The Leading Speakers Bureau

Author, Public Intellectual, Strategic Consultant

Gurcharan Das is an author, venture capitalist, public intellectual and strategic consultant. He writes a regular column on Sundays for the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar and occasional guest columns for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Time magazine. In 1995, after a 30-year career in six countries, he took early retirement to become a full time writer.

“In life, action is more important than thought”

[expand title=”In detail”] Gurcharan Das graduated with honours in Philosophy and Politics, later attending Harvard Business School (AMP). He is the author of the international bestseller, ‘India Unbound’, which has been published in many countries and languages and filmed by the BBC. He has served on the juries of the McKinsey award for the best Harvard Review Article (2005) and US$ 500,000 Milton Friedman prize (2004). His career at Procter & Gamble included being CEO of India, Vice President of the Far East and later Vice President and Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide. Prior to P&G, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Richardson Hindustan Ltd.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]As a consultant for a number of companies on global corporate strategy and being associated with a venture capital fund, Gurcharan Das is in an ideal position to offer concise, relevant and current advice on a number of issues.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Gurcharan Das’ presentations are full of actionable points, valuable insights, humour and charisma, leaving his audiences enlightened, focused and empowered[/expand]
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Editor of British GQ, Author, Style Aficionado

At the helm of GQ since 1999, editor, author and style aficionado Dylan Jones is dedicated to great journalism and innovative ideas in popular culture. Famed for developing the GQ brand and revolutionizing the magazine’s reputation, he is also a consummate networker and an accomplished writer with a number of hugely varied and successful publications. A staunch advocate of the sharp suit and a dedicated follower of bespoke tailoring, Dylan Jones has emerged as one of Britain’s leading style and etiquette gurus.

One of Britain’s Leading Style Gurus” CNN.com

[expand title=”In detail”] Dylan Jones studied design and photography at Chelsea School of Art and St. Martins School of Art in London before becoming the Editor of i-D magazine in 1984. He has since been an Editor at The Face, Arena, The Observer and The Sunday Times. He has won the BSME Editor of the Year award four times, once for his work on Arena (1993), and three times for GQ (2001, 2002, 2004).[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Dylan Jones draws on his wealth of experience to provide audiences with fascinating insights into the business of editing GQ as well as insights relevant to the creative industries such as PR, fashion, branding, working with creative people and much more. With publications on the subjects of modern technology, fashion, style and music too, Jones’s plethora of topical experience is extraordinary.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Jones is an awe inspiring speaker. Informal but professional, humorous but thought-provoking, he will add pace and energy to your event.[/expand]
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Inspirational Model, Global Fashion Icon, UNICEF UK Ambassador & Businesswoman

Claudia Schiffer is recognised throughout the world as a model, icon and businesswoman. She has established herself as one of the biggest names in fashion and beauty in the world. She continues to be photographed today by the worlds leading photographers, has appeared in numerous campaigns and is currently developing her ‘brand business’

“The first model ever to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, the New York Times & People”

[expand title=”In detail”] Claudia Schiffer has cemented her position as one of the worlds leading supermodels. Discovered in a disco in Hamburg at 17, she shot to success almost immediately as the face of the highly published and iconic Guess? Jeans campaigns of the early 90’s. The Guess name became known around the world because of Claudia. Shortly after, she was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel and remained as his muse for many years. She has appeared in a number of films and music videos including West life’s cover of Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl as the iconic uptown girl.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]One of the most beautiful women in the world who has graced the cover of over a 1,000 magazines setting a world record, Claudia Schiffer’s ability to appeal to a global audience has ensured an internationally successful career spanning over two decades. The demand for her endorsement is as strong today as it has ever been.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Claudia Schiffer has a natural style and presence that adds prestige and glamour to any event.[/expand]
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Renowned Social Media Theorist, NYU Interactive Telecommunications Professor

Prof. Clay Shirky is a best-selling author, prolific writer, educator and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. Adjunct professor in New York University’s graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program, he believes that new technologies enabling loose ­collaboration — and taking advantage of “spare” brainpower — will change the way society works. He discusses the effect of Facebook, Twitter and other social media in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and what it could mean for the Middle East at large.

