As Chief Nurse, on the board at the Royal Marsden, Eamonn represents the Trusts 1400 Nurses, Therapists and Pharmacists and is responsible for the patient safety and patient experience portfolios. The Royal Marsden is Europe’s largest cancer centre with the third largest cancer research portfolio globally. It is rated ‘Outstanding’ by the NHS regulator, the Care Quality Commission.

At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Eamonn was called upon to become the Director of Nursing at NHS Nightingale London – part of a five person leadership team charged with designing, building and operating the world’s largest temporary Critical Care Unit built at the Excel conference centre, which become operational in just 9 days. Fortunately, Nightingale London was not used to its full capacity, but still cared for 55 critically ill Londoners, becoming at that time, Europe’s largest temporary Critical Care Unit.

Prior to his current role, Eamonn held a number of positions in prestigious NHS Trusts, including – Deputy Chief Nurse at University College London Hospitals and Deputy Chief Nurse at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Eamonn spent much of his clinical career in Adult Critical Care, he holds an MSc in Critical Care from Kings College London. In 2017 he was honoured to become a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholar.

Outside of the NHS, Eamonn is a Major in the British Army Medical Services (Reserve). He has had the privilege of leading UK and US Army Medical Teams in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, including being appointed as the Officer Commanding Critical Care at Camp Bastion. Eamonn rates these experiences as being pivotal periods in his career.

In October 2020 Eamonn was called upon to become NHS Test and Trace’s first Chief Nursing Officer – he is currently seconded into this position and returns to the Royal Marsden in January 2021.

Eamonn lives in Berkshire with his wife Yamini, an NHS Paediatric Speech Therapist, and their two children.

Dan Stembridge MA FRAeS ADC RN

Dan is a former Royal Navy fighter pilot who has seen combat in major conflict zones. As a UK TOPGUN instructor, he went on to command an airbase of over 3,000 personnel. An influential thinker whose advice has been sought by government ministers, Dan is a former aide-de-camp to Her Majesty The Queen.

A highly experienced speaker with an engaging and interactive style, Dan is extremely skilled at gearing his material to the precise needs of his audience. He uses entertaining and dramatic stories to bring the desired messages to life. Audiences always find Dan’s talks gripping, relevant, thought-provoking and highly memorable.

Dan now runs his own consultancy where he teaches state of the art skills in leadership, resilience, building high performance teams and creating a winning business culture. Find out more on Dan’s website here.

Edward Colver MBE MBA

Edward commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in 1999. He commanded at Company and Platoon levels interspersed with a variety of high level technical and program management roles.

During his 17 years within the Military, Edward has excelled both professionally and within the area of sport. He has captained the RMAS and British Army Germany 1^st XVs and represented the Army in tennis and golf. His professional highlights include leading a unit during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, achieving promotion to Major at 30, the youngest in the British Army at the time, and being appointed as a Member of the British Empire for his leadership on the frontline in Afghanistan.

Edward is a proven international leader who thrives on mentoring the individual, developing teams and delivering success. This was most noticeably demonstrated when he successfully led 700 men and women from 6 different nations on combat missions whilst in Afghanistan. Since leaving the Army Edward’s multinational leadership experience combined with his knowledge of the Arabic language and culture, has led him to research and write about the development of global leadership competencies at a post graduate level.

By combining his experiences of commanding soldiers on the front line, dealing with catastrophic events, transitioning into the business world and joining a public sector organisation he delivers a compelling, insightful and down to earth approach to leadership, management, resilience, risk and dealing with adversity.

Richard Cotter

Richard is currently Chairman and CEO of the Fresh Oxygen Group, a strategy consultancy specialising in driving rapid business performance improvement in consumer facing branded, retail and e-commerce businesses. In addition, he is Chairman of American Golf Retail, Chairman of Grace Cole, Chairman of Jollyes the Pet Superstore, Chairman of Outdoor Holdings GP, and also a Main Board Investor NED at New Look Retail.

