The Leading Speakers Bureau

CEO & Chairman of the Management Board of Gucci Group, Fortune Magazine’s European Businessman of the Year 2007

Robert Polet joined Gucci Group in 2004 after a 26-year career at Unilever, bringing considerable global management experience and a deep knowledge of the development of consumer brands in a multicultural environment. His dynamism has helped turn around luxury goods company Gucci Group and was named as European Businessman of the Year 2007 by Fortune magazine. He encourages the people working with him to break rules and to go outside the box.

“The man who has put the extra into extravagance”
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Pioneer of “market-based” philanthropy

Jacqueline Novogratz founded and leads Acumen Fund, a nonprofit that takes a businesslike approach to improving the lives of the poor. She’s become a leading voice of the new philanthropy, which emphasizes sustainable bottom-up solutions over traditional top-down aid.

One of the most innovative players shaping philanthropy today, Jacqueline Novogratz is redefining the way problems of poverty can be solved around the world. Drawing on her past experience in banking, microfinance and traditional philanthropy, Novogratz has become a leading proponent for financing entrepreneurs and enterprises that can bring affordable clean water, housing and healthcare to poor people so that they no longer have to depend on the disappointing results and lack of accountability seen in traditional charity and old-fashioned aid.
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2003, Iranian Lawyer & Human Rights Activist

Shirin Ebadi was the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Her influence extends far beyond the borders of her country, inspiring hope that Islam, democracy and all human rights can co-exist despite the challenges faced in these turbulent times. Defying government obstacles, she also created and is the leader of one of the first independent, non-governmental human rights organizations in Iran: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child.

“Shirin Ebadi received the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for her democracy-building efforts and her work to improve human rights in Iran”
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Leading Authority on Leadership

Manfred Kets de Vries is a clinical professor of leadership development; he holds the Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chair of Leadership Development at INSEAD. He is the Director of INSEAD’s Global Leadership Centre, program director of INSEAD’s top management seminar, and the program “Consulting and Coaching for Change”, and has on five occasions received INSEAD’s distinguished teacher award. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than twenty books and has published over 200 scientific papers.

“One of the world’s leading thinkers on leadership”

Manfred Kets de Vries 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

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Director of Entrepreneurial Leadership Centre

Colin Turner is an extraordinary entrepreneur with a flair for unlocking business and personal success in others. He is presently the President of Futuremedia Learning, the UK’s leading learning and brand communications company as well as Vice President of Business Bureau liaising with the UK Government on improving business practise. The author of 15 books published in 38 languages, he shares remarkable knowledge on all aspects of successful entrepreneurial thinking.

“A leading authority on business, lifestyle and management” Time
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Professor of Competitiveness

Colin Coulson-Thomas is the UK’s first Professor of Competitiveness.

He is the principal author of a widely used methodology for designing and re-engineering board and management processes.

An authority on board and director development, he has worked with the boards of over 70 commercial and public sector organisations.

Expert strategic reviewer and developer of board and director performance.
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Global Leader, Human Capital Management, IBM

Tim Ringo is Global Leader of IBM’s Human Capital Management (HCM) consulting practice, based in London. He has overall responsibility for more than 2000 HCM professionals around the world whose focus is helping clients enable enterprise innovation and performance through improved workforce effectiveness. His primary focus is to help clients create workforce and enterprise transformation through implementation of integrated human capital lifecycle strategy, processes and technologies. He is a sought-after expert on the topic of Human Capital Management and HR.

“In order for enterprises to grow, they need to innovate – they must have the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs, at the right time to drive innovation”
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Ecologist, Conservationist, Environment and Climate Change Expert, and Writer

Julian Caldecott has spent more than 20 years promoting biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability around the world. Major themes in his work include integrating development and conservation, promoting sustainable and equitable use of biodiversity and ecosystems, and exploring ways to finance conservation sustainably. In recent months, he has assessed a five-year EC project on coastal ecosystem conservation in Thailand, and has been writing and editing books for UNEP.

“An ecologist on a mission”
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Psychologist and Author

Karen Moloney is a Chartered Psychologist, consultant, writer, speaker, and a Director of Moloney Minds. In 1986, conscious of the growing interest from HR in measuring competence at work, she founded Moloney and Gealy with Norman Gealy. Clients included many household names such as the British Government, the NHS, GlaxoSmithKline, Volvo, Philips, Centrica. Karen set up Moloney Minds in order to concentrate on thinking, writing, speaking and working with a smaller group of select clients worldwide.

“As a young woman, growing a successful business from nothing to turning over a million pounds was an achievement in itself, but collecting an enviable client list along the way has been a delight”
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Expert on Leadership Management and the Business of Winning

Humphrey Walters is a leadership and team building guru who was brought in by Clive Woodward in 1997 to use his winning business principles to improve the performance of the England Rugby team. Woodward credited Walters with helping to bring back the World Cup in 2003 and engaged him again in the build-up to the Lions tour in 2005.

“Sport and business are cut and dried. You always know when to succeed. You are not an actor wondering whether your performance went down alright.”
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