Also known as The Corporate Philosopher, Roger Steare is a keynote speaker, published author, and expert on leadership, development, culture, ethics, and diversity, inclusion, and equality.
Over a career spanning 45 years, 26 of those within his own business, he has worked closely with CEOs, leadership teams, and colleagues to help navigate multi-billion-dollar ethical challenges and opportunities.
He has worked with regulators, governments, and professional bodies, including the CIPD, SWP, FCA, FRC, ICAEW, IIA, and IOSCO. He has also drawn on a range of peer-reviewed research in philosophy, psychology, religion, science, popular culture, professional integrity, and organisational culture to develop an approach that can transform individuals, teams, and organisations in just a few months.
Roderic Yapp is an accredited coach and a specialist in developing resilience and leadership skills. He is a former Royal Marines Officer, who led Marines on combat operations including Afghanistan in 2007 and the evacuation of civilians from Libya during the Arab Spring.
Roderic also led the recapture of the 55,000-tonne MV Montecristo from pirate control in 2011, as part of a NATO counter-piracy task force off the Somali coast.
In 2012, Roderic left the Royal Marines to embark on a new career with the aim of using his experience to develop leaders in the corporate world. He joined the Urenco Group where he was responsible for assessing the level of leadership capability within the organisation and coaching leaders to create high performing teams with a focus on delivery and execution.
Given his background Roderic is well suited to developing people in sectors and situations where leadership failure can pose considerable systemic risk. He also works with clients across the world helping them to establish a more resilient human system as a driver to individual and organisational performance.
With a background in restoration, Roddy Clarke has a passion for the positive social and environmental impacts design can have, especially within the home.
Striving towards a circular economy, Roddy works as a journalist and speaker focusing on what true sustainability really means today.
Roberta Lucca – known as Beta – is a highly successful entrepreneur and co-founder of the BAFTA-winning games company Bossa Studies. Bossa is now amongst the 1% top performing start-ups in the UK in terms of annual sales, which is not bad for a company that only started in 2010.
Named in Forbes magazine’s Top 50 Women in Tech list, Roberta is a popular keynote speaker who entertains her audiences with her trials, tribulations and triumphs as an entrepreneur and a leader.
Rob Moore lives and loves entrepreneurship and property investing and is the host of the successful UK podcasts, The Disruptive Entrepreneur, and Money. He is on a mission to change the way people think about business and aims to support people around the globe through the Rob Moore foundation.
Rob Moore co-founded Progressive Property – the UK’s leading property training company – and Unlimited Success with his business partner, before becoming the host of the wildly successful podcast The “Disruptive Entrepreneur” and now The “Money” Podcast, listened to in 192 countries worldwide. This has grown into a complete digital agency: Progressive Media.
A self-made multi-millionaire by the age of 30, having risen to riches from being heavily in debt in his 20s, Rob has retired and un-retired countless times, each time creating a new innovation, vision, book or entire company.
Rob and Paul Forkan are social entrepreneurs & founders of the global travel brand Gandys. Having built the company from a simple flip flop brand based out of a Brixton flat they are now known for their designs on an entire range of products and have been featured in almost every major UK publication and news channel.
The Gandy Brothers has funded the construction of two children’s homes to date with two more being built and many to come.
Rita Clifton is in demand as a speaker all over the world, both as a brand practitioner and as a business leader. She regularly speaks and runs workshops on a wide variety of topics including leadership, innovation and disruption, corporate reputation, women in business and sustainability. She covers all aspects of branding, including personal and nation branding, branding in the digital age and how to build a world class brand.
Rita Clifton started her career in advertising and quickly progressed to become Vice Chairman and Strategy Director at Saatchi & Saatchi during its most successful period. She then moved into brand strategy when she became London CEO, then Chairman, of leading global brand consultancy Interbrand, and led a highly diverse and talented team.
Rick O’Neill is a digital consultant, principally within the medical aesthetics, cosmetic surgery and pharma sectors.
With more than 20 years’ experience in digital marketing, Rick is the founder and owner of the award-winning digital agency ‘Look Touch & Feel’, a founding partner of The Aesthetic Entrepreneurs, digital consultant to Merz Aesthetics, and investor/advisor to several other digitally-focused businesses.
Having spoken Internationally, and delivered hundreds of webinars and presentations, Rick is well-placed to engage any audience in any market about the cutting edge strategies in digital marketing that are yielding big results, and to bring laughter and engagement along with the insights and practical, actionable, hints and tips he provides.
