The Leading Speakers Bureau

Global Business Strategist

Akio Miyabayashi was a former CEO of Minolta Europe, responsible for the launch of Minolta Europe in 1965, and Minolta’s own distribution network in the USA 1966, he became CEO Minolta Europe in 1975.

[expand title=”What he offers you”]His clear understanding of the criteria and driving forces of global competitiveness enabled him to successfully develop the European Operations of this multi-national corporation from a staff of 17 in 1965 to 5,200 in 1995 when he became a senior corporate adviser for the Minolta worldwide. His ability to understand the different cultures of the world and utilizing it for the successful growth, enabled Minolta to become a major player in the European market, with 44 companies and subsidiaries and 2 factories throughout Europe, including Eastern Europe and some parts of the former Soviet Union.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]A charismatic speaker with the knowledge of different cultures (European, American and Japanese), Akio Miyabayashi has shared centre stage with some of the world prominent politicians and business leaders. His presentations leave the audience with a valuable insight into European and Asian developments in industry, management and society, and offer meaningful projections into the 21st century.[/expand]
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Founder of Pentacle Business School, World Authority on Project Management

Professor Eddie Obeng is Founder Director of Pentacle the world’s first virtual business school and the first organisation to offer an integrated management approach specifically designed to meet the challenges of our fast changing, complex 21st century. He was previously an Executive Director at Ashridge Management College, having begun his career with Shell. Professor Obeng pioneered the concept of the ‘New World’ throughout the 1990’s.

‘Agent provocateur’ and a ‘…leading revolutionary’ Financial Times

[expand title=”In detail”] Eddie and his team have spent the best part of a decade re-writing the fundamentals of business management to create their own coherent, joined up New World approach. They have challenged all the established thinking from strategy as environmental fit to ‘hero’ leaders and re-interpreted the needs for the 21st century of complexity and fast change. Eddie brings genuinely new concepts, materials and practice. He has written up some of his work in over 12 books.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]If you’re after the ‘same old – same old’ Eddie is not the speaker for you. Using his extensive experience and insights he will challenge your perceptions and help you to see the new reality. But more than just ‘talking concepts’ he will use examples from real life client assignments to illustrate and explain, proving, in his words that “The future is now because most of us are already late!”. Eddie is a genuine leader. He has the ability to bring a presentation to life, engage and involve the audience often on a tough thinking journey. Eddie’s legendary reputation for injecting energy means he is often offered the tough post-lunch ‘graveyard slot’ at many conferences.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]“Eddie’s speech was very valuable as related beautifully to audience’s need, he obviously did his homework! The audience thoroughly enjoyed his energetic and passionate delivery, and would have liked more.”

Eddie is an exciting, energising, thought provoking, rigorous and humorous speaker. His presentations are incredibly energetic and he is renowned as a powerful presenter and a wonderful speaker. He is also part of our Top Leadership speakers.[/expand]
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‘The Alternative Business Guru’

Geoff Burch has a wealth of experience in illustrating the thinking required to find business success. He is equally at ease delivering presentations at conferences, and as a highly amusing after dinner speaker. Geoff covers everything from sales and negotiation to customer care and how they can be improved. Geoff has spent years perfecting his art and is able to construct precise training programmes to suit all companies, and to motivate the individuals involved. Geoff currently presents BBC2’s All Over the Shop, a show that provides a humorous yet practical approach to the problems that businesses face.

“The Hell’s Angel of Management Consultancy” Financial Times

[expand title=”In detail”] The son of a Viennese psychiatrist, Geoff has a wealth of experience in illustrating the thinking required to find business success. Geoff looks at every conceivable area of business, and is renowned for taking a sideways look at the latest business fads and fashions – translating the ones of value into a memorable message that everyone can understand.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Whether it is sales, customer awareness, or change management, Geoff will fire up any team from senior directors, a gathering of international business people, to mass gatherings of ground floor and front line staff with his enthusiasm for the subject, in a way only a true fanatical genius can.[/expand]
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Member of the Winning 1966 England World Cup Team

Geoff Hurst is the only soccer player ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. Geoff played for England 49 times and scored 24 goals. After 16 years he retired from top flight soccer, and started his own motor warranty business with fellow team mate Martin Peters. However, since 1995 he has been busy with speaking engagements and personal endorsements. As Director of Football for McDonalds UK, he has helped create 10,000 new football coaches, coaching children across the UK.

