A skilled innovation speaker brings fresh perspectives and cutting-edge strategies that challenge conventional thinking, inspiring teams to embrace new ideas and adapt quickly to change, they can offer insights on emerging trends, technological advancements, and creative problem-solving, all of which are vital for maintaining a competitive edge. By fostering a culture of innovation, businesses can equip their leadership teams with the tools needed to drive growth, enhance productivity, and navigate challenges in a rapidly changing landscape.
At Great Business Speakers, we understand that an innovative keynote speaker can be instrumental in helping organisations identify opportunities for improvement and growth. We take the time to understand your organisation’s unique needs—whether it’s fostering creativity, building resilience, or improving leadership skills – and only work with leading innovators who possess the expertise to tailor their message to specific team dynamics, leadership goals, or industry challenges, making their impact long-lasting. We will help you find the right match – an innovative leader that can inspire action, boost employee engagement, and cultivate an environment that encourages continuous learning and progress.
Discover our Innovation Speakers below, or contact the team at Great Business Speakers to enquire or book. +44 1753 439 289
Damian Hughes expertly combines his practical experience and academic background in sports, organisational development, and change psychology to assist organisations and teams in cultivating a culture of high performance.
With eight bestselling business books under his belt – such as Liquid Thinking, Liquid Leadership, How to Change Absolutely Anything, How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson, and The Five STEPS to a Winning Mindset – Damian has demonstrated his profound knowledge and insights.
His 2023 books, How Performance: Lessons from the Best on Becoming Your Best, and How to Change Your Life, have both been number one Sunday Times bestsellers. His books have already been translated into a dozen languages.
He is also the co-host with Jake Humphrey of The High-Performance Podcast, which has featured some of the leading figures in business and sports spheres with over 100 million downloads and counting.
Dallas Campbell started his TV presenting career on The Gadget Show (2008) on Channel 5, where his exploits including testing survival gadgets and breaking the Scalextric land speed record, and BBC1’s Bang Goes the Theory (2009-2012), a show he co-presented with Liz Bonnin.
Through his career Dallas Campbell has filmed in some of the most dangerous and extraordinary locations including Dubai, where he abseiled off the world’s tallest building, Mexico City, where he went sewer diving, and alongside space experts at Tim Peake’s rocket launch to the International Space Station.
His relaxed, personable, entertaining and professional style makes him a popular choice for presenting, event hosting, conference facilitating, after-dinner and keynote speeches, as well as all manner of virtual events.
Christopher Howell shows how in change management, innovation and professional development, creativity is one of the most valuable skills we can develop. He delivers his inspirational talks and workshops using magic to show how to think creatively ‘like magicians’.
Christopher entertainingly demonstrates learning concepts to add energy to your conference. This can be backed up by interactive exercises to teach new skills. Your audience will finish the session with a tool kit full of useful and inspiring material to put to work.
A certified coach and member of The Magic Circle with worldwide experience, Christopher’s fun and practical sessions teach how to escape comfort zone behaviour and boldly take steps into fresh creative terrain. Google called his recent appearance “The Event of the Year”.
Christian Howes is a digital, social media, and big data expert, TV presenter, and keynote speaker.
He is a leading expert with over 30 years’ experience driving digital transformation, powering digital marketing, and delivering actionable insights for global brands such as Accenture, HSBC, and Sony PlayStation. His pioneering work in merging digital data with transactional insights has revolutionised customer service and empowered companies to make data-driven decisions.
Christian rose to prominence by analysing reality TV social media trends on Big Brother, and has since become a sought-after presenter, appearing on This Morning, Good Morning Britain, and a range of BT Sport shows.
In the corporate world, he has build innovative analytics platforms and creative testing solutions – including leveraging paid social advertising to accelerate product innovation – for brands including ASOS, Barclays, Lloyds, and The Telegraph.
A dynamic keynote speaker and conference host, Christian captivates audiences with clear, practical insights and engaging storytelling, inspiring leaders to reimagine how they harness data for growth.
Chris Skinner is an award-winning speaker and one of the most influential people in technology, as well as a best-selling author. He is an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, the Finanser.com, which is updated daily.
He helped to found one of the first mobile banks in the world and has advised CEOs and leaders from every continent of the world including the United Nations, the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
Chris Sanderson is the CEO and co-founder of The Future Laboratory, where he is responsible for delivering the company’s extensive global roster of conferences, media events, in-house briefings, consumer insight, trend forecasting and brand strategy.
Clients include Louis Vuitton, Design Hotels, the Ministry for Tourism, Australia, and Women’s Wear Daily’s CEO Summits.