Rick Kelsey is a presenter for Times Radio, BBC Business and Spotify, focussing on sport, finance and energy. He has also covered breaking stories including UK and US elections, Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the pandemic, Rick was involved in editing the BBC’s podcast Newscast and increased its audience by over 30%.
With a professional working proficiency in French, Rick is a popular keynote speaker and event moderator on an international level.
Trendwatcher, futurist and international keynote speaker Richard van Hooijdonk takes you to an inspiring future that will dramatically change the way we live, work and do business.
As a futurist, keynote speaker, and trendwatcher, Richard van Hooijdonk is an authority on new technology. He has several chip implants because he wants to physically experience the future.
His inspiration sessions have been attended by over 550,000 people at 1900 talks in 35 countries.
Richard is a regular guest at radio and television programs.
Challenger, Entrepreneur, Record Breaker, Motivational Speaker & TV Presenter Richard Noble is a British entrepreneur who has achieved six world speed records, including breaking the Sound barrier on land which has never been equalled or beaten.
Specialising in high technology engineering startups, Richard is perhaps best known as The Project Director of ThrustSSC, the first-ever supersonic land speed record programme producing the vehicle which holds the current land speed record, set at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada in 1997.
Richard McCann is a motivational speaker, coach, workshop facilitator and author of three bestselling books that tell his personal story of surviving after extreme adversity.
At the age of just five, Richard experienced the loss of his mother in horrific circumstances, her death at the hands of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe. After his mother’s murder, he was then brought up by his often drunk and violent father, living on a tough council estate in Leeds, England.
This led to turbulent times in foster care and an unsettled school life, which he left with no qualifications. Richard found himself with no prospects, making mistake after mistake, and landing himself in prison, ironically the same prison as his mother’s killer.
On his release from prison, he hit rock bottom, feeling he had zero prospects and no reason to live; he shared a suicide pact with his sister.
Richard Gerver came to prominence when, as a headteacher, he turned around a failing school in the UK in under two years and is now one of the most influential experts on change and human leadership, helping those struggling with uncertainty and change caused by rapid and dramatic shifts in technological, economic, political, health and environmental developments.
Now a prominent expert in the industry, Richard has been named the UK Business Speaker of the Year at least three times, contributes courses to LinkedIn Learning, and has published several books on key themes to great acclaim.
His compelling insights into the nature of leadership, adaptability, and innovation have earned him standing ovations on the world’s most respected stages, including TED, the RSA, and BBC Radio. He works with organisations at the forefront of global innovation and excellence including Visa, Microsoft, Deloitte, Google, TUI and Morgan Stanley and has worked with some of the world’s most iconic retail organisations including Harrods in London.
From his years building up a failing school to working alongside Google and Microsoft, Richard has a rare ability to connect his experiences to each client. His speeches are informative, humorous and entertaining, with delegates inspired to expand their own thinking and increase their potential.
Richard Askam spent 30 years working in the Wine Business, which turned out to be an apprenticeship for public speaking, as the Wine Business is the story telling industry!
You can’t possibly sell someone a bottle of wine without giving them a 30 minute keynote on the provenance. A career turn in 2010 saw Richard launch the first personalised champagne gifts in the UK as an antidote to the commoditization of the wine market in the UK.
Reece Donnelly is a Scottish Actor, Entrepreneur, and Business owner.
In 2017, Reece founded the highly successful Theatre School of Scotland, and the Theatre College of Scotland not long after. In doing so, he became the youngest college owner in the UK, at the time. Students of his college have gone on to land roles at Disney, Netflix, and the BBC.
A familiar face to some, Reece appeared on the 2023 series of The Apprentice, becoming the first Scottish candidate in over a decade.
In 2018, he made The Sunday Mail’s Young Scot Awards final.
“The World’s Greatest Living Explorer” – Guinness World Records
Sir Ranulph Feinnes is one of the most famous explorers and adventurers in the world, having led more than 20 expeditions to all corners of the globe. He reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2009 – becoming the oldest person at the time to do so – was the first man to cross both polar ice caps and climbed the North Face of the Eiger, a mountain in Switzerland.
His expeditions have raised vast sums of money for various charities, so not surprisingly, he was awarded an OBE in 1993 for human endeavour and charitable services. Thanks to the money he has raised, in 2010 he was named as the UK’s top online fundraiser by JustGiving.
Extreme dedication and determination have enabled him to become one of the most prolific explorers in the world, qualities he hopes to share with his audiences. He is inspirational, educational and humorous, and always manages to motivate delegates to achieve their goals.
