Storytelling & Business Communication

Why organisations work with Samantha Johnson Few presenters have actually conducted the FIFA World Cup Final Draw. Samantha has done it twice, including the 2026 ceremony at the Kennedy Center alongside Rio Ferdinand. She holds dual credibility across two registers organisations rarely find in one person: marquee sports broadcasting and substantive global current affairs. The same week she fronts a federation event, she can moderate a policy discussion at the United Nations. As the creator and presenter of Al Jazeera English’s Game Theory, Now You Know and Centre Stage, she runs her own editorial. She does her own research and writes her own questions. A British-Jamaican woman fronting the FIFA World Cup draw signals to a global audience that the organisation has actually changed who occupies authority on its biggest stage. That representation is part of what an organisation buying global visibility is actually paying for. Biography highlights Conductor of the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 alongside Rio Ferdinand, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC. Member of the conducting team for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final Draw in Doha, and presenter at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 in Paris. Presenter and producer at Al Jazeera Media Network, where she created and hosts Game Theory, Now You Know and Centre Stage. Former Sports Anchor at TRT World in Istanbul, fronting flagship programme Beyond the Game across seven years. Past on-air roles with Sky Sports News, beIN Sports, Eurosport and Chelsea TV. Moderator for United Nations policy discussions, including the launch of UN Women’s ‘Awake Not Sleeping’ initiative. Biography The Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 was conducted at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in front of heads of state and a global broadcast audience. Samantha Johnson was the broadcaster on stage with Rio Ferdinand, leading the procedure that revealed the group-stage matchups for the first 48-team tournament. Few presenters have ever been trusted with that role. Even fewer have done it twice. The 2026 ceremony followed her work on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final Draw in Doha and The Best FIFA Football Awards in Paris. Outside FIFA, she moderates UEFA conferences, anchors policy discussions at the United Nations, and hosted the launch of UN Women’s ‘Awake Not Sleeping’ initiative. The pattern is consistent. Federations and institutions that need a live moment to land at the level their audience expects come back to her. At Al Jazeera English she has built a body of work that runs deeper than presenting. Game Theory examines the politics, power and economics shaping world sport, from betting scandals in the NBA to Africa’s investment in football infrastructure. Now You Know is the network’s vodcast amplifying women’s voices across health, sport and technology. Centre Stage carries her long-form interviews with global change makers, including a recent conversation with Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo. Born in Birmingham to a British-Jamaican family, she has built her career across London, Istanbul and Doha, where she now lives. Before Al Jazeera, she spent seven years anchoring TRT World’s flagship Beyond the Game programme, after starting out at Chelsea TV and moving through on-air roles with Sky Sports News, beIN Sports and Eurosport. The composure that comes from doing live television in three languages and three time zones is what makes her a natural choice for a federation board, an awards stage or a United Nations convening. Key speaking topics Live event hosting and moderation Diversity, representation and women’s voices Sport, politics and power Global storytelling and communication Cultural intelligence in international media Women in sport and broadcasting Ideal for Federations, awards bodies and global brands seeking a credible host for high-profile live moments DEI and Women’s Network leads commissioning conversations on representation and visibility International conferences requiring a moderator who can hold senior speakers and multilingual audiences Media, sport and policy organisations staging events where substance and signal both matter Audience outcomes A view from inside the highest-stakes moments in live global broadcasting, told by someone who has had to deliver them. A perspective on representation in sport and media built from doing the job on stage in front of millions. An honest account of working as a journalist across cultures, from London to Istanbul to Doha. Specific material on how senior figures get interviewed for global broadcast: the editorial preparation, the question design, the on-air control.

