The Leading Speakers Bureau

Former Wal-Mart Executive

Michael Bergdahl is a full-time motivational speaker, author and writer. Bergdahl worked in Bentonville, Arkansas for Wal-Mart, as the Director of “People” for the headquarters office, where he worked directly with Sam Walton. It was Sam Walton who gave Bergdahl the nickname, “Bird Dawg”! He has recent experience as a turnaround specialist, successfully working with American Eagle Outfitters & Waste Management & is considered an authority on Wal-Mart.

“A storyteller who weaves entertainment into his motivational business messages”

[expand title=”In detail”] Michael began his career in an entrepreneurial, highly successful, family-owned newspaper publishing business in Houston, Texas. In his next position, he got his hands dirty on the manufacturing side of the petrochemical industry in J. M. Huber Corporation’s, Carbon Black Division in Baytown, Texas. He was later recruited by Frito Lay (a subsidiary of PepsiCo) to assume a position in their sales organization.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]He will enhance the content of your meetings by communicating the sales, service and employee performance expertise to your audience that he gained from his experiences working in Consumer Packaged Goods at Frito-Lays, Discount Retailing at Wal-Mart and Speciality Retailing at American Eagle Outfitters. Michael Bergdahl is the ideal choice for keynotes, breakouts and workshops.[/expand]
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Founder and Director of the Lean Enterprise Academy

Daniel Jones is Founder and Director of The Lean Enterprise Academy where the main thrust of his work has been to develop and help to implement the ’Lean Business System’. Based on ‘Lean Thinking’ principles learnt from Toyota, this starts by defining customer value, which then leads to the reorganisation of every step required to design, order, build, deliver and maintain this value across all the organisations involved.

Professor Jones has helped to establish a global network of institutes dedicated to researching, educating and publishing action-oriented knowledge on the Lean Business System

[expand title=”In detail”] After a research career at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research in London and the Sussex European Research Centre and Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University he was appointed Professor of Manufacturing Management at Cardiff University Business School in 1989, where he was the founding Director of the Lean Enterprise Research Centre (LERC) from 1994 to 2001.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Daniel is dedicated to helping corporations to identify and achieve first-class performance levels throughout the globe. In his enlightening presentations he shows decision makers how, by implementing ‘Lean Thinking’, firms can do more with less, respond more quickly to customer needs, create more rewarding jobs for employees and reduce their impact on the environment.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]An experienced speaker, Professor Jones’ presentations are filled with actionable information and are invaluable for all businesses wishing to apply the innovative approaches in making the transition to ‘Lean Management’.
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Editor-at-Large & Principal Economic Commentator of Reuters and The International Herald Tribune

Anatole Kaletsky writes a weekly column on politics, economics and international relations for Reuters and The International Herald Tribune. He is one of the most requested keynote speakers of all times. He is also a founding partner of GaveKal Capital, a Hong Kong-based economic advisory and asset management company, which provides economic analysis and asset allocation advice to 500 financial institutions around the world and also manages US $ 500m of client funds.

What our clients say after booking Anatole Kaletsky:

“Anatole Kaletsky was an excellent speaker. He included the contents that the host organization had asked him to, and his speech reflected his thoughtful consideration on the topic. We look forward to working with him again!”

[expand title=”In detail”] Born in Moscow and educated at Cambridge, Anatole Kaletsky went on to Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar and was awarded a Masters in Economics. He was a full-time journalist for The Times, Financial Times and The Economist from 1976 until 1998, when he expanded his activities to include economic forecasting and financial consulting. During his 30 years as a journalist, he has received many awards and distinctions, including Commentator of the Year, Economic Journalist of the Year and European Journalist of the Year. He is also a Director of several investment companies. In 1998 he was elected by Britain’s economics profession to a five-year term on the governing council of the Royal Economic Society.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you as a keynote speaker”]With his finger firmly on the pulse of UK, European and World economics few are better qualified than Anatole Kaletsky to offer expert analysis of current market trends and precise economic forecasts. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents as a keynote speaker”]One of the UK’s leading and unique commentators on economics, his provocative yet articulate and charming style makes him ideal for keynote speeches and he is excellent when participating in panel debates or moderating conferences. He is also part of our Most Popular keynote speakers list[/expand]
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Former Norwegian Prime Minister and Former Director General of the WHO (World Health Organisation)

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland is one of the most influential women of the late twentieth century.

