An Olympic athlete, Andrew spent 12 years competing professionally in track and field, specialising in the 400 metres and the 4×400 metre relay for Great Britain. With a well-known career and profile, Andrew is a respected voice in the media on all topics related to sport, fitness, health and wellbeing.

Andrew is a skilled public speaker, writer and presenter, his athletic career saw him work and represent many global brands across a wide variety of industry sectors, from pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Smith Kline to global logistics company CHEP, all the way to consumer brands like Nike and Asics.

He is a passionate advocate for anti-doping and sporting integrity, in 2017 Andrew became an Olympic medallist after he was retrospectively upgraded from 4th place to 3rd from the Beijing 2008 games as a result of the Russian doping scandal.

Andrew’s experience of success and failure as a professional sportsperson led him to discover the DNAFit technology, and as a result has a very personal and passionate experience as to the utility of personal genetics. Andrew has a wide professional experience covering a number of sectors, including: sports apparel, sports commercial, rights and talent management, print and broadcast journalism and even as a professional music producer. As adept at copywriting and designing marketing campaigns as he is at translating genomics API’s and modelling ruleset algorithms, Andrew uses his personal experience as a sportsman to shape, build and represent the best genetic products possible for DNAFit.

Andrew Steele is one of the founding team at DNAFit, with the role Head of Product & Professional Sport. This role puts Andrew in charge of the entire product offering and structure, from consumer to professional sport clients – including working with the Scientific Advisory Board to accurately communicate genetic science into consumer products, designing and overseeing the visual communication of the various products for appropriate audiences, working closely with development team to create both digital and offline products, as well as overseeing the company brand, voice and marketing output. As a founding team member, Andrew also represents the company in media or press opportunities, as well as playing a role in the corporate management and guidance of the company.

Ed Balls

Ed was UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 2011-2015 and served in the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 2007-2010. He was the UK Minister for Financial Services 2006-2007 and the Chief Economic Adviser to the UK Treasury 1997-2004 during which time he was Chair of the IMFC Deputies and UK G20 Deputy.

Ed studied economics and philosophy at Keble College, Oxford, and economics and politics (MPA) at the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard. Ed was a teaching fellow in the Department of Economics, Harvard from 1988 to 1990 and a leader writer and columnist at the Financial Times from 1990 to 1994 where he was the Wincott Young Financial Journalist of the Year. He has also written regularly for the Guardian, New Statesman and Tribune and co-authored a number of books, papers, articles and pamphlets.

Ed’s popular BBC TV series ‘Travels in Trumpland: with Ed Balls’ was broadcast in July 2018 and a second series ‘Travels in Euroland with Ed Balls’ will air on BBC 2 early 2020. Ed has also presented the BBC TV series ‘What Britain Buys And Sells In A Day’ with Ade Adepitan and Cherry Healey which broadcast in October 2019 and offered expert political analysis alongside George Osbourne for the ITV election night coverage for 2017 and 2019 general elections.

He has also appeared in a number of other television programmes including being a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing 2016, competing in Sport Relief Celebrity Bake-off, being a guest chair on Have I Got New for You, and has made guest appearances on Would I Lie to You, Insert Name Here, The Michael McIntyre Show and QI. He is also a regular guest on This Week, Peston on Sunday. In February 2019, Ed climbed Kilimanjaro with eight other well-known climbers, raising over £2m for Comic Relief.

Ed is Vice President of Action for Stammering Children, a Patron of the British Stammering Association and a Patron of Whizz-Kidz. He has run the London Marathon three times since 2011, raising over £160,000 for WhizzKidz and Action for Stammering Children. He is also the co-Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Vice President and former Chairman of Norwich City Football Club.

Connie Henry

Connie is a former International Triple Jumper and 1998 Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist. Connie has broadcast experience with companies including BBC, ITV, Sky and the International Association of Athletics Federation, as well as becoming Director of the Track Academy.

Connie’s own experiences of dysfunctional family life and lack of childhood security thrust her into the sporting arena, joining the Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers at just 15 years old. Connie’s determination and commitment continued at St Mary’s University when studying Sports Science and History and her post-graduate teacher training course at Brunel University, while becoming one of the best athletes in the country.

In the autumn of 1997, she moved to Sydney to train with Keith Connor, Australian head coach and British Olympic triple jump medallist, and within 2 years Connie travelled to Kuala Lumpur to compete in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, taking home bronze.

The next phase for Connie saw her gain freelance broadcasting experience with several organisations including the BBC, Sky and the International Association of Athletics Federation. Her work included a memorable stint with boxing promoter Frank Warren, during which she found herself ringside at the heavyweight match between Wladimir Klitschko and Danny Williams in Las Vegas.

