Business Speakers


Michelle Mone

Michelle Mone grew up in the East End of Glasgow. Entrepreneurial Spirit was prevalent from an early age and whilst her friends had posters of Duran Duran on their wall, she had Richard Branson. When Michelle’s father was struck down with an illness that left him confined to a wheelchair, in order to support her Mum and Dad, Michelle left school at age 15 with no qualifications to find full time employment.


Rory Cellan-Jones

Rory Cellan-Jones has been a reporter for the BBC for more than two decades, covering business and technology stories for much of that time. Rory’s on-screen career began as reporter for ‘Wales Today’ in Cardiff, from where he moved to London as a reporter on ‘Breakfast Time’. He quickly transferred to business coverage, working across the BBC’s output from the ‘Money Programme’ to ‘Newsnight’, from the ‘Today’ programme to the ‘Ten O Clock News’. The stories he has covered range from Black Wednesday and the Maxwell trial to the dot com bubble and the rise of Google.


Dr Paul T. Thomas

Dr Paul Thomas is on a mission to rid the world of managers. He believes the workplace would be better off if we ditched the traditional way of managing, and instead gave every single member of staff a say in the running of the business. His aim in life is to make organisations democratic, fun and enjoyable places to work. Paul is a familiar voice to listeners of BBC Radio Wales as The Business Doctor. The series follows him as he tries to prove to companies that his unconventional views really will make them more productive and profitable. An expert in complexity theory,


Jim Lawless

Jim is one of the most inspiring and highly sought after speakers in Europe. He is the only speaker to have developed a unique model for personal and business achievement and proved it in response to an audience challenge.

He put his life on the line to go from overweight, smoking, non-riding consultant to riding in his first televised race as a jockey in just 12 months. All to prove that The Ten Rules for Taming Tigers is not “self-help snake oil” but a unique set of tools for change.


Robert Craven

Robert Craven is one of the UK best-known and sought after speakers on entrepreneurship; anyone who has experienced one of his impactive presentations will know exactly why. Robert because he is challenging, honest and goading. He knows how to grow a business …– he has been there and done it…

After running his own restaurants, recording studio and training companies, Robert spent five years leading training and consultancy programmes for entrepreneurial businesses at Warwick Business School.


Ruth Badger

Ruth Badger grew up in Wolverhampton. At 16 she left full time education, with just 3 GCSE’s, to join a YTS in the Civil Service. Her first big break was when she got a job working as a processor for a local financial services Company.

Ruth quickly excelled, was promoted 4 times in just 18 months, and was awarded with four company awards for performance, including the fantastic accolade of National Employee of the year for GE Capital, receiving an all expenses cruise around Europe.


Kristina Grimes

From the minute Kristina Grimes hit our screens during the first episode of ‘The Apprentice’, the nation were left in no doubt that she was a force to be reckoned with.

Kristina was, without doubt, the people’s favourite. She excelled at every task undertaken and displayed a steel-like determination to succeed. Her outstanding business attributes were evident week after week and, unlike many of the other competitors, stayed clear of the back-biting that they appeared to thrive on.


Jamie Owen

Jamie Owen has been a leading figure in Welsh broadcasting for many years.   He is best known as the face of ‘BBC Wales Today’ - the country's most watched news programme. The programme won the Royal Television Society Award for ‘Best News Programme’. He also presents a daily radio talk show for BBC Radio Wales.  He is also a successful author and has written four books with another in the pipeline.


Justin A. Urquhart Stewart

'Having trained as a barrister, Justin took up corporate finance, working in both Africa and Singapore. He then went into marketing with a focus on corporate cash management facilities. This led him to help found Broker Services in 1986, which went on to become Barclays Stockbrokers, where he was Marketing Director. In early 2001, he co-founded Seven Investment Management, an investment management business that innovated the UK investment market with the introduction of the first Sterling Investment Wrap Account which now manages and administers in excess of £1.6 billion on behalf of professional financial wealth managers and intermediaries.


Mai Davies

Stunning television presenter Mai Davies has had an impressive career in television to-date. She was, for several years, the reader of the daily Sky Television news.  Mai has also presented many other television programmes, including the weekly chat show/discussion programme ‘On the Edge’ featuring high profile celebrities and prominent figures; ‘Wales This Week’, the award winning weekly investigative current affairs programme.


Professor D.G. Rhys CBE

Professor Garel Rhys held the SMMT Chair in Motor Industry Economics in the Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University until 2005.  He also headed the Economics Section in the School until 1999.  He was Director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research (CAIR) in the University also until 2005.  He is now Emeritus Professor in the Cardiff University Business School and Centre for Automotive Industry Research.


Nigel Kershaw

Nigel Kershaw is the Chief Executive of Big Issue Invest and Chair of The Big Issue Company. Big Issue Invest, part of The Big Issue group of companies, is passionate about funding ground-breaking, innovative business solutions by financing the scale-up of profitable social enterprises that create social opportunity and transformation and environmental sustainability.