In 1998, Gro was elected Director-General of the World Health Organization. She is one of Norway’s most respected and experienced politicians.

“One of the most influential Europeans in the last 25 years” The Financial Times

[expand title=”In detail”] Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland’s was Prime Minister of Norway on several different occasions and Chairwoman of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), now called The Brundtland Commission. She has been awarded several prestigious awards in recognition of her work, among which the Third World Prize for Work on Environmental Issues 1989, the Indira Gandhi Prize in 1990 as well as the Onassis Foundation Award in 1992 and the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Dr. Brundtland is a formidable speaker, who draws on her considerable expertise and own personal experiences to provide excellent observations and analysis of the current political landscape. She is also a respected author on preventative medicine, school health and growth studies. She is also part of our Top Women keynote speakers. [/expand]
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Leading Authority on the World Economy and Former Chief Economist at HSBC

One of the City of London’s best-known economists, Roger Bootle runs the consultancy, Capital Economics, which specialises in macroeconomics and the economics of the property market. He is also Economic Adviser to Deloitte, a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee and a Visiting Professor at Manchester Business School.

“Some of the greatest blunders occur not through errors of fact, but errors of logic”

[expand title=”In detail”] He was formerly Group Chief Economist of the HSBC Group and, before the change of government, he was a member of the former Chancellor’s panel of Independent Economic Advisers, the so-called “Wise Men”. A regular columnist on The Sunday Telegraph, Roger also appears frequently on national television and radio.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Roger Bootle’s expertise on World and European economics is a valuable source of information for decision makers around the globe. Business leaders will benefit from his astute insights and analytical brilliance of the economic landscape.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]An engaging and informative speaker, Roger uses his wealth of experience to give audiences valuable insights into the current state of global economics. He is witty, incisive and to the point making him highly sought-after as a keynote and conference speaker. [/expand]
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Authority on EU Enlargement and the Strategic Relevance of the Euro

Lode Beckers is an international financier and banker. After a 28-year corporate banking career with Citibank in 7 countries, Lode became a board member in two private banks – in Belgium and France -, while founding LOBO N.V., a fund management firm and consulting firm focusing on Euro-related strategic and organisational matters.

Over the past 6 years, trade and industry federations, governments and leading corporations frequently called upon Lode’s expertise in assessing the impact of the Euro on business with European trade partners and in the European Single Market area.

[expand title=”In detail”] Currently Lode is chairman and Managing Director of a Brussels-based consulting firm advising companies on strategies to adopt following the introduction of the Euro and the emergence of an effective single market in Europe. In addition he is one of the members of the EU-chartered Groupeuro’s group of experts mandated by the EU Commission to inform various professional audiences of the effects of the single European currency.

While acting as a presenter and company director, Lode Beckers continued to be a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium. He also held teaching assignments at the Universities of Leuven, Paris X (Nanterre), and St. Petersburg (Russia). Lode holds Law and Political Science degrees from the University of Leuven. He is an alumni of Wharton’s International Forum and obtained an AMP certification from INSEAD (Fr.).[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Since Lode started his consulting firm LOBO, he has contributed to the success of over 300 conferences, corporate off site meetings, and seminars. His lively presentation style and his long-standing personal expertise have made him a highly rated guest speaker and discussion panel director at major corporate gatherings or client events.[/expand]
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Leading Business Specialist on Asia

In January 2006 he left Arthur D. Little’s Asia Pacific Advisory Council, where he was Vice Chairman providing council on high level strategic and operational issues for companies in the Asia Pacific region.