Why organisations work with George Kohlrieser He turns a literal high-stakes discipline into a leadership method. The negotiation techniques he teaches carry a documented 95% resolution rate in real hostage situations, and he shows leaders how the same bonding and dialogue skills resolve conflict in a boardroom. He gives leaders the “secure base” model: a tested account, grounded in attachment theory and neuroscience, of how a leader can provide both safety and challenge so that teams take risks instead of protecting themselves. He teaches the specific act most leaders avoid: naming a difficult issue out loud. His “put the fish on the table” approach gives executives a repeatable way to surface conflict before it rots a team from the inside. His authority is built on two decades of senior-executive teaching at IMD, where he created and still directs its flagship High Performance Leadership programme, not on a single book or talk. He works on the leader’s internal state first. His doctoral research on physiological recovery after high-stress events underpins practical methods for staying composed when a situation is escalating. Biography highlights Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour at IMD, Lausanne, and creator and director of its High Performance Leadership and Advanced High Performance Leadership programmes. Author of the international bestseller Hostage at the Table, winner of Best Business Book in France and Best Management Book in Germany, with a revised second edition published in 2025. Co-author of Care to Dare: Unleashing Astonishing Potential Through Secure Base Leadership, part of the Warren Bennis leadership series and named among Soundview’s best business books of 2013. Organizational and clinical psychologist with a doctorate from Ohio State University; veteran police psychologist and hostage negotiator taken hostage four times in the course of his work. Has trained the FBI, the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s Departments, and police academies in France, the Netherlands and Germany in crisis negotiation. Has worked with leaders in over 100 countries for clients including Cisco, Coca-Cola, IBM, Roche, Santander, Toyota and UBS; featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Financial Times and Forbes. Biography Most leadership advice about conflict tells people to manage it. Kohlrieser’s career began somewhere far less comfortable: as a police psychologist and hostage negotiator who was himself taken hostage four times, once in a hospital emergency room and three times in homes during domestic violence calls. He came out of each by building a bond with the person holding him. That experience became the foundation of his work. At IMD in Lausanne, where he is Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, he turned it into method. He created and still directs the school’s High Performance Leadership programme, an intensive course for senior executives, and built his teaching on a counterintuitive claim: hostage negotiators succeed roughly 95% of the time not by force but by forming a genuine connection with someone they have every reason to despise. The same capability, he argues, separates leaders who can challenge their teams from those who only pressure them. His books gave the method its structure. Hostage at the Table applies negotiation psychology to ordinary business conflict and won best-book awards in France and Germany. Care to Dare set out the “secure base” idea, drawn from attachment theory and neuroscience: a leader who provides both care and challenge frees people to take risks rather than protect themselves. The practical core is an act most executives dodge, what he calls putting the fish on the table, naming a difficult issue openly so it can be cleaned rather than left to rot. What gives the work its weight is the evidence behind the soft language. His doctoral research measured how law enforcement leaders physically recover after high-stress events, and that grounding in self-mastery runs through everything he teaches. He has trained the FBI and police academies across Europe, and advised leaders at Cisco, IBM, Roche and UBS in more than 100 countries, but the through-line is consistent: the hardest part of leadership is emotional, and it can be learned. Key speaking topics Conflict management and resolution Negotiation and influence under pressure Secure base leadership and trust High performance leadership and teams Self-mastery and composure in high-stress situations Leading through change and uncertainty Dialogue and high-impact communication Ideal for C-suite and senior executives responsible for leading teams through high-stakes or adversarial situations Leadership development and HPL-style executive programmes Boards and senior teams facing entrenched internal conflict or stalled negotiations CHROs and people leaders building trust and psychological safety as a performance lever Audience outcomes A working method for surfacing and resolving conflict instead of avoiding it Negotiation and bonding techniques drawn from real hostage situations, adapted for business relationships A clear model for becoming a “secure base” who combines care and challenge to lift team performance Practical ways to stay composed and make sound decisions when a situation is escalating A sharper read on how trust, emotion and dialogue drive results their teams will not deliver otherwise

