Storytelling & Business Communication

Why organisations work with Julian Placino Practitioner credibility: nearly two decades inside corporate recruiting, including seven years leading talent acquisition at Bottle Rocket, a Dallas mobile development firm with an outsized reputation for hiring quality. Operating-level content. His recruiting talks address the working mechanics buyers ask about: employer value proposition, candidate pipeline, referral systems, hiring manager discipline. Not HR theory. Doubles as a host. With 220+ episodes of The Pathways to Success podcast under his belt, he is comfortable interviewing leaders on stage and moderating panels, useful when an event needs both a keynote and a host. Personal-brand and resilience material that translates for sales, recruiting, and frontline audiences who need a motivational anchor rather than a leadership framework. Biography highlights Former Head of Recruiting, Bottle Rocket (seven-year tenure) Earlier recruiting leadership at ReachLocal (Gannett) Founder, Pathways Media and the Recruitment Masterclass training programme Host and creator, The Pathways to Success podcast (220+ episodes, Apple Podcasts and Spotify) BBA, University of North Texas Commercial actor and voice-over artist with named campaigns including Microsoft, Indeed, Ford, AT&T, and the NFL Biography Most companies treat recruiting as an administrative function until a critical hire stalls. Then it becomes a board-level problem. Placino built his career inside that gap. As Head of Recruiting at Bottle Rocket, he spent seven years scaling a hiring operation at a Dallas mobile development firm whose product work for Fortune 500 clients depended on the quality of its engineering bench. That operating background is what he brings to the stage. His core keynote, Mastering the Talent Puzzle, treats employer brand and recruiting strategy as a system that can be deliberately built, not a function of headcount or agency spend. The argument is grounded in what worked inside a high-pressure tech recruiting environment, including how to design an employment value proposition, how to mobilise existing employees as a pipeline, and how to make hiring managers accountable for the people they bring in. Beyond the recruiting material, Placino runs The Pathways to Success podcast, where he has interviewed more than 220 leaders across business, sport, and the creative industries. The format gives him a working interviewer’s craft, which he extends into event hosting and panel moderation. He also delivers talks on personal branding, resilience, and stewardship, drawn from his own path as a first-generation Filipino American who built a recruiting career, a media company, and a parallel commercial acting line that includes Microsoft, Indeed, Ford, AT&T, and NFL campaigns. He is based in Dallas and holds a BBA from the University of North Texas. He is represented by multiple bureaus across the US in addition to Speakers Associates internationally. Key speaking topics Recruitment strategy and employer brand Talent acquisition operating models Personal branding and reputation Resilience and adaptability Stewardship-based leadership Event hosting and interview-format moderation Ideal for CHROs and Heads of Talent Acquisition rebuilding in-house recruiting capability Talent and recruiting team offsites Sales and revenue kickoffs that need a personal-brand or motivation anchor Conferences requiring a keynote speaker who can also host or moderate Audience outcomes A working model for designing an employer value proposition that survives contact with the labour market A specific approach to turning current employees into a recruiting pipeline Language for separating personal brand from job title, useful for sales and client-facing roles A reframing model for adversity and change drawn from the speaker’s own career history

Why organisations work with Toni Kent She makes social mobility a concrete operating question rather than a values statement, drawing on a decade running major UK partner relationships at Microsoft and a personal history that maps directly onto the barriers her audience is trying to remove. She is one of a small number of UK speakers who can carry both the hosting craft of a large awards night and the substantive keynote inside it, evidenced by twice hosting the UK Social Mobility Awards. Audiences get an unusual combination of stand-up comic timing and corporate fluency, which makes uncomfortable conversations about class, education and access land without defensiveness. The Common Good Network gives her keynote a follow-through mechanism: a directory of UK organisations that the audience can actually route their employee resource groups, CSR teams and emerging-talent programmes towards. Biography highlights Ten years at Microsoft UK, managing several of the company’s largest partner relationships. Founder of The Common Good Network, an interactive directory of UK social mobility organisations. Twice host of the UK Social Mobility Awards (2021, 2023). Author of four books, including Reasons to be Cheerful, Part One. Host of the Challenging University podcast; co-host of KAYBE Talks and The Partnership Path Podcast. Keynote and hosting clients include AWS, KPMG, PwC, Direct Line Group, Baker Hughes, ForHousing, Smart Works Reading and the University of East London. Biography Most large UK employers now have a social mobility position. Far fewer can show what it has changed inside their recruitment funnel, their early-careers programme, or their promotion patterns. The work of turning a stated commitment into an operating change is where Toni Kent has spent the last decade. She came to the question through a decade at Microsoft UK, where she ran several of the company’s largest partner relationships. Before that, a council-estate upbringing in Basingstoke, a father who died when she was fourteen, a family on state benefits, no university route. The combination matters commercially because she can speak with equal fluency to the chief people officer and to the apprentice in the second row. The Common Good Network is the operating layer underneath the keynote: an interactive directory of UK organisations working on socioeconomic barriers, designed to give corporate audiences a route from intention to partnership. Her hosting of the UK Social Mobility Awards in 2021 and 2023 sits in the same body of work, as do her four published books and her podcasts Challenging University, KAYBE Talks and The Partnership Path. The reason organisations book her for the room and not only for the content is that she is also a working stand-up comedian. The craft shows in how she handles a difficult brief: she can name class, access and education without making the audience flinch, and she can host an awards night for two thousand people without losing the thread of why it matters. Key speaking topics Social mobility in the workplace Inclusive hiring and early-careers access Storytelling and authentic personal narrative Imposter syndrome and confidence in corporate environments Mindset and decision-making under change Event hosting and panel moderation Women in technology Ideal for CHROs, heads of DEI and emerging-talent leads who need a credible voice on social mobility as an operating discipline. Employee resource group chairs and ERG sponsors briefing senior leadership on socioeconomic inclusion. Awards programmes, internal recognition events and large all-hands meetings requiring a confident, comic-timed host. Technology, professional services and financial services audiences engaging with inclusion content for the first time. Audience outcomes A working definition of social mobility that distinguishes class-based access from broader DEI categories. A clear sense of where the typical corporate social mobility commitment breaks down between policy and practice. Specific organisational entry points: ERG design, early careers, mentoring, supplier diversity and procurement. A directory of UK partner organisations, via The Common Good Network, to route follow-through activity through. Permission to discuss class openly inside the organisation without defensiveness.

