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. 

 

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.

Professor Jo Delahunty QC

Professor Jo Delahunty QC is a highly sought-after specialist children silk entrusted with the most significant and demanding national cases. Jo has become a pioneering force within her profession. Cases in which she is instructed are regularly reported for their legal significance. She is noted for being “brilliant at distilling a case down to its key issues, great at strategic planning, supportive to instructing solicitors and very easy to talk to.”

Jo was appointed Gresham Professor of Law in the summer of 2016 and in that role she has a direct interface with the public and media in a way that singles her out as a practising Queens Counsel and part time judge.

Brought up by a single mum and educated in the state sector, Jo was the first person in her family to stay in education after the age of 16. Against the odds, Jo went to Oxford University to read law: one of only two girls from her school ever to do so. Unsuited to a 9-5 job Jo describes how she had never easily accepted instruction on what to do; she thrived on competition, was a deadline junkie, an independent worker and wanted to make a difference to the world. Becoming a barrister seemed to be the perfect profession.

Jo chose to practise Civil Law initially, but soon found her niche in Public Law child protection cases. Since being called to the Bar in 1986, Jo has come to practise at the High Court level and above. Alongside her practice in the Family Justice System, between 2013-15, Jo acted on behalf of 76 bereaved families in the Hillsborough Inquests and was instrumental in securing the verdict that the inadequate emergency medical response caused or contributed to loss of life.

An accomplished speaker, Jo speaks with passion and insight on what really happens inside and outside of court. Communication, the art of persuasion, how to win an argument, how to lead a team and how to marshal your resources to make an impact to win over adversaries are the tools of her trade: ‘her conversational style of advocacy puts witnesses at their ease yet conceals a rapier –like incisiveness.’ Often representing vulnerable people, Jo explains the importance of effective listening and authenticity and is frank in describing the different ‘voices’ she has acquired to bridge the gap between the public and professionals.

In a competitive and highly specialist silk field Jo has gained a reputation for formidable advocacy and tactical trial management alongside superb client care and court room forensic skills. These strategic skills are highly relevant for leaders across many sectors. Jo describes it as the art of “marshalling information and drowning out the white noise”. Her job as a QC demands that she is highly competitive, resilient in the face of the pressures of an enormous case load, ruthlessly efficient in time management but moving forwards in her career with a strong moral compass to serve society and the clients she represents.

More recently Jo has become known an outspoken voice for gender equality in the Law Profession and is passionate about mentoring and role modelling for all young students and barristers working their way through the ranks. She has spoken openly about the use and abuse of power in the legal profession: described as ‘fearless’ in her pursuit of fairness for those who don’t have a voice or are afraid to use it.

Jo has been interviewed by the First 100 years team for episode 9 of 10 as we approach the centenary of the Sex Discrimination Removal Act 1919. To listen to the podcast click here.

For more of an insight into Jo’s life outside of family law, into giving professional speaking advice to a wider audience, click here.

 

Stephanie Davies

Stephanie has over 12 years experience working in the public and private sector and is recognised as one of the UK’s leading voices in happiness humour and laughter.

In past 12 years Stephanie has worked on projects and events developing everything from creating happy spaces and environments in schools and health settings to motivating and inspiring individuals and teams in large blue chip organisations as well as working on government initiatives to promote positive, happy lives and work.

Stephanie’s unique combination as an award winning stand-up comedian and her expertise and knowledge in psychology and business makes her one of the most sought after speakers on the business and after-dinner circuit.

Qualifications include: An M.A in The psychology of humour and laughter for personal growth; Dip1 CBT, Health psychology and Analytical psychotherapy B.A Hons in Community Arts; Advanced Skills in Creative business and Cognition, JMU; Graduate of The Health Care Intensive Programme, with Patch Adams MD USA; Graduate of Dr Madan Kataria’s Laughter Techniques Programme; NLP Practitioners Diploma; and is qualified in cognitive behavioural psychology and health psychology.

On top of her busy schedule, Stephanie is often asked to contribute to popular television programmes, such as Trisha, The Bank of Mum and Dad, BBC’s Heaven & Earth and ITV’s Stand-up Jenny. She is also a regular on BBC Radio. Her book, “Laughology: The Science of Laughter”, has received excellent reviews on Amazon, The Guardian Book website and Watkins book review.

Diana Hunter

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From an early age Diana had a clear passion for retail, she would often be found meandering the aisle of her grandfather’s department store in Darlington. It was therefore a natural fit when she joined the Sainsbury’s Graduate Programme in 1990 and since then Diana has gone on to climb the retail ladder, boasting some incredible successes.

Diana stayed at Sainsbury’s for thirteen years where she held a multitude of roles including heading up a senior manager transformation programme before eventually departing from the role of format development. She later made the switch to Waitrose in 2007, where she carved a reputation as an innovator in store development. Some of her major projects whilst there included; the launch of Little Waitrose, securing partnership with Shell for service station stores and the launch of its home offer in its Canary Wharf Store. Diana was also a key player in the development of John Lewis’ food hall.

Dr. Neslyn Watson-Druée CBE

Dr Neslyn Watson-Druée is one of the most accomplished authors in personal development and a renowned international speaker. As the Chairman of NHS Kingston, she managed to turn around a £21.5 M deficit in two years and finish with a £5M surplus. She was awarded the MBE for Nursing Leadership, and the CBE for Health Service Innovation.

