Our Speakers

Geeta Nargund is the Medical Director of CREATE Fertility. She is also a Senior Consultant Gynaecologist and Lead Consultant for Reproductive Medicine services at St George’s Hospital, London. Geeta is also proud to be a Director of the Walking Egg Foundation, a Belgian Charity dedicated to making fertility treatments affordable and accessible globally.

She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers including abstracts and also several book chapters in the field of reproductive medicine. She is a pioneer in the field of Natural and Mild IVF and Advanced Ultrasound Technology in Reproductive Medicine. She is an accredited trainer for Infertility and Gynaecological Ultrasound special skills modules by the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG) London and British Fertility Society (BFS). She pioneered the use of follicular Doppler in assessing “Egg quality” in humans. She also published the first scientific paper on “Cumulative live birth rates with Natural cycle IVF”.

She is a Visiting Professor at Hasselt University, Medical Faculty (working at Genk University Hospital), Belgium; St Marco University Lima (oldest university in Latin America) and SDM Medical College, India. She is actively involved in research in making IVF more natural, accessible and safer for women and children. She is the Chief Executive of the UK National charity, Health Education Research (HER) Trust. This Charity funds and supports women’s health education in the UK and in Africa.

Lorna is a serial entrepreneur and accomplished businesswoman, and an acknowledged expert in the D&I space. She is a co-founder of The Pipeline, a leading gender and diversity consultancy that specialises in helping women of all ethnicities reach senior positions within the public and private sectors. Now in its tenth year, The Pipeline’s alumni include some of the most dynamic female leaders across all industry groups. Lorna is a trusted advisor to Big Cap companies and to Whitehall, and is also a member of the Women in Finance Advisory Board, chaired by Amanda Blanc, which seeks to implement HM Government’s Women in Finance Charter. A board member of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership and a trustee of the education charity SHINE, Lorna is also deeply committed to realising growth in the Northern Powerhouse. Lorna previously founded and was the Director of The Alliance Project, a £150m public-private partnership focused on reinvigorating the UK textile manufacturing industry, as well as sitting on the Board of the UK Fashion Textiles Association, UKFT. In her time as the CEO of the Britain-Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), Lorna turned BICOM into an internationally renowned centre of excellence. She has served as a visiting Fellow at the UK Defence Academy’s Advanced Research and Assessment Group, and is a former Member of Parliament for Rochdale, as well as a previous President of the National Union of Students.

June Sarpong has enjoyed a 20-year career which has already seen her become one of the most recognisable faces of British television, as well as being one of the UK’s most intelligent and dynamic young hosts. June is a media phenomenon and is the only host of her generation that is equally comfortable interviewing politicians, celebrities and members of the public.

June has also taken on the world’s most challenging live audiences, hosting 2005’s major Make Poverty History event in London’s Trafalgar Square and presenting at the UK leg of Live Earth in 2007. In 2008 alongside Will Smith she also hosted Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday celebrations in front of 30,000 people in London’s Hyde Park.

June is the Co-Founder of the WIE Network (Women:Inspiration & Enterprise). WIE first launched in NYC in 2010 and in UK in 2012. This acclaimed conference has featured leading speakers from a gamut of industries, previous speakers include: Sarah Brown, Melinda Gates, Arianna Huffington, Donna Karan, Queen Rania, Nancy Pelosi, Iman and many more. WIE supports female excellence and has an alliance of over 200,000 women.

June’s latest endeavour is Ldny an ethical fashion social enterprise initiative which has a partnership with the United Nations. Ldny launched during UN week at the start of 69th General Assembly Meeting.

In 2015 she joined the board of Stronger IN the official campaign to keep Britain in the EU. June is currently a panelist on ITV’s Loose Women and Sky News’s weekly political debate show The Pledge.

Sue Campbell trained as a physical education teacher, taught in Manchester and lectured at Leicester and Loughborough Universities. During this time, Sue represented her country as a player, a coach and a team manager. She then went on to spend four years as a regional officer with the Sports Council (now Sport England) before moving to the National Coaching Foundation (NCF).

Following 11 years as the Chief Executive of the NCF, she became Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust. In February 2005, Sue became Chair of that organisation. In March 2016, Sue was appointed as Head of Women’s football with the Football Association.

In April 2005 she was appointed as Chair for UK Sport, following 18 months as the Reform Chair. Sue held this position for two terms, and following a very successful Olympics/Paralympics in 2012, she stood down as Chair in April 2013. In December 2008 Sue was appointed to the House of Lords as an Independent Crossbench Peer. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Prior to leading White Stuff, Jo Jenkins had one of the most recognisable jobs in High St fashion responsible for womenswear, lingerie and beauty at Marks & Spencer to support and grow their £4 billion turnover.

Jo has a reputation of combining creativity and commerciality to her decisions with a unique understanding of what women want. She was head hunted by M&S to transform their lingerie and beauty portfolio in 2012. Jo immediately grew lingerie sales by expanding their range of large cup sizes through understanding that most women could no longer fit the M&S range. She simultaneously patented and launched a new ‘bra fit’ online app.

Her understanding of digital made M&S once again exciting with the overnight try & test experience for customers. Jo also transformed the quality of beauty products plus made M&S a destination experience with the introduction of nail & brow bars and branded gifts. Together these innovations grew beauty sales and increased footfall across all stores. Prior to M&S Jo spent 7 years with Next growing their womenswear product line.