Why organisations work with Fee Mak She holds a live room across formats that very few hosts move between credibly: BBC daytime radio, the MOBO Awards mainstage, in-game presenting for London Spirit at The Hundred, and literary festival chairing at Hay and Cheltenham. Her BBC 1Xtra Sunday Breakfast residency means she is in front of a national, multi-generational, culturally diverse audience every week. That muscle transfers directly to award shows and internal events trying to land with the same audience. She chairs interview content as a working craft, not as decoration. The Business Book Awards, Ditto X Meet the Music Industry, and book festival panels are formats that expose hosts who cannot follow a guest’s argument in real time. Her event roster includes inclusion-led briefs that organisations frequently get wrong: the Diana Award Anti-Racist Bullying showcase, Inclusive Books for Children Awards, BBC Bitesize Tour. She is a credible voice for clients who need a host who can carry that tone without performing it. Biography highlights Host, BBC Radio 1Xtra Sunday Breakfast Show, since July 2022. Selected through the BBC Radio 1 Presenter Search 2019; presenter credits include Christmas Drivetime, Early Breakfast, and daytime cover on Radio 1. Awards host credits: MOBO Awards, AIM Awards, Business Book Awards, Diana Award Anti-Racist Bullying showcase, Inclusive Books for Children Awards. Live event host credits: Red Bull BC One UK Cypher, Move It, Breakin’ Convention, U.Dance National Showcase, BBC Bitesize Tour, Ditto X Meet the Music Industry, Earl’s Court International Film Festival. In-game host for London Spirit at The Hundred (Lord’s). Chair at Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Chiswick Book Festival, and Brighton Festival. BA (Hons) French and Business Administration, University of Kent. Former junior associate, The Royal Ballet School; West End child cast of Billy Elliot the Musical. Biography The hardest job at a live event is the one people only notice when it goes wrong. Holding a 90-minute awards ceremony together, moving between sponsors, winners and a writers’ room of jokes that may or may not land, takes a craft that broadcast hosts spend years building. Fee Mak has built it across an unusually wide range of stages. Her weekly residency is the Sunday Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1Xtra, where she has hosted since July 2022. The route in was the BBC Radio 1 Presenter Search in 2019, followed by Christmas Drivetime, Early Breakfast and daytime cover on Radio 1 before moving across to 1Xtra. That is a competitive route into BBC daytime broadcasting and gives her a working relationship with a national, multi-generational, culturally diverse audience that organisations pay agencies a great deal of money to reach. The event work runs alongside the broadcast role and is the reason most corporate buyers commission her. Awards: MOBO, AIM, Business Book Awards, Inclusive Books for Children, the Diana Award Anti-Racist Bullying showcase. Live events: Red Bull BC One UK Cypher, Move It, Breakin’ Convention, U.Dance National Showcase, BBC Bitesize Tour, Ditto X Meet the Music Industry, Earl’s Court International Film Festival. Sport: in-game host for London Spirit at The Hundred. Literary festivals: chair at Hay, Cheltenham, Chiswick, and Brighton. The thread across those rooms is one specific capability: she can read an audience that does not share a single demographic and find a register that works for all of it. That is why she lands in inclusion-led briefs, youth audiences, music industry rooms, and corporate award stages with the same composure. Key speaking topics Awards and ceremony hosting Conference and summit MC work Panel chairing and interview moderation Literary festival and book event chairing Live sport and entertainment presenting Inclusion-led event hosting Broadcast voiceover Ideal for Brand and marketing leads commissioning a national awards ceremony, brand launch, or industry gala Internal communications and culture leads running town halls, recognition events, or all-hands moments that need a credible external voice Organisations running inclusion, education, or youth-audience programmes that need a host who can carry the tone authentically Conference programmers needing a moderator who can chair interviews and panels live without losing the thread Audience outcomes A live event that runs on time, with energy held from open to close Sponsor, winner and guest moments that land cleanly without dead air between them Interview segments where the guest is drawn out rather than walked over A host presence that connects with audiences across generations, cultures and seniority in the same room