Why organisations work with Zara Janjua She brings broadcast-grade interviewing into corporate rooms, drawing on more than 500 live hours of television and national news across BBC, ITV and STV. She is the host NatWest chose for its Women in Business podcast, its skills development series, and its internal What’s The Chat? podcast, which makes her a credible anchor for organisations building long-running internal communications platforms, not one-off events. She has chaired the Financial Alliance for Women Summit and the EBRD Conference on Skills Development in Central Asia, and has led onstage conversations with Karren Brady and Steven Bartlett, so she is trusted to handle senior figures and senior delegates at international level. She is an appointed member of NatWest’s Ethnicity Advisory Council, which gives her a working view of how a major institution actually moves on inclusion, not just how it speaks about it. She speaks on portfolio careers and reinvention as someone who has actually built one, from national news to comedy, television writing and documentary film, which reaches audiences facing their own career uncertainty in a way a career theorist cannot. Biography highlights BAFTA, NTA and RTS award-winning broadcaster; presents on BBC Radio Scotland and has fronted national news, daytime and comedy across BBC, ITV and STV. Delivered a keynote to an audience of around 16,000 in Melbourne for Rotary International. Led onstage conversations with Karren Brady and Steven Bartlett at the Women in Business and Tech Expo. Reporter for the New York Times Climate Hub at COP26, interviewing John Kerry and Al Gore. Host of NatWest’s Women in Business podcast and its internal What’s The Chat? podcast, and a member of its Ethnicity Advisory Council. Highly Commended finalist, Women of the Future Awards, sponsored by Oxford University and the Financial Times. Biography One career rarely runs from national news to stand-up comedy, television writing, and documentary film. Zara Janjua’s has, and each strand carries recognition: a BAFTA, NTA and RTS across her television work, a place in the BBC Comedy Writersroom won from more than four thousand applicants, and a Technical Award for her first documentary. That range is what makes her effective on a corporate stage. She interviews senior leaders without flattening them and holds a panel to its actual argument, drawing on more than 500 live hours of television and national news. She reported for the New York Times Climate Hub at COP26, securing interviews with John Kerry and Al Gore, and now presents on BBC Radio Scotland. NatWest shows how that translates inside an organisation. Janjua hosts the bank’s Women in Business podcast and its internal What’s The Chat? podcast, and sits on its Ethnicity Advisory Council. On larger stages she has led onstage conversations with Karren Brady and Steven Bartlett at the Women in Business and Tech Expo, and delivered a keynote to an audience of around 16,000 in Melbourne for Rotary International. Her keynote work has moved with her. The recurring subject is now the shape of a modern working life: portfolio careers, reinvention, resilience, and aligning work with purpose. The Women of the Future Awards, sponsored by Oxford University and the Financial Times, named her a Highly Commended finalist for building exactly that. The documentaries she produces in Nepal, Tanzania, and Guatemala for charitable partners are its clearest expression, and the reason a Rotary International president has publicly credited her fundraising impact. Key speaking topics Event hosting and moderation Panel chairing and interviewing Portfolio and multi-hyphen careers Career reinvention and resilience Future of work and careers Diversity, equity and inclusion Mental health in the workplace Storytelling and business communication Ideal for CHROs, internal communications leads and DEI directors anchoring long-running internal channels. Boards, summit organisers and awards committees commissioning a host for inclusion, women in business or skills conferences. Talent and early-careers leaders programming events on career reinvention, portfolio working and retention. Financial services, professional services and public-sector organisations briefing a moderator on senior international panels. Audience outcomes A panel or summit that lands its argument rather than drifting between speakers. An internal communications moment that employees actually listen to, anchored by a broadcaster they recognise as credible. Senior speakers drawn out on substance, not left to recite prepared lines. Sensitive subject matter on inclusion, mental health or women’s progression handled with editorial care. Audiences leave rethinking what a viable career can look like, prompted by someone who built one across news, comedy and film.

Why organisations work with Tanya Beckett Her banking career at Citibank and Commerzbank means she reads financial and economic data with the fluency of a practitioner, not just a reporter: and audiences notice the difference. Thirty years of front-line international broadcasting with BBC, CNN, Sky News, and CNBC has produced a presenter with genuine command of geopolitical complexity rather than surface-level confidence in it. Her advisory work with the World Bank, EBRD, EIB, ADB, Chatham House, and the British Foreign Office gives her direct insight into how trade and policy decisions are actually made, not just reported. She makes complex global dynamics legible for senior audiences without simplifying them, a skill that comes from structuring coverage for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service audiences with a high tolerance for nuance. As a facilitator and panel chair, she brings the interrogative discipline of a seasoned broadcast journalist to conference formats, which produces sharper discussions than a conventional MC approach. Biography highlights BBC broadcaster since 1998, with presenter credits on World Business Report, Working Lunch, Newsnight, Today, Our World, The Inquiry, and Talking Business across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Radio 4, BBC World News, and the BBC World Service Three-year posting to New York as BBC World US Business Anchor, reporting from Times Square and Washington DC Earlier broadcast career at CNBC Europe, Sky News, and CNN International (1993–1998) Career began in journalism at the Financial Times Former investment banker at Citibank (London, Credit Analysis) and Commerzbank (Frankfurt, Capital Markets Division) Advisory and facilitation work for the World Bank, EBRD, EIB, ADB, Chatham House, and the British Foreign Office, among other multilateral and government bodies Degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science, Pembroke