The only player ever to score a hat-trick in a world cup final

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Geoff Hurst was born in 1941. His distinguished career started in April 1959 with West Ham United at Upton Park. He made 411 league appearances, 88 cup appearances, and in a grand total of 499 appearances scored a massive 248 goals. Geoff was awarded an MBE in 1977 and in November 1998 was knighted for 30 years of service and contribution to football.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Most recently Sir Geoff has turned his hand to public relation activities which include after dinner and motivational speaking. He is able to draw on the similarities that exist between sport and business to motivate and inspire.[/expand]
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Director of Entrepreneurial Leadership Centre, Thought Leader & Author

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 18 books published in 38 languages, with over two million copies enjoyed by readers, he shares remarkable knowledge on all aspects of successful entrepreneurial thinking. He is Professor Emeritus of Entrepreneurship, referred to by Business Age as ‘Europe’s foremost teacher for business success’.

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

[expand title=”In detail”] A leading authority on success, business, management and lifestyle, Colin Turner, a.k.a The Monaco Mentor, is the Patron of Determined to Succeed; providing personal development learning tools for Schools in Scotland. Combining Eastern philosophy and contemporary Western experience into a practical format for daily use, he is consistently in demand with some of the world’s most recognised global corporations; Pfizer appointed him as their external change agent to attain leading market position. He was also instrumental in developing BT’s global customer service strategy. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Concentrating on the entrepreneurial characteristics that are essential for growth, he shows audiences how to increase focus, performance and productivity. In his presentations, he propels both teams and individuals to develop their personal and career paths to success. As an internationally respected keynote speaker, Colin Turner has the very real ability to inform and inspire people while igniting within them a fresh approach to business and life. He shares proven techniques gained over 35 years experience of building his own, successful enterprises and working closely with cutting edge leaders of the world’s most profitable organizations.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]His dynamic, highly inspirational and thought-provoking presentations are specifically tailored to deliver real value, ensuring a memorable conference that delivers the best impact for the messages you wish to impart. His tough, no holds barred, uncensored style, whether for leading organizations, business owners and entrepreneurs, works.[/expand]
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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.

[expand title=”In detail”] He has facilitated many strategic reviews, such as the session of G10 chairmen that established the vision and mission of the TEC movement and the role of the TEC secretariat.

Currently, he delivers a programme of bespoke and in-house master classes for board members and senior management teams.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Focusing on the board’s role in corporate transformation, he shows you how to improve board performance and that of the directors within it.

His unparalleled expertise on corporate change and creating entrepreneurial drive are not to be missed.[/expand]
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Multi Award Winning Entrepreneur and Bestselling Author

Jo Haigh is an independent General and Corporate Financier with extensive skills in mergers & acquisitions, private equity and general management as well as an Entrepreneur. She has bought and sold over 300 companies in the last 20 years specialising in owner managed companies. She is currently a partner and Head of Corporate Finance at Corporate Finance Services LLP.