Why organisations work with Flex He has built United View from a personal channel into a 130,000-plus subscriber football media brand without a broadcaster behind him, and can describe what actually retains an audience week to week. He sits inside English football’s broadcast ecosystem (Sky Sports, talkSPORT, DR Sports Media) while running an independent platform, which gives him a working view of where legacy media and creator media now compete and overlap. His perspective on inclusion is grounded in lived experience as a Black broadcaster, including a publicly reported racist-abuse incident outside Old Trafford that he chose to confront on the record rather than absorb privately. His career, from SEN teacher to elite-game broadcaster, gives him concrete material on reinvention and on speaking to young audiences, rather than abstract claims about purpose. One of YouTube’s UK Black Voices Class of 2022, a curated cohort selected and developed by the platform itself. Biography highlights Founder and presenter of United View, an independent Manchester United-focused YouTube channel with more than 130,000 subscribers. Presenter and broadcaster for Sky Sports (including Good Morning Transfers), talkSPORT and DR Sports Media. Selected for the YouTube UK Black Voices Creator Class of 2022. Host of the BTEC Awards and of UK Black Business Week; BTEC Ambassador. Former Special Educational Needs teacher; basketball player formerly contracted to the London Lions (previously MK Lions). Working R&B and Garage DJ alongside his broadcast and creator work. Biography Independent fan media has moved from a hobby tier to a structural part of how football is consumed. United View, the channel Flex founded in 2021 and grew past 130,000 subscribers, sits inside that shift. It runs without a broadcaster’s infrastructure and earns its audience by being closer to the matchday experience than legacy outlets can be. That operator vantage point is what makes him useful to a business audience. He can talk concretely about what holds an online community together, how trust is built when there is no studio behind you, and where independent creators and traditional broadcasters now compete for the same attention. His parallel work with Sky Sports, talkSPORT and DR Sports Media gives him a view from both sides of that line. Inclusion is the other live thread. As a Black broadcaster in English football he has had to address racism in his work directly, including a publicly reported incident outside Old Trafford in November 2024 that he chose to put on the record rather than carry quietly. His selection for YouTube’s UK Black Voices Creator Class of 2022 and his hosting roles at UK Black Business Week and the BTEC Awards place him inside the institutional side of that conversation as well. He came to broadcasting via a Special Educational Needs teaching career, basketball at the London Lions, and a continuing life as an R&B and Garage DJ. That track gives him substantive material for audiences thinking about reinvention, young talent and the route into creator-led careers, beyond the football frame. Key speaking topics Audience and community building in the creator economy Independent media and the future of sports broadcasting Diversity and inclusion in sport, media and the workplace Confronting racism in public-facing work Reinvention and non-linear careers Engaging young and digital-native audiences Hosting, panel facilitation and event presenting in sport and culture Ideal for CHROs, DEI leads and internal culture teams looking for a credible voice on inclusion that is grounded in lived experience rather than slideware. Marketing, brand and audience leaders working through the shift from broadcast to creator-led media. Employee network and ERG events, particularly around Black History Month, anti-racism programming and early-careers outreach. Sports, media and entertainment organisations briefing teams on how independent creators are changing fan and consumer behaviour. Audience outcomes A clearer working picture of how independent creators earn and keep audience trust, and what that means for in-house content and brand teams. A more honest framing of inclusion at work, from someone who has had to handle racism in public rather than discuss it in abstract. Material on building careers and platforms outside conventional broadcast and corporate routes, usable in early-careers and emerging-talent programmes. Sharper questions about where legacy media authority sits now that fans and employees increasingly trust people, not institutions.