College, Oxford; fluent German and French Biography Tanya Beckett started her career not in a newsroom but on a trading floor. Her years in investment banking at Citibank in London and Commerzbank in Frankfurt gave her a working understanding of capital markets, credit risk, and cross-border financial transactions before she ever picked up a microphone. When she moved into journalism, starting at the Financial Times and then building her broadcast career at CNBC Europe, Sky News, and CNN International, that foundation travelled with her. At the BBC, where she has worked since 1998, she has presented across the full range of the corporation’s business and economics output: World Business Report, Newsnight, Today on Radio 4, Our World, Working Lunch, and The Inquiry, the BBC World Service’s weekly current affairs documentary. Her three-year posting to New York as BBC World US Business Anchor placed her at the centre of transatlantic financial and political coverage during a period of sustained global market volatility. What distinguishes her from most journalists who move into the conference circuit is the institutional depth behind the broadcast profile. She has worked with the World Bank, the EBRD, the EIB, the ADB, Chatham House, and the British Foreign Office on matters of trade and communication, giving her direct exposure to how policy is shaped and where geopolitical risk is actually concentrated, not just how it is narrated. For organisations hosting high-stakes leadership events, that combination – thirty years of international broadcast experience, a banking foundation, and access to the institutions that shape global economic policy – produces a facilitator and keynote voice whose grasp of the material is substantive rather than performative. Key speaking topics Global economic trends and financial markets Geopolitical risk and international trade International institutions and multilateral policy Business communication and economic literacy for leaders Transatlantic business and US–Europe dynamics Current affairs in context: interpreting global risk Ideal for C-suite and board-level leadership conferences requiring substantive economic and geopolitical framing Financial services organisations hosting client, leadership, or regulatory briefings International trade and policy forums needing a credible facilitator with institutional fluency Global corporates running town halls or leadership summits with a geopolitical or macro-economic agenda Audience outcomes A clearer framework for interpreting current global economic and geopolitical developments, anchored in how those events are shaped by international institutions Confidence engaging with financial and trade data without requiring an economics background Practical context for how major macroeconomic shifts – in trade policy, financial markets, or geopolitical realignment – translate into business risk and opportunity Greater precision in the questions leadership teams ask when briefed by economists or policy advisers

Why organisations work with Suzannah Baum She brings a published methodology, not a personality. The Diamond Speech Structure is a named framework that teams can apply after the engagement ends, which means the investment compounds beyond a single keynote or coaching block. Her client roster is operationally serious: Roche Pharmaceuticals, BMO Capital Markets, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the National Film Board of Canada. These are environments where a misjudged presentation has real commercial or regulatory consequences. She is one of a very small number of speakers who hold both a CAPS national board credential and a published book on the subject they coach in. The standard is set by her peers, not by her own marketing. She works in both keynote and coaching modes, which lets organisations deploy her against either a large internal audience or a specific senior individual preparing for a high-stakes moment. Biography highlights Author, From Nervous to Nailed It! (2022), Amazon listing ISBN 9781778222900 Past President, CAPS Montreal; former National Director, Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (2021 to 2022) Recipient, CAPS E1-R1 Ambassador of the Year Award B.Comm, McGill University; M.A., Carleton University Former public speaking instructor, McGill University DISC Certified Human Behaviour Consultant; eSpeakers Certified Virtual Presenter Named client engagements include Roche Pharmaceuticals, BMO Capital Markets, Service Canada, International Civil Aviation Organization, National Film Board of Canada Media contributor and featured expert: Huffington Post, Montreal Gazette, Elle Canada, Global TV News, CJAD Montreal Biography A senior leader walks into a board meeting with twenty years of operational judgement and twenty minutes to convey it. What happens in those twenty minutes decides whether the room moves with them. This is the territory Suzannah Baum has spent her career inside, and the reason her work shows up in pharmaceutical, banking, and aviation environments where the cost of an unclear presentation is measured in money or licence. Her published methodology, the Diamond Speech Structure, gives senior speakers a repeatable flowchart for building presentations that hold their shape under pressure. The framework sits at the centre of her book From Nervous to Nailed It!, released in 2022, and her online programme used by speakers preparing for high-stakes audiences. The structure is teachable, which is the point. Coaching that depends on the coach is not coaching, it is a dependency. Her institutional credentials carry weight in her own profession. She is a past President of CAPS Montreal, served as a National Director on the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers board, and was awarded the CAPS E1-R1 Ambassador of the Year. She has taught public speaking at McGill University, where she also earned her B.Comm, and holds an M.A. from Carleton. She is a DISC Certified Human Behaviour Consultant, which she uses to adapt her work to the communication style of the