Storytelling & Business Communication speakers

Why organisations work with Sheree Murphy Two decades of live television presenting, including BBC One’s Yes Chef!, BBC Morning Live, ITV2’s British Soap Awards coverage and I’m A Celebrity spin-offs, translates into a host who controls a room without rehearsal. Public recognition as Tricia Dingle in Emmerdale, paired with a runner-up finish on I’m A Celebrity in 2005, gives organisers a name audiences already know and trust on stage. A natural fit for consumer, family, food and lifestyle brand events. Direct campaign work with Pampers, Cow and Gate, Hello Fresh, Birdseye and SMA Nutrition gives her credibility with these audiences before she opens the microphone. Comfortable across formats: awards hosting, panel moderation, after-dinner Q and A, in-conversation interviews and on-camera reporting. Biography highlights Played Tricia Dingle in ITV’s Emmerdale across 374 episodes (1998 to 2004); won the British Soap Award for Best Exit in 2004. Runner-up on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! (2005). Current presenter on BBC’s Morning Live; previously hosted BBC One’s Yes Chef! across 40 episodes. Hosted ITV’s British Soap Awards in 2015 and 2016; presented ITV2’s Soap Awards coverage in 2005 and 2006. Co-hosted the Sunday morning show on Hits Radio for six years. Recurring panellist on ITV’s Loose Women and finalist on Celebrity MasterChef (2015). Biography A weak host can wreck an awards night. The skill of standing on a corporate stage, holding a room of 800 people, running to time and making a sponsor feel looked after is craft, built over years of live broadcasting. Sheree Murphy has been doing it on UK television for more than two decades. She is best known to British audiences as Tricia Dingle in ITV’s Emmerdale, a role she played across 374 episodes between 1998 and 2004 and which won her the British Soap Award for Best Exit. Her runner-up finish on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! in 2005 moved her into mainstream presenting, with ITV2’s British Soap Awards coverage, the Soapstar Superstar spin-off and a long run as a Loose Women panellist. The presenting work has continued steadily since. She fronted BBC One’s Yes Chef! across forty episodes, co-hosted Channel 5’s Cowboy Builders, anchored Hits Radio’s Sunday morning show for six years and now reports for BBC’s Morning Live. Off-screen, her commercial work with Pampers, Cow and Gate, Hello Fresh, Birdseye and SMA Nutrition places her squarely in the consumer, family and lifestyle space. For organisers, that combination matters. She is a recognisable face, a working broadcaster and a host who can run an awards ceremony, moderate a panel or carry an in-conversation interview without needing the room to do the work for her. Key speaking topics Awards ceremony hosting Conference and corporate event MC Panel moderation and in-conversation interviews After-dinner hosting Consumer, family and lifestyle brand events Parenting, family nutrition and working motherhood Ideal for Marketing, brand and communications leads commissioning awards nights, brand launches and consumer events. Internal events teams running conferences that need a recognisable, broadcast-trained MC. Family, food, parenting and lifestyle brands seeking a host with direct campaign credibility in the category. Internal women’s networks or family-friendly employer events looking for an in-conversation guest on balancing a high-profile career with raising four children. Audience outcomes A live event run cleanly to time, with a host who manages the room rather than reading from it. Sponsors, winners and panellists handled with the warmth and timing of a working broadcaster. A recognisable on-stage presence that draws audiences and attracts press coverage for consumer-facing events. For panel and in-conversation formats: honest, accessible reflections on twenty-plus years in UK broadcasting and on raising a family alongside it.

Why organisations work with Shil Shanghavi His methodology has been stress-tested against the hardest possible conditions. Shanghavi manages a severe stutter and has built his entire framework from the requirement to communicate fluently under pressure. When he teaches communication, there is no abstraction – the techniques work because they had to. He turns a soft skill into a data problem. The SpeakerLab AI platform he developed measures pace, structure, eye contact, jargon, repetition, and narrative flow, giving organisations a means to track communication development in the same way they would any other performance metric. The music-based delivery technique is genuinely novel. His method of using musical time signatures and rhythm to manage presence, pacing, and fluency is not borrowed from conventional coaching. It is proprietary, demonstrably effective, and unmatched by other communication speakers in the market. His coaching background shapes the quality of practical output. As Head of Speaker Coaching for TEDxPerth, he works with speakers whose performance is publicly scrutinised against one of the most demanding spoken-word formats in the world. That standard transfers to boardroom and conference work. Cross-cultural reach is operationally demonstrated. He has delivered keynotes and workshops to audiences across more than 70 countries, which means his frameworks have been tested for cultural transference, not just constructed for a single market. Biography highlights Head of Speaker Coaching at TEDxPerth and presentation mentor for IMPACT 100 WA Creator of SpeakerLab, an AI-powered platform that measures and analyses communication performance Author of Broken Words (2026), a memoir on fluency and communication built around speaking engagements in nineteen cities Subject of SHIL, an award-winning short film documentary (2021) chronicling his communication journey LinkedIn Top Voice for Public Speaking Has delivered keynotes and workshops to audiences across more than 70 countries Developed a proprietary communication technique using musical time signatures to manage fluency and stage presence Biography The most persistent failure in leadership development is not a shortage of smart people. It is a shortage of leaders who can make their thinking land. Communication breakdowns are rarely about content; they are about trust, presence, and the ability to make an audience believe that the person speaking has actually lived what they are saying. That problem sits at the centre of Shil Shanghavi’s work. Shanghavi built his communication framework from necessity. Managing a severe stutter since childhood, he developed a proprietary technique rooted in musical time signatures: using rhythm, pace, and structure drawn from progressive house music to achieve fluency and presence on stage. What began as a personal survival mechanism became a coaching methodology, tested over decades of practice and sharpened in his role as Head of Speaker Coaching for TEDxPerth, one of the most demanding public speaking environments in the world. His contribution to the field extends beyond technique. Shanghavi developed SpeakerLab, an AI platform that analyses communication performance across dimensions including eye contact, pacing, structure, jargon, and narrative coherence – translating what most coaches treat as intuition into measurable, actionable data. For organisations that have tried conventional presentation training and found it evaporates within weeks, the ability to quantify progress changes what improvement looks like in practice. His work spans more than 70 countries, with clients that