Why organisations work with Rachel Brown-Finnis A first-person account of a workforce professionalising in real time. She joined the England set-up before central contracts existed and was still playing when the FA introduced them in 2009; few speakers can describe an industry rebuilding itself from inside the dressing room. Lead-level broadcast craft. She co-commentated the BBC’s Euro 2025 final between England and Spain alongside Robyn Cowen, on top of long-standing punditry on Football Focus, The Women’s Football Show, BBC 5 Live and BT Sport, which transfers directly to corporate hosting, panels and fireside interviews. The goalkeeper’s perspective on team pressure. The position carries a particular discipline around isolation, recovery from visible error, and the cost of a single mistake; that is useful content for high-stakes corporate teams, not a metaphor. A practitioner voice on women entering male-coded industries, drawn from a 17-year senior international career, two World Cups, three European Championships, and an Olympic Games, not from secondary research. Biography highlights 82 senior England caps from a debut at 16 against Germany in 1997 through to international retirement in 2014. First-choice England goalkeeper at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and UEFA Women’s Euro 2009; Team GB squad member at the London 2012 Olympics. FA Women’s Cup winner with Everton in 2010; FA Women’s Cup finalist with Liverpool in 1996 at the age of 15. One of the first female players awarded a central contract by The Football Association in 2009. Co-commentator on the BBC’s Euro 2025 final coverage and long-standing pundit across BBC Sport, BT Sport and BBC 5 Live. Sports Science degree, University of Pittsburgh, where she held the Panthers’ single-season record for fewest goals conceded; subsequent PE teaching qualification at Liverpool John Moores University. Biography Women’s football was an amateur sport when Rachel Brown-Finnis made her senior England debut at 16 against Germany in 1997. It was a professional, broadcast-funded industry by the time she retired from international football in 2014. She played through every stage of that transition: 82 caps, two World Cups, three European Championships, the 2012 Olympics, and the introduction of the first FA central contracts for women in 2009, which she was part of. The playing career was built on a goalkeeping discipline familiar to anyone who has worked in a high-visibility role. The position rewards composure, an honest read of risk, and recovery from public error. She held the first-choice England jersey through the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and UEFA Women’s Euro 2009. At club level she won the FA Women’s Cup with Everton in 2010 after reaching her first final at 15 with Liverpool. The broadcast career has tracked the commercial expansion of the women’s game. She is a fixture on BBC Football Focus, The Women’s Football Show, BBC 5 Live and BT Sport, wrote a weekly Guardian column through the 2019/20 WSL season, and co-commentated the BBC’s coverage of the Euro 2025 final between England and Spain. The skill set is live broadcast craft: read the room, structure the conversation, manage the interview, hold the line under pressure. When she speaks from the stage, the material is grounded in that experience rather than imported from a framework. Team culture inside elite environments. The texture of being one of very few women in a high-performance system that was not designed for her. The economics and identity of a workforce that has had to build itself in public. The story is specific, recent, and difficult to outsource. Key speaking topics Team culture and trust in high-performance environments Women in male-coded industries Resilience and composure under public pressure The economics and evolution of women’s professional sport Live broadcast hosting, interview craft and on-stage moderation Lessons from a goalkeeping career: isolation, error recovery, and the cost of a single moment Ideal for Leadership teams in financial services, engineering, energy and other historically male-coded sectors running inclusion or women-in-leadership programmes. Sponsors and partners of the Premier League, The FA, WSL and the wider football ecosystem programming hospitality, conferences and awards. Corporate event organisers commissioning a broadcast-trained host or panel moderator rather than a celebrity name. High-performance organisations using sport as a credible reference point for team culture, recovery from error, and pressure management. Audience outcomes A first-person account of a workforce professionalising in real time, with the structural and cultural detail intact. Working language for women in male-coded industries that resists slogan and connects to operational reality. A goalkeeper’s mental model for high-visibility error: how teams should treat the person who carries the moment. Live interview and hosting craft when she takes the stage rather than the keynote slot, applied to panels, fireside conversations and awards.

Why organisations work with Hugh Woozencroft Daily live broadcasting on talkSPORT and The Times’ The Game podcast keeps his interview muscle in regular use, so executives, athletes and panellists get a host who can move a conversation without losing the room. ITV’s EFL Show, Women’s Football coverage and Rugby World Cup work give him the kind of cross-sport credibility that suits sponsor events, sports business gatherings and brand activations around major tournaments. BBC News reporting from Wimbledon, Champions League finals, the Ashes and the Boat Race built a habit of distilling complex live events for general audiences. The same instinct works for plenary moderation. A real specialism in diversity in sports media, anchored in his time on the BCOMS board and a 2018 BBC piece on representation, gives him a defensible angle when the brief touches inclusion, talent pipelines or culture inside sport. Biography highlights Host of talkSPORT’s Kick Off show, Tuesday to Thursday primetime. Host of The Game, The Times’ football podcast. Presenter for ITV’s EFL Show, ITV Women’s Football, and ITV’s Rugby World Cup coverage. Former BBC Radio 5Live and BBC News presenter, including Sportsweek, Test Match Special and the 2012 London Olympics. Former presenter on BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire Show. Former board member, The Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS); MA Sports Journalism, St Mary’s University. Biography Live sport on radio is one of the harder briefs in broadcasting. The picture is invisible, the action is fast, and the audience will leave the moment the presenter loses the thread. Hugh Woozencroft anchors talkSPORT’s Kick Off, three weeknights a