individual leader in the room. Her named client engagements run through Roche Pharmaceuticals, BMO Capital Markets, Service Canada, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the National Film Board of Canada. These are organisations where the gap between a leader’s authority and their audience’s reception is not a soft problem. It is the problem. Key speaking topics Executive presence and presentation credibility Presentation structure for senior leaders Sales and client-facing communication Speaking under high stakes and visible pressure Storytelling for business audiences Building confidence in newer speakers Virtual and hybrid presentation craft Ideal for Senior leaders preparing for investor days, board addresses, or industry keynotes Leadership development programmes for newly promoted executives Sales and client-facing teams in regulated or technical industries Communications, marketing, and HR functions investing in presentation capability across leadership benches Audience outcomes A repeatable structure for building presentations under time pressure, using the Diamond Speech Structure Specific techniques for managing visible nerves in front of senior audiences Sharper editorial discipline in how a leader frames the central message of a talk Practical tools for adapting delivery to different audience types, drawn from the DISC behavioural model A clearer sense of what separates a presentation that gets through from one that lands

Why organisations work with Susan HayesCulleton She holds the CFA charter and runs a financial-training practice with clients across Europe and the United States, so the economic read is grounded in capital-markets discipline, not punditry. She wrote the textbook that Irish students learn economics from twice. That same instinct for sequencing complex material into something a room can act on is what she brings to executive audiences. She presents “Taking Stock” on Newstalk, interviewing experts on the issues moving the world economy each week. The implication for buyers is current material, sourced from named guests, refreshed continuously. She sits on the boards of the Irish International Business Network and the Ireland Hong Kong Business Forum, which gives her a working view of cross-border trade flows that few keynote economists hold. She built #SavvyTeenAcademy and Active Peers AI alongside the speaking practice, which means the economic argument lands with someone who has actually run payroll, raised invoices and made a hire. Biography highlights CFA charterholder; MSc Executive Leadership; BSc Financial Maths and Economics; Diploma in Taxation. Co-author of “Positive Economics”, a market-leading Leaving Certificate economics textbook in Ireland. Author of “The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom” and “The Savvy Guide to Making More Money” (Penguin Ireland). Author of “Money Matters”, a financial literacy textbook sponsored by CFA Society Ireland and distributed to Irish secondary schools. Presenter of “Taking Stock” on Newstalk; host of Fantastic Female Fridays and the ESG and Tech Show. Managing Director, Hayes Culleton Group; Associate Lecturer, Ulster University; board roles with the Irish International Business Network and the Ireland Hong Kong Business Forum. Biography Most boardrooms do not have an economist in the room. They have a CFO with a P&L, a strategy lead with a deck, and a set of macro headlines none of them can confidently translate into a hiring decision or a hedge. Susan HayesCulleton works in that gap. The credentialing matters here. The CFA charter, the MSc Executive Leadership and the BSc Financial Maths and Economics are not decoration; they are the reason the read on rates, currency and capital flows hold up under questioning. The Hayes Culleton Group serves clients across Europe and the United States out of that same training discipline. The public work is what makes the material legible. “Positive Economics”, co-authored twice, is the textbook generations of Irish students sat the Leaving Certificate with. “Money Matters”, sponsored by CFA Society Ireland, went into every secondary school in the country. On Newstalk, “Taking Stock” runs each week with named guests on the issues moving the world economy. The instinct for sequencing technical content into something a non-specialist room can use is the through-line. She also runs businesses. #SavvyTeenAcademy places teenagers into corporate work experience programmes; Active Peers AI captures and diffuses tacit knowledge inside networks. Board seats with the Irish International Business Network and the Ireland Hong Kong Business Forum keep her close to the cross-border trade flows that most economists discuss only in the abstract. Key speaking topics Global economic outlook and macro forecasting Capital markets and investing for non-specialist audiences Cross-border trade, Ireland, UK and Asia-Pacific exposure ESG and sustainability in commercial decision-making Financial literacy and women in finance Entrepreneurship and scale-up economics Ideal for Boards, executive committees and CFOs are preparing capital allocation, hedging or pricing decisions against an uncertain macro backdrop. Banking, financial services and professional services audiences who want a working economist on the platform rather than a generalist commentator. Conferences hosting international trade, ESG, or financial literacy themes. Corporate audiences seeking a credible Irish or European economic voice for European, UK or US-facing programmes. Audience outcomes A clearer read on what the current macro signals mean for the specific decisions in front of the leadership team. Working vocabulary for capital-markets concepts (rates, currency, equity flows) that previously sat with the CFO alone. A view on cross-border exposure for organisations trading into Ireland, the UK, the EU or Asia-Pacific. Confidence to ask the next-level question of internal finance and risk teams. An economic argument paced for a mixed-seniority audience, not a specialist one.

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.