Sir Terry Leahy, who is 58, was appointed Chief Executive of Tesco PLC in March 1997 and retired from this position in March 2011. He received a Knighthood for services to food retailing in the 2002 New Year Honours and in the same year was made a Freeman of the City of Liverpool.

Born on 28 February 1956, he was educated at St Edwards College, Liverpool and then went on to the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology where he gained his BSc (Hons) in management sciences.

Terry joined Tesco in 1979 as a Marketing Executive and was promoted to Marketing Manager in 1981. From 1984 to 1986 he held the position of Marketing Director for Tesco Stores Ltd. He was appointed Commercial Director of Fresh Foods in 1986. Appointed to the Board of Tesco PLC as Marketing Director in 1992, and was appointed Deputy Managing Director in February 1995.

Denise Kingsmill is a member of the House of Lords. Her career has encompassed periods as a leading employment lawyer, Deputy Chair of the UK Competition Commission (the UK’s principle anti- trust agency) and a director of PLC, private, not for profit and government boards. After taking an economics and anthropology degree at Cambridge University, Denise spent the early years of her career in the textile and fashion industry in London and Paris, before qualifying as a lawyer in 1980. Initially, specialising in trade union and employment law she later specialised in UK and European commercial law and handled disputes for the UK’s leading FTSE 100 companies.

In 1997, she became Deputy Chair of the Competition Commission and during her 7 year tenure chaired over 20 economic regulatory enquiries in a diverse range of industries including, banking, automobiles, energy, milk production and cruise liners. Denise headed two Government enquires in 2001 and 2003, into women’s pay and employment and the economic management of labour. In 2007, she led an enquiry into health of fashion models on behalf of the British fashion council and the Mayor of London.

Until very recently she was also a member of the boards of E.ON SE, IAG SA, and Telecom Italia and in 2015 she became founding Chair of Monzo Bank, a mobile-only internet bank, stepping down in May 2018.

Currently, Baroness Kingsmill is a non-executive director of Inditex (Zara). She is on the Advisory Board of the Global Sustainability Forum and is a member of the International Board of the Spanish business school, IESE. Denise holds a number of honorary doctorates in Law and Business and was awarded the CBE for services to Employment and Competition in 2000.

Dr. Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years. She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter.

The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as “meticulously researched…engagingly written…universally relevant and hard to fault.”

Her TED talks have been seen by over 13 million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. Her most recent book, Uncharted: How to map the future was published in 2020. It quickly became a bestseller and was nominated for the Financial Times Best Business Book award, the CMI Best Business Book and was chosen as the “Medium Best of the Best” business book.

She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She chairs the boards of DACS and FilmBath and is a Trustee of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution

Karen is a proven business leader with a track record in creating vibrant cultures, energising teams, and consistently delivering business growth and success. She is UK President for WPP, the world’s largest marketing services group and responsible for driving growth in WPP’s second largest market of 12,000 people

Former GroupM UK CEO, Karen managed the business at a critical time during the COVID global pandemic and the subsequent impact of the killing of George Floyd.

In June 2014, Karen received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours and topped the Power List, being the first businesswoman to come in at number 1.  In November 2022 Karen received Power List’s Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of her exceptional achievements. Karen has recently been appointed NED for Diageo (FTSE Top 100 company) and was a former NED of The Cabinet Office.

Karen is a single mum of a beautiful 12-year-old boy, Isaac.  The daughter of 2 Bajan parents, Karen regularly returns to her spiritual “home” Barbados and spends her weekends enjoying the outdoors and walking her two adorable dogs Bob Marley and Missy Elliot.

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, charities and consultancy. He delivers useful keynotes on effective and strategic communication, leadership and politics.

Though he left a full-time role with the Blair government in 2003, he returned for the subsequent three general elections to help first Blair, then Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. He also advised the Better Together campaign against independence for Scotland, and the Remain side in the EU referendum campaign. He continues to advise left of centre parties.

Campbell has been Humanitas Visting Professor on media at Cambridge University, and has been honoured by both University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork for his contribution to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. He is on the advisory board of Portland PR, and in addition independently acts as an advisor to governments, businesses, charities, sports organisations and high-profile individuals. He helped to found the world’s first university in football business, UCFB, in Burnley, Lancashire, which has since extended to Wembley and Manchester City’s Etihad stadium.

He writes a monthly interview for GQ magazine, and has covered figures as varied as Prince William and Jose Mourinho, Al Gore and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Nicola Sturgeon and Nicola Adams. Passionate about sport, he was written about different sports for The Times, the Irish Times and Esquire magazine. He was communications adviser to the British and Irish Lions rugby tour of New Zealand in 2005. He led a fundraising drive for Burnley FC, a team he has supported since the age of four, when the club was in financial trouble. They are currently riding high in the Premier League.

He has written fourteen books in the past ten years, including eight volumes of diaries, four novels, a personal memoir on depression and the pursuit of happiness, and Winners and How They Succeed, a Number 1 best-selling analysis of what it takes to win in politics, business and sport.

Danuta Gray is a senior British businessperson who has been at the helm of 6 different companies and has significant executive experience. She holds the position of Senior Independent Director at Aldermore, and is the Chairman of Direct Line Insurance Group Plc, Non-Executive Chairman for Burberry Group, Non-Executive Chairman for St. Modwen Properties Plc and Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Telefónica O2 Ireland Ltd.

She is also Member of the Irish Management Institute and Member of the Defence Board at United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. She is also on the board of 5 other companies.