Chris Roebuck has a unique experience and approach that helps leaders, teams, and organisations understand how they can reach their full potential and be successful in just a few steps.
His innovative and inspiring manner shows everyone that they already know what delivers success, but just don’t recognise it. Once they do, they can quickly transform their performance by using a few simple actions. This adds investor value, serves customers better, builds the brands, boosts the bottom line by 10% at no additional cost, and supports effective risk management and cost-efficiency.
For over 30 years he has led global teams growing C Suite and other leaders as high-performance human leaders to accelerate success by meeting their key objectives and beating challenges. Chris Roebuck has delivered award-winning major transformations and culture change, grown new talent to build entrepreneurial future focussed organisations, and shown how people power can boost profits. His experience, supported by over 250 real-life studies, has helped him develop his successful approach, focussing predominantly on:
Corporate Leadership: How to develop leadership in major global corporations and SMEs to enable both personal and organisational success.
Governmental Leader: Talks around his own experience working with the UK Government and public sectors on major change and leadership projects.
“We’re on a mission to make Silicon Valley’s innovation strategies accessible worldwide”.
Drawing from over a decade of experience at leading technology firms, including Google and Apple, Chris Heemskerk showcases his vision on corporate innovation by heading The Innovation Alliance, a global network of tech executives and innovation leaders.
As former Head of Scaled Acquisitions for Google in North America, Chris Heemskerk transformed his business operation into a global centre for innovation and operational excellence. Hence, he was asked to serve as an advisor to Google’s Innovation Lab and established a partnership with Harvard Business School to document the lab’s endeavours in two HBS Case Studies, in which he features.
In pursuit of providing organisations the necessary resources to innovate consistently, he authored The Innovation Scorecard™️, a comprehensive framework that enables firms to maximize their innovation capabilities and discover new growth opportunities.
Chris Griffiths is a high-profile keynote speaker on creativity, innovation, and mind mapping and a bestselling author published in over 20 languages worldwide.
In 2006, he founded OpenGenius, a company focussed on helping transform creativity, learning, and thinking. His passion for creativity links to his strong support of neurodiversity. Through his work with The Inspire Genius Foundation, he aims to promote the inclusion of neurodivergent thinkers and how that can add value to any business.
Millions have used his technology solutions, and he has personally worked with Nobel laureates, governments, royal families, and business CEOs.
Chris Brindley MBE is a prominent UK Business Leader, Chair AT MCRactive and Zellar Limited, and Non-Executive Director (NED) at companies including Four Recruitment, Her Spirit, Equilibrium Asset Management, and Goodson Thomas. He is also an Elite Sports Business Mentor for The Premier League, Leadership Coach for Metro Bank, and a Trustee of Switch the Play Foundation.
He is the former Chair and NED of the Rugby Lead World Cup 2021 Board, Chair of GreaterSport Manchester and Sporting House, a Non-Executive at Rugby Football League, Super League, Move With Peppa, Rapport, and Manchester Football Association, and former Executive of British Gas, Metro Bank, and NatWest.
A leading authority on sales management, employee engagement and satisfaction, and customer experience, Chris holds Non-Executive Director positions at multiple organisations, and has been awarded UK Non-Executive Director (NED) of the Year, Most Outstanding Employer, and Britain’s Best Boss.
He has studied for a range of topics including strategic retail management at Manchester Business School, performance management, and executive coaching at Hult Ashridge, customer experience at Duke University, managing strategic risk at The Wharton School, managing for value creation at INSEAD, and executive leadership from the prestigious Harvard Business School.
Having originally trained as a carpenter, nobody outside of the sport of cycling would have known who Chris Boardman was until 1992, when he took Great Britain’s opening Gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics astride the infamous Lotus bike. Incredibly it was Britain’s first cycling Gold medal in 72 years.
The iconic image of the Lotus machine and pointy helmet made the name of Chris Boardman synonymous with cutting edge technology. It was a fascination with innovation and performance that has featured in nearly every aspect of his life since.
Chanelle Lady McCoy is one of Ireland’s most successful businesswomen, winning the All-Ireland Business Champion Award and recently ranked no 23 in the ‘50 incredible people shaping modern Ireland.
Having previously been a co-founder of Ireland’s largest indigenous pharmaceutical company and more recently Chanelle McCoy Health, a research and development-led pharmaceutical company, Chanelle is a very motivating speaker on business and leadership.
Chanelle was previously one of the dragons on Ireland’s Dragons’ Den where she enjoyed sharing her experience of growing successful businesses and supporting entrepreneurs on their journey to business growth. She is also a huge supporter of women in business and mentoring young entrepreneurs.