week, across Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup coverage. The same discipline carries into corporate hosting work. His route in was unfussy. A master’s in Sports Journalism at St Mary’s, a broadcast assistant role at BBC Radio 5Live, and on-air work from 2013 onwards. From there: Sportsweek, Test Match Special, the 2012 London Olympics, BBC News reporting from Wimbledon, the Ashes, Champions League finals and the Boat Race, and presenting shifts on BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire Show. Now he combines talkSPORT with hosting The Times’ The Game podcast and ITV’s EFL Show, Women’s Football and Rugby World Cup coverage. The second strand is diversity in sports media. In 2018, Woozencroft wrote a BBC piece on the absence of Black and minority ethnic journalists in senior sports newsrooms. He joined the board of The Black Collective of Media in Sport that year, chaired sessions at the D Word 2 conference, and stepped off the board in 2023. That work gives him a specific, evidenced position on representation inside an industry he reports on daily, useful when a brief touches inclusion in sport, talent pipelines or media culture. For corporate audiences, the offer is honest. A working broadcaster who hosts elite live sport every week, with a credible secondary line on inclusion in his industry, available for moderation, panel chairing, awards hosting and after-dinner conversation. Key speaking topics Event hosting and moderation Panel chairing Awards and after-dinner hosting Sports business and sponsorship events Diversity in sports media Media training and presentation craft Ideal for Sponsor activations and hospitality programmes around major football and rugby tournaments Sports business conferences, governing body events and federation gatherings Corporate awards evenings, annual gatherings and internal town halls needing a confident host DEI events in media or sport where the brief calls for a credible insider voice Audience outcomes A panel that stays on time and on point, with senior speakers drawn into specifics rather than left to read prepared lines A room that feels held, particularly across long-form programmes mixing keynote, panel and audience Q&A For diversity briefs in sport or media, a first-hand account of where progress has been real and where it has stalled A measured, journalistic interview style suited to executive guests, athletes and public figures

Why organisations work with Kelly Somers A live host who has worked the biggest moments in English football, including becoming the sixth woman to present Match of the Day, and brings that calibre of broadcast craft to a corporate stage. A trusted facilitator for the sport ecosystem itself. The Premier League, The FA, EFL, LMA and Barclays use her on their own conferences, awards and leadership events, which is the strongest possible reference for any sponsor or partner of those bodies. A practitioner voice on gender inclusion in industries coded male for generations, drawn from her own working life across football broadcasting, not from secondary research. Interview range across elite athletes, managers and executives, with the discipline of live broadcast applied to panels, fireside chats and on-stage Q and A. Biography highlights Sports presenter and reporter across BBC Sport, including Final Score, Football Focus, The Women’s Football Show and BBC 5Live. Sixth woman to present Match of the Day, covering the 2020 FA Community Shield. Match reporter and presenter at UEFA Euro 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and UEFA Euro 2024. Presenter for Amazon Prime’s Premier League coverage and Channel 4’s UEFA Nations League output. Corporate event host for the Premier League, Barclays, The FA, EFL and LMA. Postgraduate in broadcast journalism, Nottingham Trent University, following undergraduate studies at Loughborough University. Biography Live football broadcasting is a discipline most corporate stages underestimate. The presenter has to absorb a fast-moving situation, keep multiple guests coherent, manage time to the second, and make the whole thing feel calm. Kelly Somers has done that across the BBC, Amazon Prime and Channel 4 for more than a decade. Her CV inside the BBC includes Final Score, Football Focus, The Women’s Football Show and BBC 5Live, and reporting from England’s campaigns at UEFA Euro 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and UEFA Euro 2024. In August 2020 she became the sixth woman in the programme’s history to present Match of the Day, covering the FA Community Shield. That broadcast track record is what brings her into corporate work. The Premier League, Barclays, The FA, EFL and the League Managers Association use her to host their own conferences, awards and leadership events, which is the highest reference any sport-adjacent client could ask for. The same discipline travels to keynote stages outside sport, where boards and leadership teams need a host who can keep a complex programme moving without losing the audience. When Somers speaks from the stage rather than hosting it, her subject is the one she has lived: how women earn credibility, hold a room, and change the everyday texture of a male-coded industry. She trained in broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University after Loughborough, started in the media department at AFC Bournemouth as the club rose into the Premier League, and built the broadcast career from there. The story is specific, not theoretical, and that is what makes it useful inside organisations trying to do the same work. Key speaking topics Football broadcasting and live event hosting Gender inclusion in male-dominated industries Building a career in sports media Interviewing elite performers under pressure Communicating with multi-generational audiences in digital media Sport, sponsorship and brand storytelling Ideal for Sponsors and partners of the Premier League, EFL, FA and LMA convening their own conferences, awards or hospitality programmes. Leadership teams in male-coded industries (financial services, engineering, construction, energy) running inclusion or women-in-leadership programming. Corporate awards, fireside chats and panels that need a broadcast-trained host rather than a celebrity name. Sport, media and broadcast businesses programming internal leadership and culture events. Audience outcomes A live event that runs to broadcast standard, with a host who keeps the room with her and the programme to time. A first-person account of building credibility as a woman inside elite football broadcasting, with the practical detail intact. Useable language for talking about gender inclusion that does not collapse into policy or slogan. Interview craft transferred to internal stages: how to prepare a guest, structure a conversation, and read a room in real time.