Ralf Schumacher is a former racing driver from Germany and younger brother of Michael Schumacher, the seven-times Formula One World Champion. Ralf and Michael Schumacher are the only siblings to each win Formula One races.
Ralf first drove in Formula One with Jordan Grand Prix for the 1997 season, winning his first Grand Prix in 2001. In a racing career that lasted 11 years, Ralf drove for Jordan, Williams and Toyota teams wining a total of six grand prix races.
After leaving Formula One, Ralf joined the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) in 2008 and later retired from motorsport at the end of 2012 to enter a managerial role within DTM, mentoring young drivers.
After his retirement from racing, Ralf went on to become a commentator for Sky Sports Germany, open a restaurant and make his own wine brand.
With over 30 years of experience in event management, Raj Somaiya helps plan, design, and executive events such as weddings.
As the CEO of Silverfox Events, Raj has organised events all over the world, from Monaco to Italy, to Majorca to India, and Dubai to Canada.
A celebrated authority in brand management and innovation, Rafe Offer has held senior positions with the some of the world’s largest companies.
As Global Marketing Director for Disney, he pioneered the now infamous “having fun never goes out of style” campaign and, during his tenure, Disney’s sales of adult merchandise grew from $50m to $800m.
Following a further highly successful spell as Global Marketing Director at Coca Cola, where he was responsible for a staggering $1.2 billion of global sales, he was appointed Director of Innovation at Diageo.
Tasked with creating their entrepreneurial business unit, his core responsibility lay in finding new revenue sources while strengthening the core drinks business and brands.
Rachel Watkyn is an award-winning entrepreneur, businesswoman, keynote speaker, and sustainability advocate.
She started Tiny Box Company from a bedroom in her parent’s home, and went on to receive investment on Dragons’ Den. She is the winner of the 2010 National Small Business Recycler of the Year, the 2020 NatWest Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the 2020 Rural Business Award, and the 2021 Entrepreneurial Business of the Year Award.
Now a popular keynote speaker, Rachel’s mission is to encourage female entrepreneurs to follow their passions and fulfil their dreams.
R. Michael Anderson’s unique combination of real-life experience of founding, scaling and exiting three software enterprises, matched with his masters degree in psychology, is the reason he’s trained leaders at some of the most successful companies in the world including Microsoft, PwC and Salesforce.
In addition, he’s authored a number of best-selling leadership books, contributes to entrepreneur.com and was once named Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
His popular book Leading the Next Normal: A Guide to Building an Engaged, Resilient and Agile Virtual Workforce (2021) teaches managers and executives how to successfully navigate the chaotic world we currently live in.
Given he’s 6′ 8″ tall, you can’t possibly miss Michael, and it also explains why, in a former life, he was a professional basketball player!
Professor Sue Black is the Professor of Computer Science and Technology Evangelist at Durham University, a digital skills expert, social entrepreneur, consultant and internationally popular keynote speaker.
She holds a PhD in computer science, management experience, and is passionate about sharing her knowledge about the opportunities being in a STEM industry offers.
Prof Sue Black is a successful social media campaigner heading up the campaign to save Bletchley Park, with expertise in leadership and the equality challenges faced by the tech industry.
Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, a Chartered organisational Psychologist, has an international reputation in the field of leadership studies – an area of interest for over 30 years. She has a passionate interest in translating rigorous applied academic research into a form that is practical and accessible to organisations. She supports Boards and Executive Teams of organisations to embed the ethical application of leadership, increase valuing diversity, and strengthening their capacity for engagement, collaboration, innovation and effectiveness.
While Chair of Leadership Studies at the University of Leeds, as a result of ground-breaking research into the nature of engaging leadership, involving over 6,000 managers and professionals in the NHS, wider public sector, and FTSE100 companies, Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe established a Leeds University spin-out company, Real World Group.
The company undertakes research into leadership, culture, governance, diversity and inclusion, creates robust diagnostic instruments that are utilised worldwide, and undertakes major cultural transformation projects across the public and private sectors.
An experienced British TV/Radio Presenter, Polly Middlehurst is best recognised as a familiar face on the leading rolling news channel Sky News, where she anchored live news from London for 20 years, covering major breaking news events from royal weddings and the deaths of Hollywood stars to political uprisings and the latest international business/market news.
Now Polly divides her time between being an Event Moderator, Chair and Media Resilience Coach while still working as a TV Presenter.