include senior executives, leadership teams, and TEDx speakers preparing for high-scrutiny stages. He is a LinkedIn Top Voice for Public Speaking and the subject of SHIL, a 2021 documentary tracing his path from communication fear to the global stage. His 2026 memoir, Broken Words: Finding Fluency as a Global Speaker Who Stutters, follows nineteen speaking engagements from Nairobi to Singapore and puts the mechanism on the page: the breathing patterns behind a fluent keynote, and the days the speech system collapses in front of a paying audience. Key speaking topics Storytelling as a leadership and trust-building discipline Communication under pressure and high-stakes environments AI and measurement in communication development Executive presence and authentic leadership communication Building organisational culture through narrative Cross-cultural communication and global audiences Overcoming communication fear and building confidence Ideal for CHROs and L&D leads commissioning leadership communication programmes Senior executive and C-suite teams preparing for high-visibility engagements Conference organisers seeking a keynote that combines personal narrative with practical communication frameworks Organisations embedding authenticity and trust as cultural values at senior level Audience outcomes A practical framework for structuring stories in professional contexts – pitches, presentations, and leadership communications Familiarity with the SpeakerLab AI approach to measuring and improving communication performance Techniques for managing pressure, presence, and fluency in front of audiences of varying sizes and seniority A reframed understanding of authenticity as a practical communication tool, not a personality trait Confidence in applying storytelling principles to business communication across digital and in-person formats

Why organisations work with Shiulie Ghosh A live news anchor’s instincts on stage. Two decades fronting breaking coverage at the BBC, ITV, and Al Jazeera English means she handles a panel that has gone off-script the way she handled a rolling news studio. A working subject base in the topics global summits actually convene around: health, climate, sustainable development, food systems, and humanitarian affairs. She is not learning the brief on the train. Trusted repeatedly by the World Health Organization and UN bodies, including chair roles at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum. A track record reporting from inside the stories that shape the room, from Kosovo and the Asian Tsunami through the Arab Spring, the killing of Bin Laden, and the death of Nelson Mandela. That experience reads in how she handles serious subject matter on stage. Biography highlights Launch anchor for Al Jazeera English when the channel went on air from Doha on 15 November 2006, then a senior anchor for the international channel until the end of 2015. Former Home Affairs Editor at ITV News and a former BBC News journalist, with a career in network television news that began as a BBC News trainee in 1990. Currently a presenter at TRT World’s London bureau and director of her own UK media services company, Aero Productions Ltd. Named Best Television News Journalist at the BT Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards in 2001, and won the Association of International Broadcasting’s Editor’s Choice Media Excellence Award for hosting Every Woman. Chair of high-level panels at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum, with regular moderating work for WHO and UN agencies. Author of the Daughter of Kali urban fantasy trilogy, Kingdom of Salt, Mark of the Djinn, and Realm of Sirens, all published since 2018. Biography The hardest job at most senior summits is not being on the panel. It is running the panel. Whoever holds the chair decides whether four prepared statements turn into an actual exchange, whether a minister gets pressed or politely deferred to, and whether the audience leaves with a sharper view of the issue or a vaguer one. Ghosh has spent more than two decades inside that craft. She came up through British network television news. A BBC News trainee in 1990, then eight years at the BBC, then ITV News from 1998, where she rose to Senior Correspondent and Home Affairs Editor. In 2006 she became one of the launch anchors of Al Jazeera English, opening the channel’s broadcast from Doha and remaining a senior anchor until late 2015. Today she anchors at TRT World’s London bureau and runs her own media services company, Aero Productions, in Buckinghamshire. The work that takes her on stage now is moderation. She chairs panels at the World Health Assembly, the World Heart Summit, and the UN World Investment Forum, and works regularly with WHO and UN agencies on debates covering global health, climate, sustainable development, food systems, and humanitarian affairs. The reporting CV is part of why those organisations book her: she has filed from Kosovo, from the Asian Tsunami, from the Arab Spring, on the killing of Bin Laden, on the death of Nelson Mandela. Recognition has come from inside the industry. She was named Best Television News Journalist at the BT Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards in 2001 and picked up the Association of International Broadcasting’s Editor’s Choice Media Excellence Award for Every Woman, a series on women’s issues worldwide. Outside the studio she is also a published novelist, with the Daughter of Kali urban fantasy trilogy, Kingdom of Salt, Mark of the Djinn, and Realm of Sirens all in print since 2018. Key speaking topics Conference moderation and panel chairing Global health and the World Health Assembly agenda Climate, sustainability, and energy transition convening Humanitarian affairs and international development Food systems and food security Diversity in international broadcasting Ideal for CEOs, communications directors, and event leads commissioning a chair for an annual conference, AGM, or investor day Heads of public affairs at NGOs, multilaterals, and global health bodies running ministerial panels or donor convenings Sustainability and ESG leads running summits on climate, energy transition, or food systems Internal communications teams running senior leadership town halls or all-hands events that need a credible external host Audience outcomes A panel that produces actual exchange between speakers, not four parallel statements Tight stage timing across complex multi-stakeholder agendas, including ministerial slots Subject-literate questioning on health, climate, energy, and humanitarian topics, without primer-level explanation from the room A room that leaves with a clearer sense of where the speakers actually agreed and disagreed