In 2007 Connie was approached by Willesden Sports Centre, asking her to lead new track and field activities there. Connie utilised her contacts from the athletics world to grow the temporary work at the centre into 10 years of the Track Academy, a charity which has changed the lives of hundreds of young people.

Gregg Wallace

A high-profile presenter on UK TV, Gregg came to prominence as the co-host of MasterChef, Celebrity Masterchef and Masterchef: The Professionals alongside John Torode. The show has versions in over 25 countries, earning its reputation as the world’s biggest food programme.

Gregg began his career as a greengrocer at Covent Garden Fruit and Veg Market and in 1989 he started George Allan’s Greengrocers, a company that built up to an eventual turnover of £7.5 million and boasted over 500 restaurant clients.

Based on his business success, he was invited to co-present Veg Talk on BBC Radio 4 with Charlie Hicks, which lasted for seven years. In 2002, he was the original presenter of Saturday Kitchen, a show he still features on to this day. Other food-related TV projects include: Eat Well for Less, Inside the Factory, Turn back Time, Harvest and Supermarket Secret.

Along with various food and cookery shows Gregg has appeared on everything from Who Do You Think You Are? to 8 Out Of 10 Cats and also had a stab at Strictly Come Dancing in 2014. Away from the media, Gregg formerly owned a restaurant and was also Managing Director of an online farm shop and distributor of home grown produce to the public and restaurants. He also regularly writes for Good Food and Olive magazine.

Caspar Berry

Caspar is a highly distinctive corporate speaker with a unique and challenging message that requires people to question many of the things they take for granted.

Caspar Berry, started his career in the first series of Byker Grove on BBC1 alongside Ant and Dec. He went on to read Economics and Anthropology at Cambridge and – after setting his sights on becoming a professional film writer – had his first screenplay produced by Film Four whilst in his final year.

By the time he was 23 Caspar was writing for Miramax and Columbia Tri-Star. At 25 he moved to Las Vegas and became a professional poker player for the next three years of his life.

In 2002 he co-founded Twenty First Century Media and built it into the fastest growing audiovisual media company in the North East of England. At this time he also began his career as a speaker and catalyst for new thinking within business, specialising in risk-taking and decision-making. In 2008 his company was sold to Bob Geldof’s media giant, Ten Alps.

He returned to his television roots as the presenter and poker expert on a number of TV shows, most notably: Poker Night Live, voted Britain’s best poker show; and Sky Poker, the country’s premier nightly poker show. He also appeared on Sky Sports, was the poker strategy writer for Flush magazine and was also the poker adviser on the James Bond movie, Casino Royale.

Caspar is a highly distinctive corporate speaker with a unique and challenging message that requires people to question many of the things they take for granted. Drawing from his diverse range of experiences in poker, business and life, Caspar offers a fresh look at the way individuals approach risk and take decisions in order to gain a competitive edge. Caspar’s key message is that understanding how to take calculated risks is critical in the creation of dynamic leaders and managers who will innovate and change the world around them.

Caspar is also a charismatic host, often leading an end of day Poker activity as a follow through from his key note speech or workshops sessions. During which Caspar back-references his insights about risks, decision or luck to coach his audience to play poker and then commenting on and hosting a poker tournament.

He has now delivered over 1000 sessions as a speaker and trainer for hundreds of organisations including Google, The Met Police, IBM, Castrol, KPMG, ASDA, Orange, Eon, Ernst and Young, BAA and Ashridge Management School.

Will Greenwood MBE

Will Greenwood is not one to shy away from high pressure or highly competitive situations, having become the second highest try scorer in English rugby history.

He helped power England to a glorious victory at the Rugby World Cup in 2003 where he finished the tournament as joint top try scorer with five to his name. In 2005, in the culmination of an outstanding career, he finally threw off injury problems to run out for the British & Irish Lions in their tour of New Zealand.

Off pitch his focus has remained undimmed. With a reputation as a bright, articulate and witty personality he was snapped up by Sky as a regular match day presenter and fronts the hugely popular ‘School of Hard Knocks’, giving at risk youngsters the chance to train, grow and shine through sport.

Alongside this he pens a weekly opinion column for the Saturday Telegraph and is patron of the Child Bereavement Charity.

A brilliantly funny after dinner speaker, Will can also shed light on the more serious lessons learnt from a career in elite sport.

As a Durham Economics graduate and former City trader with HSBC he can speak eloquently, intelligently and with real insight about the synergies between high performance in sport and business.