In her past career Danuta held the position of Director at Barretstown Ltd., Non-Executive Chairman at Telefónica Ireland Ltd. and Senior Vice President of BT Europe.

Ann is the Chief Executive Officer for Freemans Gratting Holdings, a role she has been in since January 2020 after initially joining as their Chief Marketing Officer. Previously she was Chief Customer Officer at N Brown Group where she worked in Home Shopping & Online Retail for more than 20 years. She was part of the team to launch the first Littlewoods website in 1999 and has held various marketing and digital roles. Ann was promoted to the Operating Board in May 2014, and was responsible for N Brown’s marketing strategy and activities, including sponsorships of the Digital First agenda and International expansion.

Eve Tomlinson started her career on Channel 4’s ground-breaking Big Breakfast and has worked across all broadcasters, with award-winning production companies and entertainment talent ranging from Graham Norton to Chris Evans and Mel and Sue. She has a track record in developing new presenters into nationally recognised talent and it was while working with these broadcasters that she started investigating what exactly makes a world-class communicator. She asked what makes you listen to some people and not others, how vital is the likeability factor and why are so many brilliant people terrible at saying what they mean?

Combining her TV experience with a degree in linguistics and a foundation in Transactional Analysis, Eve then worked with psychologists, HR specialists and business leaders to develop a methodology that blends neuroscience, leading business research and proven entertainment production values to create a unique three-step programme. Eve has transformed the communication skills of those on the first step of the ladder to intensive 360’s with CEO’s. Her workshops have revolutionised the skills of people in companies ranging from professional services such as Kingston Smith, Menzies, ICAEW, and AXA, to entertainment companies such as ITV.

Helen holds an MA, LLB (Law), is a qualified psychometric assessor and an alumnus of the INSEAD Challenge of Leadership Programme & the INSEAD International Directors Programme – Corporate Governance Certificate (IDP-C): she is the only UK Board Effectiveness Consultant with this qualification.

Helen has also attended the INSEAD Leading from the Chair Programme. She is an APECS-accredited coach and is also a Fellow of the IoD, CIPD, RSA and a Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Helen is recognised as a leading Board Effectiveness practitioner and writes and presents regularly on the subject of the Chairman’s and NED’s role in creating a high-performance board culture and the behavioural aspects of board performance.

Helen is also a leading organisational performance coach and mentor, and works at the most senior level in FTSE 100 and international companies, and in the public sector. She has a worldwide network of alumni whom she has coached over the years.

Baroness Dido Harding is is widely known for her role as Non-Executive Chair of NHS Improvement, after standing down as Chief Executive of TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC. She also served as a non-executive director on the Court of The Bank of England.

Dido previously served as a senior executive director on the Management Boards of both Sainsbury’s and TESCO. Both were in P&L roles here in the UK and abroad. She has also held executive roles at Kingfisher plc and Thomas Cook Limited.

Baroness Dido has served as a NED on the boards of The British Land Company PLC and Cheltenham Racecourse and is a former jockey. In August 2014 Dido was introduced as a Peer and sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative Peer.

She is a trustee of DotEveryone, a member of the UK National Holocaust Memorial Foundation Advisory Board and Senior Independent Director of MindGym PLC.  In December 2019, she became interim Chair of the Genomics England Board.  She has a BA from Oxford University and a MBA from Harvard University.

Baroness Gail Rebuck is the Chair of Penguin Random House Global Board and Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee. Gail was CEO of the publishing group for 22 years between 1991-2013. Gail is currently a Non-Executive Director of Belmond Ltd, the hotel group, and Senior Independent Director at the Guardian Media Group. Gail has previously been Chair of many organisations and a Non-Executive Director of BskyB, 2002-2012.

Gail is Pro-Chancellor and chairs the Council of the Royal College of Art as well as the Cheltenham Literacy Festival. She is active in a number of literacy charities and founded World Book Day and Quick Reads for adult emergent readers along with the Books Are My Bag campaign for high street bookshops. Gail was voted Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year in 2009; was awarded a CBE in 2000; became a Dame in 2009 and was appointed to the House of Lords in 2014.

From May 2015 to September 2016, Jim was Commercial Secretary to HM Treasury and during this time chaired a formal Review into AMR (antimicrobial resistance) publishing their final recommendations in May 2015, helping drive HM Government’s strategy as well as providing key input to the United Nations in this field.

Until October 2014, Jim chaired the Cities Growth Commission in the UK, when it provided its final recommendations, which formed the basis for the government’s approach to devolution and the concept of the Northern Powerhouse. Jim is a Board member of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

He is Honorary Chair of Economics at Manchester University. Jim, creator of the acronym “BRIC”, worked for Goldman Sachs from 1995 until April 2013, spending most of his time there as Chief Economist.

He is a board member and a founding trustee of the UK educational charity, SHINE, and became lifetime President. Jim has served on the boards of a number of educational foundations.

Valerie Amos was Britain’s first black, female Cabinet Minister, with an impressive history of leadership roles in government, NGOs, academic institutions, and international organisations. After working for several London boroughs, Valerie became CEO of the Equal Opportunities Commission in 1989. She was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997, becoming Secretary of State for International Development in 2003, and later Leader of the House of Lords.

After leaving the Cabinet, Valerie was appointed the British High Commissioner to Australia, and later the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief. She has since held non-executive roles with organisations such as the UCLH Trust and the Royal College of Nursing Institute, and from 2015 to 2020 was the Director of SOAS, becoming the first black woman to lead a university school in the UK. Since September 2020, Valerie has been the Master of University College, Oxford, becoming the first-ever black head of an Oxford College.