Why organisations work with Shola Kaye Her Emotional Audacity™ framework reframes empathy as an organisational capability – not a personal virtue – giving leaders a structured approach to courageous communication that is immediately applicable in high-pressure, high-stakes environments She holds an unusual credibility position: a Cambridge and Emory-trained scientist who also performed professionally on four continents. That combination makes her content land differently with technical and analytical audiences who typically resist people-skills programming Her work addresses a gap that DEI programmes and EQ training often miss separately: the intersection of speaking up, psychological safety, and inclusive communication as a single, integrated practice Her two published books and LinkedIn Learning instructor role mean buyers are extending into a content ecosystem, not just a single keynote She has worked across the full range of organisational contexts – from board-level at institutions including The United Nations and Deloitte to company-wide culture programmes – with consistent evidence of rebooking Biography highlights BA Natural Sciences, Cambridge University; PGCE, Oxford University; MSc Analytical Chemistry / Neuropharmacology, Emory University, with postgraduate research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Early career in IT management consulting with clients including Goldman Sachs and Prudential Assurance, followed by account director roles in aviation and finance Professional entertainer and jazz singer; performed on four continents including BBC appearances Author of How to be a D.I.V.A. at Public Speaking (Amazon.com #1 bestseller) and Big Talk, Small Talk and Everything in Between (Callisto Media, 2020) Winner of the Jenny Seagrove Speaking Award (2016); Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), Toastmasters International; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) Regular contributor to Management Today, HR Zone, and People Management; featured in Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Forbes, and BBC; TEDx speaker on empathy in the workplace Biography Shola Kaye spent her early career moving between worlds that rarely overlap: neuroscience research at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, management consulting at investment banks in New York and London, and professional performance on stages across four continents. That trajectory is not a curiosity: it is the basis of her work. She understands analytically rigorous environments, the dynamics of corporate invisibility, and what it takes to hold a room. The core tension she addresses is one that organisations consistently underinvest in: the gap between stated inclusion values and the actual behavioural competencies required to make them real. Most people, even experienced leaders, struggle to give honest feedback, speak up under pressure, or navigate difficult conversations without defensiveness. Kaye’s Emotional Audacity™ framework names this gap explicitly: combining empathy, self-regulation, and courageous communication into a single, teachable practice. Her two books and a TEDx talk on workplace empathy establish the intellectual architecture behind the keynotes. Her contributors to Management Today, HR Zone, and People Management position her as a credible voice in the professional management conversation, not only on the conference circuit. Clients including The United Nations, Deloitte, HSBC, Google, and IBM have rebooked or extended her programmes into training formats, evidence that the content holds beyond a single session. What makes Kaye distinctive in a crowded DEI and communication space is the precise nature of her argument: that empathy, done seriously, is not a softening of leadership but a structural condition for high performance. For organisations navigating transformation, hybrid work, or underrepresentation challenges, that reframe tends to land where other approaches have not. Key speaking topics Empathy at work Inclusive leadership Psychological safety and communication Emotional intelligence Courageous workplace communication Diversity, equity and belonging People-first culture Feedback and difficult conversations Ideal for CHROs and People Directors building cultures where psychological safety is a practical reality, not an aspiration Leadership development programmes targeting mid-to-senior leaders managing diverse, distributed, or technically-oriented teams Organisations running DEI initiatives that need to move beyond awareness into behavioural change International Women’s Day and women’s leadership events where communication confidence and visibility are the focus Audience outcomes A named framework (Emotional Audacity™) for integrating empathy, courageous communication, and inclusive behaviour into daily leadership practice Practical tools for navigating difficult conversations, delivering constructive feedback, and creating environments where people feel safe to speak up Greater understanding of the structural conditions – not just the personal attitudes – that determine whether inclusion is felt in practice Specific techniques for communicating with clarity and impact, particularly for those in technical, analytical, or STEM-rooted working environments Renewed understanding of how communication behaviours at the manager level directly affect team performance, retention, and innovation output

Why organisations work with Simon Jack His position as sitting BBC Business Editor gives direct, current insight into how major financial and corporate stories are selected, framed and brought to national audiences – not historical analysis, but active editorial intelligence A decade in investment banking across London, New York and Bermuda means he interrogates market events and corporate decisions from inside knowledge, not observation; financial audiences notice the difference Uniquely placed to explain the mechanics of media-corporate accountability, how organisations end up on the wrong side of a headline, and what that process actually looks like from within a national broadcaster The Good Bad Billionaire podcast (Best Business Podcast, British Podcast Awards 2024) demonstrates an ability to make wealth, power and business ethics accessible and genuinely engaging for broad audiences – a value signal for any organisation wanting sharp facilitation, not just informed commentary His BBC Panorama film on male suicide brings personal authority to mental health discussions in business contexts that few speakers in this space can match Biography highlights BBC Business Editor since 2016, holding the role previously occupied by Robert Peston, Jeff Randall and Kamal Ahmed Decade in corporate and investment banking across London, New York and Bermuda before joining the BBC PPE, St John’s College, Oxford Lead BBC correspondent for the 2008 financial crisis: Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG bailout, Lloyds TSB/HBOS Co-presenter of Good Bad Billionaire (BBC World Service) – Best Business Podcast, British Podcast Awards 2024 Presented BBC Panorama «A Suicide in the Family» (2015), a personal investigation into male suicide and the death of his father Biography When a major financial institution collapses, a rate decision lands, or a FTSE company comes under scrutiny, the story that reaches boardrooms and living rooms alike passes through a small number of editorial gatekeepers. Understanding how that process works – what gets reported, what gets simplified, what gets missed – is increasingly relevant to any senior leader operating in a complex economic environment. Simon Jack has spent two decades sitting at that interface. Appointed BBC Business Editor in 2016, he leads the corporation’s coverage of business, markets and economic policy across television, radio and digital platforms (a role previously held by Robert Peston). Before entering journalism, he spent a decade in corporate and investment banking in London, New York and Bermuda, building a working understanding of how financial institutions operate, how risk is managed, and how decisions are made under pressure that journalists who came up through newsrooms simply do not have. The dual experience of practitioner then investigator, gives Jack a particular kind of credibility. He has reported from inside major market events, including the 2008 financial crisis across Lehman Brothers, the AIG bailout and the HBOS collapse. He co-presents