From playing golf against multiple major winners Sir Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Sandy Lyle, summiting Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc with Sir Chris Bonington and building Berghaus, the eponymous British brand, into a global market leader, he has both the experience and a unique ability to correlate the risk and adventure of high-altitude mountaineering, professional sport and elite performance coaching with the risk and adventure of running businesses in corporate life. Drawing parallels which deliver success in both fields and articulating them in a pragmatic and actionable way.

He strongly believes that new generation business leaders must be capable of balancing the here and now with the ability to see what the bright future needs to look like, creating an organisation where business alignment and employee engagement are the two driving forces.

Richards speaking work focuses on challenging and energising audiences to; consider what their Leadership Brand should look like; demonstrate they have sufficient Desire, Belief and Commitment to make it happen; re-visit and evaluate their Strategic Choices; think how they build a High Performance Culture; define what a world class “Team 1” needs to look like; understand how to mobilise an organisation and create Unstoppable Momentum.

Richard has captured his experience and insight in his best-selling book The Zebra Reality, a remarkably practical 5 Step Programme designed to help businesses create unstoppable organisation momentum and achieve all their business goals.

Mike Ling MBE

Mike has taken part in a record 10 display seasons with the Red Arrows. In that time he flew 2,585 sorties in Red Arrows aircraft, played a part in 700 public displays and flew a red Hawk jet into 46 different countries; as far west as New York and as far east as China.

Mike achieved his childhood dream when he was selected to join the Red Arrows for the 2008 display season to fly as Red 3 before then being chosen as Red 7 in the prestigious Synchro Pair for 2009. In March 2010, while leading the Synchro Pair as Red 6, Mike survived a head-on mid-air training collision at a closing speed of over 750 mph. A low-level ejection caused major injuries resulting in surgery and months of rehabilitation before Mike could get back in the air.

In 2012 Mike flew as Red 9 in flypasts for major events including the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony and Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Other career highlights include racing a jet against four-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton in his F1 car. These achievements have made Mike a familiar face across the air display scene.

Mike was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List at the end of 2017 for his services to the Red Arrows, and subsequently received the Masters Commendation from the Honourable Company of Air Pilots in October 2018. He became a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in March 2019.

Mike left the Royal Air Force in April 2019 after 21 years of service. He has since become a commercial pilot and flight instructor and is a full-time member of the Blades Aerobatic Team, the world’s only aerobatic airline. In this role he performs public displays but also relishes in the opportunity to give passengers the chance to experience close formation aerobatics in a team of all ex-Red Arrows pilots.

James Pearce

James has reported from eight Olympic Games, representing the BBC as their Olympic Correspondent for the 2012 London Games.

His insights from more than a quarter of a century as a leading BBC broadcaster for television and radio outlets, ranging from the Today programme to Newsnight, give him an invaluable perspective on effective communication. He translates these findings into valuable messages for business leaders.

James has helped to transform the reputation of his highest profile clients, which include the likes of the England football team and a number of FTSE 100 CEO’s. More recently, James has moved into the world of corporate speaking. His teachings enable audiences to prepare key messages and then deliver them with maximum effect.

James has the ability to teach the art of handling difficult questions from colleagues or clients without losing the trust of your questioner – an essential tool for so many of us. When staff have these invaluable skills a business is able to become so much more robust. James truly delivers an entertaining and extremely educational talk. You will quickly understand how James has transformed the mindset of his clients.

Andy Torbet

After 10 years in the British Forces Andy left to pursue a career in scientific exploration and film-making. To date Andy has presented on 19 TV series including BBC1, BBC2, CBBC, Discovery US and the History Channel. This has seen him free dive under the Alaskan ice, stand in the middle of a 700 degree fireball, climb a 12 storey glass building, swim with sharks, cave dive inside icebergs and present live on BBC1.

With his background as an ex-Bomb Disposal Officer, Paratrooper and Army Diver Andy uses his own life experiences and love for extreme sports to innovate and push the boundaries of what is possible. As part of a TV series called Beyond Bionic, Andy asked contacts within the UK Space Agency to personally build him a set of jet engines that would allow him to fall faster in a skydive. The project eventually led to Andy being involved as a test pilot with the UK’s Space sector in their development of prototype equipment.