Andrew is the Chief Economist at the Bank of England and Executive Director, Monetary Analysis and Statistics. He is a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He also has responsibility for research and statistics across the Bank.

In 2014, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Andrew has written extensively on domestic and international monetary and financial policy issues. He is co-founder of ‘Pro Bono Economics’, a charity which brokers economists into charitable projects.

Dame Vivian Hunt is the Managing Partner for McKinsey & Company, UK and Ireland.

Vivian has co-authored some of McKinsey’s most influential publications. McKinsey’s Solving the United Kingdom’s productivity puzzle in a digital age, showing that both human capital and technology are at the heart of improving productivity in the United Kingdom.

Her pioneering work tying diversity to strong financial performance 'The Power of Parity (2016),Delivering through Diversity (2018), Diversity Wins: how inclusion matters (2020)'.

Most recently, Vivian has written including Diversity still matters, highlighting the importance of inclusion and diversity for recovery from the current crisis and COVID-19 in the United Kingdom: Assessing Jobs at Risk and the impact on people and places.

Vivian is on the board of several significant business groups, charitable and education bodies including the Confederation of British Industry, the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and Harvard Board of Overseers. Vivian is Chair of British American Business and Chair of Teach First, the UK’s leading education charity. She is a Trustee of The British Museum and sits on the governing board of the Southbank Centre and the US-UK Fulbright Commission.

Dame Hunt is an inspirational speaker and a powerful advocate for non-traditional voices in the corporate world. In 2018, Vivian was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the economy and women in business. Vivian is an alumna of Harvard College and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Fiona Dawson is an experienced NED and Chair. She currently sits on the Boards of LEGO A/S, Marks and Spencer PLC and Kerry Foods and a number of advisory Boards including Trinity Business School in Dublin, and The Social Mobility Foundation.

Fiona has a passion for the advancement of women in business and is Chair of the United Kingdom’s Women’s Business Council, a government backed and industry led group seeking to advance women’s careers in business and address the gender pay gap.

Fiona worked for family-owned Mars, Incorporated for over thirty years, and retired in July 2021 to focus on her Board Portfolio.  During her career, she held a wide range of leadership and marketing roles including President of Global Retail and Mars Chocolate UK, and European Marketing Vice President. Her last role was as  Global President for Mars Foods’ portfolio of household brands, the various Multi-Segment markets in Mars, Incorporated, and the Global Customers, sitting on the Mars, Incorporated Leadership team.  Mars, Incorporated has global annual revenues of more than US$40 billion.

Previously Fiona has been President of the IGD, Vice President of the UK’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and previously, served on the Economic Development Advisory Group to the U.K’s Department for International Development (DfID).

Ms. Dawson holds a BBS degree in Business from Trinity College, Dublin.  In March 2021 she was awarded an Honary CBE ( Commander of the British Empire), for services to Women and the Economy.

Evelyn is a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Bank of Ireland, London First and Marks & Spencer, and served as Bupa’s Group CEO from 2016  until 2020.

She previously served as Acting Group CEO from April 2016 and CFO from September 2012. Evelyn has a strong track record and extensive experience in financial services, risk and capital management, and mergers and acquisitions. A qualified actuary, she also holds an MBA from London Business School and was previously a Non-Executive Director of the IFG Group in Ireland.

Evelyn joined Bupa from Friends Life where she was Chief Executive Officer of its Heritage division. Previously at Friends Provident, she was the Executive Director responsible for strategy, capital and risk and, before that, Chief Financial Officer.

Hilary is an international speaker and author. Her work has spanned Europe, North America and Asia, and focuses on helping leaders to introduce change efficiently and effectively. In particular, she designs sessions based on the belief that if we can understand our brains better, we can work with that knowledge and help improve both our wellbeing and performance at work.

Hilary holds an MA from Cambridge University, has a post-graduate Certificate in the Psychology of Organisation Development and Change and is an accredited executive coach with the Institute of Leadership and Management. Hilary works with neuroscientists in the UK and in the USA, bringing their work out of the lab and into the workplace in a very practical and accessible way.

A second edition of her book Neuroscience for Organizational Change - an evidence-based, practical guide to managing change was published in 2019 and has been widely praised.

Stuart Rose has spent all his career in retail joining Marks & Spencer plc in 1971. He left to join the Burton Group in 1989, becoming a director in 1993. Following the Group’s demerger in 1997, he became Chief Executive of Argos plc during the bid by GUS. In 1998, he became Chief Executive of Booker plc which was merged with the Iceland Group in 2000. He then became Chief Executive of Arcadia Group plc in November 2000 and left in December 2002 following its sale to Sir Philip Green. He was named Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer plc in May 2004 and became Chairman in 2008, standing down in January 2011. He was Chairman of The British Fashion Council from 2004 – 2008, Chairman of Business in the Community from 2008 – 2010 and a Non-Executive Director of Land Securities from 2003-2013. He was Chairman of Ocado until 2020, and is now Chairman of EG Group, Fat Face, Oasis Healthcare Group and a Non-Executive Director of Woolworths (South Africa). He is also Chairman of The Healing Foundation, a medical charity.

Stuart was knighted in 2008 for services to the retail industry and corporate social responsibility and made a life peer in September 2014.