Good Bad Billionaire for BBC World Service, which won Best Business Podcast at the 2024 British Podcast Awards, demonstrating an ability to make the economics and ethics of extreme wealth engaging for audiences well beyond the specialist. He also presented the BBC Panorama film «A Suicide in the Family» – a personal and investigative piece on male suicide – which established him as a credible voice on mental health in a way that is unusual for a business journalist of his seniority. His value to organisations is not analysis from a distance. It is the perspective of someone who has been inside the financial system, run editorial coverage of it, and understands how the story between those two worlds gets told. Key speaking topics Global financial markets and economic developments Banking, investment banking and institutional risk Media accountability and corporate reputation Business journalism and editorial decision-making Wealth, power and business ethics Male mental health in professional contexts Ideal for Financial services, banking and insurance sector conferences seeking credible external perspective on market dynamics and media coverage Senior leadership and board-level events where understanding the media-corporate interface is strategically relevant Corporate communications, investor relations and policy teams navigating how economic narratives are formed Organisations seeking a facilitator or moderator with genuine financial literacy and broadcast authority Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of how major financial and economic events are selected, shaped and communicated by national media, and what that means for organisational decision-making Insight into the practical gap between financial reality and public narrative, drawn from experience on both sides Greater literacy in reading market events and economic signals, without requiring specialist background A more grounded perspective on how corporate institutions appear under editorial scrutiny, and what factors shape that For events that include the mental health strand: a serious, personally grounded framing of male wellbeing in high-pressure professional environments

Why organisations work with Sir Trevor McDonald He is one of a small group of living public figures whose presence at the front of a room is itself a statement about the seriousness of the occasion. Royal events, charitable galas, and major industry awards have used him in this capacity for over thirty years. His firsthand interviews with Nelson Mandela on his release, Saddam Hussein on the eve of the first Gulf War, Colonel Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair give him a stock of stories about global power that no contemporary commentator working from secondary sources can match. He carries the credibility of more than thirty years anchoring ITV’s flagship evening news, where he was repeatedly polled as Britain’s most trusted news presenter. Audiences across age groups recognise him on sight. He brings the perspective of a journalist who reported from every continent across five decades, including over ten years covering the Northern Ireland Troubles, giving any audience access to someone who watched the modern world being shaped from the front row. Biography highlights Knighted in 1999 for services to broadcasting and journalism, awarded OBE in 1992 BAFTA Fellowship (2011), Royal Television Society Gold Medal (1998), BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award (1999), Royal Television Society Judges’ Award (2005), National Television Award for Special Recognition (2003) Sole presenter of ITV’s News at Ten from 1992 until December 2005, and host of ITV’s Tonight from 1999 to 2007 First British television journalist to interview Nelson Mandela following his release in 1990, and the only British journalist to interview Saddam Hussein on the eve of the first Gulf War Author of An Improbable Life: The Autobiography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019), a Sunday Times bestseller Former Chancellor of London South Bank University; honorary degrees from the University of Plymouth, the Open University, Liverpool John Moores, the University of the West Indies, Kingston University and others Biography Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison in February 1990 to face a global press pack. The first British television journalist to sit down with him for an interview was Sir Trevor McDonald, then Diplomatic Editor at ITN. Later that same year, on the eve of the first Gulf War, he became the only British journalist to secure an interview with Saddam Hussein. Those two assignments are typical of a career that placed Sir Trevor in proximity to most of the people who shaped late twentieth century geopolitics. Across more than five decades at the BBC, ITN and ITV, he reported from every continent. He covered Northern Ireland’s Troubles for over a decade, the negotiations over Britain’s entry to the European Common Market, the Reagan and Gorbachev summits, and the 1985 Philippine “people power” elections that won Channel Four News a BAFTA. From 1992 to December 2005 he was the sole presenter of ITV’s News at Ten, the country’s flagship evening news. He was repeatedly polled as Britain’s most trusted news presenter and named Television and Radio Industries Club Newscaster of the Year on multiple occasions between 1993 and 2009. Knighted in 1999 for services to broadcasting, awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011, he is one of a handful of figures in British public life whose name is itself a guarantee of seriousness at an event. His later work moved into long-form documentary for ITV, including Inside Death Row, To Catch A Serial Killer and Fred and Rose West: The Real Story. He published his Sunday Times bestselling autobiography An Improbable Life with Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2019. He is a former Chancellor of London South Bank University, has chaired the Better English Campaign, and co-chaired a Nuffield Foundation inquiry into the teaching of foreign languages in British schools, work for which he was honoured by the French and German governments. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and international affairs Reporting from conflict zones The arc of late twentieth century world events Trust and credibility in public communication Journalism, media and public life Witness to modern political history Ideal for Boards, executive committees and senior leadership audiences requiring gravitas at major in-house events Industry associations hosting flagship awards, conferences or anniversary dinners Trustees and committees of major public-interest charities, foundations and royal patronages Conference programme leads commissioning international affairs panels, moderated discussions or main-stage interviews Audience outcomes Stories from the room where Nelson Mandela gave his first British television interview after his release, and where Saddam Hussein sat for his only British television interview before the Gulf War A perspective on the long arc of post-1970 geopolitics from someone who reported it as it happened, not from someone analysing the archive Reflection on what serious public communication looks like, drawn from over thirty years anchoring Britain’s most-watched evening news A room that feels significant from the moment he takes the stage, which is the principal reason organisations rebook him