He is a Cabinet Office Social Enterprise Ambassador, a Director of the Social enterprise Coalition and in 2008 received the Good Director for Enterprise honour award from the Institute of Directors.


Elin Rhys

Elite Management has been trying to secure Elin as a speaker for quite some time after hearing her speak at a high profile award ceremony. We are thrilled that she is now on board.

Elin is a graduate in biochemistry and began her career as a scientist in the water industry where she worked for five years.  She joined HTV Wales in 1984 as a freelance journalist on science magazine programmes. 


Bernard Pearce

Bernard is a dynamic speaker who has inspired his audiences over the length and breadth of the UK.  His vast and varied career has given him the knowledge and experience to advise workforces and executives alike and stimulate them into taking action on the business principles he imparts.  His enthusiastic presentation style usually results in a flurry of creative activity leading individuals and organisations to incredible success.

His early career was in the oil industry, with Shell UK, having roles spanning Logistics; Business to Business and Retail Sales; Marketing; Communications; Operations; and Human Resources.


Alex Lovell

Geoff Burch is considered to be Europe’s most exciting business speaker and writer. A phenomenon who delights audiences throughout the world, Geoff is a remarkable speaker whose unique and refreshing outlook on all manner of business topics has made his name into a global brand and himself into someone who is constantly in demand for his memorable and uplifting presentations. His credentials are impressive, working extensively with the world’s major blue chip companies to motivate and inspire their people and as a regular contributor on television and radio.


Rachel Flanagan

Rachael wanted to leave College at 16.  She had no idea what she wanted to do but fate intervened when, one day, their domestic cleaner did not turn up and Rachael offered to do the cleaning for her mother. She found that she enjoyed it and started cleaning for friends and neighbours. There seemed to be a good deal of interest in the service she offered so she invested just £20 to have flyers printed and distributed them around the houses in her locality. The response was better than Rachael anticipated and she was inundated with enquiries so decided to rope in some carefully chosen staff to help. 


Dr Barbara Wilding

Miss Wilding joined the Jersey States Police as a cadet in 1967 and was attested as a constable in 1970. In 1971, she transferred to the Metropolitan Police where she predominantly served as an operational detective throughout London and on specialist units in New Scotland Yard. She became an Assistant Chief Constable in Kent Constabulary in 1994. 

In 1998, she transferred to the Metropolitan Police as Deputy Assistant Commissioner and served as Director of Strategic Resources and also Specialist Operations, where she commanded the Security and Protection Directorate which included protection of Ministers, Royal Family, Special Branch, Heathrow Airport, covert intelligence and the specialist firearms unit.


Abi Carter

Forensic Scientist, Abi Carter, runs her own successful company offering a range of expert witness services to legal teams throughout the UK. Working mainly with defence solicitors and private investigators within the fields of criminal investigation.

Abi is a qualified forensic archaeologist who is also sub-contracted by a mass disasters emergency services company and can be deployed worldwide on a 24 hour notice period. Abi is on the board of Young Enterprise and a committee member of Women in Management South Wales which promotes women in high ranking jobs. Abi was awarded with the prestigious position of Honorary Tutor to Cardiff University in 2008.


Nirmal Chhabria

Nirmal is company founder of Niva International UK Ltd.  Founded in 2005 Niva International UK Ltd started trading solely from an office in Cardiff and has created a very profitable business exporting high quality ferrous and non-ferrous waste metal to China, India and parts of Southern Asia. 

Niva International UK Ltd has grown rapidly since its inception in 2005 and has achieved a 200% growth rate each year since it began trading.

Since starting Niva International UK Ltd, Nirmal has gone on to achieve further success with other ventures under the umbrella heading of the Niva Group of companies.  One of his most successful ventures has been Niva Global Services. 


Geoff Hughes

Geoff was born and raised in Usk and was educated at Monmouth School. He has lived, intermittently, in Llansoy for 34 years.

Former Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh , the highest security prison in UK, former Governor of Cardiff  prison and Drake Hall women’s prison and recently retired Area Manager for all public sector prisons in Wales.

Geoff Hughes trained as a teacher and taught for 9 years in comprehensive schools and a secure unit for disaffected adolescent boys.

He joined the Prison Service in 1981 and spent 27 years in over 100 prisons in England and Wales. His experience includes working in young offender establishments, women’s prisons, adult male prisons and high security prisons.


Andrew Price

Andrew Price is the presenter of A-Z of Bushcraft.  He is an expert in ‘living off the land’ and has travelled extensively all over the world in order to study the traditional skills of indigenous peoples including the Orang Astli people of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, as well as the native inhabitants of Australia and Canada. Andrew trained as a Ninja warrior for 5 years attaining a high level of skills.

Andrew is a popular writer for various Bushcraft & Survival magazines. He is an experienced practitioner of a wide range of outdoor pursuits including Kayaking, Cycling, Rock Climbing, and Mountaineering.