Sheila Flavell, FDM Group Chief Operating Officer and an Executive Board Director of FDM Group. Sheila’s experience and knowledge of the Group has been key in driving the Group’s global expansion programme. She played an integral role in the Group’s flotation on AIM in 2005 and was a key instigator of the management buy-out of the Group in 2010 and the subsequent listing onto the main FTSE Market in 2014 as well as FDM’s listing on the FTSE250 earlier this year.

Sheila is passionate about enhancing diversity in the workplace and creating exciting careers for the next generation of digital talent. She spearheads FDM’s Global Women in Tech campaign and FDM’s Getting Back to Business programme. She sits on the main Board of techUK and the Women in Tech Council. In 2017, Sheila was recognised as one of the top 25 most influential women in North America’s mid-market by CEO Connection and was conferred with a lifetime achievement award by Scotland Women in Technology.

Harriet is best known for playing Carole Parkinson in The Brittas Empire and Fleur in Absolutely Fabulous, a role she is reprised in the recent movie adaptation. She has also appeared on television in The Three Musketeers (BBC), The Secret (BBC), Victoria Wood’s Christmas Special+Midlife Crisis, French & Saunders, Girls On Top, Doctors, The Bill and Casualty.

Harriet has also appeared on film in Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, The Lady in the Van, Calendar Girls, Suzie Gold, The Calling, Maurice, Life Is Sweet and Greystoke.

West End theatre includes Wicked, Mamma Mia, Great Britain, Cabaret, Crazy For You and Les Miserables. Harriet has also appeared at the National Theatre in All My Sons, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Pravda and The Government Inspector; the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, Richard III and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; in Gary Barlow + Tim Firth’s musical adaptation of Calendar Girls; and as Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Harriet is ambassador for breast cancer charity Walk The Walk.

Jasvinder has full P&L responsibility for Direct Line’s entire B2B offering. She is rapidly growing and transforming the SME insurance space with a customer centric approach providing over 450,000 small businesses with direct digital access to insurance without the need for a broker.

Prior to this, Jasvinder had many achievements such as growing Commercial Direct by delivering its first profitable year within two years as Head of Direct Line. She is also recognised as a Northern Power Women ‘Top 50 Women to Watch’.

Rees joined KPMG in 1989 and has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance industry. For six years he held a number of internal management roles including the Head of FS Audit. Rees leads various external audit accounts including FTSE 100 (Prudential Plc) and FTSE 250 (Hiscox Plc) clients and large private groups (Budget Holdings Ltd).

Rees has extensive experience in the insurance sector dealing with Life, Non Life (retail and London Market) and intermediary clients. He has significant experience of working with listed groups.

He has led a large number of advisory projects particularly transactions including IPO’s, rights issues, debt issues and financial due diligence. He has also led a number of projects advising on various aspects of Corporate Governance. Specifically he has acted as the reporting accountant on rights issues for Hiscox and Beazley during their relocation to Bermuda and Ireland respectively and for Prudential during their attempted takeover of AIA. Rees also provided advice to Old Mutual during their acquisition of Skandia and to Winterthur when they sold Churchill Insurance to Royal Bank of Scotland. Rees spent a year on secondment at the Labour party acting as their Finance Director during the 2001 General Election.

Rees has extensive experience of leading audit and advisory engagements for a wide range of clients including Prudential, Old Mutual, Allianz UK, Clerical Medical, Churchill Insurance, Hiscox, Beazley, Novae, Lancashire, Towergate and Budget Holdings Limited (ultimate parent company of Compare the Market).

Rees has considerable experience in IFRS, UK GAAP, European Embedded Values reporting and SOX reporting. He also has experience with various types of regulatory and client money reporting.

Margherita is one of the best loved faces and voices on British radio and TV, a multitalented presenter able to cover everything from political and cultural issues to what’s hot in the music scene. In 2012 Margherita joined the Heart FM family after nearly two decades at Capital and can be heard on Sunday afternoons, 12-4pm. She continues her weekday Smooth Classics show on Classic FM (10pm-1am), as well as co-hosting the Classic FM Live concerts with John Suchet.

She is a regular contributor on Sky News’ Sunrise, The One Show and Sky Arts, and also fronted their coverage of ‘Rewind Festival 2014’.

Margherita is also heavily involved in the charities The Prince’s Trust and Help A London Child. She started her TV career by hosting such shows as ITV’s junior version of Gladiators, Train To Win, BBC2’s The Ozone and Heartland for Central Television (a mixture of celebrity interviews and music). She then moved on to present the channel’s cult prime time show for young people, Channel 4’s T4 Sunday for three years (March 1999-January 2002), originally alongside her ‘on-screen husband’ Dermot, and then with Vernon Kay.

Margherita was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and diversity.

Julie is a Non-Executive Director for Santander UK as well as Founder and Director of Rungway Limited. Previously she served on the boards of Amlin, Spirit Pubs and Paternoster Insurance. During her executive career, Julie was a Board Member of UBS Investment Bank where she held a number of global leadership positions with a specialist background in digital platforms and fixed income.

The “CreditDelta” portfolio product she founded won industry awards for innovation every year between 2001-2009. In 2015 she was a judge at the London Innovator Awards.

Julie is a Trustee for the Girls Day School Trust and graduated with a first-class Economics degree from St John’s College, Cambridge

Lisa is Chief People, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer at British Airways and sits on the Management Committee. She joined the airline in summer 2021, where she oversees Corporate Communications, Global PR and Social Media, Public Affairs, Internal Communications and Engagement, and Sustainability, to drive the company’s mission to put it at the heart of the organisation. In addition, in 2023 Lisa took responsibility for our People.