Why organisations work with Sohail Rahman More than 30 years across ITV, Granada, BBC, Channel 4, CNN and Al Jazeera English, which is a breadth of senior broadcast experience most corporate hosts cannot match. He was part of the original on-screen launch line-up for Al Jazeera English in 2005 and has anchored from Doha for two decades, giving him recognised standing across the Middle East, South Asia and Asia-Pacific. His correspondent postings in New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur were not studio work. They included access to places most correspondents do not reach, including North-West Pakistan’s tribal areas, which gives his geopolitical material front-line credibility. The awards record is specific: Royal Television Society Best Television Presenter in 2003 and a USA TV Emmy nomination for the Nepal Earthquake coverage. These are external markers of presentation quality rather than vanity listings. Fluency in five South Asian languages in addition to English makes him unusually useful for events in South Asia, GCC and South-East Asia where a host who understands cultural nuance materially affects how the room receives the content. Biography highlights Main presenter, Al Jazeera English, Doha; part of the 2005 on-screen launch line-up Former Al Jazeera Senior Correspondent for South Asia (New Delhi) and Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur) Previous networks include ITV, ITV Granada, BBC, Channel 4 and CNN Royal Television Society Best Television Presenter Award (2003); USA TV Emmy nomination for Nepal Earthquake coverage First British Muslim man to present ITV National News and ITV Granada regional news Fluent in five South Asian languages and English Biography Al Jazeera English went on air in 2005 as one of the most ambitious international news launches in a generation, and Sohail Rahman was part of the original on-screen team. Two decades later he remains a main anchor at the network’s Doha headquarters, having also spent postings as Senior Correspondent for South Asia from New Delhi and for Asia Pacific from Kuala Lumpur. The roles put him directly into the stories that now frame international business risk, from Asian elections and natural disasters to conflict on the Afghan-Pakistan border. His earlier career sits with the UK networks. More than 30 years across ITV, Granada, BBC, Channel 4 and CNN include a period as an ITV national news presenter, where he was the first British Muslim man to hold the role, and earlier Granada regional news anchoring. In 2003 he won the Royal Television Society’s Best Television Presenter Award for his ITV work. He later received a USA TV Emmy nomination for his coverage of the Nepal Earthquake. The correspondent experience is specific rather than general. He was one of the few international reporters granted access to North-West Pakistan’s tribal areas, including Swat, and filed on militancy and governance from those regions at a time when few Western broadcasters could. Fluency in five South Asian languages means his reporting and hosting in the region is not mediated through translators, which in turn gives him a register that regional audiences recognise as genuine. For international conferences, GCC summits, South Asian business events and investor-facing programmes with Asia or Middle East exposure, Rahman brings the combination most organisers actually want: a recognised Al Jazeera anchor, a Royal Television Society award holder, and a correspondent who has filed from the places the audience is otherwise only reading about. He is used for main-stage moderation, awards hosting, MC work and keynote interviews. Key speaking topics Middle East and Gulf geopolitics South Asian and Asia-Pacific current affairs International business, economics and global markets Media, journalism and cross-cultural communication Muslim representation and identity in Western media Hosting, moderating and awards MC craft Ideal for GCC, Middle East and Asia-based conferences, investor days and trade summits International awards and industry events needing a globally recognised anchor as host Corporate off-sites, client events and fireside interviews focused on Middle East and Asia risk Cultural, faith and representation events where a senior British Muslim broadcaster’s voice is relevant Audience outcomes A sharper read on Middle East and Asian geopolitics delivered by a serving Al Jazeera anchor Sessions that move from prepared remarks into genuine interview under a broadcast-grade host Specific front-line reference cases from South Asia, Asia Pacific and the tribal areas of Pakistan A host who can move credibly between English and South Asian languages in mixed international rooms

Why organisations work with Speech Thomas His B.R.A.V.E. framework (Bold, Resilient, Adaptable, Vulnerable, Encouraging) is proprietary, named IP built from firsthand experience navigating commercial failure, personal loss, and creative reinvention across a multi-decade career, not a theoretical model adapted from management literature He integrates live musical performance structurally into the keynote itself, creating a shared emotional experience that makes the framework’s principles felt rather than simply heard – a format no other leadership speaker with equivalent platform credibility replicates The vulnerability pillar of B.R.A.V.E. carries specific weight: his origin story involves growing up in statistically one of the most difficult environments for Black youth in America and losing both his grandmother and brother in the same week; circumstances that directly shaped the framework’s architecture His 16 Bars documentary – in which he led a songwriting and recording collaboration inside a Virginia jail – provides independently verified, third-party evidence that his approach to creativity and leadership character works in conditions far more demanding than any corporate conference room The Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship, a 501(c)3 he established in 1992, has directed over $1M in educational stipends to students from underserved communities – demonstrating that the «encouraging» principle of B.R.A.V.E. is operational, not rhetorical Biography highlights Founder, lead vocalist and producer of Arrested Development; two-time Grammy winner: Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance (1993) Arrested Development’s debut album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of… achieved multi-platinum certification in the United States «Tennessee» named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s «500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll» Solo single «Like Marvin Gaye Said» held #1 on Japan’s Tokio 100 chart for seven consecutive weeks; solo album Spiritual People certified Gold by the RIAJ Producer and collaborator on 16 Bars (2018), an award-winning documentary following a music rehabilitation programme inside Richmond City Jail — winner of Best Documentary at the Downtown L.A. Film Festival Creator of the B.R.A.V.E. leadership framework, now delivered as a keynote at corporate, association and government conferences globally Founder of the Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship (501(c)3, est. 1992), which has provided over $1M in stipends to university students from at-risk communities across three decades Biography The qualities most organisations say they want from their leaders – courage under pressure, the ability to adapt without losing direction, the willingness to be honest when honesty is costly – are precisely the ones that conventional leadership development struggles to instil. Why? Because they cannot be taught from a slide deck. They are formed through experience, reinforced through