Caspar Berry is a professional motivational and keynote speaker who started his career as the lead in the first series of Byker Grove (1989-1997) on BBC One alongside Ant and Dec. He went on to read Economics and Anthropology at Cambridge and, after aiming to become a professional film writer, he had his first screenplay produced by Film Four in his final year. By the age of 23 he was writing for companies Columbia TriStar and Miramax.
Just two years later, he decided he needed a change in his life, which led him to Las Vegas where he became a professional poker player. He spent three years playing professionally and using his wits against some of the world’s best-known players.
After his time in Vegas, he moved back to the UK in 2002. Here he co-founded Twenty-First Century Media and built it into the fastest-growing audio-visual media company in the North East of England. Whilst here, he began his career as a speaker and catalyst for new thinking within business about risk-taking and decision-making. In 2008, he sold the company to Bob Geldof’s media giant, Ten Alps.
Caspar Berry’s eye-opening comparisons between playing poker and running a business incorporate risk-taking, innovating and communicating. His keynote speeches deliver a unique, insightful and refreshing take on business.
Elizabeth Cowper brings almost 30 years of HR experience to her role as the founder of Ludo, a company that provides innovative technology solutions and HR expertise to the workplace.
As a working mother of three, Elizabeth has established a reputation for her work with renowned brands such as Planet Organic, Harvey Nichols, LVMH, and Tapestry, the parent company of Coach, kate spade, and Stuart Weitzman.
At Tapestry, Elizabeth served as VP HR Europe, Global Head of Wellbeing, and a member of the Global DEI Committee. Known as the ‘Culture Adjuster’ Elizabeth has been recognised in the HR Most Influential Awards for five consecutive years. Her expertise lies in engaging talent, promoting workplace well-being, empowering women’s success, and fostering a culture of inclusion—her speciality.
Elizabeth’s speaking engagements have included facilitating conferences such as The Retail Bulletin and participating in public and private events. She has addressed large corporate audiences and led more niche sessions with smaller businesses.
Brett StClair is a business rebel technologist, digital pioneer, entrepreneur, lecturer, and keynote speaker.
After spending a decade in England, Brett returned to his hometown of Johannesburg in South Africa to launch his own digital marketing and media company. He has worked for some of the world’s leading digital businesses, including Admob, Google, and Barclays Africa.
As well as his own work plus his speaking duties, Brett has served as the co-chair of the South Africa Mobile Marketing association with the aim of establishing mobile marketing as a separate industry.
His expertise, knowledge and passion for the field have impacted thousands of audience members from around the globe.
Ed Vaizey, is a prominent British peer, former minister, and influential voice across politics, media, and the creative industries. A member of the House of Lords and the Privy Council, he brings deep insight to matters of technology, cultural policy, and the digital economy.
From 2005 to 2019, Ed represented Wantage as a Member of Parliament and was appointed Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries in 2010. Serving for six years, he became the longest-serving Culture Minister in British history, playing a pivotal role in shaping policies that drove unprecedented growth in the UK’s creative and tech sectors – including introducing tax reliefs, expanding broadband infrastructure, and championing the arts.
His ministerial legacy was publicly recognised by more than 150 leading figures from the arts and media, who signed an open letter thanking him for his dedication and impact. Today, Ed continues to influence public discourse as a media commentator, columnist, podcast host, and broadcaster, while also holding advisory positions with leading organisations in technology and communications.
A trained barrister, he speaks with authority and authenticity on the intersection of innovation, creativity, policy, and culture – making him a highly sought-after speaker for events around the world.
Lars Tvede is a professional investor, serial entrepreneur and author who over the last 30 years has founded a string of companies within telecommunication, software development, property and finance.
His work has won him numerous international awards, including the Wall Street Journal Europe Innovation Award, Red Herring Global 100 Award, and Swiss IMD Startup Award.
As Head of Innovation & Creativity at Disney, Duncan Wardle helped teams at Disney Parks, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, Imagineering and Animation to innovate, creating magical new storylines and amazing experiences for consumers around the globe.
He now brings his Disney experience to audiences around the world, delivering a series of keynotes, masterclasses, and ideation forums, that help people capture unlikely connections, leading to both disruptive thinking and revolutionary ideas.
He is a multiple TEDx speaker and has been featured in many publications including Fast Company, Forbes, INC., and more. He teaches Innovation and Creativity Masterclasses at Harvard, Yale and Edinburgh Universities. Duncan Wardle also holds the American Citizen Award presented at the White House, an Hons. MBA and Hons. Doctorate from Edinburgh University and the Duke of Edinburgh Award, presented by Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD, is an extraordinary polymath – a medical doctor and PhD, a world-class dancer, and later a C-Suite corporate leader with global retailers Mothercare and Selfridges Group.