Why organisations work with Kyle Walker He is on air every week. The hosting reflexes are current, not remembered. He has fronted live football output for Sky Sports, the Premier League, and the BBC. Few corporate hosts bring that calibre of live-television experience. His range covers brand activations (EA Sports, Puma, JD Sports), federation work (The FA, FIFA), and financial-services events (Barclays). He hosts industry awards at scale, including the Grounds Management Association Industry Awards 2025. He started at Manchester City TV and built outward through BBC and Sky. The career is earned, not handed over from a playing background. Biography highlights Sky Sports presenter and reporter: The Transfer Show, The ePremier League Show, Saturday Social, The Early Kick Off Show, Sky Sports News. Premier League Productions reporter, delivering matchday and behind-the-scenes content for a global audience. Former BBC contributor: BBC Football Focus, Match of the Day, BBC 5 Live’s Talking Balls, BBC Radio Manchester’s The Dead Good Show. Covered the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Good Morning Euros during UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. Trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. Nominated for the SJA British Sports Journalism Award, Ones to Watch (On-Air), 2021. Biography A bad host turns a strong agenda into a long afternoon. A good one keeps a senior audience in the room, moves a panel forward without dominating it, and recovers when a speaker overruns or a microphone fails. The craft is built on live air, not in a green room. Walker works in live television every week. He presents Sky Sports flagship football output, including The Transfer Show, The ePremier League Show, Saturday Social, and The Early Kick Off Show, and reports for Premier League Productions on matchday content for a global audience. He began at Manchester City TV and built outward through the BBC, contributing to Football Focus, Match of the Day, and BBC 5 Live’s Talking Balls. Tournament coverage includes the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Good Morning Euros during UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. His corporate hosting roster sits across federation, brand, and financial-services work: The FA, FIFA, EA Sports, Puma, JD Sports, and Barclays. In 2025 he fronted the Grounds Management Association Industry Awards. The training is formal. Walker is an Academy of Live and Recorded Arts graduate, and was nominated in 2021 for the SJA British Sports Journalism Award, Ones to Watch (On-Air). Organisations book him for the same reason production teams keep him on air: he holds the room, keeps the pace, and lets the content do its work. Key speaking topics Live event hosting Awards-night hosting Panel moderation Conference moderation Brand activation hosting Sports and broadcast Q&A Corporate interviewing and on-stage discussion Ideal for Awards ceremonies and industry recognition events Brand activations and consumer launches Conference and summit moderation for sports, media, and consumer organisations Senior leadership offsites needing a professional host across multiple sessions Audience outcomes An event that runs to time without feeling timed Panels that produce a usable exchange rather than four parallel monologues On-stage interviews that draw a real answer from a senior guest A close that sends the room out engaged rather than relieved

Why organisations work with Robbie Lyle He built the category. AFTV is the largest football fan channel globally, with 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and over a billion views, created without external investment. Most speakers on community-led media describe the trend; he set the benchmark. He owns the commercial reality of audience-first media. GFN turns over more than £1.4 million a year on a self-financed model, which gives him a working answer to the questions boards actually ask: how do you monetise community without breaking trust, and where does the margin sit. He has taken on incumbent broadcasters and won audience share on their core territory. That is a useful perspective for any organisation watching a digital-native competitor erode a category it used to dominate. His ITV documentary Football Fans Under Their Skin and his work on representation in sport give him a serious second register on race, inclusion and who gets heard in mainstream media, beyond the entrepreneurship story. Biography highlights Founder and Group CEO of Global Fan Network, parent company of AFTV and DR Sports. Founded AFTV in October 2012, now the largest football fan channel worldwide with 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and over a billion total views. Host of Channel 4’s The Real Football Fan Show, which premiered in April 2018. Subject of the 2020 ITV documentary Robbie Lyle: Football Fans Under Their Skin, on race and Black supporters in UK football. Speaker at TEDx Warwick and the Oxford Union. Listed in TechRound’s BAME 50 entrepreneurs. Biography Most of the people who broadcast football matches have never paid for a ticket. Robbie Lyle noticed that gap in 2012, borrowed a camera, and started filming Arsenal supporters outside the Emirates after every game. The channel he launched as Arsenal Fan TV is now AFTV: 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, more than a billion views, and the dominant fan media platform in world football. The business case is more interesting than the YouTube numbers. Lyle has never taken external investment. Global Fan Network, the parent company he founded and runs as Group CEO, now houses AFTV alongside DR Sports and a growing roster of fan-led channels, with turnover above £1.4 million reinvested back into the business. He has done what most legacy media companies are still trying to work out: build a direct relationship with an audience, hold it, and make it pay. That gives him a particular kind of authority on community-led commercial strategy. He can describe, from inside, how a fan channel competes with Sky and BT Sport for the same attention, why authenticity is a working business model rather than a marketing line, and what happens to the economics of a category when the most engaged audience decides it would rather watch other supporters than paid presenters. Channel 4 commissioned The Real Football Fan Show off the back of that argument in 2018. ITV’s Football Fans Under Their Skin, in 2020, used the same platform to examine race in English football and the experiences of Black supporters. He speaks at TEDx Warwick and the Oxford Union, and his TechRound BAME 50 listing reflects the entrepreneurial side of the story. The line his work draws is a useful one for any organisation thinking about audience ownership: communities that already exist are worth more than communities you try to build, and the operators who understand that tend to win the next decade of commercial media. Key speaking topics Fan-led media and audience ownership Community as a commercial model