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 Sasha Qadri Her years as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live mean she approaches moderation as an editorial problem: she understands what a discussion is supposed to achieve before she takes the stage to lead it – not just how to keep it moving. She started her career in investment banking and has worked extensively with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury – giving her genuine financial literacy that shows when chairing sessions on fintech, capital markets, and economic policy. Her live broadcast background – including breaking news on Sky News and production roles at CNN and CNBC – means she is rarely unsettled by format changes, difficult panellists, or unscripted moments in high-profile live environments. She has chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit, co-hosted London Tech Week and its Global Leaders Summit, and emceed Money 20/20 in Europe: events where the participant list demands more than capable chairmanship. Her interviewee roster spans the Former UK Chancellor, the Head of GCHQ, leading technology CEOs, and AI researchers – giving her substantive range across the full landscape of technology, finance, and public policy that executive audiences expect a moderator to navigate. Biography highlights Anchored television news for Sky News; produced and reported for CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, and Channel 4 News Former Senior Programming Director, Bloomberg Live – curated and moderated flagship business and technology events Career began in investment banking (UBS cited by multiple bureau sources); subsequent commercial experience at lastminute.com during the dotcom era Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge; further study at The Sorbonne Recent events include: co-host, London Tech Week; chair, Innovate Finance Global Summit; emcee, Money 20/20 Middle East; main stage chair, Tech Show London; main stage chair and moderator, Global Health Exhibition; moderator, FII Institute and Cityscape Global Named interviewees include Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond (Former UK Chancellor), Anne Keast-Butler (Head of GCHQ), Mo Gawdat, Martha Lane Fox, Francesca Carlesi (Revolut UK CEO), and Mike Martin (Strava CEO) Recent corporate clients include Palo Alto Networks, Amazon, Akamai, Royal London, and Mastercard Biography Leadership events at the intersection of technology, finance, and business policy are only as good as the conversation they produce. Sasha Qadri is a broadcaster and event moderator whose career has run across two disciplines that rarely coexist: live television journalism – anchoring for Sky News, producing for CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg – and editorial leadership of major live events as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live. That editorial role is what distinguishes her from the professional host market. At Bloomberg Live, she did not simply chair discussions – she curated them, shaping the content architecture of flagship business and technology events before taking the stage to lead them. The combination of knowing what a conversation is supposed to achieve, then making it happen with senior executives in front of a live audience, is the specific capability organisations are hiring when they book her. Her professional foundation adds further range. She began her career in investment banking and has since worked regularly with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury. A degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge gives her the grounding to operate across the full space where technology, finance, economics, and public policy intersect – and to interview figures including a former UK Chancellor and the Head of GCHQ with genuine comprehension, not just broadcast fluency. In 2025, she co-hosted London Tech Week and chaired its Global Leaders Summit, emceed Money 20/20 in Europe, and chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit (the UK fintech sector’s flagship annual conference). The same year extended her chairing and moderation work across the Middle East, including FII Institute, Cityscape Global, and the Global Health Exhibition. Events that trust her with their main stage consistently feature participant lists where competent chairmanship is insufficient. Key speaking topics Artificial intelligence and digital transformation Financial services and fintech leadership Cybersecurity and technology risk AI adoption and generative AI Sustainability and energy transition Geopolitics, policy, and economic leadership Business strategy and technology innovation Ideal for CTOs, CISOs, and technology leadership conferences requiring a moderator with genuine sector depth, not just broadcast presence Financial services and fintech events – CFO, CEO, and C-suite panel formats where moderator literacy on capital markets, regulation, and digital disruption is material Public-private sector summits on technology, national security, and economic strategy, where interviewees include government officials and policymakers Major international conferences requiring anchor-standard broadcast experience combined with editorial event direction Audience outcomes Executive panel discussions that move past rehearsed positions into substantive exchange Clearer understanding of emerging intersections between technology, finance, and policy – framed for decision-makers, not technical specialists Confident navigation of complex or sensitive topics – AI ethics, geopolitical risk, fintech regulation – without losing audience accessibility A moderated session that maintains engagement and structure across multiple hours, formats, or speakers Conversations shaped by editorial intelligence that understands what the session is supposed to achieve before it begins

Why organisations work with Sarah Montague She has spent three decades interviewing heads of state, finance ministers, and central bankers on live broadcast – the preparation and precision that requires does not disappear when the venue is a conference room rather than a radio studio. Her early career as a Eurobond dealer and stockbroker at NatWest Capital Markets gives her a genuine fluency in financial and economic discussions that most broadcast journalists cannot credibly claim. She has chaired high-profile forums for Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, Nominet, and Jardine Lloyd Thompson, demonstrating the ability to absorb technical subject matter across sectors without losing journalistic rigour. As a sitting BBC Radio 4 anchor – not a former presenter – she brings active institutional authority to a leadership event, which changes the dynamic of the room before the first question is asked. Biography highlights Lead presenter, BBC Radio 4’s The World at One; regular presenter of the Today programme for 18 years (2002–2018) Presenter, HARDtalk, BBC World; hosted Nobel Minds, BBC