The Leading Speakers Bureau

Olympic Coach and Gold Medal Winning Rower

Few Olympians have made the transition from athlete to coach as smoothly as Tim Foster. After achieving his goal of winning a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Tim Foster retired from international rowing. Continuing to be involved in the sport at the highest level, Tim joined the UK Sport-sponsored Elite Coach Programme in 2004. In January 2007, he became the Head Coach of the Swiss national rowing squad.

“Tim Foster is one of the UK’s most determined and dedicated athletes”

[expand title=”In detail”] Tim Foster began rowing at Bedford Modern School and competed in the Junior World Rowing Championships in 1987 and 1988. In the latter he competed in a pair with a Matthew Pinsent. He became the first British rower to win gold medals at two consecutive Junior Worlds. From there he proceeded into the senior squad.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]The quintessential Olympic champion Tim is a great motivator and using the lessons he learned on the way to achieving his Olympic gold medal, he shows audiences how to achieve their own goals and sets them on the path to winning ways both on a professional and personal basis.[/expand]
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Leading Trendspotter, Futurist and Strategist

Marian Salzman is considered as one of the world’s top five trendspotters. She is the CEO of Havas PR North America, an entrepreneurial agency ranked ninth in the world. Marian was responsible for some of the most famous consumer campaigns and has executed thought leadership, reputation management and social media programs around the globe. Before heading Havas PR, she was CMO at Porter Novelli, CMO at JWT Worldwide and CSO at Euro RSCG Worldwide. She received many prestigious awards, including the the PRWeek’s 2009 PR Innovation of the Year award.

“One of the Top Five Trendspotters in the World”

[expand title=”In detail”] Marian is an advisor to the Berlin School of Creative Leadership’s MBA program, author of 14 books published in more than 20 languages and an honours graduate of Brown University for which she has served as a mentor to Brown Women in Business since 2006. Her four-part series on the brain for the Huffington Post won a 2011 Bronze SABRE award and an honorable mention from the PR News Platinum PR Awards. In addition, Marian has blogged regularly at Forbes.com, the Holmes Report, Adweek/Aol’s Fuel the Future, CNBC.com and numerous agency blogs run by @havasprus.

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[expand title=”What she offers you”]Marian has identified and taken public such concepts as Metro-sexuality. Singletons and Globesity She brings to her presentations more than a decade’s worth of experience as a consumer researcher and trend analyst as well as a reputation as one of the world’s leading futurists. Marian not only delivers practical insights, but she also offers audiences an accurate glimpse of the near future.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Her powerful presentations are well prepared and entertaining.[/expand]
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Former Creative Director of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent

Tom Ford was hired by Gucci’s creative director Dawn Mello in 1990 as chief women’s ready-to-wear designer and later appointed design director. When, in 1994, Gucci was acquired by a Bahrain-based investment firm called Investcorp, Tom was promoted to creative director and moved to Milan.

In his first year at the helm, he was credited with putting the glamour back into fashion introducing Halston-style velvet hipsters, skinny satin shirts and car-finish metallic patent boots. In 1995, he brought in French stylist Carine Roitfeld and photographer Mario Testino to create a series of new, modern ad campaigns for the company. By 1999, the house, which had been almost bankrupt when Tom joined, was valued at about $4.3 billion. In 2000, he was named Best International Designer at the first VH1/Vogue Awards in New York.

[expand title=”In detail”] Tom Ford has become arguably the most influential designer of the last decade. Having initially trained as an actor, he studied interior architecture at Parsons School of Design until 1986, and went on to take positions at Perry Ellis and Cathy Hardwick, before joining Gucci in 1990.[/expand]
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First Woman to Summit Everest from North & South Sides and Leadership speaker

Cathy O Dowd is a winning explorer and raconteur. Not one to submit to adversity, she reached Everest’s peak from the south, despite facing the worst storm in the mountain’s history. She took on the challenge of the treacherous north side two years later, but her attempt ended when she stopped to try and save a dying climber. A year later she returned and succeeded in becoming the first woman to climb Everest from both the north and south sides.