“One of the best managers ever seen in China”

[expand title=”In detail”] Martin’s prolific career began in the automotive industry. He is the former Commercial Executive & Deputy Managing Director of the Shanghai-Volkswagen Automotive Company in China. Continue Reading »

Business Writer & Commentator, Former Financial Times Editor

Andrew Gowers has a lifetime’s experience in newspapers and on the front-line of corporate crises in Britain, Europe and the US. A financial journalist for 25 years, most of them at the Financial Times, as Editor, and Foreign, and Middle East Editor, he went onto work in corporate communications, first at the global investment bank Lehman Brothers and then at BP – closely involved in the two most high-profile corporate crises of recent decades. He was Head of Corporate Communications and Brand at Lehman Brothers when the bank spectacularly collapsed in 2008, triggering the global financial crisis. After a stint at London Business School, he joined the oil giant BP as Head of Group Media, and was part of the company’s communications response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“A brilliant financial journalist”

[expand title=”In detail”] A graduate of Cambridge Uni., Andrew worked first with Reuters, then with the FT. He reported from Brussels, Zurich and the Middle East and covered subjects ranging from commodities markets to international politics. He travelled widely and became personally acquainted with many of the world’s most senior political and corporate leaders. He was appointed founding Editor of FT Deutschland until becoming Editor of the English-language FT in 2001. In 2006 he led an independent review for HM Government of the UK’s intellectual property regime and in 2008-9 he served on the advisory board for the Government’s Digital Britain review.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Andrew offers the inside track on an unusual range of subjects. As a senior communicator for leading companies, he has a truly unique perspective on the world of business and its relationship with society, the media and public opinion. He offers a broad and expert perspective on a gamut of subjects from the UK’s rapidly changing political scene, the future of the euro, European politics, the prospects for the world economy, the Middle East, to the global financial crisis and how companies manage their reputations. With many years’ experience of commenting on international affairs, he regularly reported from the Middle East during his journalistic career, and met many of the region’s leaders. He can talk with authority and insight about the current political upheavals in the Arab world and their geostrategic and economic implications.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Andrew has an informal speaking style and he leavens his talks with entertaining personal anecdotes and humour, while always leaving audiences with intelligent food for thought. He is equally at home speaking at conferences and dinners, small corporate seminars and large public events.[/expand]
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Founder of the Grameen Bank and Winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

In 1976, Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank to make loans to poor Bangladeshis. Since then the Grameen Bank has issued more than US$ 5.1 billion to 5.3 million borrowers. The success of the Grameen model has inspired similar efforts throughout the developing world and even in industrialized nations including the USA. His methods have also been applied to Burma and in Kosovo with great success and he is now embarking upon an effort to eliminate global poverty.

Professor Muhammad Yunus has been ranked among the top 50 most influential business thinkers. In 2009 Thinkers 50, the global ranking of management gurus, placed him among the list of most influential thinkers

“By giving poor people the power to help themselves, Dr. Yunus has offered them something far more valuable than a plate of food – security in its most fundamental form.” Former US President Jimmy Carter

[expand title=”In detail”] Besides Grameen Bank he has created a number of companies in Bangladesh to address diverse issues of poverty and development. Among the companies are Grameen Phone (a mobile telephone company), Grameen Cybernet (Internet Service Provider), Grameen Communications (Rural Internet Service Provider), Grameen Software company, Grameen Information Technology Park, Grameen Fund (Social Venture Capital Company), Grameen Capital Management company and many more.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Muhammad Yunus is a highly charismatic figure with a wealth of innovative ideas and the power to help thousands of people to decide their own destiny. He carefully explains to audiences his ideas and lays the foundations for the successful implementation of his model which is eradicating poverty around the globe.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]An empowering and emotive speaker, Muhammad Yunus talks passionately about his goals and dreams and leaves audiences inspired with his simple yet effective ideas.[/expand]
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Global Energy Economist

Philip K. Verleger Jr. is the President of PKVerleger LLC and senior advisor to The Brattle Group. He has been associated with the Fred Bergsten Institute since 1986 and is a senior fellow. He has held positions at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. Treasury, the Institute for International Economics, Yale University, the University of California, and various firms in the private sector. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council of Foreign Relations.

“The leading specialist in the study of energy commodity markets.”

[expand title=”In detail”] The author of over 100 articles and books on energy economics, Dr. Verleger has testified frequently as an expert witness for parties in private disputes and as an independent authority to the U.S. Congress. His testimony before Congress has addressed regulation, taxation, the behaviour of markets, and most recently, mergers. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Adept at both the podium and with the pen, Philip, the author of numerous studies on international energy and petroleum issues, brings his experience and analytical prowess to bear on the conventional economic wisdom, reaching insightful conclusion others simply can’t.[/expand]
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