Prior to joining British Airways, Lisa was the Group Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Director for Direct Line Group. She has a wealth of experience in crisis management, communications, policy and government affairs and has held leadership roles at the global law firm, Mischon de Reya, and at the communications agency, Lexington. Lisa spent the first half of her career working in government as a special advisor to several Cabinet Ministers including David Miliband when he was active in UK politics.

Mary is a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s Paris Office. She is the Leader of McKinsey’s Organisation practice in Europe and the co-author of Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths. Over the last 20+ years, she has served leading pharma, consumer products, energy, basic materials, telecommunications, and public sector organisations on their most important transformation, change management, top team alignment and performance improvement efforts.

Jess Phillips is a Labour Party politician who became the MP for the constituency of Birmingham Yardley at the 2015 general election. Jess is committed to improving the lives of others, especially the most vulnerable.

Before becoming an MP, Jess worked for Women’s Aid in the West Midlands developing services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and exploitation. She became a local Councillor in 2012, where she worked tirelessly to support residents. Her hard work was recognised when she became Birmingham's first ever Victims Champion.

Since becoming an MP, Jess has continued her fight to support those who need it most and has earned a reputation for plain speaking. Since being elected, she has been unfazed by threats and continues to call out sexist attitudes and promote women’s rights.

Jess has written three bestselling books “The Life of an MP -Everything you really need to know about politics”, ‘Everywoman: One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth’ and ‘Truth to Power: 7 Ways to Call Time on BS’. All books reflect her commitment to speaking up and having the courage to have your voice heard and make a difference.

Professor Joe Nellis is Professor of Global Economy specialising in global macroeconomics, business environmental analysis, strategic thinking and management development.

Joe contributes across the full range of the School’s portfolio including senior Executive Development programmes as well as the Full-time MBA, Executive MBA and doctoral degrees. He was formerly Director of Graduate Programmes (1999-2003) and Academic Dean of the Faculty of Management (2003-05). He held the post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University (2005-08). He is the longest serving member of the School of Management’s Executive Board. From 1st January 2014 until 31st January 2015 he served as Director and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Cranfield School of Management and as Interim Dean/PVC in 2019.

Joe has held Visiting Professorial appointments at various universities in Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary, the USA and Ghana. He has published 19 research and subject-based books and over 200 academic and practitioner journal articles. His research encompasses analysis of business developments in a changing world in terms of the macroeconomy, the role of government, the impact of technology, societal and demographic trends. He is a frequent contributor to a wide range of national and international conferences and is a consultant to a number of UK and international companies in the areas of strategy and business environmental analysis, strategy formulation and management development. He has also acted as a consultant to several central government departments and public sector organisations. He was jointly responsible for the development of the Halifax and Nationwide House Price Indexes and more recently for the DPS Rent Price Index. He was formerly Chairman of Wellingborough Homes Housing Association.

Charlotte worked in broadcasting for more years than she would care to admit starting out in the BBC. Over the years she had roles on both sides of the camera as producer and presenter. When Charlotte left ITV in 2008 she was Political Editor and Head of Current Affairs at ITV Yorkshire.

Charlotte now works as a public affairs consultant as well as running media training and presentation skills courses for senior executives in some of the UK’s most successful companies.

Philip Collins is a columnist on The Times and chair of trustees of the think tank Demos. He is the author of the book “The Art of Speeches and Presentations” and was the chief speech writer to the Prime Minister Tony Blair. He has since written speeches for many corporate leaders.

Prior to her retirement Carole was Associate Professor of Finance at Henley Business School, where she taught, supervised and coached managers studying for their MBA and on external company programmes in the UK and in many international locations.  Her key research interests were valuation and human capital and she aims to help those she works with to understand what leaders need from finance professionals and to develop the confidence to ask the right questions. 

She trained and worked as an accountant and finance professional in UK and multinational businesses earlier in her career and was a governor and trustee at a large independent girls school for many years.  She continues to be a governor at a local primary school. 

John Reid is the most experienced Cabinet minister of modern times, having held more ministerial posts at Cabinet level than any other politician in recent history. In range of portfolios, and in breadth and intensity of change management across departments, his experience is unparalleled.

In particular he has served in leadership across a range of security-related portfolios in the UK Government including Home Secretary, Defence Secretary, Northern Ireland Secretary, Minister for Transport and Armed Forces Minister. Following almost quarter of a century as a Member of Parliament, in 2010 he was elevated to membership of the House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of the UK Parliament.

He is a Hon. Professor and Chair of the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at University College London; a Principal at the Chertoff Group; Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homeland Security; Director of John Reid Advisory and a Senior Advisor to the Private sector on Security related matters.

His many awards include a Hon. Doctorate from Stirling University for his outstanding contribution to Public Affairs (2009): Politician of the Year (Spectator, 2006); Minister to Watch (2005); Peace Person of the Year, Northern Ireland (2002) and Best Scot at Westminster (2001).

Gail sits on the Penguin Random House Global Board of Representatives and Bertelsmann’s Group Advisory Committee. She was Chair and CEO of Random House from 1991-2013 and a Non-Executive Director of BSkyB from 2002-2012. Gail is currently a Non-Executive Director of Koovs Plc and Belmond Ltd.