narrative, and transmitted most effectively when the person articulating them has actually lived them. Speech Thomas built his B.R.A.V.E. framework (Bold, Resilient, Adaptable, Vulnerable, Encouraging) from a career that required each of those qualities under genuine pressure. As the founder and lead vocalist of Arrested Development, he led a group that achieved two Grammy Awards and multi-platinum sales for a debut album that ran directly against the dominant commercial trends of its era. When the group disbanded, he rebuilt independently, building a substantial solo career across five albums and finding his largest audience in Japan – territory he entered without the infrastructure that had supported the group’s earlier success. What distinguishes his keynote from the standard musical-career-as-leadership-metaphor format is that the framework is specific and teachable, and the performance is structural rather than decorative. Speech integrates live music into the keynote itself because the argument he is making – that vulnerability and creative courage are leadership competencies, not personality traits – is demonstrated more effectively through song than through slides. His 16 Bars documentary, in which he led a songwriting and recording programme inside Richmond City Jail, provides third-party evidence that this methodology produces results in conditions that test it genuinely. The Dr. Terence N. Thomas Scholarship, which he established in 1992 following his brother’s death and which has since distributed over $1M to students from underserved communities, is where the «encouraging» pillar of B.R.A.V.E. becomes most legible. For boards and senior leadership teams evaluating whether a speaker’s values are substantive or performative, it is a credible and verifiable answer. Key speaking topics B.R.A.V.E. leadership framework Leadership character development Creativity and the artistic process as organisational tools Storytelling and voice in leadership communication Resilience and adaptability under pressure Music, culture and social impact Criminal justice reform and rehabilitation through creative practice Ideal for Senior leadership and executive teams exploring the relationship between character, culture and organisational performance CHROs and talent development leaders building leadership pipeline programmes that go beyond technical capability Conferences in creative industries, media, entertainment and arts sectors DEI and culture transformation events requiring a speaker whose credibility is built from lived experience rather than consultancy Audience outcomes A named, five-part leadership framework (B.R.A.V.E.) that individuals can apply to their own professional context A reframe of vulnerability from personal risk to leadership asset – with a credible, tested example of why it matters Practical perspective on how storytelling and creative expression function as tools for communication, not just culture A more concrete understanding of what distinguishes leadership under pressure from leadership in comfortable conditions Where a live performance element is included: a shared emotional experience that anchors the session’s themes in a way that participants recall and reference beyond the event itself

Why organisations work with Spencer Kelly Two decades inside the BBC’s flagship technology programme, Click, give him a working knowledge of frontier tech that very few keynote speakers can match, and a presenter’s instinct for what a general audience can absorb. He is one of the few speakers who is equally credible as a keynote on AI and emerging tech and as the host or moderator who runs the rest of the day, which reduces the number of people a conference organiser has to brief. A Cambridge Computer Science background, with an undergraduate dissertation on AI, means his explanations sit on actual technical understanding rather than on borrowed framing. He has interviewed the people audiences are most curious about, from Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to James Cameron, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, which gives his sessions named primary material instead of recycled commentary. BBC Radio 4’s Understand: Tech & AI and the technology segment on BBC Morning Live keep him in current weekly conversation with a non-specialist audience, which is the audience most leadership teams actually resemble. Biography highlights Presenter of BBC Click from January 2006 to its final episode in March 2025, the BBC’s longest-serving technology presenter. Host of BBC Radio 4’s Understand: Tech & AI, a 10-part series first broadcast in July 2023. Presents the technology segment on BBC Morning Live. Computer Science double first from Churchill College, Cambridge, with an undergraduate dissertation on artificial intelligence. Honorary Doctor of Technology, Coventry University. Named T3 Magazine Tech Personality of the Year in 2015. Biography BBC Click ran for 25 years on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. Spencer Kelly presented it for nearly 19 of them, from January 2006 to its final episode in March 2025. That single fact carries more weight in a leadership audience than any speaker bio summary, because it means the person at the front of the room has been tracking, testing and explaining frontier technology to a global audience continuously across an entire technology cycle. The Cambridge Computer Science training matters here. His double first at Churchill College, with an undergraduate dissertation on artificial intelligence and genetic algorithms, is the reason his explanations of AI sit on actual technical foundations rather than on metaphors. He moves fluently between the engineering reality and the boardroom question, which is exactly what most senior audiences are trying to do when they sit down at a strategy day. Beyond Click, he hosts BBC Radio 4’s Understand: Tech & AI, the 10-part series launched in July 2023, and presents the technology segment on BBC Morning Live. He has interviewed Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, James Cameron, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. T3 Magazine named him Tech Personality of the Year in 2015. Coventry University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Technology. For an event with leadership stakes, he is unusually flexible. He delivers the keynote on AI, automation and emerging technology when that is the brief, and he hosts, moderates or runs the awards when the day needs a presenter who can carry the room and stay on the subject. The same person does both jobs to BBC standard, which is rarer than most conference programmes assume. Key speaking topics Artificial intelligence in business Emerging technology and its commercial impact Automation and the future of work Quantum computing, blockchain and the metaverse Technology hosting, moderation and awards presenting Ideal for Boards and executive teams running an AI literacy or emerging tech briefing Conference organisers who need a single host across keynote, panel and awards CIO, CTO and digital transformation leaders running annual offsites Industry awards and sector summits that want a recognisable, technically credible host Audience outcomes A clearer picture of where AI and adjacent technologies are now, separated from the marketing layer. Specific named examples of how organisations are using emerging tech, drawn from his Click reporting. A working sense of which technologies sit in the next 18 months and which sit further out. The confidence to ask sharper questions of internal teams and external vendors.