The first woman to conquer both the north and south sides of Everest

[expand title=”In detail”] A former university lecturer with a Masters degree in Media Studies, she grew up in South Africa. Now based in Europe, she remains an active adventurer, from the heights of the Himalaya to the wilderness of the Arctic. In 2003 she attempted a new route up the notorious east face of Everest. [/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]Interweaving the literal climbing adventure and the symbolic challenge of peak performance, she evokes your sense of possibility. Spectacular images add to her poignant story, which will rouse you to approach challenges with renewed zeal and increased capabilities. Cathy’s great strength lies in combining her dramatic adventures with a coherent message to business. Her inspirational presentations entertain and motivate while reinforcing key principles of best business practise.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Cathy is a fluent and passionate speaker, combining humour and drama, weaving a spell-binding story out of which she subtly draws her metaphors for achievement. All presentations are dramatically illustrated with photographs from the mountain. She is also part of our Top Women keynote speakers. [/expand]
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Award-Winning Global Marketing Guru

The prolific author of many definitive marketing reference works, Professor Philip Kotler is widely regarded as the world’s leading expert on strategic marketing.
He is currently the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Chicago.

“Today’s smart marketers don’t sell products; they sell benefit packages”

Prof. Philip Kotler 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

[expand title=”In detail”] Professor Kotler has consulted to many major U.S. and foreign companies – including IBM, Michelin, Bank of America, Merck, General Electric, Honeywell, and Motorola – in the areas of marketing strategy and planning, marketing organization, and international marketing.

He has authored what is widely recognized as the most authoritative textbook on marketing: ‘Marketing Management’, now in its 12th edition. He has also authored or co-authored a number of benchmark books and over one hundred articles, many of which have been published in the world’s leading journals. He holds many major awards, including the Distinguished Marketing Educator of the Year Award of the American Marketing Association and Marketer of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI)[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Professor Kotler’s professional wisdom is contemporary, relevant and practical, and his presentations are illustrated with many examples drawn from international business. He offers profound and provocative perspectives on market-based corporate revitalisation.[/expand]
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Olympic Sprinter and Gold Medallist

Michael Johnson is quite simply one of the greatest athletes on the planet, and one of the best ever. His place in history was sealed at the Atlanta Olympics, during which he won an unprecedented 200 meters and 400 meters sprint double. Winning the double in Atlanta was impressive enough, but it was the nature of the victories, particularly in the 200m, which made Johnson’s name forever.

“Michael Johnson was the most eminent figure in athletics in the
1990’s” Wikepedia

[expand title=”In detail”] From a very young age, Michael always loved running and sport. Always the fastest amongst his friends, he never dreamed he would be a world record holder and Olympic gold medallist. No-one else before or since has come near his time of 19.32 seconds in the 200 meters.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Michael offers audiences an insight into how his competitive nature and love of sport have made him a winner. He shows exactly what it takes to become a champion and how to reach the top.[/expand]
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Cutting Edge Design Expert and Global Authority on Innovation, Sustainability

John Thackara is an internationally acclaimed authority on innovation in a green economy. For Business Week he is “one of the great voices on sustainability”, and the Wall Street Journal has noted his “global reputation as a cutting edge design expert”. The Economic Times of India lauded his “brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability”. John is the author of a widely-read blog at designobserver.com, and of twelve books including In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World. As director of Doors of Perception, John also organises festivals around the world in which communities imagine a sustainable future — and take practical steps to realise it.