Now he is a sought-after executive and strengths coach in the UK, Us and Europe, award-winning author, and inspiring leadership speaker. He is also the host of the hit leadership podcast ‘The Unlock Moment’, where he interviews many of the leading thinkers on finding purpose, achieving peak performance, and building leadership effectiveness from around the world.
Dr Gary Crotaz has featured in Forbes, the Telegraph, the Sunday Times and on TalkTV, and has spoken at events including CarFest, alongside Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Clive Branson, and Simon Ong. His innovative self-coaching book The IDEA Mindset by Dr Gary Crotaz was awarded Coaching Book of the Year by Henley Business School in 2022.
Dr Mark van Rijmenam is a leading strategic futurist, focussing on how technology development can affect and change companies, society and the metaverse.
Known as The Digital Speaker, Mark offers in-person keynotes, virtual keynotes, and even a hologram keynote, appearing on stage as a hologram, and has spoken to over 100,000 delegates across 25 countries.
Turnaround expert Kevin Gaskell fixes and builds companies. Recognised as one of the world’s foremost leadership and business revitalisation experts, Kevin is a sought after keynote speaker who shares his practical methods and solutions of how to lead through adversity and make the complex simple, inspire action and achieve commercial success.
A former MD of Porsche (GB) and BMW (GB), Kevin is now a leading entrepreneur and investor.
His earliest challenges were to rebuild a broken Porsche brand and then to inspire the team at BMW GB to achieve a 500% improvement in profit while transforming the service levels of an industry.
He is actively involved in many of the worldwide businesses he has built (and in some cases rebuilt) in sectors including: technology, data, manufacturing, professional services and consumer brands. Winning numerous awards for excellence along the way, his companies and teams have created £3 billion of shareholder value.
Dr Liberty Vittert is one of the top mathematicians and statisticians, specialising in facial shape analysis. She has a PhD in mathematics and statistics and is keen to bring her enthusiasm for maths to a wider audience.
Liberty Vittert is a Professor of the Practice of Data Science at the Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis, and a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, as well as being the feature editor of the Harvard Data Science Review, and co-host of the Harvard Data Science Review podcast. She is also the host of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) podcast for the Institute of Data, Systems and Society. She is a graduate of MIT as well as Le Cordon Bleu Paris and the University of Glasgow. She is also an Ambassador for the Royal Statistical Society and Female STEM ambassador.
As an approachable, likeable and intelligent woman in the male-dominated STEM world, Liberty Vittert is often asked to share her knowledge within the media and has appeared on STV Scottish News, BBC Radio Scotland, Channel 4, Fox News and PBS. In 2017, the BBC chose her – and 19 other women – to become an Expert Contributor for their TV and radio programs. In 2018, The Herald named her as one of the Coolest People in Scotland.
Named as one of the world’s Top 30 Professional Speakers by Global Guru, and one of the Top 10 Thought Leaders on AI by Thinkers360, Karl Lillrud is one of the most experienced eCommerce business professionals, as well as a business coach, and bestselling author.
His book You, Me and AI (2023), Karl delves into the AI revolution from 54 different angles, underscoring his extensive understanding of the subject. He also explores how AI is transforming society in areas such as education, creativity, work, and our sense of identity, identifying topics including digital immortality, machines understanding spirituality, and the reinvention of democracy through AI governance.
In huge demand, Karl provides keynotes on the topics of business growth, eCommerce, consumer behaviour, and online business strategies. He has worked with and spoken to clients across the globe, from the UK and the US to Norway, Sweden, Spain, and France.
Dr. Cristiana Pace is a leader and innovator in motorsport with a focus on sustainability and change management strategies.
Cristiana has made her mark in a 20 year career, which has seen her become the first woman to work alongside the FIA technical department in Formula 1, make key contributions to the FIA’s safety legacy and work with Williams Advanced Engineering to advance and utilise motorsport technology both in the industry and far beyond the racetrack.
In 2021, she was voted one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by WES and The Guardian for her involvement with the Covid Appeal having worked on the development of the Oxford Box, a shield designed to protect NHS staff and patients during the intubation process. She is also an ambassador of the Silverstone Technology Cluster. Cristiana is a Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and a Fellow of the Women in Engineering Society (WES).
She is a well-respected speaker on technology transfer, motorsport, e-mobility, STEM and diversity.