“Shirky is one of the handful of people with justifiable claim to the digerati moniker” WIRED

[expand title=”In detail”] One of the top thinkers on Open Source, social networks, collaboration tools and collaborative filtering, Clay Shirky’s work focuses on the rising usefulness of decentralized technologies such as peer-to-peer, wireless networks, social software and open-source development. His clients have included Nokia, the Library of Congress and the BBC. He has written and been interviewed extensively about the Internet since 1996. His columns and writings have appeared in Business 2.0, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review and Wired.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]One of the world’s top thinkers on human behaviour in social networks, Clay Shirky has become a consistently prescient voice on networks, social software, and technology’s effects on society. He provides insights into the interrelationships of social and technological networks and how they shape culture and each other and into Cognitive surplus, which he explains is important because it is a resource we have in our little corner of the 21st century that we didn’t have in the 20th century.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Clay Shirky is a captivating, highly informative and eloquent speaker who uses humour and clear examples to illustrate his message, showing how society and our daily lives will be improved dramatically as we learn to exploit our goodwill and free time like never before.[/expand]
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Leading Business & Financial Journalist

Anthony Hilton is a journalist who won the “Decade of Excellence Award” in 2007, the most prestigious award in business and financial journalism given annually by the World Press Awards; an offshoot of the Davos based World Economic Forum. He has worked for the Observer, the Daily Mail and the Sunday Express and has served in New York, where for three years he was Business Correspondent for the London Sunday Times.

“Winner of the prestigious Decade of Excellence Award”

[expand title=”In detail”] Anthony joined Fleet Street in 1968. He was City Editor of the Times, 1981 to 1983 and City Editor of the Evening Standard from 1984. In 1989 he became Managing Director of the Evening Standard, a post he held for six years before returning to the City Office as Editor in 1996. In 2003 he became Financial Editor and economics leader writer for the paper. He has worked in television and radio, has written books on understanding finance and the City, and is a frequent conference and after dinner speaker and moderator on City and media matters.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]The unparalleled pairing of Anthony’s experience of worldwide economic affairs with his incisive, but relaxed manner brings an undisputed edge to any occasion.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Anthony’s clear and informative presentations are adapted to demonstrate complex financial issues in an easy to understand and down to earth way.[/expand]
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ITV’s Managing Director of Commercial & Online, Former Chief Executive of Gcap & Virgin Radio

Fru Hazlitt’s is recognised as one of the most high profile business leaders working in Britain today. Her role at ITV brings together its online and TV sales businesses. The former Chief Executive of Fruxx Ltd., Virgin Radio and chief executive of the radio group Gcap, the largest commercial radio company in the UK embracing Capital and Choice FM, she is a firm believer that creativity and programming should lead, with sales and marketing supporting a radio station’s output. She has over two decades of sales and marketing experience within the media sector across Magazines, Newspapers and Radio most notably at the Guardian Media Group and Capital Radio. She is a member of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Panel and was named by the CBI as UK’s First Woman of Media.

“Fru made us howl with laughter, wince in empathy & think very hard about the future” East Midlands Chamber of Commerce

[expand title=”In detail”] Prior to joining Virgin Radio she was Managing Director of Yahoo! UK & Ireland since 2003. She joined Yahoo! in 2000 and by the time she became Managing Director of Yahoo UK and Ireland she had built a clear vision of the future of interactive technology, the opportunity it presents, the creativity it can inspire and the need to listen to a generation who have grown up with the Web. She spent two years as CEO of Virgin Radio, where she was credited with delivering the strategy for multi platform distribution for all Virgin stations.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]Fru has a clear vision of the future of interactive technology, the opportunity it presents, the creativity it can inspire and the need to listen to a generation who have grown up with the web. She draws on her comprehensive background in media sales and marketing to offer audiences insights into leadership in challenging conditions, speaking on the media industry and future directions for technology. Fru is a non executive board director of Betfair and with her background in general management, her proven commercial skills and her online experience with Yahoo, this makes her the ideal speaker at business forums and seminars.[/expand]

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[expand title=”How she presents”]Inspiring and enthusiastic Fru has a reputation for delivering excellent presentations and getting the messages cross in an original and memorable way. She laughs in the face of adversity. She is renowned for her tremendous energy, her understanding of both media and technology and her ability to deliver real change and results on the ground.[/expand]
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Award-winning Historian & Biographer, Author of ‘India After Gandhi: A History of the World’s Largest Democracy’

Ramachandra Guha (Ramachandra Guha Speaker)is acknowledged as a world authority in three distinct fields of scholarship, pioneering in the field of environmental history in South Asia, having authored several landmark essays on environmentalism and being seen as a pioneer in the field of sports history. He is a columnist for The Telegraph, Khaleej Times and The Hindustan Times newspapers. He is a fellow of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. A historian and journalist, he is author of ‘India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy’, edits ‘The Picador Book of Cricket’ and is a regular columnist with The Telegraph of Calcutta.