Gail chairs the Council of Royal College of Art, the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Quick Reads charity which she founded alongside World Book Day on behalf of the publishing industry. Gail was voted Veuve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year in 2009; was awarded a CBE in 2000; a DBE in 2009 and appointed a Labour Peer to the House of Lords in 2014.

Mark Edwards has had two parallel careers – as a journalist and as an executive coach.

As a journalist he began his career writing on magazines, including The Face, Arena, GQ, Esquire and Blitz. For 25 years his work appeared virtually every week in The Sunday Times, and for 12 of those years he was the paper’s Chief Pop Music Critic.

As a coach and trainer, he teaches “soft skills for hard times”, working with leaders and future leaders to help them live and work with more purpose and meaning, and working with some of the country’s most successful companies, helping them to be more emotionally intelligent, more inclusive and more collaborative. All of his work is informed by mindfulness, and the Buddhist insights that underpin it, but balanced by an understanding of the need to drive and demonstrate value in business.

Mark is the co-author of Belonging: The Key to Transforming and Maintaining Diversity, Inclusion and Equality at Work, with Sue Unerman and Kathryn Jacob, and also the author of The Tao of Bowie: 10 lessons from David Bowie’s Life to Help You Live Yours. His next book, Best Story Wins, will be published in 2025.

Matilda has worked in theatre, TV, film & live comedy. She played the mother of Rupert Grint’s character in the Sky Atlantic comedy, Sick Note; is also known for playing Mandy in TV’s long-running comedy, Desmond’s and has just finished filming ‘Back to Black’, the new Amy Winehouse movie. Matilda has worked with, among others, Robin Williams, and many UK cast members of ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ in comedy improvisation. Other TV credits include: Eastenders, The Bill, Holby City, Casualty. Along with her sister Harriet, Matilda founded Dr Theatre– a coaching company that uses innovative presentation and training techniques to enhance business communication skills and to help women create a ‘Business Persona’.

Tangy C. Morgan is a (re)insurance executive with over 25 years of experience in the US, Bermuda, London and international markets insuring the catastrophe liability of global organizations ranging across all sectors. She has built a successful career; Senior Vice President of Starr Excess International (AIG), Deputy Head of Syndicate Underwriting Performance Corporation of Lloyd’s of London and is currently a Senior Advisor to the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and Strategia Worldwide Ltd.

In 2015, she advised a Silicon Valley tech start-up in the insurance sector and remains interested in Insuretech. Tangy has also done scholarly research on technology innovation and E-Commerce at Boston University. She holds a BA degree from Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN and a Master of Science Degree in Business Continuity, Security and Risk Management from Boston University, Boston MA.

Anthony is one of Britain’s most successful technology entrepreneurs. Anthony started his career in technology at AOL, First-e Bancorp, Microsoft, Citi and Wells Fargo. He was poached by Barclays in 2009 to be their Managing Director & Chief Information Officer of Europe, Middle East & Global Operations and then later in 2014 by Nike to be Chief Information Officer.

In April 2015, Anthony was hired as CEO by Uphold, a growing financial technology business. Under his stewardship, Uphold (renamed from its original name, Bitreserve), grew from a simple bitcoin exchange with less than 3000 users across a handful of countries into one of the fastest-growing FinTech payment companies in the world, operating across 186 countries, servicing over 121,000 users who transacted over $109 billion in less than 14 months on the platform. Anthony remains a member of Uphold’s Board of Directors and an equity shareholder.

Anthony is in the process of setting up a new next-generation, technology-led global payments bank, UpholdBank, as its Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. In November 2016 UpholdBank entered formal discussions with the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to become an authorised, licensed and regulated bank in the United Kingdom.

Anthony was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to the LGBT community, equality and diversity.

Tessa Watt is an experienced Mindfulness facilitator and helps Pipeline participants deal with the pressures of everyday life at work. She is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide (Icon, 2012) and Mindful London (Virgin, 2014). She teaches mindfulness in leading global organisations through Awaris – specialists in creating healthy human systems in the workplace. She is the lead trainer for the mindfulness programme in the UK Parliament. 

Tessa is co-presenter of Be Mindful Online, the Mental Health Foundation’s online mindfulness course. She follows the UK Good Practice Guidelines for mindfulness teachers, and completed her training with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University. Tessa was formerly a Research Fellow in History at Cambridge University, where she completed her PhD, and a Senior Producer with BBC Radio.

Gill is a change and technology leader who loves to guide people to deliver new innovative solutions that transform businesses. Gill has spent most of her career working across technology and data companies and Financial Services.

Gill grew up in Northern Ireland and studied Computer Science at Queens University, Belfast before setting up roots in London. In her early years Gill gained tremendous experience and was rewarded with an appointment to the Executive Committee of an SME. This is where she learned to balance the demands of clients, lead and develop people whilst ensuring the company was profitable. Gill explains that she has been fortunate to work in senior roles for companies that embrace both technology and business change and put their customers at the heart of everything they do. Prior to returning to Lloyds Banking Group, Gill ran the UK Systems Integration division of an IT Consultancy and Services company (Atos) where she was able to work closely with clients from a variety of sectors and bring innovation and services to help them transform their businesses, especially focusing on Digital transformation.

Gill recently returned to Lloyds Banking Group where she is part of an executive team leading the group through the biggest digital transformation she has ever been involved with. The size and scale is providing the opportunity for Gill to learn everyday whilst continuing to have fun along the way.

Gill likes to encourage team work whilst having fun along the way. Gill is a big sports fan having played for Arsenal Ladies football team (a long time ago). Nowadays she has to be content with watching her two sons, Josh and Alex, play sports.