Jo has won speaker of the year award in Vistage and is “the speaker most in demand”

[expand title=”In detail”] In 1989 she founded her own business, the fds Group, a training and consultancy organisation. Over the past years she has held numerous non-executive roles in various different companies and is a regular presenter for the Institute of Directors on corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions. She is a visiting Fellow at the Leeds University where she delivers lectures on Corporate Governance. In her distinguished career, Jo has been has been awarded various accolades including the IOD Business Adviser of the Year Award (2006/07) and Business Woman of the Year 2005/06.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]With her extensive knowledge in Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Corporate Finance and Boardroom Management she offers essential and effective advice how to improve boardroom dynamics, improve company finances and how to effectively grow and sell a business. An astute businesswoman and entrepreneur herself, Jo Haigh has assisted over five hundred company CEO’s by giving them the tools to make their businesses survive and thrive even in difficult times.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Jo is an inspirational and highly motivated speaker with a firm, but common sense approach and the ability to hold and inspire even the most sceptical groups. Her passion, financial and legal knowledge together with her willingness to help others makes her a highly sought after speaker today.[/expand]
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Author and Inspirational Workplace Guru

Judith Leary-Joyce is a best-selling author and a regular presenter at conferences on the subjects of Great Company Culture, Employer of Choice; Inspirational Managers and the Psychology of Success. Her passion for excellence makes her an exciting speaker who uses stories and examples to help people understand and buy in to the concepts. Her fascination with helping companies become employers of choice began when she worked on the 2002 ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list for the UK Sunday Times.

“Behind every excited and dedicated employee, you find an inspirational manager”

[expand title=”In detail”] Prior to founding GCC in 2002, Judith worked for 20 years as a psychotherapist, while founding and leading a psychotherapy training centre in London. She then moved into the business arena and spent 10 years as a consultant in leadership and management development, working with global companies. She has facilitated and coached a wide range of senior leaders in a variety of business settings. She is known for providing strong, rigorous support that includes giving tough messages. Using her experience of psychology she is able to do this in a way that maintains self-esteem and allows the person to move forward in a positive way.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]A motivational speaker, Judith can speak about the opportunities provided by the present recession, particularly in the area of Employer of Choice. A positive company culture and motivated employees will make the difference between success and failure in challenging economic conditions. Judith will help companies see how they can create a culture that invites opportunity and embraces the change in a positive and highly productive way.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Judith is an engaging and accessible speaker, who can help you and your audience understand what it takes to become an Employer of Choice, including the business benefits this brings; the value of Inspirational Managers and the support they provide in tough times, plus how to manage and retain your high achievers. She is also part of our Top Women keynote speakers. [/expand]
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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”

[expand title=”In detail”] In 2003, Julian led a division at the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, responsible for global assessment of ecosystem status and threats, and the valuation of ecosystem services. In 2005, he joined the UNEP Asian Tsunami Disaster Task Force to help assess the impacts of the Great Tsunami in Sri Lanka, and to improve environmental security by restoring various coastal ecosystems. In 2006 he was Senior Technical Adviser at the UNEP with special responsibility for environmental restoration in the Indian Ocean region. He has taught seminars and examined graduate dissertations at several universities including Cambridge, Hawaii, Kiel, Dalhousie, Australian National and Sydney.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Julian is a scientifically-trained independent practitioner of sustainable development, with special interest and experience in biodiversity, ecosystems, environmental services and participatory and community-based management of natural resources. He believes passionately that through education, consultation and action, we can all help to reduce the damage that we are doing to the biosphere – the thin skin of life on Earth. His aim is to make the workings of the biosphere clear to all, so that we can understand how and why to start living on the Earth as if we intended to stay.[/expand]
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The UK’s Guru of Motivation and Chairman of the Richard Denny Group

Richard Denny is the most inspirational business speaker in the UK and over the past 20 years he has become a legend on the international speaking circuit. His company, the Richard Denny Group, is recognised at the forefront of business training on selling, leadership and management, customer care and business growth.

Richard has had a fascinating career, brought up in a rectory his father was a Rector Baronet – he chose agriculture!! From this he branched out into building a successful farm food wholesale business.

[expand title=”In detail”] Richard has authored and presented over 30 training videos. He is the author and presenter of 3 audio albums. His 5 books are international best sellers and have been translated into over 20 languages.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]In his keynote presentations Richard offers audiences an informative and fresh approach to selling and leadership, he is also acknowledged as an accomplished conference chairman and facilitator.[/expand]
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