Steve McCulley

Steve switched to motorpsort as a second career and made an immediate impact. He has competed in over 50 races in the last four years, with a 50% podium finish rate, and is an ARDS ‘A Grade’ Instructor.

Prior to his motorsport career, he was a commissioned officer in the Royal Marines for seventeen years, where he served in all the Commando Units and deployed all over the world, including operational tours to Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, before his career was cut short.

Whilst in command of 175 marines on his second operational tour to Afghanistan in 2011, during an extremely hostile period in Helmand Province, his leadership and management skills were fully tested in the most dire of situations. Whilst operating in an area that at the time was considered to be the most dangerous square mile on Earth, he was very seriously injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which put him in a coma for three weeks and physical rehabilitation for over two years.

Whilst in rehab he soon realised that his military career was over and, faced with great adversity, he turned his passion for cycling into a business and established a custom carbon bike building company – LIOS Bikes (abbreviated from the names of his children, Lily & Oscar). In November 2018 Steve won the ‘Heropreneur of the Year’ award, an inaugural event aimed to shine a spotlight on the business achievements of Armed Forces personnel who have founded their own companies.

As he could no longer compete on two wheels, and being a petrol head from a young age, he gravitated towards four wheels and an engine. After being introduced to Mission Motorsport in 2013, Steve soon found himself involved with the forces’ motorsport charity whilst in its infancy and at the beginning of 2014 he was selected to race in the 2014 Caterham Academy.

In 2017 Steve had a 70% podium finish rate in the Caterham 310R Championships and in 2018 he is aiming to translate that success to British GT, where he will be racing a Jaguar F Type SVR GT4 in British GT for the Invictus Games Racing Team. With the ambition to continue competing at the highest levels, he continues to build upon his motorsport career in order to enhance his experience as a talented racing driver, coach and instructor.

Steve is also a polished inspirational speaker. He highlights his experience in leadership and management whilst serving in the marines and setting up a new business. Steve also speaks insightfully about the adversity he faced in overcoming life-changing injuries and he shares his passion for motorsport, that fuels his drive to succeed.

Sheridan (Shed) Simove

Sheridan ‘Shed’ Simove is a modern-day entrepreneurial genius.

In a varied career he has enjoyed success as a TV Producer (Big Brother, Big Breakfast, Space Cadets); a Bestselling Author; Product Designer and an Award Winning Stand-Up Comedian.

Harnessing a constant stream of ideas from his astonishingly active mind, Shed has learnt to transform his unconventional concepts into lucrative new business ventures. Shed uses his own entrepreneurial journeys to give a powerful insight into how others can be more creative, plus he shares his secrets for success and outlines the steps towards achieving whatever you desire – both personally and in business.

Shed’s ability to create new ideas, coupled with his skill to make them happen, mean that his range and rate of success is vast – and thus his performances are wonderfully motivational as well as entertaining.

He has the ability to both inspire significant, profitable changes, and then equip you with the tools to make those changes happen. As a result Shed has worked with the some of the biggest blue chip companies around the world, including Unilever, BBC, Sony and EE.

A cross between Anthony Robbins and Woody Allen, Shed is a truly compelling, uniquely memorable, one-off performer.

David Taylor

David is one of the world’s top 50 leading marketing thinkers according to the CIM, and a Fellow of the Marketing Society.

David is Founder & Managing Partner of the brandgym, a network of brand growth coaches. He has written five brandgym books: “The brandgym”, “Brand Stretch”, “Brand Vision”, “Grow the Core” and “Where’s the Sausage?” David also leads the writing of the brandgym blog, one of the top 60 branding blogs in the world.

He’s worked with a wide range of sectors, covering everything from beer to banking, in both B2C and B2B. His expertise is in brand vision to action, brand architecture and turbo charging marketing plans. Prior to founding the brandgym in 2002, David worked in brand management for P&G, received an MBA from INSEAD and then started and ran Added Value’s Paris office.

David speaks on a range of branding issues including growing the core, brand stretch and brand leadership. His speeches are consistently praised for their practical, provocative and entertaining style.

David speaks both at company-specific events for global clients (Kraft, Mondelez, HSBC, Mars, Unilever) and at leading conferences (Brand Manage Camp (Las Vegas), the Marketing Society Conference, London Business Forum). He has also written publications for The Guardian, Marketing, Market Leader, Brand Strategy and Marketing Business.

David also teaches on brand strategy at London Business School, in addition to designing and delivering “Action Learning” training programs for clients including SAB Miller, Mars and United Biscuits.

Speaker Theme: Reinvention

Andrew Steele