The Leading Speakers Bureau

President FC Barcelona 2003 – 2010

Joan Laporta is the protagonist and the initiator of one of the most outstanding cases of organizational transformation, business success and achievements in sports. From 2003 to 2010 he was the President of FC Barcelona, one of the world’s most powerful brands and leading football clubs. During his mandate the club won mayor competitions and leagues and increased their budget and membership significantly. Following his role at FC Barcelona, Joan founded and owned the law consultancy Laporta & Arbós Advocats Associates.

“One of the most inspiring experts on goal achieving, teamwork and change”

[expand title=”In detail”] Joan has a degree in Law from the University of Barcelona and a Master in Corporate Law. After his time as the President of Barcelona, Joan stepped into the world of politics and was elected President of Democràcia Catalana. He also was a member of the Catalonian Parliament and in 2011 he was elected councillor of the City Council of Barcelona. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]In 2003, a new generation of young and dynamic executives joined Barcelona to generate a groundbreaking change. They popularised the expression “virtuous circle” which aimed to strengthen the club economically and socially. In his presentations Joan Laporta explains how to reach excellence through commitment, teamwork and motivation. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]A passionate speaker and natural leader, Joan Laporta is in great demand to speak at prestigious events around the globe.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Acclaimed Futurist, Change Agent and Inspiring Speaker

Stefan Hyttfors is an acclaimed futurist and speaker focused on disruptive technologies, behavioural change and next generation leadership. His presentations always focus on global problems, global opportunities and global threats. The future is not to be predicted, it is to be created. Stefan’s vision is to help companies and individuals embrace disruptive change on a global scale to create a better future.

“ROI in the 21st century means Risk of Ignorance”

[expand title=”In detail”] Stefan started his career as a journalist and editor working for Expressen, Scandinavia’s largest daily newspaper at the time. Following that he founded his own consultancy and studied economics. In 2006 he saw the coming power of social media and his agency Wenderfalck started focussing 100% on digital PR. The strategy was very successful and was awarded several prestigious prizes. In 2012 he decided to leave the company to become a sought after business advisor and speaker at conferences around the globe.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]In his presentations, Stefan analyses how innovation, disruptive technologies and behavioural change affect the business world and social aspects of our life. He inspires companies from a wide range of fields and helps them to embrace change. He shows that with disruptive technologies and the power of networks we can find new business models and create wealth. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Highly energetic and provocative but with a good sense of humor, Stefan’s presentations are individually tailored to be as relevant as possible. He happily promotes clients’ events using video messages and Twitter and he likes using multimedia during his presentation to illustrate his message.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Technology Entrepreneur & Founder of Scramblr

Jane Young is a technology entrepreneur and founder of Scramblr, a platform that enables creative teams to set up their own online studios. Prior to this she founded London-based boutique digital agency Kanbee, delivering online and film projects. Jane is also a blogger at resonanceblog.com. Jane is a social business consultant, taking organisations on a journey from fragmented or non-existent social media presence and fear of losing control, to long-term commitment to a clear social strategy that looks beyond social media, to becoming a social business.

“One of the World’s First ‘Social Business Engineers’.”

[expand title=”In detail”] Jane has worked with brands like Dixons, Currys, PC World, Vodafone, Wildfire Word of Mouth, Grey and P&G – redefining what it means to do business in the 21st century, embarking on a journey of infrastructure, culture and process change, to cope with the always-on, real-time demands of today’s social customer.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]Jane has a fresh and powerful vision of the future of communications. She helps her audience see past the jargon, hype and worms’ eye view of social media tools, to a bigger picture of how to drive growth in the 21st century; looking at how we can solve age-old business problems using new knowledge and capabilities.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Jane embraces challenge and presents in an optimistic and energetic style that engages her audiences.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Renowned Speaker, Thought Leader and Entrepreneur in Digital Media

Jonathan MacDonald is a highly respected thought-leader and entrepreneur in digital media. His experience, contribution to the industry, entrepreneurial spirit and passion mean that he is widely considered to be one of the primary strategists in the digital space, even placing 8th in the ‘Top 100 Digital Thinkers in the World’ industry poll. He is widely recognised as a significant contributor to the most cutting edge thought-leadership platforms including Google’s Think Insights.