World’s roundtable discussion with Nobel Laureates Broadcast career spanning BBC Newsnight, BBC News 24 (one of its original anchors), and Breakfast with Frost Pre-BBC roles at Reuters Television and Sky News as business correspondent; early career as stockbroker and Eurobond dealer at NatWest Capital Markets Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Sussex; Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Bristol Named conference chair for Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, and Nominet, among others Biography Getting economics, geopolitics, and public policy right in a leadership forum takes preparation, authority, and the ability to challenge without breaking the room. Sarah Montague has been doing exactly that on BBC Radio 4 for three decades. As lead presenter of The World at One – and for 18 years before that, a regular anchor on the Today programme – she has interrogated heads of state, finance ministers, and central bankers at moments when precision really mattered. Her work on HARDtalk for BBC World extended that to the full range of global leadership: political, corporate, and institutional. She also hosted Nobel Minds, BBC World’s roundtable with Nobel Laureates – a format that rewards exactly the kind of structured, high-pressure intellectual facilitation that senior leadership events demand. Before journalism, she worked in financial markets – first as a stockbroker at County NatWest, then as a Eurobond dealer at NatWest Capital Markets. That background shows up in the conference room. She moves between financial services, geopolitical risk, and public policy without needing a briefing to catch up. She has chaired and moderated for organisations across property, trade, technology, and healthcare – Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, Nominet, and others. A senior audience, a tight agenda, a contested topic: the combination that tests most moderators is where Montague is most at home. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and global political risk Economic trends and financial markets UK and international current affairs Public policy and regulatory change Conference moderation and high-stakes facilitation Media, journalism, and editorial integrity Gender equity in the workplace Ideal for C-suite and board forums where geopolitical or economic uncertainty is a standing strategic concern Financial services and professional services organisations hosting annual leadership or strategy conferences Public sector, government, and regulatory bodies requiring impartial, authoritative facilitation FTSE 350 and multinational organisations running senior panel discussions that require a credible external chair Audience outcomes A clearer picture of how political and economic developments connect to strategic decisions facing their organisation Structured insight extracted from senior panellists through rigorous facilitation, rather than left to emerge by chance Confidence that contested or technically complex topics will be handled with precision and impartiality Exposure to a questioning methodology developed over 30 years of frontline political and economic broadcast journalism A well-managed discussion that stays on time, covers the ground, and leaves the room with something to act on

Why organisations work with Sarah Begum First-hand experience of the climate impact on indigenous communities. Her Cannes-premiered film Amazon Souls came out of two weeks living with the Huaorani people in Yasuní National Park, where oil exploitation and rainforest loss are present conditions, not projections. Most corporate audiences get this material from researchers. She was there. Brings a broadcast journalist’s discipline to sustainability talks. Before climate became her primary topic, she was presenting news in Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis and reporting features for GHOne TV in Ghana. That training shapes how she handles a corporate room, with concrete stories and the pacing of a working journalist. Connects indigenous climate stories to practical sustainability strategy. As a STEM Ambassador and host of Spaced Out!, where she interviews NASA scientists and space entrepreneurs, she brings the technology side of ESG, from satellite data to climate monitoring, into corporate conversations about climate action. Credibility that holds up on both sides of the room. Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society and the Captain Scott Society’s Spirit of Adventure Award (2014) place her inside the exploration establishment. The Guardian’s San Miguel Rich List 2016 named her one of the world’s top 17 trailblazers, alongside her BAFTA-recognised short for Nespresso Talents 2018. Biography highlights Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society Director of Amazon Souls (2013), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and distributed worldwide Broadcast journalist: presented news from Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis and reported features for GHOne TV in Ghana Host of Spaced Out!, a podcast and TV series on the space industry featured on Space Channel Winner of the Captain Scott Society’s Spirit of Adventure Award (2014); finalist for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship 2014 Named one of The Guardian’s top 17 trailblazers in the San Miguel Rich List 2016 Biography Yasuní National Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. It also sits above some of South America’s largest untapped oil reserves. The Huaorani people, who have lived in Yasuní for generations, have been the ones negotiating that collision. Sarah Begum spent two weeks living with the Huaorani in 2010. She was 21, studying television and film, and funded the expedition herself. The documentary she brought back, Amazon Souls, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and was distributed worldwide, endorsed by rainforest organisations including Rainforest Alliance, Sky Rainforest Rescue and Rainforest Foundation. Her work since has followed the same method: travel to places most people will never go, and report back in terms corporate and general audiences can use. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, she has presented news from Caracas during the Venezuelan crisis, reported features for GHOne TV in Ghana, interviewed Jane Goodall for BBC Focus magazine, and directed the BAFTA-recognised short Who Would Have Thought… for Nespresso Talents 2018. The Captain Scott Society awarded her its Spirit of Adventure Award in 2014 for the Darien Gap expedition. Her talks carry this method into boardrooms. A STEM Ambassador and host of the space-industry series Spaced Out!, she reports on how satellite data and space-based research now underpin corporate sustainability strategy, drawing on interviews with NASA scientists and space entrepreneurs. Key speaking topics Climate justice and indigenous communities ESG strategy and corporate sustainability Women in STEM and exploration The space sector and Earth sustainability Immersive journalism and cultural storytelling Climate action and frontline impact Ideal for Chief Sustainability Officers, Heads of ESG, and Corporate Responsibility teams looking to move past reporting frameworks International Women’s Day, DEI, and employee resource group events where frontline storytelling anchors the conversation Conferences on sustainability, climate action, and the space sector where a primary-source perspective adds weight Leadership programmes and awaydays seeking to reconnect senior teams to the human stakes of their climate commitments Audience outcomes What oil exploitation and rainforest loss actually look like for the communities on the frontline, told by someone who has spent time with them A human frame for ESG reporting, drawn from indigenous advocacy, international journalism, and space-sector research A model for how first-hand reporting can be translated into storytelling that changes internal conversations about sustainability Named examples of how the space sector contributes to climate data and corporate sustainability strategy

Why organisations work with Sandi Toksvig She did not simply comment on gender equity: in 2015 she resigned one of the most prominent chairs in British broadcasting to co-found a political party around it. That choice gives her a credibility in the room that no consultant or commentator can acquire. Forty years in live, contested broadcast formats, chairing political satire, hosting mass-audience television, moderating fast-moving intellectual debate, represent a specific and rare capability: keeping a complex, high-stakes conversation moving with precision and warmth. Her TED Talk on structural gender representation and her play Bully Boy (Nuffield Theatre; West End, 2012), which examines moral ambiguity and institutional culture, demonstrate that her engagement with social complexity goes well beyond commentary. As President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and a Cambridge-educated author of 20-plus books across fiction, non-fiction, and drama, she brings genuine intellectual depth to conversations about communication, culture, and representation, not just platform authority. She has held the room at every level, from broadcast audiences of millions to TED stages, making serious arguments about inclusion, accountability, and change both rigorous and accessible to a leadership audience. Biography highlights First-class degree in archaeology and anthropology, Girton College, Cambridge; received two academic prizes; performed in the first all-woman Cambridge Footlights show, alongside Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson Co-founder, Women’s Equality Party (2015), with journalist Catherine Mayer; left BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz – a role she held for ten years – specifically to do so; covered by the New York Times; TED Talk on gender representation and political mobilisation Host, BBC Two’s QI (from 2016, succeeding Stephen Fry); co-presenter, Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off (2017-2020); chair, BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz (2006-2015) Playwright: Bully Boy premiered at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton (2011); transferred to launch the debut West End season of St James Theatre, London (2012) – the first new West End theatre in 30 years OBE for services to broadcasting (2014 New Year Honours); Chancellor, University of Portsmouth; Honorary Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge President, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (from 2019); author of more than twenty books for adults and children Biography The gap between organisations that declare commitment to gender equity and those that actually change their leadership pipelines is well documented. Sandi Toksvig entered this conversation at measurable personal cost – resigning as chair of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz in 2015 to co-found the Women’s Equality Party with journalist Catherine Mayer. A TED Talk on gender representation and political mobilisation followed. The decision established Toksvig’s standing not as a commentator on inclusion but as someone who had tested her convictions against institutional consequence. Her broadcast career provides a different order of evidence. Four decades in live, contested formats – hosting BBC Two’s QI, co-presenting Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, chairing political satire on Radio 4 – demonstrate a specific capability: keeping complex, high-stakes conversation moving with precision, wit, and authority. She holds a first-class degree from Girton College, Cambridge, where she also performed in the first all-woman Cambridge Footlights show. Her range extends beyond broadcasting. As a playwright, her Bully Boy – a work on moral ambiguity, institutional authority, and the human cost of political decision-making – premiered at the Nuffield Theatre and transferred to launch St James Theatre’s debut West End season. She has served as President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, and has published more than twenty books across fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature. For organisations working to close the distance between stated values and visible change on inclusion and representation, Toksvig brings something precise: four decades of live broadcast authority, the civic credibility of having acted on her convictions, and the capacity to hold a difficult room without losing it. Key speaking topics Gender equity and leadership representation Storytelling and political communication Cultural intelligence and cross-cultural perspective Civic activism and democratic accountability Satire, comedy, and public discourse Inclusive organisational culture Writing, publishing, and creative practice Ideal for CHROs and People & Culture leaders hosting executive summits or leadership conferences on inclusion, representation, and cultural change Boards and senior leadership teams working to move DEI commitments from policy to practice Awards ceremonies, after-dinner engagements, and conference programmes requiring an anchor voice combining intellectual authority with wit Professional associations in media, publishing, law, or higher education seeking a credible voice on representation, communication, and civic responsibility Audience outcomes A clear frame for why gender equity stalls despite broad agreement – and what it takes to make the argument land in a room Understanding of how communication style and conviction, not data alone, drive cultural change in organisations Perspective on the relationship between satire, public discourse, and institutional accountability A model of what sustained, costly commitment to inclusion looks like – beyond declarations and frameworks Confidence in approaching contested conversations about representation with authority and without defensiveness