Brigadier Phil W C Kimber OBE

Between 2000 and 2002 as a staff officer in the MoD he was responsible for coordination of military support to the police for UK domestic issues, principally terrorism and staffing of overseas capacity building tasks. This time included a further operational deployment to Macedonia.

In 2003 after commanding a Rifle Company in 1 WFR for nine months (which included the Fire Strikes and a further deployment to South Armagh) he attended the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC). On completion of staff training and while attached to the Royal Marines, initially as Operations Chief of Staff and subsequently as a squadron commander, he saw further operational service in numerous locations including Afghanistan for which he was awarded the MBE.

On promotion to Lt Col in Aug 2009 he was posted as an instructor to ACSC where he ran a syndicate of tri-service Majors and Lt Cols (and RAF and RN equivalents). In Mar 2011 he assumed command of the 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment. During his time in command the Battalion completed an arduous exercise in Kenya and deployed to Afghanistan for six months as the Transition Support Unit in Nad-i-Ali on Operation HERRICK 17. As a result of this deployment, he was awarded the OBE.

On promotion to Colonel in Aug 2013 he moved to the Operations Directorate in the MoD where he was responsible for strategic level planning and briefing to senior officers and ministers.

On promotion to Brigadier, he assumed command of 11 Infantry Brigade in Jan 2016, a force of over five thousand soldiers. For two and a half years he prepared and deployed two battalions on operations to Afghanistan, Iraq and South Sudan. He took part in numerous exercises in Kenya, developed and deployed a strategically important counter poaching operation that had ministerial and royal interest.

Simultaneously, he developed a close working relationship with the key militaries in the Asian Pacific which included regular visits to these key countries. He also trained and prepared his Brigade HQ to act as the rapid reaction Brigade for use anywhere in the world.

Latterly as the Director of the Army Division, he has been responsible for training all newly promoted Majors in the Army (over a five hundred a year on two seven month courses) and preparing them for the next stage of their careers. This includes crisis management and risk, leadership, operational decision making and planning and strategic studies.

Amy Williams MBE

Since winning gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games, Amy has taken on numerous sporting and broadcasting challenges such as presenting for the Gadget Show, BBC Sport, Ski Sunday, Eurosport, Goodwood and the Isle of Man TT. Appearing on tv shows such as Alone in the Wild, 71 Degrees North, Tour de Celeb, The One Show, Jonathon Ross, Top gear, A League of Their Own and Question of Sport Numerous times. 

Amy qualified for her international co-driving license, competing in the International Wales GB Rally in 2013 and 2016 with Tony Jardine, and having presented on the Isle of Man TT for ITV4 in 2018 to present day, has since got her motorbike licence too. 

Amy is a highly engaging and entertaining speaker with lots of experience in sharing stories and lessons from her career as a skeleton athlete as a tv presenter, motivational talker, Ted Speaker and host.  

Her knowledge of training and competing on a World Class level for 10 years allows her to do a tailor-made talk to whatever your company wants. She will talk about her own experiences as well as giving an exclusive insight into the high-performance level world of sport.  

Amy knows what is like to have to self-motivate, set goals, come across setbacks such as injuries, cope with disappointments; using some of these topics she can motivate and inspire any business, sharing many of her secrets to her Vancouver success.   

She’s a published Author having written a book for talented athletes, “Talent to Triumph” helping them achieve the next level of performance in their sport.  

Now as a mum to two boys, Amy’s passion for fitness is still burning strong, and today she runs her own Personal Training business helping others achieve their fitness goals. 

Amy Tinkler

Aged just 16, the County Durham gymnast claimed a historic bronze medal at the Games, becoming the first ever British female to win an Olympic floor medal. 

Prior to Rio 2016, Tinkler helped Great Britain win team silver at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival in Utrecht while in the same year she also won double silver and floor gold at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. 

In 2015 Tinkler made the step up to senior competition, helping Great Britain take bronze in the World Championships team final as well as being crowned British all-around champion.  

After Rio, Amy continued to progress from strength to strength getting selected for the GB World Championships team in 2017. In 2018 she claimed 3 medals at the British Champs including the floor title. She was then selected to represent Team England at the Commonwealth Games but, unfortunately had to withdraw due to an injury. Due to ongoing ankle problems Amy retired in 2020. 

In 2021 Amy starred on BBC’s Dancing on Ice and is now focussing on her passion for cheerleading. 

Sir Alistair Cook CBE

Cook is England’s second most-capped Test player and has captained the English team in 59 Tests, as well as in 69 ODIs. He is the leading run-scorer in Test matches for England, and the youngest player to score 12,000 Test runs (the sixth overall, and the only Englishman). Cook has scored a record 33 Test centuries for England and is the first England player to win 50 Test matches. A left-handed opening batsman (the highest-scoring left-hander in Tests), he normally fields at first slip. 