“Jonathan is one of the leading keynote speakers in the world”

[expand title=”In detail”] Jonathan expands thought around the potential of technology, the shaping of society and the realities of business, all of which are constantly influenced by fast-paced, relentless change. This thought expansion inspires a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities, enabling people to utilise that knowledge to explore what the future could look like and whether they are building one they want to live in. During his career Jonathan has, among other things, been responsible for creating the world-wide mobile strategy for Ogilvy, played a key role launching Blyk, an ad funded mobile network, created Ministry of Sound’s digital strategy, and launched a Sky TV channel.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Jonathan enables people and organisations to modify their approach from one-off change management to the management of perpetual change. His exceptional insights are often the catalyst that a business needs to grow because of change, helping them to shape the future of the market and open up new revenue opportunities.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Jonathan has an impactful delivery style and highly engaging personal charisma. He consistently receives the highest feedback of any speaker on the circuit and leaves a lasting impact on every audience who has the pleasure of hearing him, which translates into tangible, bottom-line business benefit.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Leader in Achieving Innovation

Peter H. Diamandis is a world-class leader in driving breakthroughs and incentivizing open source innovation. He is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Best known for the Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight, the Foundation is now launching prizes in Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy, and Education. He is also a global leader in the commercial space arena, having founded and run many of the leading entrepreneurial companies in this sector.

“Peter is a truly exceptional visionary”

[expand title=”In detail”] Dr. Diamandis attended the MIT where he received his degrees in molecular genetics and aerospace engineering, as well as Harvard Medical School where he received his M.D. As co-Founder & Chairman of the Singularity University, a Silicon Valley based institution partnered with NASA, Google, Autodesk and Nokia, he counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to utilize exponential technologies and incentivized innovation to dramatically accelerate their business objectives. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Peters is a dynamic inspirational speaker. He delivers real value to his audience by showing how to drive breakthrough thinking and innovation within their company that offer clear, measurable and objective results. He shows how technology will transform companies, governments and industries over the next 5 to 10 years. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]From his perspective of Executive Chairman, Peter Diamandis provides passionate, insightful and extremely useful keynotes on the impact of the following exponentially growing technologies.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

CEO of Zappos.com

Tony Hsieh is an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the CEO of the online shoe and clothing shop Zappos.com. He originally got involved with Zappos as an advisor and investor in 1999, about 2 months after it was founded. Under his leadership, Zappos has grown gross merchandise sales from $1.6M in 2000 to over $1 billion in 2008 by focusing relentlessly on customer service. He was awarded with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award in 2007.

“You need to break out of societal expectations and follow your passions. Be bolder”

[expand title=”In detail”] Prior to joining Zappos, he co-founded Venture Frogs and LinkExchange, Inc. During his tenure at LinkExchange, he was responsible for architecting some of the major technologies for the LinkExchange and served on the Board of Directors. His creativity led to the creation of many services to help web site owners grow their online traffic and sales. He has also worked as a Software Engineer at Oracle. He received a B.A. in Computer Science from Harvard University in 1995.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success. Tony shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success and happiness. He is convinced that by encouraging social and entrepreneurial mixing, long-term economic growth can be built. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Tony is renowned for his insightful, inspirational and thought-provoking speaking style. His presentations are lively, full of passion and fun as an expert on delivering happiness itself. He is in great demand by corporate clients the world over.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Former Managing Director Europe for LinkedIn

Kevin Eyres is the former Managing Director of Linkedin Europe and Talent Champion for the Tech City Investment Organisation. At LinkedIn he led their highly successful European growth strategy. He is an angel investor and board member of Essentia Analytics and of CDI Apps for Good, as well as the founder of GreyBella Ventures.

“Kevin ranked 22ndin Wired Magazine’s “The Wired 100” in 2010”

[expand title=”In detail”] Kevin has been responsible for the International operations of three Silicon Valley companies since arriving in Europe in 2000. He was the General Manager of AltaVista International spanning 14 countries. He joined SideStep, now Kayak, as MD in 2005 and in 2007 was appointed MD for LinkedIn. Both times Kevin joined the companies as their first employee outside the US.At LinkedIn, Kevin helped the then 14 million member base grow to over 100 million by April 2011. Kevin was instrumental in leading, developing and delivering LinkedIn’s international strategy and growth initiatives and under his leadership LinkedIn expanded into 8 countries.Kevin holds a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Texas in San Antonio.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]In his presentations, Kevin extols the virtues of working together to achieve big goals. Well versed in multi-cultural companies doing business throughout Europe and Asia, his speech themes include Innovation and Growth, Leadership of Innovation and Hyper-growth and Transformation in the digital age.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]His high content presentations and excellent rhetoric skills make Kevin Eyres a highly sought-after speaker at prestigious conferences around the globe.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Global Electronic Bank Guru & CEO of CLS UK Intermediate Holdings Ltd.