Why organisations work with Stacey Dooley A working method built over more than 100 BBC documentaries on trafficking, domestic abuse, extremism and fashion industry pollution, which gives her an unusual ability to discuss difficult subjects on a corporate stage without sanitising them. Recipient of the Grierson Trustees’ Award 2024, the youngest person ever to receive it, for outstanding contribution to documentary. A credential that audiences and journalists recognise immediately. A track record of taking serious subject matter to younger audiences, the demographic most internal communications teams struggle to reach with mental health, wellbeing and ethics content. Equally credible as an event host, on-stage interviewer and keynote speaker, which makes her a flexible booking for awards nights, conferences and internal leadership events on women, mental health or social impact. Biography highlights BBC documentary presenter, with more than 100 films across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three. MBE for services to broadcasting, 2018 Birthday Honours. Grierson Trustees’ Award 2024, youngest recipient. One World Media Award (Popular Features) for Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with Isis, 2018. Sunday Times bestselling author: On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back (2018), Are You Really OK? (2022), Dear Minnie (2025). Winner, Strictly Come Dancing 2018 (BBC One); presenter of Glow Up and Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over. Biography Most corporate conversations about mental health, exploitation or domestic abuse fail the people they are about. The language is too cautious, the staging too clean, and the lived reality goes missing. Stacey Dooley has built a 17-year BBC career closing exactly that gap, on screen and in print, and audiences notice the difference. She came up through Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts on BBC Three in 2008, with no journalism background, and went on to make more than 100 documentaries under the Stacey Dooley Investigates banner. The subjects span sex trafficking, domestic violence, extremism, fashion industry pollution, the illegal narcotics trade and Britain’s mental health emergency. Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with Isis won the Popular Features Award at the One World Media Awards in 2018. The Grierson Trust gave her its Trustees’ Award in 2024 for outstanding contribution to documentary, citing her ability to bring difficult subjects to younger viewers and to ask direct, uncomfortable questions of people in authority. She is the youngest person ever to receive the award. She holds an MBE for services to broadcasting and is a Sunday Times bestselling author three times over, most recently with Dear Minnie: Conversations with Remarkable Mothers (Penguin, 2025). For organisations, the value is twofold. As a host or on-stage interviewer, she can carry subject matter that defeats more traditional MCs. As a keynote speaker, she draws on documentary work that audiences already know, which lends weight to internal conversations on women’s safety, mental health and ethical practice that often struggle to land. Key speaking topics Investigative documentary and storytelling Women’s experience, safety and rights Mental health and the limits of public conversation Ethical journalism on sensitive subjects Domestic abuse and coercive control Labour conditions and exploitation in global supply chains Career routes outside traditional media gatekeeping Ideal for Corporate awards nights, gala dinners and conferences seeking a recognisable BBC host with editorial range. Internal leadership events on mental health, wellbeing or women’s safety where a corporate MC would feel mismatched. CHRO and Head of Internal Communications audiences planning campaigns on domestic abuse, mental health or supply chain ethics. Public sector, charity and NGO conferences on social impact, women’s rights or violence against women and girls. Audience outcomes A documentary-maker’s view of how to talk about hard subjects without flattening them. Specific case material from BBC investigations into trafficking, domestic abuse, extremism and mental health. A more honest internal benchmark for what good journalism looks like on the issues organisations are increasingly asked to comment on. Permission to be more direct in internal communications about mental health and women’s experiences.