Cook played for Essex’s Academy and made his debut for the first XI in 2003. He played in several of England’s youth teams from 2000 until his call up to the Test side in 2006. While touring in the West Indies with the ECB National Academy, Cook was called up to the England national team in India as a last-minute replacement for Marcus Trescothick and debuted, aged 21, with a century. He went on to score 1,000 runs in his maiden year and made centuries in his first Test matches against India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Bangladesh. Cook played a pivotal role in England winning the 2009 Ashes series, and, after deputising as Test captain in 2010 and then taking ODI captaincy full-time, in retaining the Ashes in 2010–11. 

He was appointed captain of the Test team after Andrew Strauss’s retirement on 29 August 2012. Cook captained England to its first Test series victory in India since 1984–85. During the tour he became the first captain to score a century in each of his first five Tests in charge. On 30 May 2015, Cook became the leading run-scorer in Test matches for England, surpassing Graham Gooch (8900). After England’s 2016 tour of Bangladesh and India, he stepped down as Test captain. On 24 May 2018 during the first Test against Pakistan, Cook equalled Allan Border’s record for appearing in the greatest number of consecutive Test matches, with 153, surpassing it a week later in the second Test at Headingley. On 3 September 2018, Cook announced that his twelve-year international career would end at the conclusion of the series against India on 11 September 2018. 

Cook was appointed MBE in 2011 and promoted to CBE in 2016 for services to cricket. In the 2019 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to cricket.

On the occasion of England’s 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.

Alistair Brownlee

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Moving into long course racing, he qualified for Kona at his first attempt and broke the IM Western Australia course record in 2019. He became the fastest British IM athlete ever with his 7:38:48 at Sweden in August 2022. 

His book, Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting Elite was published in 2021 to critical acclaim and he continues to grow his investment portfolio in the technology sector. 

ACHIEVEMENTS 

  • Double Olympic Triathlon Champion 
  • Multiple World, Commonwealth and European Triathlon Champion 
  • Appointed to the IOC Athlete’s Commission in 2022 

Alex Danson MBE

Alex Danson MBE made her senior international debut at the age of just 16 whilst still at school, amassed over 300 caps for her country, and scored a record equalling 115 goals over an international career spanning 17 years. 

Alex was shortlisted for the FIH World Player of the Year 4 times, she was Player of the Tournament at the 2015 European Championships, and was top scorer at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.  In 2017 she was made captain of GB and England, before retiring in February 2020. 

 

Ade Adepitan MBE

Born in Lagos Nigeria and raised in East London, Ade survived polio as youngster. Contracting the virus at just 15 months old he began to lose the use of his legs, and at aged three his parents migrated with him to the UK. Ade went on to succeed as an international Paralympic wheelchair basketball player and renowned broadcaster.

Never one to hold back, Ade’s work has taken him across the globe; most recently to Kenya as part of the BBC’s Our Changing Planet, charting our worlds most threatened ecosystems. He also went undercover with C4’s Dispatches, reporting foreign affairs for Unreported World and fronting the ground-breaking BBC Two Series, Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline. Filmed during the pandemic, Ade meets the people and places around the globe who have been directly affected by climate change.

Ade is a well-respected co-host on Children in Need’s annual live appeal show. He has hosted countless sporting events including his BAFTA ward wining coverage of the 2012 Paralympics on C4 co-hosted with Clare Balding. An Olympics that changed the course of history for people’s attitudes towards disabled people, not just in sport.

In a personal documentary for C4, Ade Adepitan: Journey of my Lifetime, Ade returned to his birthplace Lagos to investigate Nigeria’s polio endemic. Picked up by the Sunday Times, Ade’s story left viewers inspired including support on Twitter from Bill Gates, who invited Ade to speak at the Global Vaccine Summit: We Changed History in 2020, when Nigeria officially declared the country free from wild poliovirus, becoming the last country in the continent of Africa to be polio free. A milestone that see’s Ade continue to work alongside the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to end poliovirus globally.

An exceptional public speaker and live host, Ade supports a plethora of charities including Amnesty International, Unicef and NSPCC and continues to deliver motivational speeches to schools, charities, and businesses around the world.

Ade’s personal sporting achievements include a Bronze in The Athens Paralympics, Silver in the European Championships and Gold in The World Championships. Ade received an MBE in 2005 and was awarded Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University in 2006 and the University of East London in 2010.

Ade has released four children’s books all based on stories from his own childhood, as a Nigerian kid with a disability growing up in East London during the ‘80’s. His debut book series follows a superhero character called Cyborg Cat, and they call centre around the same messaging “We can all be superheroes, no matter who we are or where we’re from.” 100% of the proceeds from Ade’s second book were donated to Children in Need.

Eamonn Sullivan

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.

 

 

 

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.