As a keen Skydiver and Wing suiter Andy has made various films for TV in the name of science. This has seen him execute a HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) jump for BBC’s Cloud Lab as well as perform a solo jump from 28,000ft over the Arizona desert with various scientific collection apparatus strapped to his chest, whilst racing a Peregrine Falcon – the fastest animal in the world.

Despite the technical and extreme nature of the work he undertakes, Andy maintains a deep interest in academia. With a degree in Zoology and a Masters in Archaeology, Andy’s academic interests are as varied as his extreme skills. He has a keen interest in science and engineering and he’s a member of Mensa, the High IQ Society – “For every hour I spend in the gym I’ll spend three reading a book”.

Most recently Andy has become involved with elements of the UK Space community assisting in the design and testing of space exploration equipment.

Roger Flynn

Roger is a recognised CEO and leader in transformation change having driven change in global organisations including Virgin, British Airways, Prudential and the BBC.

Roger started his career at Virgin, working directly for Sir Richard Branson on deals and new business ideas. He became Commercial Director of Virgin Communications, working on the launch of Virgin Radio, the development of its global post-production business and the rapid growth and sale of Virgin Interactive Entertainment.

Roger then moved on to become General Manager of World Sales & Distribution at British Airways where he transformed the £1.2 billion distribution system for BA and subsequently the industry. He launched electronic ticketing and created ba.com with a simultaneous launch in 72 countries across the world.

Roger worked as Managing Director of Prudential Retail, the retail distribution arm of Prudential plc, with £2 billion in revenue and 6 million customers. Joining immediately after the pensions mis-selling scandal, he drove a major business transformation including the launch of new products, new distribution channels, a £200 million CRM programme and an innovative new sales process. As part of this transformation he led an exhilarating culture change for the 6,500 staff.

Roger acted as Chief Executive of BBC Ventures Group, running the media services for the BBC and other broadcast/IT customers around the world. His transformation and subsequent sale of these businesses created over £1 billion of value for the BBC. Roger was additionally on the Main Board of the BBC and an integral part of the BBC-wide transformational change programme.

Roger is now Chairman and investor in media, travel and technology businesses. He is Chairman of Olive Communications Ltd, a company offering converged communications solutions and Vodafone’s 2nd largest channel partner; Chairman of Masstech Innovations Inc., an international software business for broadcasters worldwide; and Chairman of Clearvac Group, an international Cruise Ship and Superyacht maintenance services business.

David Coulthard MBE

Winner of 13 Grands Prix, including twice winner of both the British and Monaco Grands Prix, David achieved a remarkable 62 podium finishes during a stellar 15 year Formula One career which saw him race against world class competition including Michael Schumacher, Mike Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

David played a key role in helping McLaren to win the Formula One World Championships for Constructors in 1998, the team finishing 2nd in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He also finished 2nd in the 2001 Formula One World Championship for Drivers behind the dominant Schumacher/Ferrari partnership and was 3rd in the World Championship on no fewer than four occasions.

As a founding member of the Red Bull Racing team in 2005, David brought the team its first podium finish in 2006 in Monaco, and was instrumental in developing it into a 4-times World Championship winning team in 2010-2013. When he stopped racing in F1 at the end of 2008 he held the record for being the highest points scoring British Formula One driver of all time.

Since retiring as an F1 driver at the end of 2008, David has continued working for Red Bull Racing, driving its cars in promotional events all over the world. He also remains as a brand ambassador for leading companies including Mercedes-Benz, UBS Bank, Red Bull, IWC, Cooper Tires, Transcal and Heineken.

He has established a successful second career as a world class broadcaster and commentator, initially with BBC Television and more recently at Channel 4, for which David’s production company ‘Whisper Films’ produces the television coverage of Formula One in the UK. Outside of Formula One, David has been a successful entrepreneur, investing in a range of successful businesses which have added to his reputation as being a winner on and off track.

Speaker Theme: Leadership

Eamonn Sullivan