Entrepreneurship without external investment Digital disruption of incumbent broadcasters Representation and race in sports media Authentic content and brand trust Building a category-defining platform Ideal for Media, entertainment and sports businesses rethinking direct-to-audience strategy CMOs and brand leaders working on community, loyalty and creator partnerships Founders and commercial leaders scaling content businesses without venture capital DEI and culture leads programming sessions on representation in media and sport Audience outcomes A working view of how a fan-first platform takes audience share from established broadcasters A concrete commercial framework for community-led businesses that do not rely on external investment An honest read on what authenticity costs and earns inside a content business at scale Sharper questions for any organisation trying to convert audience attention into a defensible commercial position A first-hand account of representation in sport and what changes when underrepresented voices control the platform

Why organisations work with Ade Oladipo He brings live broadcast craft to corporate events: DAZN Boxing, talkSPORT and Amazon Prime Premier League coverage are all built on holding a live audience under pressure, which is exactly what large internal conferences and award nights demand. His career is a documented case of breaking a colour barrier in UK sports media, becoming the first Black presenter of a live Premier League match in December 2023. That is concrete material, not abstract DEI commentary. His speaking themes (adversity, mental health, working in media) are grounded in his own route through fostering, East London, sports trials and a non-traditional path into journalism, which gives the content specificity rather than slogans. He is equally credible as keynote speaker, panel moderator and awards host, which makes him useful for clients who need one booking to cover the whole evening. Biography highlights Lead presenter for DAZN Boxing and host of “The DAZN Boxing Show”, covering Anthony Joshua, Canelo Alvarez, Gervonta Davis and KSI fights. First Black presenter of a live Premier League match in the UK, anchoring Amazon Prime’s coverage of Crystal Palace v Bournemouth in December 2023. Presenter across the talkSPORT network, including “The Social” on talkSPORT 2 and pundit work on “Kick Off Added Time”. Winner of the 2021 Audio Production Awards “Best New Voice”. Co-host of the 2023 ARIAS-nominated podcast “The Men’s Room”. Prior credits include Sky Sports News (Premier League and EFL transfer reporting), ESPN, Fox Sports and Arise News. Biography Live boxing on DAZN, Premier League football on Amazon Prime, weekly radio on talkSPORT. Three different audiences, three different production cultures, one presenter holding the room when the broadcast is live and the script has gone. That is the working life Ade Oladipo has built, and it is the material he brings into the corporate room. In December 2023 he became the first Black presenter of a live Premier League match in the UK, leading Amazon Prime’s coverage of Crystal Palace against Bournemouth. The story behind that night runs through Brighton foster care, East London, Essex football and athletics, a Tottenham Hotspur Academy trial, and an entry into sports journalism in 2015 at Arise News. None of it was the standard route. His speaking work draws on that route directly. The themes are adversity, mental health, and what it takes to keep doing the work when you are the only person in the room who looks like you. Awards include the 2021 Audio Production Awards “Best New Voice” and a 2023 ARIAS nomination as co-host of “The Men’s Room” podcast, evidence that the craft holds up alongside the story. For corporate clients his most direct value is hosting craft: keynote, Q&A, awards, panel moderation, all delivered with the calm of someone who presents live boxing for a living. The keynote on adversity and mental health is the additional offer when the brief calls for it. Key speaking topics Mental health and resilience in high-pressure work Adversity and non-linear career paths Race and representation in UK media Sports broadcasting and live presenting Event hosting and panel moderation Awards night MC Ideal for Corporate event organisers needing a host who can carry a full evening: keynote, panel, awards. Internal CHRO and DEI leads commissioning content on lived experience rather than policy. Sports, media and entertainment industry conferences. Employee Resource Group events, particularly those focused on Black professionals in white-majority industries. Audience outcomes A clear sense of what sustained mental health practice looks like for someone working under public scrutiny. A specific story of breaking into and breaking through a closed industry, used as material for their own career conversations. A sharper view of what genuine inclusion feels like from inside, beyond the slide deck. An event held together by a presenter trained on live broadcast, not a corporate stage.

Why organisations work with Ashley Armstrong She interviews FTSE 100 chief executives as her day job. The people on the platform are the people she covers in the Financial Times, which means questions land with weight and follow-ups are not generic. Her interview record on the record includes Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, M&S’s Stuart Machin, Sainsbury’s Simon Roberts, Primark’s Paul Marchant, ITV’s Dame Carolyn McCall, and Sage’s Steve Hare. Senior leaders engage with her because they know she has read the half-year results. She has broken stories that moved the dial on UK corporate life: the implosion of Peter Mandelson’s Global Counsel, the JD Sports chair’s exit after a failed move on the CEO, and Sir Philip Green’s break-up of Arcadia. That level of access translates directly into how she runs a stage. She is the rare British business journalist with credibility across mass-market and Pink-Press readerships, having held senior roles at The Telegraph, The Times, The Sun, and now the FT. She can pitch a conversation to a board, a sales conference, or a public-facing audience with the same confidence. PRCA City Journalist of the Year 2022, recognising the kind of original reporting that distinguishes a chair who knows the territory from one who has been briefed on it. Biography highlights Chief UK Business Correspondent, Financial Times (since June 2025) Former Business Editor, The Sun, where she relaunched the daily business section and ran the cost-of-living desk Former Retail and M&A Editor, The Times; former Retail Editor and M&A Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph PRCA City Journalist of the Year, February 2022 Began career at City AM in 2008, two weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers BA, University of Exeter; MA, City, University of London Biography When Peter Mandelson’s lobby business Global Counsel collapsed in 2025, the Financial Times reporter interrogating the ties between the firm and Westminster