“Indian democracy’s pre-eminent chronicler” Time Magazine

[expand title=”In detail”] Ramachandra Guha graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a BA in Economics and then attained an MA from the Delhi School of Economics (University of Delhi). He then went to Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, where he did a Fellowship (equivalent to a Ph.D.) on the social history of forestry in Uttaranchal, that focused on the Chipko movement, which was later published as ‘The Unquiet Woods’. His books and essays have been translated into more than twenty languages. His essay ‘Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation’ has been reprinted in more than thirty anthologies.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]With books covering a wide range of themes, including a global history of environmentalism, a biography of an anthropologist-activist, a social history of Indian cricket, and a social history of Himalayan peasants, Ramachandra Guha is a ground-breaking pioneer, who is regarded as one of the hundred most influential public intellectuals in the world by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines. He has emerged as the most prominent chronicler of India’s past and of its present and he is very much in demand at prestigious events worldwide.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]The author-historian-sociologist-cricket expert-environmentalist, Ramachandra Guha has own direct no-nonsense, and sometimes controversial, style. One thing you can’t accuse Ramachandra Guha of is mincing his words. He is also part of our Top Indian keynote speakers. [/expand]
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American Documentary Filmmaker, Academy Award®-nominated Director, Humourist, TV Producer, Screenwriter & Journalist

Morgan Spurlock is the Creator and host of the reality program 30 Days on the FX Network. He became his own guinea pig in the Academy Award nominated 2004 hit documentary, Super Size Me. As writer, director, and producer of the film, he shed light on the epidemic of obesity in America, making one of the highest-grossing documentaries in history. His latest film, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

“The film and the book continue to make an impact on the way the world sees fast food”

[expand title=”In detail”] Morgan Spurlock graduated with a BFA in film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1993. He has an amazing career spanning film, non-fiction literature, television and, theatre. His second feature documentary, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. His popular documentary celebration of The Simpsons, The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice! was nominated for a 2011 Writer’s Guild award. He was also one of the celebrated directors behind the film adaptation of the best-selling book, Freakonomics. [/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]Morgan Spurlock makes documentary film and TV that is personal, political and, above all, deeply empathetic. With humour and persistence, he provides fascinating insights into how he dived into the hidden but influential world of brand marketing, on his quest to make a completely sponsored film about sponsorship. [/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]With fun and sobering humour, Morgan gives global audiences a look at the legal, financial, and physical costs of America’s hunger for fast food, having left an impact on US culture. Scathingly funny, subversive, and deceptively smart, Morgan’s newest lecture shines the definitive light on our branded future.[/expand]
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Award-winning Visionary British-American Film Director, Screenwriter & Producer

Christopher Nolan is known for writing and directing such critically acclaimed films as Memento (nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award (Oscar) for best screenplay), the remake Insomnia, the film adaption The Prestige, Inception, and rebooting the Batman film franchise. He was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director for The Dark Knight.

“The best actors instinctively feel out what the other actors need, & they just accommodate it” Christopher Nolan

[expand title=”In detail”] Christopher Nolan began making war movies using his father’s super 8mm camera and an assortment of male action figures. He was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, England and later studied English literature at University College, London. He directed his first feature film, Following, in 1998. His short film, Tarantella, was shown on Image Union, an independent film and video showcase featured on PBS, in 1989. Another short film of his, Larceny, was shown during Cambridge Film Festival in 1996.[/expand]

[expand title=”What he offers you”]One of Hollywood’s most innovative filmmakers, Christopher Nolan offers captivating insights into today’s innovative and creative movie making. His work is often based around an emotional or conceptual theme and he provides his audiences with fascinating details of his use of non-linear storytelling at the very height of his craft. For anyone interested in the creative process behind this film, he is ideally positioned to reveal his cinematic visions.[/expand]

[expand title=”How he presents”]Having always dreamed as a child to direct a big blockbuster film, Christopher Nolan’s passion for relating a story and natural charisma add to a wide range of worldwide events.[/expand]
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Chief Operating Officer at Facebook

Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. Prior to Facebook, she was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google. She also helped launch Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org. Prior to Google, she served as Chief of Staff for the United States Department of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton where she helped lead the Treasury’s work on forgiving debt in the developing world during Asian financial crisis.

In 2008 Facebook announced that Sheryl Sandberg would be their first COO

[expand title=”In detail”] Sheryl Sandberg graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics and was awarded the Prize for the top graduating student in economics. She later enrolled at Harvard Business School and earned her MBA with highest distinction. Her first job out of college was at the World Bank where she worked on health projects in India dealing with leprosy, AIDS, and blindness. She was also a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and an economist with The World Bank. In 2009, she was named to the board of the Walt Disney Company and joined the Board of Directors of Starbucks. [/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]Described by The Economist as “the unseen driving force behind the creation of Google.org”, Sheryl Sandberg has vast experience navigating the complex and socially sensitive world of international economics. She provides insights from her distinguished career at the Treasury, Google and at Facebook, where she currently oversees the firm’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]A globally respected businesswoman that has received accolades including being named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune, Sheryl Sandberg’s presentations are rich in content, powerfully delivered and highly sought-after at prestigious events worldwide.[/expand]
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