speaking topics Performing under pressure Competitive resilience and mental discipline Sustained high performance National representation and public expectation Team dynamics in high-stakes competition Athletic-to-leadership transition Preparation, focus, and decision-making under scrutiny Ideal for Senior leadership and executive conferences where competitive mindset, performance culture, and resilience under pressure are central themes Sales and commercial leadership events where the parallels between elite sport and high-stakes commercial performance are directly applicable Sports industry forums, Wimbledon-adjacent hospitality, and British-market events where his cultural profile adds immediate resonance HR and people leadership audiences exploring what sustained high performance looks like in practice, and how organisations can build environments that produce it Audience outcomes A first-person, evidence-grounded perspective on how elite performers maintain output under sustained, high-visibility pressure – not as a set of techniques, but as a practised, testable discipline Understanding of how competitive consistency is built over time: through preparation, surface adaptation, and the ability to perform across conditions rather than only in ideal circumstances Insight into the specific mental challenges of carrying high expectation: when it fuels performance, and when it becomes a liability Practical reflection on what the shift from individual competitor to team leader requires, drawing on experience as both a Davis Cup player and ATP Cup captain A perspective on elite sport that extends beyond the athlete’s experience into institutional governance, offering audiences a more complete picture of what world-class performance systems actually look like from the inside

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 Philip Keil He brings the operating discipline of Crew Resource Management, the framework airlines use to prevent crew failure under pressure, into language a leadership team can actually apply on Monday morning. He has been the captain in command during a genuine in-flight emergency with nearly 200 passengers on board, so his content on composure and decision-making is grounded in a specific event, not a hypothetical. His books You are the pilot! and The inner compass give him a published position on intuition and self-leadership, which extends a keynote into a longer programme for executive development. He delivers in English and German at a senior corporate level across more than 20 countries, which suits multinational audiences without an interpreter compromise. He is an active TV aviation expert in Germany, which means he is fluent at explaining technical environments to non-technical audiences without losing the senior register. Biography highlights Qualified as a Lufthansa-trained airline pilot at 22, one of the youngest in Germany. Over 9,000 hours of commercial flying across four continents. Author of You are the pilot! (2019) and The inner compass (2022). Listed in Europe’s TOP 100 Excellent Keynote Speakers since 2017. Two-time nominee for the Red Fox Award, Germany’s Keynote Speaker of the Year (2019, 2020). Recurring aviation expert across ZDF, RTL, Pro 7, Sat.1, WELT, and ntv. Biography The aviation industry has spent four decades engineering away a single problem: capable people, working together, still making fatal decisions. The framework that emerged is called Crew Resource Management, and it is the operating discipline behind the modern cockpit. It assumes that a senior captain can be wrong, that a junior co-pilot must be heard, and that error must surface before it compounds. Philip Keil works inside that framework professionally. He qualified as an airline pilot at 22 after training at Lufthansa in Bremen, and has since logged more than 9,000 flying hours over four continents. On 24 February 2009 he was the captain in command when a routine flight with around 200 passengers became an emergency landing, an event he has used as the empirical anchor for his work on composure and decision-making ever since. His books extend the cockpit material into something more useful for a senior leader. You are the pilot! (2019) is a study in self-leadership and confidence under load. The inner compass (2022) addresses the role of intuition in high-stakes decisions, the part of judgement that does not appear on a spreadsheet. Both have given him a published intellectual position rather than a single-incident speaker hook. That position has been recognised commercially. Keil has been listed in Europe’s TOP 100 Excellent Keynote Speakers since 2017, was nominated as Germany’s Keynote Speaker of the Year in 2019 and 2020, and is the recurring aviation voice across the major German broadcasters. He works in English and German, which is what a multinational leadership audience actually needs. Key speaking topics Decision-making under pressure Crew Resource Management for executive teams Error culture and accountability Self-leadership and composure Crisis communication and command Team coordination across hierarchy Ideal for Executive committees and boards facing high-consequence decisions under time pressure COOs, CHROs, and operational leaders rebuilding accountability and error reporting culture Leadership development programmes for newly appointed senior managers Safety-critical, regulated, or operationally complex industries (aviation, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services) Audience outcomes A working vocabulary from Crew Resource Management that they can apply to their own leadership meetings A specific model for how to surface bad news up a hierarchy before it becomes a crisis A clearer view of what composure looks like as an operational skill, not a personality trait A repeatable approach to making the next decision when the information is incomplete

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.