Neslyn is currently rolling out 111 Global Leadership Academies through Neslyn.com. Her skills are further applied in executive coaching and consultancy in three core areas: Leadership, Living with Passion and Purpose and Leaving a Legacy.

Neslyn is an executive coach for UK’s NHS Leadership Academy and has broad experience in business psychology and leading health service innovation in the UK. Neslyn has presented to the European Parliament, public and private sector organisations and various charities on leadership development, emotional intelligence and creating and sustaining high performing teams.

Her Unique Business System: The Leaders’ Code™ is used in corporate organisations to; change organisational culture, demonstrate courage, develop creativity, challenge issues and care about people.

With 25+ years Board Level experience as a Non-Executive Director inclusive of 10+ years as a Chairman, she brings that experience to bear on her coaching with awareness, empathy and an understanding of relationships at executive and corporate levels within organisations. While also using her Board Level knowledge and experience to coach aspiring directors in preparation for job interviews and stabilisation in their early years as a Director or Chief Executive.

Neslyn is also committed to supporting and nurturing the talents of young people. She has written several books designed to help young people to acknowledge their talent and stay out of gang culture.

In 2017, Neslyn was included in the Best 100 Global Coaching Leaders and was also an award winner of Women of the Decade in Community Leadership and Social Change from the All Ladies League and Women Economic Forum. She has also been honoured three times by the Queen for her dedication to the personal and leadership development of others.

Dr. Hannah Macleod

Hannah is a double Olympic medallist, with the record-breaking Great Britain Women’s hockey team, culminating in winning Gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has a doctorate in Exercise Physiology and coaches leaders and teams in FTSE 100 companies.

Hannah provides valuable insights into the fundamental requirements of a performance culture and the core principles of effective teamwork, confidence to perform and resilience. Hannah’s ability to articulate her personal learnings from performing in an elite sporting environment and working with senior leadership teams around the world enables her to deliver insightful and personal Keynotes, presentations, seminars and candid Q & A’s.

She recently tested her principles on high performing teams whilst competing for Great Britain in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Having previously had no sailing experience, she took on the challenge of ocean racing with a crew of 20 novice sailors.

Hannah was an integral member of the England and Great Britain hockey team that progressed from 8th in the world in 2009 to winning Gold at the Rio Olympics for the first time in their history. Hannah was also part of the team that won Gold at the European Championships in 2015, Bronze at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and Silver at the 2012 Champions Trophy in Argentina. However, she also experienced significant set-backs with the team in 2014 when they finished 11th at the World Cup – 18 months prior to the Rio Olympics.

Before becoming a full-time hockey player in 2009, Hannah completed her PhD in Environmental Exercise Physiology at Nottingham Trent University after gaining a BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science from Loughborough University. After retiring from professional sport, Hannah followed her passion for understanding how to maximise performance, individually and in collaboration with others, and qualified as an Executive Leadership Coach. She is the current Great Britain Hockey U23 Coach and Leadership and Team coach at Track Record.

Hannah reveals the critical success factors for achieving sustained high performance and provides insight into the methods and strategies used by Olympic athletes and individuals performing in world class teams.

 

Inma Martinez

Inma is a pioneer in the mobile industry, a technology product maverick and data scientist, having been behind the major innovation advances in web and mobile, such as data-mining and A.I, Behavioural Learning and Sentiment Analysis.

These and other computational analyses have powered e-commerce, fintech, development of mobile data services, mobile personalisation in real-time, mobile music and image streaming as well as film & TV content delivery across various platforms.

Inma is an inspirational speaker often engaged to predict the future digitalisation of various sectors, and she has delivered keynotes, participated in industry panels or acted as chairperson at major conferences in Europe, the Middle East and the United States since 2000. From industry events such as the GSMA Mobile World Congress to top multinational private events (IBM Smart Planet, BDO, Deloitte, BusinessWeek, Euromoney) and technology summits (TechCrunch, GigaOm), Inma is recognised by Fortune and Time as one of the top talents in social engagement through technology.

In one of her current roles she is currently consulting as a Data Scientist and Product Innovator for Securus, a cyber security company. She has also consulted for Preadly, a company that publishes and syndicates internationally the top local blogs in every country via web and app. It turns the posts into interactive, searcheable data that users can save and share via private and social media channels.

In 2010 Inma was asked by the British government to serve the UK Trade & Industry Catalyst Programme as a technology business leader sharing with foreign governments and business enterprises the British innovation advances and export opportunities.

In 2005 Red Herring ranked her 25th out of the top 40 women in technology, labelling her a “free radical”, whereas FastCompany has defined her as a “firestarter”.

Katherine Grainger

Katherine Grainger is Britain’s most successful international female rower. In 2012 she won the Olympic gold with Anna Watkins in the double scull, breaking the Olympic Record in the process.

Katherine is the only British female athlete from any sport to win medals in four consecutive Olympic Games.

Her international rowing career took off in 1997 when, still a student, she became Under-23 World Champion setting a new world record. In the same year she was invited to join the GB Rowing Squad and won her first senior medal at that year’s world championships. Since then she has been world champion six times. Uniquely in the UK, she has won world championship medals in all available boat classes: the single, pair, double, quad and eight.

Katherine has won 3 Olympic silver rowing medals at Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

She was awarded an MBE for services to sport in 2006, and a CBE in 2012.

Katherine received her law degree from Edinburgh University and then went on to complete a Masters in Medical Law and Medical Ethics at Glasgow University. She also has a PhD in criminal law from King’s College, London.

Katherine was named ‘Dame Katherine Grainger’ in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List for services to rowing and charity.