Initially, Simon began his career as a lawyer, however, he changed career direction in the mid-1980s when he returned to University to study for an MBA. He joined the academic staff at Ashridge Management College and was soon promoted to head of the Marketing Faculty.

In 1992, he left academia and set up his own consulting business. Simon then became the Marketing Director of Sears, helping to relaunch and subsequently demerge Selfridges. From there he was appointed Marketing Development Director of EMAP plc and helped launch and develop magazines such as FHM, Red and Heat, as well as working closely with all EMAP music and entertainment interests.

Until August 2004, Simon was the Group Marketing Director for Barclays plc, where he instigated significant change and built Barclays into a world- class marketing organisation.

Until March 2011, Simon was the Chief Marketing Officer for Standard Life plc where he instituted a major re-structuring and re-positioning programme. He has also recently carried out major pieces of strategy work for easyJet, BAA, Harper Collins, Cannes Lions & BDO.

Simon has a strong practical approach, backed by a thorough appreciation of latest analytical techniques. He is a lively and compelling speaker in constant demand on the international conference circuit and European business schools.

Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE is an established Chair , former FTSE CEO and a Fellow of the ICAEW . Her current Chair appointments are the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education , Mind Gym plc and the Air Operators Association . She is a non executive director for the Tideway Tunnel , AtkinsRealis Inc and Everyman Media Group plc. She is the former President of the British Chambers of Commerce and the current President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Ruby was the Chief Executive of MITIE Group PLC, the strategic outsourcing company which employed over 65000 people during her tenure and became the largest Facilities Management business in the UK. She joined MITIE in 2002 as the Chief Financial Officer, became Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer in 2007. She is one of a small number of women who have held the position of Chief Executive in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 and is the first Asian woman to be appointed in such a role within that group of companies. Whilst at Mitie the Group revenues grew from £500m to £2.2 billion. She was recognised as a top 50 female world business leader by the FT in 2013.

Ruby was also an Independent Non-Executive Director of PageGroup plc from 2007 to 2017. She chaired the Audit Committee, was a Member of Nomination and Remuneration Committees and also latterly their Senior Independent Director. PageGroup has 35 years expertise in professional services recruitment and operates in 37 countries worldwide.

Ruby is a member of the House of Lords , having been granted a Life Peerage in 2015 and is a member of the Industry and Regulators Committee. She is responsible for the Independent Report to the UK Government on Race in the Workplace published in February 2017 .She was the Chair of the UK Government’s Women’s Business Council between 2012 and 2016 and a Business Trade Ambassador for the UK from 2012 to 2019. She was appointed by the UK Government to be the In - Work Progression Commissioner in 2020.She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015, the professions’s most prestigious award. Ruby has received honorary doctorates from Cranfield University , Kingston University and the University of the West of England.

Vanessa King is a leading expert on applying the science of happiness, resilience, and wellbeing in daily life, communities, and organisations. She has contributed to the Guardian, Huffington Post, Psychologies Magazine, and appeared in the Sunday Telegraph Magazine. Vanessa speaks globally on topics like Why Happiness Matters, Building Resilience, and the 10 Keys to Happier Living, presenting at conferences, workplaces, universities, and festivals such as the London Literary Festival, Wilderness, and LaughFest in Michigan. Her book, The 10 Keys to Happier Living, was released in March 2016. As a Board Member and Lead Positive Psychology and Workplace Expert for Action for Happiness, she holds two psychology degrees, including a Master’s of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania under Martin Seligman. Earlier in her career, Vanessa worked as a chartered accountant, then in HR and investment banking, before transitioning to consulting on people development and organisational change.

Beccy Speight started her career working in local government in Scotland and then with the management consultants Smythe Dorward Lambert. Since 2000, she has worked in the conservation charity sector. She began working for the National Trust in 2000 and in 2005 became director for the East Midlands and Midlands regions. She was responsible for the development of the Trust's sustainable food policy and also installation of contemporary art. She moved to be chief executive at the Woodland Trust in 2014 and led expansion of the woodland creation charity and also a review of its priorities. In 2019 she was appointed the CEO at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Sam McAlister, a BAFTA-nominated interviews producer, speaker, and executive producer, has negotiated with figures ranging from Buckingham Palace and The White House to Tesla and Facebook. With over a decade at the BBC’s elite news programmes, especially BBC Newsnight, she mastered the art of convincing hesitant participants to engage in a programme known for its incisiveness. Her exclusive interviews include HRH Prince Andrew, Sheryl Sandberg, Prime Minister Trudeau, President Clinton, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Elon Musk, James Comey, Stormy Daniels, Julian Assange, Trevor Noah, Amy Schumer, and Eric Schmidt. Throughout her career, negotiation, strategy, and public speaking have remained central, stemming from her experience as a criminal defence barrister and numerous public speaking accolades.

Dik is passionate about the importance of dialogue in the modern business world. He is the founder of The Right Conversation which focus is exclusively on helping individuals, teams and organisations to engage in more productive conversations to build organisational cultures based on authentic, open dialogue at all levels. Much of Dik’s recent work has focused on researching the enablers and barriers to better dialogue in the workplace and he frequently writes and speak on all aspects of dialogue in the modern business world. Most recently The Right Conversation conducted a major research study in collaboration with Ashridge Business School into 'How Truth Speaks to Power', summaries of which have been published in Harvard Business Review and in our best-selling book, Speak Out, Listen Up.