Why organisations work with Stef Sword-Williams She gives quiet, high-performing employees a working method for being seen, which directly affects retention and promotion equity rather than abstract confidence. Her material is built from eight years inside advertising, so self-promotion is taught as a brand and storytelling discipline, not a motivational frame. F*ck Being Humble has trained workforces at Apple, Google, Unilever, Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, the BBC, NatWest, L’Oreal, Aviva, and Amazon, giving her a wide read on where internal visibility fails. The book F*ck Being Humble: Why Self-Promotion Isn’t a Dirty Word has sold over 10,000 copies and gives her a defined point of view that audiences can follow into workshops and team practice. Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, useful as signal for senior buyers screening a younger speaker against a leadership-level audience. Biography highlights Founder of F*ck Being Humble, a global training consultancy working with Apple, Google, Unilever, Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, the BBC, NatWest, L’Oreal, Aviva, and Amazon. Author of F*ck Being Humble: Why Self-Promotion Isn’t a Dirty Word, published by Quadrille and reported to have sold over 10,000 copies. TEDx speaker, with a talk titled “F*ck being humble!” delivered at TEDxAreni. Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe honouree. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), recognising the social impact of her work. Featured in Vogue, BBC World News, the Financial Times, and The Times, and a regular speaker at industry events including Advertising Week. Biography The people who get promoted are not always the people doing the best work. Inside large organisations, visibility shapes who progresses and who plateaus, and most employees have never been taught how to make their contribution legible to the people deciding their next role. Stef Sword-Williams spent close to eight years in advertising telling stories for global brands before noticing how rarely the same craft was applied to individual careers. She founded F*ck Being Humble in 2018 to close that gap, and in 2020 published the book of the same name with Quadrille, setting out a method for self-promotion that treats it as professional skill rather than personality trait. The work has scaled into a training practice used by Apple, Google, Unilever, Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, the BBC, NatWest, L’Oreal, Aviva, and Amazon. She has been recognised as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe honouree and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, with media coverage across Vogue, BBC World News, the Financial Times, and The Times. Her TEDxAreni talk, “F*ck being humble!”, is the short form of the same argument. Organisations that want to keep their best people, close promotion gaps, and grow a stronger internal pipeline cannot rely on quiet competence to surface itself. Sword-Williams gives them a vocabulary and a practice for fixing that. Key speaking topics Self-promotion as a workplace skill Personal branding inside organisations Imposter syndrome and confidence at work Pitching, presenting, and making ideas heard Negotiation and asking for more Networking and internal visibility Feedback culture Storytelling for individuals in a brand-driven world Ideal for CHROs, CPOs, and L&D leaders working on retention, promotion equity, and internal mobility. DEI and ERG leads designing programming for women, early-career talent, and underrepresented groups in promotion pipelines. Heads of Talent and managers running high-potential and emerging-leader cohorts. Conference programmers building tracks on workplace confidence, personal brand, or future skills. Audience outcomes A practical method for talking about their own work without sounding self-serving or scripted. A clear view of where internal visibility breaks down and which behaviours close that gap. Language for handling feedback, negotiation, and self-advocacy conversations with managers. Permission and pattern for ambitious self-presentation in cultures that default to humility. Tools managers can use to surface quieter talent and rebalance who gets seen.

Why organisations work with Steph McGovern Eight years as BBC Breakfast’s lead business presenter, with a reporting beat that covered more than 500 companies, gives her an interviewing range from FTSE chairs to first-time founders in the same morning. She co-hosts The Rest Is Money with Robert Peston, which means she is in weekly working contact with the macro and political stories shaping a CFO’s agenda, not reading them up the night before an event. Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, with an apprenticeship background at Black and Decker, which lands credibly with industrial, manufacturing and skills-led audiences in a way most business presenters cannot match. Hosting record across Steph’s Packed Lunch, Have I Got News For You and Watchdog gives her the live-on-air composure to handle a room when a CEO goes off script or a Q and A turns combative. She is fluent in small business and consumer economics, useful when a client wants the keynote or the panel pitched at the supplier base, the franchisee network or the customer-facing workforce, not just the executive team. Biography highlights Lead business presenter, BBC Breakfast, 2011 to 2019. Host, Steph’s Packed Lunch, Channel 4, 2020 to 2023, more than 250 episodes. Co-host, The Rest Is Money podcast, with Robert Peston, Goalhanger Podcasts. Honorary Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering, 2021. Honorary Doctorate, Teesside University, 2013. Debut crime novel Deadline, Pan Macmillan, 2025; judge, Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, since 2019. Recurring host, Have I Got News For You, BBC One, since 2017. Biography Most business communication fails at the same point. The numbers are correct, the strategy is sound, the slides are clean, and the audience that actually has to act on it has tuned out by slide three. Steph McGovern’s career has been built on the opposite move: taking a board-level commercial story and making it audible to the people whose buy-in determines whether it works. She spent eight years as BBC Breakfast’s lead business presenter, interviewing CEOs, regulators and small business owners on consecutive segments and treating them with the same scrutiny. After leaving the BBC in 2019, she launched Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, a daily live programme that ran for more than 250 episodes between 2020 and 2023, with regular segments on the small business economy and the labour market. Her current platform is The Rest Is Money, the Goalhanger podcast she co-hosts with Robert Peston, which keeps her on the macro and political-economic beat week to week. Alongside that, she is a recurring host of Have I Got News For You and a sought-after conference moderator and awards host. Her debut crime novel, Deadline, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2025; she has judged Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year prize at Harrogate since 2019. The detail that buyers most often miss: she trained as an engineer. She was a young engineer for Britain at 19 on a Black and Decker apprenticeship, where she is credited with a six-figure annual saving on a single product line. The Royal Academy of Engineering elected her an Honorary Fellow in 2021 for her work championing vocational skills. That background is why industrial, manufacturing and skills-led clients book her for events that a generalist broadcaster could not credibly host. Key speaking topics Business and economic journalism Small businesses and the UK economy Consumer markets and personal finance Engineering, apprenticeships and vocational skills Conference hosting and panel moderation Awards hosting Media interview craft for executives Ideal for Annual conferences where the board wants the macro and commercial stories landed for a mixed-seniority audience. Industry awards, supplier conferences and franchisee events that need a host who can hold a live room and interview C-suite guests. Manufacturing, engineering and skills-sector audiences who respond to a presenter with a credible technical background. Internal leadership events where a CEO or CFO wants their strategy questioned in front of the room before it is rolled out. Audience outcomes A clearer read on the current macro and commercial backdrop, in language that connects to the audience’s day job rather than analyst notes. Sharper executive panels and Q&A sessions because the moderator is genuinely fluent in the subject matter. A renewed argument for investment in apprenticeships, vocational pathways and shop-floor capability, grounded in a presenter who lived it. A live event that holds energy through the unscripted moments, not just the keynote slot.