Joseph de Feo is one of the world’s most senior figures in world financial IT services. He serves as Chief Executive Officer of CLS UK Intermediate Holdings Ltd. and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CLS Bank International. He serves as Non-Executive Director of the UK’s Department of Social Security, IT Skills Forum, and a Freeman of the City of London’s Worshipful Company of Technologists. He was also a Founding Member of the Group of 20.

“We have raised the standards for settlement that will be spread throughout the market.”

[expand title=”In detail”] Joseph de Feo holds an M.B.A. (Honours) with a concentration in banking, financial markets and business economics and an M.S. (Honours) in international banking. He has completed work towards a doctorate in business administration and has attended professional education programmes at both Harvard Business School and Cambridge University. He was IT and Operations Strategy Manager for the Barclays Group for over 7 years, during which time he explored potential synergies between traditional banking and IT, forging a closer relationship between the Barclays Group and the bank’s business. From 1997 – 1998 he was President and CEO of The Open Group. In 1999 he became Associate Partner of Mitchell Madison Group. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]A respected and highly sought after keynote speaker, Joseph de Feo advocates the need for a global infrastructure for IT commerce and information sharing and warns of major shortfalls in international banking IT systems. He explains the importance of the need to integrate all systems and produce more innovative information-intensive services.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Joseph de Feo is a confident and professional presenter. He has built a formidable reputation as an effective business leader and banking visionary and he is in great demand as a speaker by decision makers from leading financial institutions around the globe.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Former MD, Google UK and Ireland

Dan Cobley served as Google’s Vice President of Brand Solutions and as the company’s MD in the UK & Ireland. After almost a decade at Google, Dan started a new venture, a FinTech fund and incubator, aimed at building new, disruptive companies within financial services. Dan is an advisor to and investor in tech start-ups, is on the board of The Marketing Society, is a trustee of the Charities Technology Trust and on the advisory boards of Telegraph Media Group and eHarmony.

“The fantastic thing about the web is that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can tap into a global market from day one.”

[expand title=”In detail”] Before joining Google Dan held senior marketing roles at Capital One Europe, where he helped make the company the UK’s leading new card issuer, Ask Jeeves, Pepsi and Walkers. He has also been an early dot.com casualty (great learning!), a strategy consultant, and an oil exploration engineer in Pakistan. Dan began his career in consulting and oil exploration after studying Physics at Oxford. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Dan is a regular keynote speaker at conferences; speaking on technology, innovation, and Google’s unique approach to business. He is also an accomplished moderator, interviewer and panellist.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Dan Cobley is an experienced speaker who provides fun, insightful and uplifting presentations leaving audiences inspired and motivated.[/expand]

Continue Reading »

Expert on Global Trends & Economics & Author

Richard Florida is one of the world’s leading public intellectuals on economic competitiveness, demographic trends and cultural and technological innovation. He is founder and director of The Creativity Group, an innovative communications and media company and Catalytix, a strategy consulting firm. Richard has written several award winning, global best-sellers including ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’. His ideas on the “creative class,” commercial innovation and regional development are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business and transform their economies.

Richard has recently been named European Ambassador for Creativity and Innovation.

[expand title=”In detail”] He is currently Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and Professor of Business and Creativity at the University of Toronto. Previously Richard has held professorships at George Mason University and Carnegie Mellon University and taught as a visiting professor at Harvard and MIT. Richard writes regularly for various publications, is a regular columnist for The Globe and Mail and has been featured as an expert in the media all over the globe.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Richard explains how to create sustained economic growth through high-tech business and innovative ideas. He provides audiences with critical insights into the social, economic and demographic factors that drive 21st-century organisations in the emerging economy. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Combining in-depth analysis, cutting-edge trends, a fascinating personal story, and just a touch of self-deprecating humour, Richard’s presentations are meticulously researched and specifically designed to show businesses how to make the changes necessary to attract and retain creative class employees.[/expand]

Continue Reading »