was Ashley Armstrong, three months into her job as the paper’s Chief UK Business Correspondent. The story was characteristic. So was the byline. Armstrong has held senior business positions at The Telegraph, The Times, The Sun, and now the FT. That range is unusual in British financial journalism. It means she has covered the same companies for FTSE board readers, City professionals, mass-market subscribers, and now the most senior commercial newsroom in Europe, and she has held her own in each. She won PRCA City Journalist of the Year in 2022 for the kind of original reporting that earns sustained access. Her record at The Sun matters for what it reveals about her interviewing range. She invited the chief executives of Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Primark, ITV, and Sage to guest-edit her daily business page, and grilled Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on the record. At the FT she has continued breaking corporate news that moves share prices, including JD Sports chair Andy Higginson’s exit after a failed attempt to oust chief executive Régis Schultz. This is what gives her work as a host and moderator its weight. She does not arrive at the stage carrying a briefing pack written by someone else. She arrives carrying notes from the morning’s reporting, on companies and leaders she covers professionally, and she runs the room accordingly. Key speaking topics UK economy and markets Corporate governance and FTSE leadership Retail and consumer business Cost of living and household finance Business and politics in the UK Mergers and acquisitions Ideal for Sector conferences in retail, consumer goods, and financial services that need a chair credible with FTSE 100 leadership on stage In-house leadership events where senior teams want a journalist’s view on how the company looks from outside Investor days, AGM-adjacent events, and capital-markets days requiring a chair who reads the numbers Business-and-politics events that bring corporate leaders into conversation with policymakers Audience outcomes A clearer read on what is actually happening across the UK corporate landscape, drawn from current reporting rather than secondary sources Sharp on-the-record exchanges with senior executives, the kind that delegates remember and quote Editorial pacing and questioning that keeps high-stakes panels on the substance and off the platitudes A journalist’s framing of how the company in the room is being read by markets, government, and competitors

Why organisations work with Yogi Roth Co-authorship with Pete Carroll of Win Forever, a New York Times bestseller, gives him direct authority on the “Always Compete” philosophy now used widely in sport and corporate culture programmes. Two decades inside elite football locker rooms, first as a USC quarterbacks coach, then as a Big Ten, Pac-12, ESPN and Fox analyst, gives him a first-hand evidence base most culture speakers do not have. He brings a filmmaker’s command of narrative into the room. As producer and narrator of The Drive on the Pac-12 Networks since 2013, he has spent his career studying what actually makes high-performing cultures cohere on camera. Track record speaking for Nike, World Surf League, Capital One, Dignity Health and JCPenney, alongside major college athletic programmes, means he reads both commercial audiences and team-led organisations without recalibration. Biography highlights Co-author with Pete Carroll of Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion, which reached number seven on the New York Times bestseller list. Los Angeles Emmy winner in 2020 for Fight On: A Jackson Family, produced for the Pac-12 Networks. College football analyst across the Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Networks, Fox, ESPN and NFL Network, joining Big Ten Network in 2024. USC football quarterbacks coach under Pete Carroll, 2005 to 2009, following a playing career as a wide receiver at the University of Pittsburgh. Master’s degree in Communication Management from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, graduating magna cum laude. Elite 11 quarterback coach and host since 2009; producer and narrator of the documentary series The Drive on Pac-12 Networks since 2013. Biography Pete Carroll’s Win Forever philosophy did not stay inside USC’s football programme. The book that codified it, co-written with Yogi Roth in 2010, reached number seven on the New York Times bestseller list and has since travelled through corporate culture programmes, athletic departments and leadership offsites. Roth is the storyteller who shaped how that philosophy reads on the page and how its central idea, “Always Compete,” lands in a room. His route to that work was unusual. He walked on as a wide receiver at the University of Pittsburgh, earned a full athletic scholarship, then moved into coaching at USC under Carroll from 2005 to 2009. He studied alongside that work, completing a master’s in Communication Management at the USC Annenberg School. Coaching gave him the inside view of how an elite competitive culture actually behaves. Annenberg gave him the craft to translate it. The translation has been a 20-year career across broadcast and film. He has been an on-air college football analyst for the Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Networks, Fox, ESPN and NFL Network, and has produced and narrated The Drive since 2013, the long-running documentary series on the Pac-12 Networks. In 2020 he won a Los Angeles Emmy for Fight On: A Jackson Family. He also coaches and hosts the Elite 11, the country’s premier high school quarterback competition. That body of work is the substance behind his keynote practice. He has spoken for Nike, World Surf League, Capital One, Dignity Health and JCPenney, applying the same idea: organisations perform when leaders make what matters specific, repeat it relentlessly, and reward the behaviours that show people are competing for it together. The Latin root of compete, he points out, is “to strive together.” Most culture programmes forget that part. Key speaking topics Culture and the “Always Compete” philosophy Storytelling as a leadership tool High-performance team dynamics Personal brand and authentic communication Coaching and feedback in competitive cultures Purpose, clarity and discipline in winning organisations Ideal for Sales leaders and commercial teams running culture or kickoff events HR and people leaders building engagement programmes around purpose and team behaviour Athletic departments, sports organisations and performance-led businesses Marketing leaders and brand teams working on internal storytelling and identity Audience outcomes A working definition of what their team is actually competing for, beyond the stated mission Specific stories they can carry back into their own teams to make values concrete A clearer sense of where culture is real in their organisation and where it is decoration Renewed conviction that the behaviours leaders model in small moments are what shape a winning culture