“Innovation starts with a meaningful question”
John Thackara

[expand title=”In detail”] John studied philosophy and trained as a journalist, before working for 10 years as a book and magazine editor. He was the first Director of the Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam and was program director of Designs of the Time (the social innovation biennial in England). He is a Fellow of The Young Foundation, the UK’s social enterprise incubator and sits on the advisory boards of the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, the Pecha Kucha Foundation in Tokyo, and Design Impact in the USA. A Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, he is also a member of the UK Parliament’s Standing Commission on Design.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]John’s talks deliver tangible benefits: actionable insights into sustainability and resilience; a shared vision of ‘preferred states’; opportunities for innovation in your organisation; and the impetus to launch high impact projects. He uses inspiring stories to demonstrate how the sustainability challenge is an opportunity for immediate action. “I talk honestly about the severity of the economic and environmental challenges that confront us – but then I re-frame these challenges in such a way that people gain fresh insight into opportunities for innovation that they can exploit”.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Encounters with John Thackara can occur in a variety of formats adapted to suit your unique requirements – from a one hour keynote lecture to more interactive workshops, design clinics and Explorers Clubs.[/expand]
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Former US Assistant Secretary of State and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University

James P. Rubin is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a prominent commentator and lecturer on U.S. foreign policy. From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Rubin lived in London, working as a broadcaster, professor, commentator and communications consultant. Most recently, from 2005 to 2007, he was international news anchor and world affairs commentator for SKY news. Mr. Rubin served under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to 2000.

He shares his insights of how media covers world events and how the public receives news

[expand title=”In detail”] During the 2004 election, Mr. Rubin served as Senior Adviser for National Security for the Kerry/Edwards Campaign. In the 1996 election, Mr. Rubin was Director of Foreign Policy for the Clinton/Gore ’96 Campaign. While in London, Mr. Rubin was a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics from 2001-2004, a partner in the Brunswick Group – a financial advisory firm – from 2001 -2004, and in 2002 and 2003 the host of the PBS series Wide Angle, a primetime, weekly international affairs program.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]James is an authority on foreign affairs and will give your audience insight into national security policies and US foreign policy initiatives that impact the world. James provides behind-the-scenes perspectives on his personal experiences during negotiations spanning the globe, from the Middle East and Iraq to Russia and China, in addition to the diplomatic missions which he led to Kosovo. Mr. Rubin is a regular contributor to a number of American and European newspapers, including The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]James is a stimulating speaker with a proven track record and is ideal for addressing international audiences as well as UK-based audiences.[/expand]
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Expert in Strategic Marketing, e-Business, Innovation

Professor Mohanbir Sawhney is a globally recognized scholar, teacher, consultant and speaker.

He is currently the McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology and the Director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

“A globally recognized thought leader”

[expand title=”In detail”] Professor Sawhney is the co-author of three books and his research has been published in leading journals like California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Management Science, Marketing Science, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He advises Global 2000 firms and governments worldwide and has won several awards for his teaching and research. These include the 2001 Accenture Award for the best paper published in California Management Review in 2000 and the Outstanding Professor of the Year at Kellogg in 1998.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Professor Mohanbir Sawhney offers audiences his views on collaborative marketing with customers, IT and business agility, customer-centric organization design, organic growth and business innovation.[/expand]
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Wimbledon Winner 1987

Pat Cash is best known as the flamboyant winner of Wimbledon 1987. Nowadays he is developing his business interests which include working with the Cash/Hopper Tennis Academy in Australia which he set up with fellow Australian Gavin Hopper. Pat is also kept busy with his television commentary work and in his capacity as the UK President of the charity GOAL, helping street children in the third world.

An icon of professional tennis

[expand title=”In detail”] Australian born Pat, started playing tennis at eight years old, and through perseverance, was the best player in Australia by the time he was 14. In 1982, Pat reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and in 1984 the semi-finals of the US Open and the Wimbledon Championships.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Pat regularly addresses conferences and thrills and motivates his audience with his great success story. He explains how he managed to reach the top of the professional; tennis circuit and how we can achieve our own personal and professional goals.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]An experienced television commentator, Pat’s relaxed presentation style and professionalism make him highly sought-after as a conference and after dinner speaker.[/expand]
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